THE ANNAMESE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 242, 18 February 1911, Page 9

THE ANNAMESE.

Mrs. Vassal, an Englishwoman, who has been living in Annam, one of the five countries of French Indo-China, gives a bright little sketch of the people of the country in an English paper. She says: "My first knowledge of the Annamese came through my servants. When we arrived, we found five who h«d been engaged for us by a friend beforehand. As soon as we entered the house, they all went down on their knees, placed the palms of their hands on the ground, touched the floor with their foreheads, got up, went down on their knees again, and repeated the same movements again and again. I wondered what on earth they were doing, and my husband told me that they were performing 'lais,' which is a respectful greeting to a highrank mandarin or a European. I thought they were young lads, and was astonished to hear that they were men, probably married and with children of their own. However, they had such soft eves and gentle manners that I thought they would be most obliging people to deal with. However. I found out I was mistaken. Before 1 had been there many days I went into the kitchen and found the cook making the rissoles for our lunch by roling the meat up and down his bare body with his hands.

"Men and women dress alike in Annam. - Both wear wide, natural-colored or white cotton trousers and long indigoblue tunics. Both twist up the black coarse hair in a chignon at the back of the head. The fact that the women's tunic is it little longer, and that the hair is done a little higher on the head, does not at once strike the eve, and for some time after our arrival I could not distinguish the sexes. Both go barefoot. Even women who can afford shoes are always careful to hide as little of their feet as possible, for in Annamese aesthetics the heel constitutes one of the chief features of beautv in a woman. There is a proverb about 'the eyes being as brilliant as an eagle's, that' the evebrow should be long and thin like a silkworm, and the heel red, like red ink."

"Fortunately for thf> Annamese, thorp is no fashion in hats. For men and women in bnth summer ami winter it is always flip samp oonioal shape. "The women never walk two abreast, always one behind the other. This does not prevent them from carrying on conversation, however, and you may sometimes meet a group of ten women, where the one in front is chatting unceasingly to the one right behind, without ever turning her head or slackening her pace. They earn- their goods in two round baskets which are slung to a bamboo over one shoulder. The baskets must be of equal weight, as they resemble a pair of scales. Sometimes yon see a woman who has been unable to leave her baby at home, so she puts it into one of the baskets while it is making woight with a sucking pig."