SAIGON, the capital of French Cochin China, occupies an area of 1000 acres, on the right bank of the Saigon river or Don-nai (one of the streams that inosculate with the deltaic branches of the Me-kong), about 60 miles from the China Sea. In 1884 it was connected by rail with Mytho, 37 miles south-west on one of the branches of the Me-kong, with which it had obtained direct water-communication in 1877 by the opening of the Canal de Cho-gon, The present city has been practically created since 1861, and its fine streets, boulevards, squares, and public buildings make it one of the most attractive towns in the East, as it was well planned and the plan not un worthily carried out.
The town possesses a governor’s palace or cit adel (cost 12,000,000...
francs) with a grand façade, a cathedral (1877; cost 2,500,000 francs), a palace of justice (1882), a chamber of commerce, a large military hospital, municipal gardens, and botanical gardens with collections of wild beasts. Among the educational institutions are the Collége Chasseloup-Laubat and the Collége d’Adran, the latter in memory of Bishop Piqueaux de Behaigne, w hose tomb is in the vicinity of the town. There is a large arsenal with upwards of 100 European employés and a special establishment for the artillery with machine-shops and foundries. A floating-dock was constructed in 1868; a much larger one (cost 3,400,000 francs) sank in 1880-82 at its first trial and became a wreck. The population of Saigon in 1881 was 13,348. The Europeans, exclusive of the troops, numbered only 965 (913 French). The Chinese element was the strongest, and next came the Anamite. The municipality consists of fifteen members, of whom four are Anamites, the rest, including the mayor, being French. As a commercial centre Saigon is one of the principal towns in the colony, but most of the trade is really done at Cholon, 4 miles off on the Arroyo Chinois and Rach-lo-gom, but connected with Saigon by a steam tramway. Though it has its own local government and officials, Cholon is practically part of the capital. Chinese emigrants from Bien-hoa were its founders in 1778, and the Chinese still form half of its population and almost monopolize its trade. In 1881 it had 39,925 in habitants (83 Europeans). Wide streets have been opened up through its original complexity of lanes and substantial quays constructed for miles along the Arroyo. A fine granite-
paved market stands in the heart of the town. Rice is the great staple of the Saigon-Cholon trade, finding purchasers mainly at Hong-Kong,
Java, and the Philippines. Other articles are black pepper, gamboge, and cocoa-nut oil. In 1883 8,648,243
piculs of rice, worth more than
£2,000,000, were exported. In 1884, leaving out the Messageries Maritimes, 503 vessels (568,077 tons), of which 239 (253,871 tons) were British, cleared from Saigon. Fig. 2 shows the relative positions of Saigon and Singapore.
Saigon was the native capital of Lower Cochin China and the residence of the governor of the southern provinces. In 1836 it was fortified for the emperor Gia Long by Colonel Ollivier. The French under Admiral Rigault de Genouilly captured it in 1858, and it was part of the territory ceded in 1861. The importance of the old town may be judged by the vast mounds of brick and stone which still crowd the ancient necropolis on one of the two roads between Saigon and Cholon.
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