dominant race. It is even hard to say just where Tonquin ends and China begins, for there is a belt of debatable land along the frontier, narrow in the north, but widening to over one hundred miles in the hills, and in some of the border fortresses Chinese and Anamese exercise joint control.
This plateau country, along the upper banks of the Songkoi and Claire Rivers, is infested by wild native tribes and Chinese brigands under the names of "Yellow Flags" and "Black Flags," who erect barriers along the streams, so that travel in these parts is dangerous. Hence the importance of the fortified towns of Sontay and Bacninh, situated close to these outlaw districts. From Sontay to Hanoi there is a well-made embankment, shaded by fine trees. It was along this road that Garnier and Revière met their deaths in 1873. Most of the travel is along the river. Throughout the province almost the only highways are footpaths across the jungles. From Hanoi roads lead north to China and south to Hué. The influence of Hanoi, through Anam, is widespread as a centre of fashion as well as of authority. A French writer calls it the "Paris of the Anamese empire." What more could he say?
The thickly-populated delta, intersected by streams and tidal creeks, is subjected to periodical inundations, when the whole face of the
