AN ENGLISHWOMAN IN ANNAM.*
MADAME VABSA.L has given 11113 here a really delightful book. She is an English lady married to a French Army doctor who, a few weeks after the wedding, went to occupy a post in the Pasteur Institute of Nhatrang, in Annam. This was a country of which she had never heard, but, as became an English- woman, she received the summons with a light heart. It was part of the day's work to go to the other side of the world ; in Paris, on the contrary, friends bade the travellers farewell with a final-parting air. In due course—they were known on board the steamer as the entente corcliale —they arrived at Saigon, which seems to be a, gay and fashionable place. The English set up tennis-courts and golf-links wherever they go ; the French, cafes and restaurants with plenty of chairs and tables in the open air. But the streets and markets are untouched by Western ways, and Madame Vassal gives a lively picture of what she saw and felt. House- keeping at Nhatrang was no easy matter for a European un- used to the ways of the native "boys," but a satisfactory result was finally reached. To contract with one's cook for two meals daily, each of three courses, at a weekly cost of seven shillings seems good business. Having finished with this subject, not without giving some useful hints to any who may be similarly circumstanced, Madame Vassal goes on to describe her life. There is the "On Duty" portion, with an account of the Pasteur Institute and of various medical experiences of her husband, stories not a little pathetic and humorous. Of her "Off Duty" time our author has also much that is interesting to tell. She made acquaintance with the people, high and low, visiting the Quan-B6, as the first official of the province is called, and seeing something of humble life among the Annamese. Then she introduces us to the Tshams, the saes which the present holders of Annam dispossessed, and to the Mole, who inhabit the Langbian • Chi and Off Duty in demon. By Gabrielle X. limed. London : W. Heinemann. 110s. net.)
Plateau, and tells us much about their way of living. There is something too about sport. Madame Vassal says that she missed the sports which she had followed in England with enthusiasm ; but Annam had some compensations to offer. The Langbian Plateau is inhabited by tigers as well as by Alois. It was a little startling to be told when about to go home after dinner that it would not be safe to go even a few yards without two " Loys " and two coolies carrying lanterns ; but the tiger who hunts may be hunted himself. Madame Vassal amazed her friends by asking to be included in the party which went in pursuit of a fine specimen of the tribe which had been seen close by. She got her own way in the end, and a very exciting adventure was the result. We are thankful that she survived to write this book, but we feel that we are indebted to her good luck rather than her prudence.
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