ns, marriages, funerals and
the other ceremonials which play a large part in the lives of the
Cambodians. As in the rest of Indo-China, there is no hereditary
nobility, but there exist castes founded on blood-relationship--the
members of the royal family within the fifth degree (the _Brah-Vansa_)
those beyond the fifth degree (_Brah-Van_), and the _Bakou_, who, as
descendants of the ancient Brahmans, exercise certain official functions
at the court. These castes, as well as the mandarins, who form a class by
themselves, are exempt from tax or forced service. The mandarins are
nominated by the king and their children have a position at court, and
are generally chosen to fill the vacant posts in the administration.
Under the native regime the common people attached themselves to one or
other of the mandarins, who in return granted them the protection of his
influence. Under French rule, which has modified the old usages in many
respects, local government of the Annamese type tends to supplant this
feudal system. Slavery was abolished by a royal ordinance of 1897.

Cambodian idiom bears a likeness to some of the aboriginal dialects of
south Indo-China; it is agglutinate in character and rich in
vowel-sounds. The king's language and the royal writing, and also
religious words are, however, apparently of Aryan origin and akin to
Pali. Cambodian writing is syllabic and complicated. The books
(manuscripts) are generally formed of palm-leaves upon which the
characters are traced by means of a style.

_Industry and Commerce._--Iron, worked by the tribe of the Kouis, is
found in the mountainous region. The Cambodians show skill in working
gold and silver; earthenware, bricks, mats, fans and silk and cotton
fabrics, are also produced to some small extent, but fishing and the
cultivation of rice and in a minor degree of tobacco, coffee, cotton,
pepper, indigo, maize, tea and sugar are the only industries worthy of
the name. Factories exist near Pnom-Penh for the shelling of
cotton-seeds. The Cambodian is his own artificer and self-sufficing so
far as his own needs are concerned. Rice, dried fish, beans, pepper and
oxen are the chief elements in the export trade of the country, which is
in the hands of Chinese. The native plays little or no part in commerce.

Trade is carried on chiefly through Saigon in Cochin-China, Kampot, the
only port of Cambodia, being accessible solely to coasting vessels. With
the exception of the highway