Thave just received your kind letter and thank you for your flattering remarks, The repeated droughts in Shansi had reduced the agricultural population to great straits, and the money collected by the efforts of your countrymen coming in like a stream, has afforded great relief and succour.: For this I tender my unbounded thanks. The amount now forwarded through the Tientsin Taotai, consisting of over Taels 26,000 in silver, and Bank Orders for more than Tls. 4,500, has been handed to Mr. Richard, together with the bag of letters, &c.; and I beg that you will have no further anxiety on the subject. May you experience all the blessings of the season, Tao-yuen-foo, 17th Jan., 1879.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.