The following is the substance of a letter from Tai-yuen-foo, Shansi, dated 14th of April, "1879, and addressed to T. T. Fergusson, Esq., Belgian Consul at Chefoo, by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Shansi "The said Bishop writes saying that he felt very thankful for the 3,000 Taels which the Shanghai Relief Committee sent to him on the Sth March, and that he hoped God would abundantly reward all the benefactors of the famine-stricken sufferers. By the letters he received 1 from several of his priests, he thinks th unless abundant ram comes, great distress will continue to fall upon the unfortunate Shansi people. By the census he lately caused to be taken of his Christians, he finds that 5,538 persons are no more. of the shang han ping fE Fi, and Many have died of we 1 and many some have emigrated to other parts of the Empire. So that the Christians he has alive amount to 13,081, and of these 4,704 continue to be in the greatest need. His missionaries often write to him for more relief. He distributes as fast as he receives, but they ask also money to buy seed, and one of them asks him if they have no seed to put into the ground how can they reap? In that case, even supposing that it should rain, the Christians of his district will have to continue in a state of famine. Others have sold all they had in this world in order to save their families from death, and now they depend altogether on the Catholic missionaries for their livelihood; so in one way or other the priests must try to provide food for these 4,704, at least till the iminer erop—if there be any—is ripe. In certain places the number of the needy is increasing. A priest on the 5th of April wrote to him from PO ifa] 48%, Hung-tung hsien, that the families he has to support had augmented by 53, that is, 165 persons, and he is greatly afraid the' number will continue te crease. Another writes that the pagans not only bring to him their babies, but also their children of seven or eight years of age, which they never. did
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.