This July, owing to the excessive heat, there has been a great deal of cholera at Wu-ch'ang Fu, capital of Hupeh Province, and the managers of one charitable burial association report that one day 60 coffins were carried out of their establishment for burial, which, considering that such associations are numerous in the town, enables due to form an idea of the extent of the total mortality amongst paupers. At Haukow, in the same province, nearly every employe in a large piece goods shop, ha\ part alien freely of cool melon the evening fore, died in one night. The poor people are holding magnificent processions Propitiate Jama, the God of Hades. The 'u. Pao very sensibly suggests that an avoidance of raw fruit and melons would have a much more salutary effect.
In fertile Formosa, which produces two rice-crops a year, a great drought has prevailed, but the Tamsui Hien having issued a proclamation to stop the killing of animals for food, and prayed for rain, at length, on 27th July the long wished for rain arrived.
At Ta-pu Luang, near Fatshan, Canton Province, a snake-catcher, having previously filled his mouth and smeared his hands with some sort of drug, inserted his hand into a crack in a rock which had been indicated tw him by a peasant, and dragged out a poisonous snake three inches in diameter to have'its neck held and its poison fangs ind seven feet long, which calmly submitted removed by its captor. On being questioned what secret he employed, he said, "All living beings have something which they hate and fear; I have discovered what the cannon, lately imported from abroad, have been' set up in the Pescadores Islands, between Formosa and main-land.—Hw-pao.
'A teaman, from Hankow, a native of Shan-jin Hien, Chehkiaug, fell overboard from the Hrea-lee (W. Cores De Vries) steamer at 5 p.m., a little above Wuhu. Only one. passenger was awake, and he told' the Chinese. steward, who told. the Captain.
There being a big sea on, and many the vessel having by this time steamed 10 1 past the place, no search was made at Shanghai the passenger's younger brother with boats for the man, but on arriving was informed, and he was just on the point of starting in search of his brother's dead body to give it decent burial, when he received a tel informing him that it wassail right, as his lost brother, the sender of the telegram, had been fortunately picked up by a fishing junk, The running amuck of the madman Liu Kwei-lu amongst the wood-shops has been already related, At first the injured people's relations did not inform the authorities, but now as it appears possible that one or more may die, the Shanghai Ma, trate has been unformed, and on Satu ith August at 3.30 held an inspection of their wounds.—Shén-pao.
There is now a large lurk traffic between Lih-yang, in the Chinkiang Prefecture, and Ch'ang-chow. Last month two men brought box aboard at Lih-yang, as passengers' effects, for the hold, and went away, say-ug them would be back in time to sail, as they were passengers. They never returned, and when the vessel was under weigh, such a dreadful smell arose from the hold, that the box was opened, and found to have the mutilate remains of several murdered Chinese stowed inside it. Tt was carried on to Ch'ang-chow and the authorities there were informed, and a search is on foot for the asssassins.—Hu-pao.
At Keelung, N. Formosa, 15 or 16 of the garrison have died of disease caused by the excessive heat, One soldier, a Nanking man, caught a chill and bad fever, and an official doctor was called in to see him. This quack said he had blood accumulated in his stomach which could be let out if the soldier would cut his right wrist with a pot-sherd. This he did, and promptly died frum loss of blood. The neighbours started after the doctor, but he had already left the place, and they have petitioned the Goverig-chuan, who will probably pay him such fee as he little expected for his unfortunate phlebotomy.
Two Chinese shop-keepers in Nankin, Road have died already from chills an vomiting since cooler weather set in; the Show-pao advises people to be careful how they strip off all their clothing to cool themselves, as sudden death sometimes results from it.
The detective Tsao Sih-yung has been ordered by the Mixed Court Magistrate to leave the Settlement. He had violently after its arrival in the China Merchant Co.'s godowns at Chefoo, only yielded 1 oz. and four-tenths of pure gold per ton...
As for the Mo-ho gold-mines, in Kitin, the machinery for them will have'to be taken a journey of over 3,000 li to arrive there from Tientsin, In that inhospitable clime, where the frost does not melt till the fourth moon, the hardy pioneer will unde:
a hardship as he traverses the sparsely inhabited and unfertile region, his face washed by the beating rain, his hair com ed by the driving blast"
In Yunnan province, H.E. the Governor T'ang Ngoh-sheng, (who nearly lost his head for his ill success against the French)
discovered about 30 lodes of gold, silver, is working with might and main, and has r, lead, and tin. The mines formerly paid a royally which varied annually from some tens of Teele to 1,000 Taels, but their output having been reduced to about one-tenth since the rebellion, the Governor has, to encourage mining enterprise, suspended the collection of this tax for three years.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.