The stone steps leading up to the Tai-ho Gate of the Palace at Peking, which was destroyed recently by fire, were of marble, described as white jade of the Han dynasty, excavated from the quarry some 1,000 years ago. The stone balustrade before and behind this gate was of the same valuable stone, and the same was the case with the Chaoteh and Chéntu Gates. Eight or nine tenths of these stones were split by the heat of the conflagration, and as no such material had been obtained from the quarries for 70 or 80 years, the officials in charge of the repairs now in progress were sorely perplexed to obtain it, knowing that similar old stones would cost Tls. 20 each, that at that price even they could not get sufficient quantity forthe work. 'Thestonebuilders' Yung-t'siian" and others who have the contract have now luckily discovered stones like the old Han ones in a hill to the north of Keichow, in Shun-tien Prefecture, Chihli, near Peking, and a number of these are now st~red outside the Tung-hua Gate of Peking, ready for use. The find is considered a happy omen, and people are saying that earth does not conceal her treasures when a good sovereign is on the throne.
In official circles at Peking it is stated that the foreign ministers at Peking have addressed a request to the Tsung-li Yamen to be admitted to audience and allowed to present their credentials in person to the Emperor, who has now reigned for nearly a year since he attained his majority. The nature of the Yamén's reply has not yet transpired.
At Tahoki, Kaangtung, a mau speaking with the secant of another province sud denly went behind a native and cut off his upon felt a pull, looked round, and seized the stranger, who was searched and found to have a number of other dissevered queues concealed about his person, about which he could give no satisfactory explanation. He was then set upon by the crowd and nearly beaten to death, There has been a good deal of such queue-cutting of late about the city and country, supposed to be the work of the agents of a seditious secret society, and the provincial authorities have issued stringent orders to the civil and military officials to be on the look-out for such people.
Last year was a bad one for native merchants at Hankow, and just after the China New Year's annual settling-up the Yuan Ch'ang-yik, a great silk firm, failed, with liabilities to the extent of over Ti 100,000, It w: rupt very suddenly and unexpectedly, a other firms are involved' in joss. Arbitration has been resorted to, and a percentage paid to the creditors from the bankrupt stock. Twelve years' time has been accorded for the final settlement,—Shén Pao, 'Mr. Pei, District Magistrate of Shanghai, has returned in the Pekin from an' interview with the Viceroy Tseng Kuo-chuan at Nanking, He is shortly to leave Shanghai on promotion, as on the 14th February the Provincial Treasurer at Soochow directed Mr. Luh Yuan-sheng GLTGH) District Magistrate of Kiang-ning Hien, (one of the two biens under the Prefect of Nanking), to hold himself in readiness to proceed to Shang hai as Shanghai hien, or District Magi trate, The French and American religious Missions are both making great progress at Nanking. On 2nd February there was a demonstration made against the American chapel in the north of the city by some evil-disposed persons. The assembly in the church, consisting of over 100 converts, hurriedly dispersed, and the American preacher had to escape from mob violence as best he could. 'The soldiers of the YangWu Kith, or Committee for Foreign Business, hastened to give protection, but before they arrived, the mob, after smashing everything in' the chapel, had dispersed, and only two arrests were made, the persons captured by the guardians of the law loudly protesting their itmocone: They were sent to the Shang Yitan Hien (one of the two hien jistrates under the Prefect of Nanking). The Prefect himself then went to view the damage, for which Mr. Wei (fff) the American Missionary demanded Tls. 200 compensation. The matter was finally arranged by the punish. ment of the two rioters arrested, who ceived a flagellation with the bamboo an were exposed in the cangue outside the chapel for a period.
A traveller from Lienkiang, in the Foochow Prefecture, relates the following queer custom prevalent there among the superstieus people. Just outside the city gate of Lienkiang is a lake, in area over a hundred King [a king is 100° mow, or 15.13 acre By the lake ancient tomb of some distinguished officer of state before which, as guardi facing each other two colossal statues, one riting a civil, the other a military The former has his back to the Jake, and his face to the West; the latter, has his back to the hill, and faces East. Long years have they stood there, in life-life attitude, absorbing the warmth of the sun by day and bathed in the pure rays of the moon by night, until at last, in popular belief, they have become ling,—acquired life and power. The people have recourse to the stone civilian in all love troubles, The perfumed smoke of incense curls round his kindly, thoughtful face, and complaints of conjugal unhappiness, longings of suffering lovers for @ meeting, are whispered
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.