Ofice in Shanghai from the relief agent of flooded district in Honan and Anhui.
nce the 4th moon (May) T have been at Kaifeng Fu and have made personal in spection of houses ete in vicinity of Wei Shih, but found the distress in the houses left by the flood not so great as in Shantung. There was however much sickness and arrangements were made for a hospital, where medical and surgical assistance Was given, and many cures eff Medicine was also given to workmen on the dyke, who, after a hard day's work, had no house to al and became sick from exposure. The hospital was found to be of much service to these men also. The boat build yard near the dyke had to be abandon: After the carrying away of the bank, owing to the swiftness of the current, which upset several boats. Boats had to be kept buck in order to render assistance in saving life, and succeeded in saving many persons who were upset inthe torrent. I found Chung Mou surrounded with water, and from the wall little. but water could be seen in the city, a few groups of houses, capable of holding three or four families, only remaining, Barly in the seventh moon (6th Sept.) rain fell and the sound of falling houses Kept one awake all night; the dead bodies of men crushed by the falling houses were to be seen in the N. and 8. streets and water was several feet deep in many of the rooms. The 's yamen was also surrounded by water, but be damage was done to it, and his worship, and true friend but the poor, having nothing to eat, and nowhere to go to to live, had to remain. It was arranged they should go by three routes to. to the N.S. and east and on arrival they were told to erect huts to hold three persons, 2,000 each being given to each person. 770 families were thus removed in large boats at the rate of 70 a day, leaving only score of families in the town which may now be said to be empty. to a lesser extent, a state of parasitism. But in the social conditions of Chins, the circumstances which lead some -to attach themselves to others as dependant are numerous, and the temptations to do so are strong, while at the same time the checks to such a system which are found in Western lands, are in China almost entirely wanting, Attention has been redirected to the solidarity of Chi-
On 12 (17th Sept.) reached Wei Shih FAT characteristics' "It is in social solidarity nese social life, as the key to many of FR) which was found to be flooded though that Chinese parasitism has its strongest not so bad as Chung Mou. Enquiries were root and its most conspicuous illustrations, made at the farms and villages in the dis-A Chinese family, let us not forget, docs trict, money was then distributed slong not consist as in our' ta family' does, two lines of road, and the work of distribu-of a man, his wife and their children, In tion only closed' yesterday. In N., east, China a''family' denotes a multitude of and W. portions of city the houses had al fallen, nearly as bad as Chung Mou. 20,000 Leg of the same surname and descended from the same ancestors. Political convulsions may have led to a break in the strings of cash were distributed in this district. It was too settled to change our connection between the present and the silver for cash at K'ai-feng Fu at once, now past, but after every such interruption the that exchange is favourable, and not to family begins again its processes of expan-wait till Inter, when, after work has re-sion, accumulation, and ramification. Let commenced on the dyke, exchange will be us suppose the case of a family, using the term for the moment in the more restricted lower. We have also made arrangements for the Chung Mou people so as to set them sense, having five sons, and three daughters. up with a little copa to earn their living The father has several brothers and sisters, after work of distribution hasbeen finished at and the mother likewise has her brothers at Wei-shih [am going on to Hsi-hua, Com and her sisters. The eight children grow ith the fifth moon (June) the farms up, and at an early period marriages are and villages inundated are more numerous arranged for them all, the five young men than they were; then clothes and food have bringing their five little brides into the yard,' in which quarters must have been ive in reed buys on high mounds where been swept away, the poor people have to provided for this expansion. A foreign the shelter is insufficient, and where there census-taker would now report six ' faniiis not sufficient food for'a full meal. 'The lies' instead of one, but the foreign census-stronger men working at the dyke have taker would be wrong. It is very like: died, many of them from the sickness, ly that the whole of this compound family whilst their wives and families living at will continue as before to have all things from them in reed huts unaware of their common,' and even if they have divided death, and awaited their return with their land so that each married couple anxiety, the flood then came when the new cultivates its own portion, they still con-ko was swept away; they now know not where to turn for food. Winter will be stieate one ne and are ry re idea soon upon them with no means for living. children, the family' is brought into in. vy others. By the marriage of the eight
It is said Tls. 17,000 are coming from timate relations with eight other families,' each of which of which in turn has its own Peking for winter funds, but. the distress exceeds that of last year, and at the rate circle of connections and relationships, and each one of these relationships bears a of 1,000 cash a head assum of at least 'Tls. 200,000 will be quired. 100,000 of more or less important part in the affairs of this well have to be subscribed, and aube the original family' which is our point of scriptions are earnestly requested to relieve departure. If the star of any one of these the horrible misery and distress now exist-numerous families wanes, this circumstance ing.—September ist, 1888. commot fail to affect every family with Our stores of grain are exhausted, and which it is connected by marriage. If any many labourers are thrown out of work one of these related tamiles grows rich, the by the cessation of work at the dyke. After pulsations of this newly acquired wealth will the breach is closed, say in early winter, necessarily be felt to the outermost circle of no seed can be sown till next spring, nor any relationship, whether of blood or of marriage, crop gathered till the summer. In Honan In the course of a few years, the eight over & million of people are starving, children will be surrounded by' a vigorous_ relief will be required, not only during thi crop of little ones, and thus a whole army winter, but also during next spring. tien ie very great in ait Chows snd iisieun, of grandchildren comes into the rapidly widening circle, and a little later each of and in several other neighbouring districts, there are scores and hundreds of villages these children will be 'a problem both as to its own support and as to openings into requiring relief. Assistance therefore can-some means of helping to support the not be confined to one place, but must be family.' Those parents who are well off spread over a large area. The work is will have.no difficulty in settling this prob-more than one man can do, and assistants lem easily and satisfactorily, but out of auch are urgently required. There is, too, great a large circle as we have now brought into distress in An-hui province, and at Chen-view, the proportion of those who will be independent of outside help will be small. Reber mil boroured hereon th noon, whom, om borders of Honan and -An-hul ere is a largo sea fifty or sixty li And if help is required, of whom should it be sought, if not from those in the wide circle of relatives and connections, who are 2 day, (September 7th, 1888.)—Shén Pao. best able to give it? That instinct of independence, which leads a young man of the Anglo-Saxon race to scorn the help of his rich relatives and which nerves his
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.