From this city, we retraced our steps to a village at the head of one of the lakes we had crossed. Here we did not stay longer than to get coolies, it being one of the places the Chinese calla can-pu-luan district—not governed by three magistrates, That is, three Asiens meet about there and an evildoer can skip from one to another at pleastire and escape detection. From this point the journey was by road not river, and three Asiens out of the five governed by Lichou were visited. The first was Anfu-hsien, an unwalled but busy little town, from' which a large quantity of rice is exported by river into Hupeh, the retura cargo being chiefly salt. Here four days were spent quietly but busily. Next, after a long day's journey north-west across a range of hills, came Shihmén, the seat of 'a Asien, but really a big village with one long street, pleasantly situated on a broad, swift-flowing river. The Roman Catholics have a place a mile from here with a foreiga priest in charge. Thence we made our way to Tsilihsien, another day's journey to the west. This, too, is quite a busy place on a river communicating with the Yangtze, and on the main road from Szechuan. Three or four days were spent here also, moving freely about the streets and receiving callers at our inn. The district thus passed through was picturesque and beautiful. Ranges of high fi ills divided off several sets of valleys, and bounded the softer outlines by a framework of rugged grandeur. The valleys again were not level plains, but were broken up into countless glens and dales by smaller hills from one or two to four and five hundred feet high. Trees abounded, among them some magnificent specimens in height and girth, The rivers, which rushed from the hills or rattled over pebbly beds, coossing and recrossing our path, were clear and sparkling, a pleasing contrast to the muddy ditch-like watercourses of the Yangtze Valley. The who district reminded one of the softer parts of the Lake District or Highlands of Scotland, except that unlike them, the rich soil and careful cultivation ade the whole country side like a garden in fertility. As the days, too, were simply perfect, d. cool, and bracing, this part of the journey lingers in one's memory as a delightful holiday.
From Tsilihsien our furthest point west, I had hoped to find a road north to Ichang, only a hundred odd miles away. But as we could only hear of mountain paths of uncertain length, and bard to cross, I judged it best to retrace our steps, back to Shilmenhsien. Thence by the fine city of Lichou, the governing city of all this wide district, I made my way into Hupeh, passing through one or two of the Asiens lying south of Shssi One did not get far into this province without being strack by the, contrast between its low-lying plains, continually liable to inundation, and the rich fertile valleys, which make Hunan the granary, if Szechuan is the garden, of China. In Hupeh, the houses and villages have a dilapidated look, and: the people generally seem poverty-stricken, at least in the di tricts we passed through. In Hunan, the contrary, the houses are well built,' the villages busy, and the: larger. towne' and markets quite trade centres. The people too have a well-fed, well-to-do. look, ilks those whose fond is cheap and "abundant, and who from the export of grain and other produce, have money in hand withal. Que could not but notice also. the. number of temples there were and the first-rate repair in which they were kept, Larger and smaller, they abounded everywhere, from a small upturned water Zang, which, finely lazed and with door and windows, dic duty for the local shrine, to the solid structures which crowned most of the higher hills. But none of them that I saw were in the tumble-down condition which is so common—an evidence at once of the social wellbeing of the people and of their strong religious feeling.
Your readers hive probably already surmised that this journey was a missionary one, and a sentence or tivo on that aspect of it may be permitted. Throughout, ever thing was most encouraging. The people seemed willing to listen to our teaching, and ts buy the books and tracts explaining, it, expressing in many cases quite an ligent interest in whut they heard, Nowhere did we meet with violence or ill-feeling or hear any of the objectionable cries ith which one is so often greeted, On the contrary, in most places we were invited to stay longer or to return speedily. It is fair to add that the oflcials 80 far as I had to do with them, were ready to help, and showed a good deal of kindness, and respect. Altogether, one looks back on a journey which was undertaken with some little apprehension, with unmixed pleasure, and with deep gratitude to the God who made our way with.the growing hope that favour, with the Gospel, this splendid, province of Hunan, has now come, Shasi, 8th December.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.