Northern paper states that the Chinese official in charge of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs at Kalgan (Changehia-Kou) has telegraphed to the Waiwupu that his agent at Kiachta has informed im of the arrival in that town on the 12th ultimo and succeeding days of several bands of armed Russians, who looked more like sappers and members of the Russian Engineer Corps than anything else, The agent further estimateds the total number of the new arrivals at nearly 200 men. These men seemed to be preparing to make a long stay in Kiachts. pau "What could be simpler than catching a steamer? You have only to find out the time of starting, and then just step on board from the Bund."
Yes, that is so, for those who live anywhere near a bund in China Proper, once called Settlement or Concession. But suppose you are Bohemian enough to live outside the range of macadamized roads, i" China Improper;—that tract of land seldom blessed with the foot-prints of a Treaty Port explorer; that settlement where the Chinese still settle and squat in insanitation and unrepair; that region Il conceded to them by the enlightened ations of Europe and America! If you live there, what then?
In order to narrow down the inevitable breadth of possibility which any sort of "up-country" residence—_ immediately suggests, let the comparatively simple case of one living four miles away from the Bund be taken as a specimen, and the various little experiences of such an one-be recorded.
'Phe Yangtze steamers at Hankow com-linonly start somewhere after 9 p.m. And so it was thought that half-past five would be late enough for the evening meal. 'This would allow three hours for the four miles' distance. It must be explained,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.