I will now narrate one of the ways in which these Boxers sought to impress upon the ignorant masses of Chibli_ a sense of their supernatural origin. This T saw with my own eyes: I was standing one day while in Teungchon on the outskirts ofa of people amongst whom a sprinkling of Boxers who were explaining to their open-mouthed and apparently interested audience of rustics what they (the Boxers) intended doing to the Foreign troops when they met them, when suddenly one of the Boxers who had previously been st the tall post of ning listlessly a druguist's shop, as if in trance, started up staring about' wildly and sniffing with nose 1 de aimed "Stop! 1 smell a second-grade Foreigner,'" meaning that a Christian was in the ty. The effect of this exclamation on the crowd was startling. Each man looked suspiciously at his neighbour, and drew apart from him, fearing that he was the "Erh Mao-tze" whose "smell" had attracted the Boxer's marvellous olfactory nerves—when all at once the man suddenly started running down the street as if followin, the scent. The crowd excited an shouting like madmen ran after the keen-nosed Boxer for a distance of about 2 li, when he suddenly stopped and sniffed again. Then the man pounced upon little boy of 12 or 13 years of age who was playing on the spot with a few others of similar age and solemnly called out "Th's is the Christian whom I heve smelt out I thought I detected a foreign odour round here! Now boy (fiercely), who are you? Confess, if you are a Christian—for I have smelt you out!" The little boy showed not the least fear at this sudden death at the Grand Canal banks, For he and serious charge—a charge which on any other person would have meant sudden smilingly looked up at his denouncer "Well, if you must know, I am a Christian; but tell me how could you smell me all this way out here "Yes, yes, how wonderful! What supernatural powers our patriotic brethren possess!" cried out the crowd of bystanders, now considerably augmented.
Fancy, smelling a Christian two li ay: Wonderful, wonderful. Can any one deny now that' the patriots will sweep the foreigners into the sea?" These and similar expressions of wonder and awe were shouted out on all sides, and then one of the Boxers cried out: " What shall we do to this child?" Oh, let him al ne," cried another, "he is too small to know anything—Get out of this, boy, and thank your Ick that you are no larger." The boy gave back an impudent leer to the Boxer who drove him of and then disappeared from the scene. This to any ordinary person would have been seen through immediately as "a put up job," and the actions of the boy plainly showed that he knew these Boxers and had acted in a similarly arranged scene for the benefit of ignorant crowds elsewhere; but it passed muster as a bona fide supernatural gift granted by the gods to the Boxers with the rustics and citizens of Teungehou and this was just what these Boxers wished. It worked in the way desired, all being fish to their net. This is the result of popular excitement. In times of peace and when reason prevails it is hard to deceive a Chinese crowd—they are shrewd and yet timid; but in times of commotion aiid mob rule every other one seems to grow insane and the wildest possible tricks are ravenously swallowed, rousing the mobs to desperate deeds which at other times would never have been dreamed of as possible. To such a pitch had the Boxer rebellion driven the people at the time we were leaving T''ungchou for the South.
Although the Boxers hated all innovations partaking of a foreign nature, in seems that they have not rejected the custom of issuing "expresses" (Ch'uan-tan) for the information of the masses, a practice imitated from the newspapers in Shanghai. Most of these expresses showed that their authors were illiterates, but still danger Tous enough to fan the ignorant masses into flames against anyone they wished to make victim. Most of these expresses emanate from B exer headqua: ters, and [here give a specimen of one of them, The last one Isaw at T'ungchou was just as we were starting from that city for the South, and read as follows Be it known to all that the Chief Disciple, i.0., chief Boxer leader, has ordered that the street hitherto known as ung Chiao-ming-hsiang' (Legation Street, Pes king) shall from henceforth he styled' Mich Yang Chi-ming-chieh (The Stieot of Foreign Annihilation at Cock-crow.) Let no one dare to henceforth give the suid accursed street i's former name, for his own person and those of his family and relatives will be in danger of fire and sword. Respect this."
These "Expresses" are printed on coarse yellow paper, and the way they are disseminated voluntarily throughout the length and breadth of the land is a very cunning way. They print on the corner of each express a promise to the distributor that if he disseminates one sheet the Patron Sunt and gods will see to the prosperity and freedom from harm of the individual himself; if he distributes from two to five his own family will prosper be free from harm: if ten sheets, relations will partake of similar blessings, and so on to 10,000 when his whole province will be Ulessed and his name enshrined for ever as their saviour! This is the incen-such sheets. The incentive for anyone to tive promised the disseminators of
read them is the imminence of being cut down by the Boxers and taken for a Christian if he dare to refuse. As to changing of names and designations the riesha is, of course, a foreign invention the very name in Chinese being "Japan. ese wheel" (conveyanes)—Tung-yang-ch'8, "By order of the Chief Disciple" it is now dubbed ' Peace wheel" (conveyance), and anyone daring to call it a "Japanese wheel" is at once cut down and the riesha smashed to pieces, Since this order was issued from Boxer headquarters in Peking, all" rieshas in the North have now the words " Tai-ping-ch'é" attached to the bicks, and "Tung-yang-ch'8"" is a thing of the past.
While at Tangchou ness arrived from Peking (29h June) that a member of the Chinese Party, namely, Ch'éu Hsia-fen, Junior Vice President of the Board of Civil Appointments [of which the lately martyred Hsii Ching-ch'8ng was the senior Vice-President.—Translator] had been murdered on the 24th by a purty of Boxers and Tung Fa-hsiang's Kansa men, ant from all' acovunts it seemed to hive been a premeditated affair. For you must remember that the Chinese Party had made themselves very odious to the Manchus, the Boxers—who hated them for
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.