This party has been much more fortunate than the one which preceded it, although things did not look at all promising when they set out. Leaving Pingyang on the 13th of July they had only gone twenty-five li when they were set upon by a band of robbers who attacked the four carts in which they travelled, ransacked their baggage, and lifted about Tls. 400. They took nothing but the silver, and in order to find out where it was the two gentlemen were dragged from the carts and, with naked swords placed on their necks, were compelled to point out the boxes in which it was contained. They had an escort at the time of eight soldiers armed with guns and the same number of yamen runners who, although there were only fifteen robbers, attempted nothing in their defence, notwithstanding that the robbers had no firearms. Indeed, they are of opinion that the whole affair was planned before they left the city, and that robbers and escort afterwards' shared the plunder. Fortunately some money was saved, and this, coupled with the fact. that the yamens of the various cities passed Yhrough gave them escorts and assisted them forward, made the way comparatively easy. Besides the robbery and the death of the two children, "no other mishap befell.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.