4 Gth April. The Drought, The wheat throughout a very large district is already past saving,. The slaughter of animals-has been prohibited for some time. Idols, have been paraded and have, been set out to bask in the sup till, they lot the rain come. All the unal methods of producing rain, having failed, the. Magistrate of. Siangyang proceeded, by deputy; scantily clad and barefooted to Nanchanghsien,: where there is a dragon spring, and' fetched back a bottle of the water. On his return the Commander-in-Chief, Taotai, and prefect, etc, went outside of the city to meet him, and when he approached, plodding along barefoot in the dust, bouring his precious bottle, these great men all ko towed to him and escorted him into the city.
The White Worse Cave, bout 50 li up river from here, is also a place visited during drought. The people claim that that cave extends into Szechuan, it- having been proved by dropping marked wood here and it being recovered at the other opening of the eave in Szechiiani. During a, drought some eight years ago, the magistrate made his pilgrimage to the White, Horye Cave, but that resulted ju such, deluge that the cities were near being washed away., That being too much of @ good thing they keep clear of this cave now, and will not go there except as a last resource, The Swedish American Mission Hospital in Siangyang, which has been undergoing extensive repairs nq enlargement, had a grand opening the other, day.. The Commander-jit-Chief of the province, the Taotai, a number of other high military officials, and the, leading elders of the city were present Sjoquist, who is in charge of the, hospital, showed them through the establishment, and exhibited to them his instruments, ete; after the company had partaken of Chinese feasts, they were treated to a stereoptic view exhibition.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.