The keeping-up of this sleep-disturbing ceremony brings to mind a similar instance of Chinese devotion to old custom which I once witnessed near Chentu, where an Kolated hill that rises out of the level Chentu plateau was the object of a like curious ceremony. At midwinter, six antediluvian guns are carried down from the walls of the capital and a cannon shot fired out of each at the bill in question with the view, the Chinese say, of ensuring good crops in the coming year. Both guns and ceremony date from the time of the Mings; the' military, officials run the show, for which a sum of twenty thousand taels has been allotted annual ly from the provincial revenues from time immemorial. The function itself is 2 grand picnic, the officers feasting in a huge temporary marquee before the firing commerces. On the occasion at which Twas present, one of the guns burst, two bystanders were killed outright and several wounded. The mishap was accepted with the usual Chinese nonchalance, part of the Tls. 20,000 (and a very small part) was devoted to burial of the victims, agriculturists on whose land the were set up, and whose position close fo the bursting gun was due to their watching for the safety of their rice sacks which had been "commandeered" by the officials for the purpose of filling them with the earth used to steady the recoil. The mens' fear that the surrounding crowd might steal their sacks when the function should be over, thus cost. them their lives! But barring these and the unlucky wounded, nobody else suffered The cannon were long cannonades ringed with thick iron bands, and sacks of earth were pied on them before firing to stop the recoil: no aim could be taken; the muzles were elevated so that the balls marked a high parabola but buried themselves successfully, in the opposing mountain.
The coming crops were saved, and a pi val costume and armed with hugo banners, wended its way back to the city. The camp-stools of the mandarlms, who sat in their full-dress uniforms in a semicircle in rear of the cannon, were folded up; these latter entered their chairs, gangs of coolies slung the guns, including the corpus delicti, over their shoulders, to be returned to the wall and left to rust another year in the sun and rain until midwinter should call them forth again for the next festo.
Our River still continues to beat the record for absence of water at this season of the spring freshets: the level is still only nine inches above zero mark; there is said to be only a foot of water on the Shinlung rapid (below Wan); all cargo has to incur portage at this spot, the junks only venturing the descent when stripped to the bare hull. The French gun-vessel "Dry" left to-day for Wan, there bein no lack of water between Chungking anc that city.
An Unforeseen Event occurred to-day in the Shansi Kai, the principal street of this city. Mr. Allshorn, the Tide Surveyor, while being carried in jis chair, was suddenly attacked by a man armed with a sword-stick of squared iron. Mr. Allshora was struck two blows which brought him and his chair to the ground fortunately they missed his head.
pon recovering himself he found the man standing over him prepared to dear another blow. Mr. Allshorn thereupon grappled with his assailant and succeeded in handing him over to his guard of four soldiers, a guard that always attends the Customs' foreign officers when moving about the city. The chair was an open mountain chair; the assailant was a well-dressed man, and the motive for the attack is still a mystery.
Mejor Manifold and Captain Hunter returned to-day, from Chentu, and are about to continue' their survey on the South bank of the River.
An Unpleasant Occurence is reported from Yungchang, a city a hundred miles to the West. The American Mission had rented a house and paid the customary deposit with the view of inaugrating a new mission hall; whereupon the Catholics claimed the building, eject~ ed the native agents of the Americans and pasted up "R. C. Hall" on the door. The officials had to intervene to prevent a riof. The Americans are said to have offered to give up the premises provided the Catholics do the same, but the Catholic is of the Church militant order and refuses the preferred concession. So far, the Americans refuse to give up the place unconditionally to the Catholics, and right-Ly so, for, if the Catholics conquer' it means a blow to Protestant prestige and a farther access of influence to the already too influential Catholic position in this much barrassed province. As to the Chinese officials, they are at their wits? end in a case of this kind.
Mr. Upcraft, of the Baptist mission, also arrived here to-day on his way down river. He reports the drought farther West as very serious; there have been no "grain "rains" this spring and the young rice cannot be planted out. Already many farmers are commencing to plant "dry" rice, and a poor substitute for the genuine article. Meanwhile, we are enjoying midsummer heat and the outlook all round is bad, commercially and politically.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.