There is said to be rain enough in some places in Shansi, but we get very little in this district. The sky is often dark with clouds, but they contain no water, nothing fut masses of dust raised. by the incessant winds. Life indoors or out of doors is becoming intolerable. The dust penetrates everywhere and is no sooner removed than it accumulates again immediately. More serious still is the prospect of failure in the wheat crop. In the district of Taiyuan-hsien, where extensive irrigation is carried on, the country looks delightful, and the young wheat is in the blade and is most promising, but. the water in the Fen river Isonly a few inches deep, and unless rain falls speedily, there will be no water at all. The prospect is by no means encouraging.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.