21st May.
We began our journey from Chefoo on the I9th instant and had a comfortable passage on the s.s. Chungching to Port Arthur. The steamer left at p.m. prompt, and arrived at her destination about six o'clock next morning. We had to pass the doctor before being admitted to port and waited several hours before the signal came, allowing the vessel to come into the harbour. A friend came on board to meet us so that Hotel de France which is doe to the Tan We landed in comfort and lodged at the
ing place. The d ere are ye auth accommodation very poor Use fast, however, was found palatable. 'A curious custom is to charge so much for a room and extra for meals, each meal being paid for separately. In crossing in the steamer we found the fare to be seven mexican dollars per ead and extra for meals according to tariff.
from the Civil Administrator of this pro-On presenting letter of introduction vince, We were most courteously received by a gentleman who is on the staff of the railway administration. He drove us over in the afternoon to the new town which is rapidly being built. It is laid out in broad streets macadamized, rolled and drained. Hotels, schools and private residences are all in course of construction, and thousands of Chinese labourers are busily at work. The harbour is also being deepened, and will when complete prove ample for all the merchant shipping likely to use it. The harbour presents a busy scene. Torpedo boats darting about; merchant steamers anchored stern clare to the shore; junks, sampans and small craft of all kinds, moving all directions. The hills facing the sea are all surrounded with belt of forts frowning down on any hostile fleet that may assail them; and are said to be impregnable. The railway is still in a state of transition and the appointments at present are in a. rather rough condition, but we are promised everything in order within the next ear erse. Rickshaws, droskys and bicycles, jostle each other in the stony streets, and crowds of Chinese, Russian soldiers, officers, and civilians, throng the thoroughfares, making a most animated and pictures que scene. The whole place strikes one as being in process of formation, and the ideas concerning it, realised, will make Port Arthur a city to be proud of.
We started on our long train journey at eight in the morning. The gentleman who so kindly drove us round the place the previous day'met us on our way to the train and secured our tickets. He informed us that our Chinese servant could not cross into Russian territory without a passport,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.