The atmosphere, both political and natural, is filled with ominous fragrance, the natural with the fragrance, of the chiung hua, a flower of which is on my desk, and a tree of which grows in the General's yamen grounds. This is said to he the only one in China now. Formerly there was another but it got killed by frost somewhere in Kiangsu.
Do any of your readers know of another in China? It is of the Hortensia family, is rare, was the means of charming an Emperor in A. D. 605, ete, ete. (Williams). But the important thing is that this tree only blossoms before any rebellion, revolution, or other big flare up. The last time it flowered was at the revolution, and their experience of how things have gone since that event does not lead them to wish a repetition of the same. Thus the people are on the tip-toe of expectation of trouble.
The recent squabbles in Kuang tune some weeks ago caused a good number of Kiangsiites to find it necessary to pay extended to their homes. and their coupled with the stories they bring has not tended towards peacefulness Valiant soldiers when on full pay and with nothing to do, but deserters when there crops up trouble, it is said that, numbers of these brought away their arms, and that these found a ready sale to the commanders in charge of the Northern troops in many of the outposts around the district, it is also rumoured that they are superior to the arms of the Northern men.
The friendship of certain grades of society is a fairly trustworthy barometer of the state of peace. When trouble is expected you have many friends coming only to sec the house, the garden, the flowers, ete., and recently this has been our experience. It is, of course, only a very thin outside coating; the real object is to try and make a friend for the future possible time of trouble.
Omne Ignotum. Iwas very much interested in your notes on the above. It indeed requires emphasis, some time ago I had a communication from a representative in the Far East of King George, asking for information on certain lines. On reading it we all got together but failed to. make out the good man's name in the end we could only address the reply to H. B. M. Consul at—and we must suppose the information reached the writer though we never heard.
'A large firm in the U. S. used to have a note in their catalogues asking their customers "To reserve pen-flourishes for other letters, but to please write order and sign name in legible hand."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.