A concession had been granted sometime previous to my arrival in Hankow to a French syndicate fo. he construction of the Hankow "eking Railway, and work had be: n started at a point near the Ha: River, west of the Chinese An embankment about 20ft. high red beea thrown un and extended all the way from that point to thx Seven Mile Creek, running across the plain like a huge snake, but some hitch had occurred and wor! ind been storped. As no attempt had been made to guard the sides t-e embankment from the effects vf the flood it had the appearance of a very dilapidated snake, with huge gaps at intervals where the flood had had full play, and it remained in that condi several years while the diplomatic knots were being disentangled. work really did it was taken up with characteristic energy, but we in Hankow did not see much of it as the running of trains had to be delayed until the very substantial railway bridge had been built to cross the Seven Mile Creek, by no means one of the simplest tasks of this great under. taking.
When the railway was in workin order up to the terminus near the Tan River another large project was started, no loss than the build ing of n huge embankment throw ing a half circle round the extreme edge of the plain I have described. in order to put a stop to the annual encroachment of the flood waters, and reclaim this vast area of fine alluvial soil for agricultural - and other purposes. The vast difference this has made in the valueeof lan® in that area will be better realized when we find that land in the present western extension of the British Concession which was a drug in the market twenty years ago at fifty tael cents per fong, now is eagerly bought at seventy to one hundred taels per fong.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.