I had been planning this time to write of bridges in Kansu and above all the great ice bridge that forms over the Yellow River in many points of its course. But perhaps in Shanghai ice would be more welcome topic in the summer months on the assumption that if one can't be cool, one may at least think about cool things—like the glittering frozen river with its 10 feet of ice and the dark clear waters underneath. And further we have been favoured with a visit from so heterogeneous a party from Siberia in the last few days, that usual and constant topics such as the ice and snow must wait awhile.
Prox tHe Seven Seas. big carts, wide mat-covered two-wheelers brought them the 54 days' journey from Urumchi the capital of Chinese Turkestan. They are a very pleasant party, of many nationalities—including a French Viscount and an English Captain, and an English Lieutenant. who speaks Russian as a native, and two civilians, mine managers or something in that line in Siberia. one of whom is Scottish and the other from New Zealand. And with them are soldiers, some French. one Saxon, one Hungarian and a Turki who is their interpreter. When they want to give an order to the Chinese carter, the message may have to pass through Russian and Turki before it gets to Chinese. But what, after all. do these travel-Jers reck of that? They have travelled from beyond Omsk and had to turn aside from the railway on the fall of Koltehak's government, and undertake this land journey of a 100 odd days to reach Lanchow. Behind them, we learn, are 2 party of Japanese: behind these again a natty of Russians and Tetts (including 'a General) and behind those again a party of Servians.
Tas or Russtan Avrocracy.
'The tales they can tell of the conditions in Siberia are most en-terraining, and all of them seem to feel that' the mass of the old Russian autocracy simply had to go and that all the nations were foolish to meddle in Russian internal affairs any longer. The British and French members of the party are members of the Missions sent to Siberia—the others are refugees, compelled to leave as the Bolshevists rolled eastwards.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.