Weihaiwei, May 28.
We have had no rain now for fully two months, and the amount of dust about is tremendous, in some parts of the road 1} ft- deep. In the low-lying grounds the wheat: crop looks well, but on higher ground it is a complete failure and there will again be a big shortage.
The Indian corn is being watered by hand in some places, to try and save it- The sweep potato shoots in many parts have been planted out twice and for lack of moisture have died off. Some farmers have not planted any, but still have the shoots in their homes bedded in moist sand. looks as it we are in for a very serious famine again. Wells are drying up, and there is a great deal of sickness about—"flu," chickenpox, measles, whooping cough, ete. The Confucianiscs have issued a tract announcing all kinds of impending disaster this year, but granting immunity to friends and neighbours.
A large ancestral temple is being rebuilt in one village at a cosd of between $2,000 and $3,000. This money has been lent out on interest to the people and is being called in now to pay for rebuilding. The people resent this very much when a famine is already in their midst and a further one threatened, so I expect there will be trouble over the matter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.