he district of Yutong whence comes this curious Chinese version of the story of St, George and the Dragon, adjoins Tachienla in w Szechuan, where Mr, Clements will be remembered as for Several years our correspondent and the suther of many brilliant letters, Bure Photo every 12 years, the people of Yutong hold a festival of thanksuivinge to commemorate a great deliverance. It is called Yangnien because the event it caleb ovewrred in the Yangnien or sheep year of the Chinese Sixty Years Cycle. The time of observ ance is On the 13th day of the 10th moon, The inauguration of the festival dates far back beyond liv ing memory, and cannot now be definitely traced.
The Python's Feast.
According to the story related to me by my host, in former times, at the Cliff of the Goddess of Mercy, on the road from Wasi to Yutong, there lived a great python, which acquired a taste for human flesh. This monster was endowed with more than the ordinary powers of his kind, and became a terror to the district. For his food, he demanded of the people in the valley one human being every day, de-claving that if his wants were not satisfied, he would wreak dire vengence on the whole community hen as now. numerous villages were scattered up and down the valley, and it was the custom of the python to pass from place to place to demand his daily fare.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.