All the way from the market town of Liulin in Shansi to this city. our party has travelled through the: area" where serious famine. tions prevail. One of the worst intricts x on the east side of the Yellow River in the western border two districts, Li shih and Chung ang. There in an area including villages more than 12,000 people fare in desperate straits. "That little area bordering the Yellow River depends for the most part upon the cultivation of the jujube for its income. For several successive seasons the orchards have failed to; produce a normal yield, and last season there failure. Already their wives and practically a total men are selling idven out of that An examination of the stuff being used for food in 80 per cent. of the homes hereabouts reveals that the people are trying to live on a concoction of millet chaff. Others are using the husks of the kaoliang grain, with a bit of the grain itself, making a red pottage, Others are using black beans. The medi officer accompanying our party found a great deal of tuberculosis among the villagers, and this disease is sure to take'a heavy toll as food conditions grow worse. We fare just beginning the detailed investigation of ten hsien, working out from this city as a centre.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.