Rumours have reached me of an outbreak of Boxerism at Shihfang, a city some 50 miles from here.
The weather is lovely for travelling just now, but there are the other drawbacks. A recent traveller from here to Chengtu writes thus: "At each stage from Lokiang onwards we had 40 armed soldiers with us sent by the magistrate, so we came through all serene. The men had a brush with the robbers at Siaohanchen, and there was plentiful popping off of rifles and much excitement. If we had had no escort we should certainly have been robbed. The amount of tea-money one has to put out for such a journey is enough to pay a servant's wages for a month."
Around Mienchow things are peaceful.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.