From Our Own Correspondent, Fowchow, Szs., June 16.
In our last letter we were congratulating ourselves on the. recently improved conditions of affairs throughout the district. We forgot to "'rap on wood." In a recent letter from Boojiamiao, a town 150 li north of the river, 1t was stated that the town had been visited by robbers. Later jnformation told us that six of the robbers had been caught, two had been executed, the remainder were still on trial.
Travelling south of the river a few days ago we met a party of soldiers returning to the city. One of our carriers recognizing some of the soldiers said to them:—"And I met you the other day, don't you remember, near Ma Wu Chang—the day you executed the four robbers?"
Figaps You Lose.
Returning home the other day outside the South Gate of the city we ran into a crowd at the side of the road. On asking what they were looking at they replied—"At dead men, the officials beheaded six this morning."
There they lay waiting for friends to come and claim them. They were all young men, one of them a mere boy of about 16. They had robbed some boats 15 li above the city. At the trial one of them pleaded that he had not taken any silver, only copper pieces, but the small amount his plunder did not save him from sharing the fate of the others.
And this is not all. Five days ago two, and yesterday four more were executed for robberies committed in the city here. Of the latter seven in all were captured, three are still on trial. Four of them were dismissed police, and three belonged to the regular troops stationed here. They had stolen 10 loads of opium.
The Chinese say theée robberies are for the most part the work of discharged soldiers. They have no trade, they are unwilling to do work again, thus money runs out and their clothes wear out, they take the road of least resistance to the habits they formed as soldiers.
Scarcity Actua axp Commo.
The people throughout the dis. trict are becoming anxious about the rice and corn crops. For the past month we have had almost continuous rain. The rivers are high, the mountain streams are swollen, the whole country es literally soaked. Unless we have dry weather within a short time the crops will be greatly damaged. The city gate was closed for a few days recently and the soldiers spent a couple of mornings firing across the river to frighten away the "yan awol? who were playing such tricks with the weather. Their efforts seemed to be success-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.