The harvest just gathered in on the plain around Sian is a specially good one. Unfortunately, it is now a very long time since rain fell, the land is parched and dry and, although it is now more than time that the millet and maize were sown, the farmers are unable to do anything until rain comes. Indeed, many are the fears that there will be no second crop and already the prices of grain are soaring, so that wheat is now nearly double the price it was st time. The poorer classes his a very great hardship, as they who have these cheaper grains as their staple diet.
Sianfu had a terrible shock on the evening of June 18, when the gunpowder magazine blew up. It was a terrifying experience, as if several batteries of great howitzers had suddenly opened fire in a neighbours' yard, and this immediately followed by the blowing up of great mines. Several streets were wiecked and over 400 casualties have been reported. Fortunately, the magazine was situated in an uninhabited corner of the city, or the death-roll would have been much greater.
Of large buildings, the English Baptist Mission hospital has suffered most severely: the estimated cost of damage done there is about $1,000. It was said that the cause was due to the great-heat, and officials were quick to issue prioclamations to this effect, but by those who know of the sinister influences at work in the city this is not believed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.