Mokanshan, July 95.
Everyone here is much amused at the report that the Mokanshan' police have asked the authorities ut Hangchow to request that the foreigners on the mountain will not go boating at night timd owing to the prevalence of ro The nearest waterway is at! Sanchiapu, a good three hourd walk away. Nobody dreams of boating. If the police mean that! foreigners should not go by! native houseboat at Hangchow! (as many families do in preference to the launch), the answer is that several hundreds of peo ple have come up this year by! native houseboat, as they have done for years past without the faintest inconvenience.
On the river eastwards to Huchow the villagers have a _reputation for bad manners. But this is a very old affair. They! are in no sense bandits.
Recently the police of the Mokansh: district have circularized all the houses to the effect that a police tax is to be levied all round at a certain as yet unspecified rate. This is an! absolute innovation and tke As! sociation has countered by circularizing a request that nobody will pay the tax until we know how much it is, what for andi where the money wil] go.
Meanwhile one suspects a connexion between the announcement of the tax andi the suggestion that foreigners should not ge boating at night. May it be that the police are anxious to! establish a reputation for zeal! to justify demands for backsheesh one be put of silly reports, which always toys a string to and further meanwhile let no
them" from coming.to Mokan4 shan, where life is most tranquil and pleasant.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.