No sooner were we in than friends began to call and only way to get a little needed exercise was to slip away and make some calls Every one is glad to see us and the hope, if they do not granted, that we have come to stay. Many are the expressions of sympathy when they learn that our better halves have not come with us.
Invitations to dinners have not been lacking and the usual courtesies of tea and cake continually are expressed in abundance, showing on the one hand friendliness and on the other a good supply of food.
The price of rice is the best thermometer, and we find it at about $4.50 a picul, a trifle lower than last year. Silver dollars ere as scarce as ever, but there is no lack of 20-cent silver pieces at about 10 per cent. discount, though 100 and 200- cash pices are com Apparent.' ly no paper money is in circulation. Drafts or cheques have been sold froely at about par all the year, but are below par now as the China New Year draws near. Business on the whole seems quite good, though the prices of down-river products are and wages are slightly higher. Board in our schools is about $2 per month. There is considerable need which move steadily down stream with many thousand piculs of our, native product. The horse road is being financed by an extra tax of $300 on each 10,000 catties. The erous, tne, look very good. There is no opium growing in this region.
The Invariable Squecze By special arrangement with the niilitary, large armies are not allowed to collect here, lest they cat the then that lays the golden egg—the Salt Gabelle. We understand all the nur late teens'and early twentics—drilling morning and evening and working at durin the day. ity, rightly controlled, might be a solution of the military occupation, although it seems an added burden flow. "Men of money are "not at ome" most of the time, as kidnaping and foreed "loans" are not un-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.