If the high authorities meant business, this scandalous state of affairs would not be tolerated for an instant. One wonders what reports are being despatched to Tientsin concerning his success in dealing with the bandit menace, by the Brigandier in Tsangchow to the Governor. It is a curious comment on the situation to learn that the General in command of the punitive expedition is housed with his staff in an inn within the south gate of the city, whose proprietor is a prominent Mohammedan. These are the quarters recently occupied by Major Liu, the Earless" and his swaggering satellites, for whom the proprietor acted as official writer! In such circumstances, it is not surprising that the bandit chiefs are kept well informed of all troop movements, and have ample leisure in which either to prepare for attack or melt away, according to their whim.
One last illustration of the secret influences at work to paralyze all attempts at dealing directly with the principal offenders. During the past months the earless brigand leader has frequently been entertained by a well-known Mohammedan family in the south suburb. The head of the clan, who had held high official rank, died five years ago, but his eldest son has been lavish in his attention to this robber chief, and there has been feasting ' and revelry these recent summer nights. Several of the younger brothers disapproved of these orgies, not on moral grounds, but because they objected to the family wealth being' squandered in this reckless and unseemly fashion. After a violent dispute with the elder brother, and a request for an immediate division of the inheritance, which was rejected, one of the blathers went to see the Brigadier and reported the fact that his brother had been. guilty of assisting the bandits by honouring their chief. The general very properly demanded a written indictment, which he could forward to the higher authorities, but before this could be done peacemakers intervened and the domestic quarrel was patched ip. Truly, as my friend remarked, there is no hope of overcoming the powerful Mohammedan influences in high places, and the people must await; with characteristic fatalism the inevitable anarchy of the coming month.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.