their headquarters in the hills of the district and the money must be sent to them; otherwise a visit is paid to the home in question and death or destruction be the result. In the case of the richer classes, larger sums are exacted and, if not paid, the men themselves or their children or other relatives are liable to be captured and held to ransom.
Tht bandits completely disregard the local soldiery. It appears that at the Hangchow headquarters there. are two classes of troops, the men of. Chekiang and those from northern provinces. It is the local troops who are used for general purposes throughout the province and obviously they would have no wish to meet the bandits in battle for various reasons.
There is a very important trade 'n tea and silk in the Shaohsing district and this, of course, has suffered greatly. Reinforcements of soldiers are sometimes sent and' half-hearted attempts made to clear out the bandits. It is believed that about 40 of the latter have been killed: in these skirmishes but there is no dearth of recruits.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.