The city is being scraped with a toothcomb by the Chao party to gather in everything that can be coined. Every household and family is' being visited and asked for the next two and a half months' rent. I am told, that where the lodgers look scared and hand over the money easily, no receipts are given, and it is alleged that the collectors take no further account of such payments, The county magistrate, who ran away as soon as the Chia troops returned and asked him to get them $8,000, has been replaced by another man who is told to make it $20,000. He explained to the business men that he would see to it that the gentry bore their share and had a list of 180 names on which he was going to make a call, There are by no means all of these left in the city. Each of +the outgoing foreign steamers—the only means of communication for Changsha civilians with the world outside—has been crowded.
It is an interesting thing that the rear silk shops, which since the beginning of the strife have had empty shelves, are now offering quite a good display of materials. The streets are also unusually thus, There are no
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.