These troops, who, like the great majority of China's soldiers, have been aptly described as "armed coolies," are of just the same calibre as the bmgands themselves, and, in fact, form a fruitful supply in_ recruiting brigand bands; the chief difference is that the soldiers are badly clothed and are seldom if ever paid, while the brigands' conditions are the reverse, especially when luck is good. At any rate, my band had plenty of clothes, food, opium, money and loot of all kinds, including silver and ornaments in profusion. It was no uncommon tu.ing to see a young bandit with not.ess than six bangles of silver, jade and amber on each arm, and a silver collar round his neck, while his ady would be swathed in layers of silk, as an easy means of carrying it, and his huge turban comprising yards and yards of silk crepe or brocade. The greatest difficulty of the brigands is to secure for themselves a sufficient supply of ammunition and also of modern fire-arms, their guns, ranging from pre-historic flint or matchlocks with pistol butt, to the most modern Mauser pistols and army rifles. It follows that, unlike the soldiers who generally fire in the air, on an attack, the brigands are generally much more inclined to husband their ammunition and to aim when they fire. Thus, in this instance, they did not seem to fear the proximity of, or to anticipate an attack by, the soldiers. Although at this time, I was not aware of the near presence of soldiers, I fully appreciated the danger that, if attacked and beaten or forced to disperse, the brigands would have made start shift with me. In their terms to the Government mentioned above they also stipulated for a tame limit of two months, after which period, the Government not acceding to their demands, they stated that I was to be killed and a very large number of them were to proceed to the neighbouring province of Szechuan, where they. would join the forces against the Yunnan Government.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.