Tachlentu, June 25.
Yesterday we received "a letter from Mrs. "Ogden written from Atuntze, Yunnan, under date of May 7. It took her about sixteen days to do the journey south from Batang, erossing the Yangize and travelling down the left bank of the Mekong to this lonely' ttle outpost in' the far northwest corner of Yunnan, Here she found Dr, and Mrs. Bare, two American missionaries, who had been in. residence in. this little semi-'Tibetan village for nearly one month. Atuntze lies between the Yangtze and Mekong Rivers and was once the headquarters of the famous botanist, Kingdon Ward, when he was explore ing the great watersheds of the Mekong-Yangtze and Mekong-Salwen divides, M, Chartier, the French musk merchant, also' made this his headquarters for a number of years, the Into seventies, Dr. Cameron of the CIM, fell sick in this lonely village "on his way from West China to Rangoon, Captain Gill and other well known' travellers and ex-blorers have passed through Atuntzo, and of late years Mrs, Grubb, an American lady, made this her centre for work among the Tibetans.
When Mrs. Ogden arrived in the Little village she found Dr, and. Mrs. Bare getting ready for a siege, laying loads of rice and food, The Com= munists were reported not far away and the local ofclat advised Mrs. Ogden to hurry on which she intended to do as soon as the animals were secured, She had some dif culty in Knowing just what to do and in what Gireetion to go. With an army of Reds spreading themselves out every direction in search of food it was no easy task for this brave, little American lady to make a decision. Should she continue further down the Mekong *into Yunnan, cut slighty west Into Burma or follow Dr, and Mrs, Bare in their attempt to cross the border into Tibet?
Trobp Movements Begun 'Troop movements began and over 10,000 of Lisle Yo's men were moved from Siang to Yachow and the Plain. 'What did it all mean?' Were the Hunan soldiers being moved from Sikang to take part in the pending struggle in South China? And if 80, were we being left at the mercy of the Communists? "Gen. Li, brave old. follow, declared that his job was here fon the border and no matter what happened in other parts of China, he was going to defend this post, 'The Femoval of Government troops towards Yachow, left Luting and the 'Tachienlu rear' at the merey of the Red armies, On the Chinese Duan Yang, the "Afth of the "Ath moon festival, Tachienlu forgot about war, Communism, troop movements and the fact thit rice was increasing in price and went in for a real holiday.
The military authorities wisely put +on a theatrical performance and thousands flocked to the Jala grounds to. gee the entertainment, The day, children. of fed in their beautiful garments, Tt seemed quite easy to forget one's troubles and fears and throw aside anxiety and worry. Everybody seemed to be happy. Whether they had paid their debts or not I don't know, but the day for paying them had passed, and with it, no doubt, the complex, The planes had dropped a lot of money, sliver and dollar notes, and the streotvenders were doing a roaring trade.
Chinese and Tibetan Indies drossed in their Sunday best.were circum ambulating the city and enjoying the Deautiful hills and lovely -weath What a pleasant and delightful feoling was in the alr and if everybody would just be nice and kind we might spend the remainder of our da} trout fshing in the Sikang mountain streams, The Hunan soldiers have returned from the front at Hohow to Tachienlu, The city was packed with troops yesterday and the stecets hada tively appearance, The men were no doubt glad to get back again to city life afler holding the Teds at boy on the other side of the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.