The report ends the story of another disaster which—almost inclines one to believe in the Chinese theory that when heaven hab decided to destroy a people it fs of no use attempting to save them. It runs;—"The village Kwanyin temple was raided by the bandit Wang Tien-kwoh. It consisted of 400 homes and a population of about 2,000. After the raid something over ten houses were left standing and the pdpulation was reduced to about 500, people saw that life was impossible decided to cross the Yellow River and seek shelter in the Province of Shansi till times should be better. They marched to the bank of the river and secured a boat in which 200 got across. The boat returned and 300 crowded into it for the soco When the boat was in midstream it was seen that soldiers lined the northern and these prohibited the ing crowd from landing. The authorities in Shansi had plenty beggars of their own and were in mood to welcome hungry ghosts from Honan, The boatmen ned back but, by this time, audits had collected on the southern bank, prepared to rob the poor folk of their clothes and whatever possessions they might salvaged from the wreck of homes. The refugees would not allow the boatmen to approach the southern shore and the soldiers denied them access to the northern bank and thus the boat dallied in midstream ill it was dusk, The wind rose as the sun went down and the tired helmsman made a wrong move and swung the boat broadside to the swift current. In moment it went over and every soul was drowned."
Such is the tragic tale famine in Miench'th Hsien.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.