Most of the refugees had absolutely no idea where they were going to, and all over the Settlement they could be seen resting with their effects on the side of the road for a brief spell before going on to look for a room, a shack, a lean-to or any form of shelter. They gazed with lustreless ey the crowds seething past them, at a little girl, stretched out on top of a pile of household effects, her eyes shut and the torrid noon-day beating down on her head; at rickshaw and wheel-barrow coolies bargaining for higher prices; at an old man scrambling in the-road way, in imminent peril of being run over, as he tried to collect a handful of coppers which had fallen out of an old cotton bag; and at a dozen and one similar incidents.
Boundary Road presented a peculiar scene, This road, those who have travelled on it will recall, is divided in the centre by iron railings; south of the railings is the Settlement road, on the north is the Chinese road The Settlement road was packed with refugees, loafers, and lookers-on; the Chinse side deserted, save "for an occasional Chinese soldier or member of the Paoantui, North Station Sentries ind the North Station sentries were posted at intervals of a few feet; these were regulars, in German-type steel helmets and full war-time kit. Members of the Peace Preservation Corps (Pacantui) and of the Civie Training Corps bustled to and fro, escorting rickshaws on which were piled barbed wire, blankets jand other feld equipment.
At the corner where Paoshan Road runs into North Honan Road, a sandbag machine-gun post had been erected; a large advertisement hoarding which stood in front of the post and hid it from view in the past had been torn down. On top of the railway administration building—the main entrance of which was closed—were more Paoantui sentries, in helmets and with fixed bayonets.
The exodus from Nantao was very slight yesterday, as compared with that from the northern "areas Special precautions were taken by the Chinese authorities, however, and on more than one thoroughfare leading to the French Concession pedestrians and motorists were stopped and searched for arms by the police.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.