had been solemnly assured by a certain foreign curio dealer that he had been offered stuff which had recently been looted from these tombs. This, of course, Is an old, old story, which curio dealers dish up for the delectation of their victims. But anyhow T had expressed my complete seeplicism, because the Ming Tombs cal were looted very thoroughly about 300 years ago, when the Manchus first came in, and it is highly unlikely that they now contain anything worth looting.
'No visitors had been there for several months, nor Is that so astonishing seeing that the hills behing are said to be. frequented by irre-dulers and' similar unpleasant folk. The old rords that we drove over Were sill pretty good but the new Jones are bad, mere mud roads, the surface of which is already breaking "in that respect the clock has been pur back very successfully. Except fo the Golf Course and to the Race [Course, foreigners hardly go outside the eily these days. Even the latter which Is only three miles outside the city is made. more inaccessible, because the direct gate, the Hslenmen, has remained closed ever since, the outbreak of the trouble, and the Japanese, for some inscrutable reason, steadily refuse fo open it. The former Agricultural College has. been converted into a large barracks by the Japanese, and they have started commandeering the collages of for feigners for billeting purposes.
In one of the issues of the "North China Daily News" Vast month a businessman who had visited our fortunate city gave a glowing account Jof conditions here: he stressed its prosperity, the rapid development, jand the popularity of the Japanese army with the local population. "Those [or us who live here, whose special" Job It is to note these things, and can even talk the language a litre: have, is true, failed to note these happy. conditions, except in one respect. This businessman is rather vague as to the details of the rapid develop-meng of. the country, which.he says has already been commenced by the Japanese.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.