Weihaiwei, December 31.—To say that Weihaiwei is cold during this marvellous winter weather is quite ridiculous, for down on the sea-front we walk about in the sur. without overcoats; but up in the hills this morning, when the sun seemed unable to make up its mind whether it was rising or setting, the wind blew bitterly cold—and the whole wintry scene reminded me of Robert Service's lines when he speaks of sunsets and says, "the lonely sunsets flare forlorn, down valleys dreary desolate: the lordly mountains soar in scorn, as still as death, as stern as fate." But by the time this thought had come into my head the sun, finally making up its mind that it was rising and not setting, shone down in dazzling grandeur on to a shimmering coat of hoar-frost which made the hilltops dance. Into the heart of the chilly wind I walked for two good hours without seeing bird or beast or man,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.