foreign troops. I cannot indeed march a regiment of Chinese before my reader for review, but of their shortcomings in Eu- ropean literary composition I will give an actual sample. An Englishman had occasion to send a note to his doctor *s native assistant, and here, in facsimile, is the reply :
"Dear Sir, — I not know this things. Dr. — no came Thursday. More better you ask he supose you what Fashtion thing can tell me know I can send to you.
"Yours truly,
"HANG SIN."
Now in the foregoing we have a very fine specimen of the sort of results achieved by Chinamen who flatter themselves that they can write English. There are a tardily increasing num- ber of well-educated natives to whom this remark does not apply. They have learnt the letters, and something of the syntax and grammar, but not enough to be of value to them ; and so it is with the Chinese soldier of to-day. He possesses occasionally the right weapons, but he lacks the knowledge essential to make use of them effectively, and the perfect discipline which alone can unite him to his fellows on the field, as an important unit in a compact and well-organised mass.
On April 4th I left Ningpo for Snowy Valley, in a native boat which I hired to take me up stream to Kong-kai. It was close on midnight when we started from Ningpo wharf, and we hoped to reach Kong-kai village by about 9 or 10 a. m. next day. In the end we reached Kong-kai within the allotted time. My party consisted of my two China boys, and four Ningpo coolies engaged to transport my baggage to the hills. Our path lay across fields of bean and rape, now in full bloom and exhal- ing a delightful fragrance, which contrasted strikingly with the morning whiffs from the manure-bestrewed fields, which com-
