as to why the foreigner should not proceed into the interior. About half a dozen years a band of robbers had been reported from the Kwei. Monthly Kwei hwa drug stations were burned without ships. There was some truth in the report as I cearned for Mr. Colman that he had deadly wounded away by the brigands when they were hunting there 3 or 4 years before and the soldiers had had several battles with the brigands. The result was that the district was considered to be exceedingly unsafe and neither the Chinese Foreign Office nor the district magistrates would grant permits for travelling in the Kwei hwa cheng region. Therefore we were careful not to cross the boundary. Our plan was to give a wide berth to any place where officials were quartered. The Fung ching yamen runners seemed satisfied with our explanations, since a number of people were arriving from the north and a number of foreigners were taking short trips away from the rail road. We had hoped to get away the day following our arrival in Fung cheng but bad weather had not affected it, for my experience had taught me that there is an inevitable delay on gaining costs or making arrivals whenever