comprehensive than ours, for even
eclipses are foretold that never happen. Should an error take place in
their almanac, and an expected eclipse not occur, the royal astronomers
are not disconcerted--far from it; they discover in their error reason
for rejoicing; they then congratulate the Emperor that "the heavens have
dispensed with this omen of ill-luck in his favour." For eclipses
forebode disaster, and every thoughtful Chinaman who has heard of the
present rebellion of the Japanese must attribute the reverses caused by
the revolt to the eclipse of April 6th, occurring immediately before the
insurrection.

Tongchuan is one of the most charming towns I have ever visited; it is
probably the cleanest city in China, and the best governed. Its prefect
is a man of singular enlightenment, who rules with a justice that is
rarely known in China. His people regard him as something more than
mortal. Like Confucius "his ear is an obedient organ for the reception
of truth." Like the Confucian Superior Man "his dignity separates him
from the crowd; being reverent he is beloved; being loyal he is
submitted to; and being faithful he is trusted. By his word he directs
men, and by his conduct he warns them."

For several years he was attached to the Embassy in Japan, and he boasts
that he has made Tongchuan as clean a city as any to be found in the
empire of the Mikado. The yamen is a model of neatness. Painted on the
outflanking wall there is the usual huge representation of the fabulous
monster attempting to swallow the sun--the admonition against
extortion--and probably the only magistrate in China who does not stand
in need of the warning is the Prefect of Tongchuan.

Prices in Tongchuan at the time of my visit were high and food was
scarce. It was difficult to realise that men at that moment were dying
of starvation in the pretty town. Rice cost 400 cash for the same
quantity that in a good season can be bought for 60 cash; maize was 300
cash the sheng, whereas the normal price is only 40 cash. Sugar was 15
cash the cake instead of 6 cash the cake, and so on in all things. Poppy
is not grown in the valley to the same extent as hitherto, because
poppy displaces wheat and beans, and the people have need of all the
land they can spare to grow breadstuffs. In the other half of the year,
rice, maize, and tobacco are grown together on the plain, and at the
same season potatoes, oats, and buckwheat are grown in the hills.

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