Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/262

196 and above their special task, to attach the people to themselves and to make loved the name of France. They have fully succeeded," he added.

The whole question of railway construction in Yün-nan has become a long story, involving as it does the rival schemes and pretensions of England and France, and the new attitude of self-assertion on the part of China, and will be dealt with at the conclusion of a brief account of my journey on from Yün-nan Fu to the Burmese frontier. It will be convenient, however, if, before embarking on the narrative of the remainder of my journey, I here interpose a chapter on a question of burning interest to Western China—namely, the question of the suppression of the opium traffic.