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furnish 300;000 able-bodied men as soldiers. The limits of this town lie within a space five miles wide and seven or eight long. The town is composed of coteries of villages around the main centre of trade. They have one of the finest schools in the empire, the Ue-lam Shii-nen. Its studeuts everywhere take high rank, and several of the leading gentry of the place have won the highest literary honours. The corporation controls all the town affairs, not allowing Government officials to have anthority except in rare cases. Gambling, prostitution, and other evils are forbidden, and the laws, in most cases, are rigidly enforced. It is said that a man may take his daughters to any place of entertain- ment in the town without exciting suspicious remarks. Their chief hatred, however, is against the foreigner, and they have sworn never to permit the hated barbarian to.obtain a foothold in their town.

The tide of wickedness thrown back from the gates of Kow-kong finds ready admission through the open doors of Loong-kong, the adjoining town. There gamb- ling and all forms of vicious amusement flourish under the especial patronage of the gentry, The Kow-kong swarm the streets of the neighbouring town, and pour their money into the coffers of the Loong-kong people.

From the inner region of the silk district, the entrance to the main West River is over the Kom-chook rapids, When the tide is full it is an easy matter to cross these rapids, but when the water is down, a ledge of rock at the bottom canses the stream to rush and boil in an angry way. The choice then lies between engaging a dozen ov-twenty men, who are always waiting for a