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 as the reader will have gathered from my account of the inun- dations, his treatise is likely to be of great value, provided that its suggestions, if any, for draining the country and restoring the broken embankments can, or rather will, be carried out. The ministers wore simple robes of variously-coloured satin, open in front and caught in by a band at the waist ; collars of pale blue silk tapering down from the neck to the shoulders, and thick-soled black satin boots. This costume was extremely picturesque, and what is of far greater importance, the ministers, most of them, were as fine-looking men as ever our own Cabinet can boast. All of them had an air of quiet, dignified repose.

The arrival of Prince Kung on the scene cut short our gen- eral conversation. The Prince for a few minutes kept me in a pleasant talk, enquiring about my travels and about photography, and manifesting considerable interest in the process of taking a likeness. He is a man of middle stature, and of rather slender frame ; his appearance, indeed, did not impress me so favourably as did that of the other members of the Cabinet; yet he had what phrenologists would describe as a splendid head. His eyes were penetrating, and his face, when in repose, wore an expres- sion of sullen resolution. As I looked upon him, I wondered whether he felt the burden of the responsibility which he shared with the ministers around, in guiding the destinies of so many millions of the human race ; or whether he and his distinguished colleagues were able to look with complacency upon the present state of the Empire and its people.

These men have had many and great difficulties to contend against in their time. Foreign war, civil insurrection, famine, floods and the rapacity of their officials in different quarters of the land, have done much to weaken the prestige and power