CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEE XXV. 



THE EAST CHINESE KAILWAT. 



Eussia's coup — The line to pass through Manchuria — Great Britain's 

 reply — The Manchurian railway agreement — A journey over the 

 Manchurian railway in the autumn of 1903 — Across Lake Baikal 

 —The frontier of Manchuria — Calibre of the line — Kharbin— 

 Military occupation — Article II. of the Manchurian Convention 

 of 1902 — The ambitions of Kharbin — Magnificent crops — Dalni — 

 Port Arthur — Russia's outlay in Manchuria — Niuchwang — The 

 Boxer outbreak Russia's opportunity^The situation at Niuch- 

 wang at the outbreak of hostilities — Mukden and Antung opened 

 to foreign trade — Peking the end of the journey . . . 299 



ENGLAND IN ASIA. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



THE NEAR EAST. 



England and Russia in the East — The point of view from which 

 Asiatic questions must be regarded — " Without India the British 

 Empire could not exist " — The value of prestige — The commercial 

 and strategic aspects of the Near Eastern and the Par Eastern 

 questions — Turkey — The long-standing antagonism between 

 Russia and Turkey — Enter Germany — A novel solution of the 

 Turkish imbroglio — The Baghdad railway — Persia — Resemblance 

 between the Persian and Turkish problems — Indifference of Great 

 Britain in the past — The financial blunder of 1900— The Russo- 

 Persian railway agreement of 1890 — A policy adopted— The Vice- 

 roy's visit to the Persian Gulf and the Garter Mission to TeherS,n 

 — The Koweit incident — Ways and communications — Activity in 

 the field of commerce — The Nushki-Sistan route— The British 

 Government should become shareholders in the Imperial Bank 

 of Persia — The recrudescence of British power . . . 319 



CHAPTEE XXVII. 



A TIBETAN EPISODE. 



A mystery-enshrouded land — Europeans who have seen Lhassa — The 

 Sikkim Convention of 1893— Waddell's definition of Lamaism— 



