FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



subordinate at Ouisi. The latter mandarin read the letter, dined, 

 and forthwith killed himself in his garden. His successor, furnished 

 with precise orders to see justice done to the Fathers, presented 

 himself at Atentse, and inquired who had burned their domicile. 

 The Lamas replied that they had done so. " For what reason ? " — 

 " The Fathers prevented the rain." " Do they not eat?" — "Yes." 

 " Then if they eat they will want harvests like yourselves ; and 

 if harvests, rain ? " — " But they have money." " Can they eat 

 money .'^" — And so on. The conclusion was foregone; no com- 

 pensation was obtained ; the magistrate's secretary was a relative of 

 the Lamas. We have given the above at length as an instance of 

 the obstacles the missionaries have to encounter, and of the utter 

 supineness of Chinese officialdom in face of the articles in the 

 Treaty of Pekin on the subject. Perhaps some day China, van- 

 quished on her coasts, penetrated by more civilisation, and, not 

 improbably, disintegrated by her own internal parties, — notably those 

 from the side of Thibet, — may relinquish her habitual perversity. 



Tidings affecting us personally also reached us here. A letter 

 from Father Leguilcher at Tali conveyed the intelligence of the 

 death of our interpreter Joseph's only child. This might have 

 the effect of detaching a valuable servant. But on my breaking 

 the news to him, after the first outburst of grief he bore it 

 with Christian fortitude. "God," said he, "has taken my child; 

 but we shall meet in heaven. You have present need of me, 

 and I will follow your fortunes." I was glad to honour his courage, 

 and to recognise in this singular Chinese a testimony to the Iruit 

 of our missionaries in the Far East. 



From Father Tintet we derived some information of this region. 



Though his proselytes were few in number, he was held in respect 



by all. The valley being impoverished both by its sterility and 



202 



