Interrogating the Dragon 281 



lives in a temporary ya-men with walls of matting, and has 

 been thrice burnt out. Little rain falls in winter, and once a 

 hut catches fire the whole place goes. He was a young man, 

 and anxious to learn ; he gave me an excellent dinner, and 

 told me some of his experiences and troubles. One dispute, 

 on arrival was, To whom did the land belong upon which 

 the village stands ; — to the man who originally owned the 

 site, or to the man whose fields were now superimposed on 

 the first by ±he landslide? In true Solomonic fashion he 

 solved the quarrel by dividing the land between the two 

 litigants. The Chinese further say that the mandarin also 

 interrogated the Dragon as to why he had wrought this evil. 

 The reply was, " I do my Dragon business, you do your 

 mandarin business." 



Twenty-two years have elapsed since, by the Chefoo 

 Convention negotiated between Sir Thomas Wade and Li 

 Hung Chang, the port of Chung-king was nominally opened 

 to British trade. Throughout that period constant sug- 

 gestions have been made that the British Admiralty should 

 survey the river. To a China resident it seems a simple 

 thing to detach, say, a torpedo-catcher from the large 

 squadron in China waters, and send her to do the work. 

 It would be an instructive expedition to officers lying 

 idle in Hong-kong, and a pleasant outing for the men 

 employed; the winter climate of Mid-China is cool and 

 rainless. Admirals interviewed and impressed with the 

 boon such survey will be to would-be navigators, reply that 

 the order must come ■ from the Foreign Office. Thus the 

 Foreign Office is the obstacle, and will apparently remain 

 so imtil this department of our Government is reorganized, 

 and an influential official appointed who shall give con- 

 tinuous attentmi to Far Eastern affairs. It goes without 



