h
of savage torch-bearing desperadoes, each Legation doing its own work;
and that the Chinese Government, with its likes and dislikes, would
have to be seriously and cynically disregarded if we wished to
preserve the breath of life. So barricades have been going up on all
sides, excepting near the British Legation, where the same
indifference and sloth, which have so greatly contributed to this
_impasse_, still remain undisturbed. Near the Austrian, French,
American, Italian and Russian Legations barricade-builders are at
work, capturing stray Peking carts, turning them over and filling them
full of bricks. So quickly has the work been pushed on, that in some
places there are already loopholed walls three feet thick stretching
across our streets, and so cleverly constructed that carts can still
pass in and out without great difficulty. We are still on speaking
terms with the Chinese Government, but who knows what the morrow may
bring?

But although you may have gathered some idea of the general aspect of
Peking from what I have written, it is more than probable that you
have no clear conception of the Legation quarter and what this
barricading means. It seems certain that we will have to fight some
one in time, so I will try and explain.

Legation Street, or the _Chiao Min hsiang_, to give it the native
appellation, runs parallel to the Tartar Wall. Beginning at the west
end of the street--that is, the end nearest the Imperial City and the
great Ch'ien Men Gate--the Legations run as follows: Dutch, American,
Russian, German, Spanish, Japanese, French, Italian. Of the eleven
Legations, therefore, eight are in the one street, some on one side,
some on the other; some adjoining one another, with their enormous
compounds actually meeting, others standing more or less alone with
nests of Chinese houses in between. Apart from the eight Legations,
there are a number of other buildings belonging to Europeans in this
street, such as banks, the club, the hotel, and a few stores and
nondescript houses. Taking the remaining three Legations, the Belgian
is hopelessly far away beyond the Ha-ta Gate line; the Austrian is two
hundred yards down a side street on which is also the Customs
Inspectorate; and, finally, the British is at the back of the other
Legations--that is, to the north of the south Tartar Wall. The extent
of this Legation and its sheltered position make it a sort of natural
sanctuary for all non-combatants, since it