seize upon a mosque, but the police and soldiers opened
fire on them, and a serious fight ensued.

The mob was finally repulsed, and the leader arrested.

Simla, which is one of the most fashionable of the Indian summer
resorts, is built high up among the Himalayan Mountains.

The seat of the government of India is really in Calcutta, but the heat
there is so intense during the summer months that the Europeans cannot
endure it.

For fully half the year the Viceroy, who is the representative of the
Queen, moves up to Simla, with his council and household, and the
government is carried on there.

That riots should have occurred at the seat of government makes the
Europeans still more uneasy.

Nor are these the only disturbances we have to record.

In a recent number we told you about the attack on one of the government
officials in the Fochi Valley.

There has been a fresh outbreak in the same place. A number of coolies
or porters, who were carrying provisions, were attacked and robbed.

This time the attacking party did not meet with such success. The
military commanders have been on the alert since the last outrage, and
no sooner was the news of the attack telegraphed, than a body of cavalry
started in pursuit of the offenders.

They were overtaken before they had time to reach their hill dwellings,
and fifty of them were captured and brought back as prisoners.

It is little to be wondered at that these various disturbances, coming
so closely one upon the other, should be causing the Europeans in India
a great deal of uneasiness.

It may be that the memories of the mutiny make them a little
over-anxious, but the situation is certainly very serious.

* * * * *

There is a report that the Siamese have invaded the French possessions
in Indo-China.

The French colonies in Asia consist of Cochin China, Tonquin, Anam, and
Cambodia, and since the year 1896 a large portion of Siam has been added
to them.

All these provinces lie to the east of Burmah and Siam, at the extreme
southeast of Asia.

The telegrams state that Cambodia has been invaded by the Siamese, who
have pillaged and burned many villages and carried off a number of
prisoners.

In Bangkok, which is the capital of Siam, and also in the provinces
ceded to France, French authority is no longer acknowledged.

The Siamese demand taxes of the people, and when they insist that they
are under French protection and mu