arge garden, where the eucalyptus has been wisely planted, surrounds
the buildings. In residence in the Heavenly Hall are the venerable
Vicaire Apostolique of the province, Monseigneur Fenouil, the
Provicaire, and four missionary priests, all four of whom are from
Alsace. In the province altogether there are twenty-two French priests
and eight ordained Chinese priests--thirty in all; their converts number
15,000. Monseigneur Fenouil is a landmark of Western China; he first set
foot in the province in 1847, and is the oldest foreign resident in the
interior of China. No Chinaman speaks purer Chinese than he; he thinks
in Chinese. Present in the province throughout the Mohammedan
insurrection, he was an eye-witness of the horrors of religious warfare.
Few men have had their path in life marked by more thrilling episodes.
He was elected Bishop, in 1880, by the unanimous vote of all the priests
in the province, a vote confirmed by Rome; which is, I am told, the mode
of election by which Catholic Missionary Bishops in China are always
chosen.

The grand old Bishop seemed much amused at my journey. "I suppose you
are riding a mule," he said, "for you English have large bones, and the
Chinese ponies are very small." I said that I had come so far most of
the way on foot. "You speak Chinese, of course?"

"Hardly at all; I speak only a dozen words of Chinese."

"Then you have a Chinese interpreter? No! An English companion who can
speak Chinese? No! A Chinese servant who can speak English? No, and no
escort! But without doubt you are armed? No! No escort, no revolver, no
companion, and you can live on Chinese food. Ah! you have a brave heart,
Monsieur."

At the time of my visit to Yunnan, Pere de Gorostarza, the accomplished
Provicaire, was absent at Mungtze deciding a question of discipline.
Four months before one of the most trusted converts of the mission had
been sent to Mungtze to purchase a property for the use of the mission.
He was given the purchase-money of 400 taels, but, when he arrived in
Mungtze, and the eye of the mission was no longer upon him, he invested
the money, not in premises for the mission, but in a coolie-hong for
himself. His backsliding had availed him little. And he was now
defending his conduct as best he could before the Bishop's deputy.

Converts of the French mission in China, it is well to remember, are no
longer French subjects or _proteges_; the objection is no longer
tenable that the miss