abs of which are well cut granite blocks
eighteen feet in length. At a stall by the roadside excellent ices were
for sale, genuine ices, made of concave tablets of pressed snow
sweetened with treacle, costing one cash each--equal to one penny for
three dozen. We passed the Temple to the Goddess of Mercy, and entered
Tali by the south gate. Then by the yamen of the Titai and the Great
Five Glory Gate, the northern entrance of what was for seventeen years
the palace of the Mohammedan king during the rebellion, we turned down
the East street to the _Yesu-tang_, the Inland Mission, where Mr. and
Mrs. John Smith gave me a cordial greeting.

Tali has always been an important city. It was the capital of an
independent kingdom in the time of Kublai Khan and Marco Polo. It was
the headquarters of the Mohammedan Sultan or Dictator, Tu Wen Hsiu,
during the rebellion, and seemed at one time destined to become the
capital of an independent Moslem Empire in Western China.

The city surrendered to the Mohammedans in 1857. It was recaptured by
the Imperialists under General Yang Yu-ko on January 15th, 1873, the
Chinese troops being aided by artillery cast by Frenchmen in the arsenal
of Yunnan and manned by French gunners. At its recapture the carnage was
appalling; the streets were ankle-deep in blood. Of 50,000 inhabitants
30,000 were butchered. After the massacre twenty-four panniers of human
ears were sent to Yunnan city to convince the people of the capital that
they had nothing more to fear from the rebellion.

In March, 1873, Yang was appointed _Titai_ or Commander-in-chief of
Yunnan Province, with his headquarters in Tali, not in the capital, and
Tali has ever since been the seat of the most important military command
in the province.

The subsequent history of Yang may be told in a few words. He assumed
despotic power over the country he had conquered, and grew in power till
his authority became a menace to the Imperial Government. They feared
that he aspired to found a kingdom of his own in Western China, and
recalled him to Peking--to do him honour. He was not to be permitted to
return to Yunnan. At the time of his recall another rebellion had broken
out against China--the rebellion of the French--and, like another Uriah,
the powerful general was sent to the forefront in Formosa, where he was
opportunely slain by a French bullet, or by a misdirected Chinese one.

After his death it was found that Yang had made a noble beq