uestion of the Yuen-nan army is one of
international interest: the French are on the south, Great Britain on
the west.

On June 2nd, 1909, I rode out to the magnificent training ground, then
being completed, and on that date wrote the following in my diary:--

"I watched for an hour or two some thousand or so men undergoing their
daily drill--typical tin soldiery and a military sham.

"Only with the merest notion of matters military were most of the men
conversant, and alike in ordinary marching--when it was most difficult
for them even to maintain regularity of step--or in more complicated
drilling, there was a lack of the right spirit, no go, no gusto--scores
and scores of them running round doing something, going through a
routine, with the knowledge that when it was finished they would get
their rice and be happy. Everyone who possesses but a rudimentary
knowledge of the Chinese knows that he troubles most about the two
meals every day should bring him, and this seems to be the pervading
line of thought of seven-eighths of the men I saw on the padang at
drill. Officers strutting about in peacock fashion, with a sword
dangling at their side, showed no inclination to enforce order, and the
rank and file knew their methods, so that the disorder and haphazardness
of the whole thing was absolutely mutual.

"Whilst I was on the field gazing in anything but admiration on the
scene, I was ordered out by one of the khaki-clad officers in a most
unceremonious manner. Seeing me, he shouted at the top of his thick
voice, 'Ch'u-k'ue, ch'u-k'ue' (an expression meaning 'Go out!'--commonly
used to drive away dogs), and simultaneously waved his sword in the air
as if to say, 'Another step, and I'll have your head.' And, of course,
there being nothing else to do, I 'ch'u-k'ued,' but in a fashion
befitting the dignity of an English traveler.

"The reorganization of the army, with the acceleration of warlike
preparedness, has the advantage that it appeals to the embryonic feeling
of national patriotism, and affords a tangible expression of the desire
to be on terms of equality with the foreigner. That officer never had a
prouder moment in his life than when he ordered a distinguished
foreigner from the drilling ground, of which he was for the time the
lordly comptroller. And it may be added that the foreigner can remember
no occasion when he felt 'smaller,' or more completely shrivelled.

"Whilst it is safe to infer that the moti