No doubt what has given rise to the report is the knowledge that the Government of India is bound, under the Convention of 1886, to send, every ten years, a complimentary mission from the Chief Commissioner of Burma to the Viceroy of Yunnan.
It was late when I left Jinmaasuh, and long after sundown before I reached the city.

The flagged causeway across the plain was slippery to walk on, and my mule would not agree with me that there was any need to hurry.

He knew the Chinese character better than I did.

Gunfire, the signal for the closing of the gates, had sounded when we were two miles from the wall; but sentries are negligent in China and the gates were still open.

Had we been earlier we should have entered by the south gate, which is always the most important of the gates of a Chinese city, and the one through which all officials make their official entry; but, unable to do this, we entered by the big east gate.