Turning sharply to the right along the city wall we were conducted in a few minutes to the Telegraph Offices, where I received a cordial welcome from Mr.Christian Jensen, the superintendent of telegraphs in the two great provinces of Yunnan and Kweichow.

These are his headquarters, and here I was to rest a delightful week.

It was a pleasant change from silence to speech, from Chinese discomfort to European civilisation.

Chinese fare one evening, pork, rice, tea, and beans; and the next, chicken and the famed Shuenwei ham, mutton and green peas and red currant jelly, pancakes and aboriginal Yunnan cheese, claret, champagne, port, and cordial Medoc..