On this occasion, of twelve men who at different times were employed as his chair-bearers, all died.
In October, 1886, he came to Yunnan City, and made this his headquarters.

He has always enjoyed good health.
One of the chief difficulties that formerly impeded the extension of the telegraph in China was the belief that the telegraph poles spoil the "_fungshui_"-- in other words, that they divert good luck from the districts they pass through.

This objection has been everywhere overcome.

It last revealed itself in the extreme west of the line from Yunnan.

Villagers who saw in the telegraph a menace to the good fortune of their district would cut down the poles--and sell the wire in compensation for their trouble.