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Proclamation giving people three months to break off opium. After that time he would institute a search and destroy all appliances (this would be impossible to carry out among the turbulent Mahommedans). These ent nass (instead of smoking opium), a kind of green tobacco chopped up very small; it is said to be far more deleterious in its effects than opium.
The Roman Catholic missionaries said that for nearly a year the opinm question had been seriously tackled here, but that previous to that nothing was done. They thought the now well-known intentions of the Peking Government had created much impression, and they also attached much importance to the list of questions sent out by the French Legation to all Catholic Missions. I informed them that the same were sent out by the China Inland Mission to their stations in the interior. The Chiang- chun is said to have received several warnings from Peking with respect to opium and schools. While little encouragement will he derived from the reading of the above report, there is one point which I observed, and which seems to bear the seed of hope. The anti-opium policy of the Central Government is known everywhere, and although my experience is that it meets with the universal comment that it is impossible to carry the reform through, yet it receives unanimous sympathy. I have frequently noticed a sense of shame come over an opium smoker's face and a gene in his manner when the subject was discussed, and though it must remain a matter of honest doubt whether the Chinese Government will be able to cure those who are confirmed opium smokers, the measure should, if kept before the public eye (it must be remembered that the Chinese are very sensitive to shame or ridicule), deter the rising generation from smoking, and in this way they may even receive the supprot of opium sots.
Traces of Japanese.
The first contact with Japanese was on the very morning we left Nankow, when a party of Japanese officers from Tien-tsin, who had been up to Kalgan on a route march, emerged from the Nankow Pass just as we were about to enter it. Half-an-hour's friendly conversation ensued, and we were all photographed together by a photographer who accompanied them.
At Kalgan I learned that one time a Japanese had been engaged to teach in the Government school. He had not proved a success, and his services had been dispensed with.
At Tatungfu I heard precisely the same story. A Japanese had been engaged to teach English, but had not been retained long.
At Kweihuacheng I heard of a Japanese traveller who had passed through the town last year, but had not stayed long; his business was unknown. I made careful inquiries in the Ordos country of the foreign missionaries, who remember accurately every foreign traveller who passes through, and none had heard of any Japanese.
At Ninghsia there had been one traveller last winter; his business was unknown. He made himself very much at home with the China Inland Mission during his stay, and the missionaries seem to have been extremely kind.
At Urga we put up at the same Chinese inn at which two Japanese were staying. They gave themselves out to be newspaper correspondents. One of them was elderly, the other a lad. The card of the elder man was inscribed "K. Takenaka, representing Osaka Mainichi Shimbun' (the most readable newspaper in Japan)." He spoke no English or Mongol, and only a little Chinese. The younger man's card was inscribed "W. Nakashima." He could speak Chinese and Mongol, and a very little English. The elder man had arrived from Kalgan five days before myself, and was joined by the younger a couple of days later. They had only one passport between them, procured from the Wai-wu Pu by the Japanese Legation in Peking. They knew Abé, First Secretary at the Japanese Legation. They left two days after my arrival for Kiachta. They told me they would go thence to Harbin, and so back to Peking. They visited the Ambau and irritated him by asking him for the last copy of his photograph, which he was unable to refuse. They were accompanied by a Chinese man who had been in the Chinese police force of Peking. He seems to have served as interpreter and confidential friend. He was looked on with suspicion in Urga as he first represented the elder man as belonging to the Japanese Legation, and seems to have been generally untruthful.
At Ninghsia I heard rumours of a Japanese living at Kumbum, the Dalai Lama's recent residence. It was supposed that he was a spy, but nothing was definitely known about him except that he was studying Thibetan and Tungut.
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At Uliassutai Japanese are rarely seen. The last one visited the settlement the year before last, and stayed a few days. At the time of my visit (August) one was expected from the south. He was travelling along the Government road, and the official letter announcing the fact had already been received. The Russian Consul told me he knew there were none in the neighbourhood, nor did he think there were any near Urga. I asked him if he bad seen any in Urumtsi, and he replied that four had been there latterly, travelling two and two, but that they had disappeared again. Two had wished to travel into Chinese Turkestan but had not the necessary passports. The Russian Consul told me that the Amur Province swarmed with Japanese spies, and I told him laughing that I could not but think that the Russians saw yellow everywhere, and added that in consequence of a Russian friend in Peking saying that Mongolia swarmed with Japanese spies, I had amused myself by making a few inquiries en route, and felt that I could reassure him. The Consul replied that before two years there would be another Russo-Japanese War, and when I remarked that it seemed a little unwise on the part of Russia, with her hands full of domestic reform, he said that it would be provoked by Japan, who strongly resented the doubling of the Siberian Railway, which had been definitely decided on, and which she regarded as a menace,
At Kobdo 1 bantered the Amban on his never seeing foreigners, and the ensuing conversation elicited the fact that the only Japanese he has seen during his three years' term of office were a couple last year travelling for pleasure, though he somewhat doubted what their "pleasure" was. He could not remember much about them, but thought they had come from the south and gone back again (possibly one of the two couples noted by Russian Consul).
In reply to my questions at Chuguchak, the Amban said that Mr. Hayashide from Urumtsi (the man to whom the Japanese Legation had given me a letter) had visited him. At another time a Japanese major had come. Mr. Hayashide dresses in Chinese The Russian Consul had clothes plus queue: the Japanese major was in uniform, reccived similar visits: he said their attitude had been very correct. I asked what Hayashide was at Urumtsi, a merchant, or what, and was told by the Russian Consul that he was the tutor of the Governor's children. From subsequent conversation it transpired that the Russians thought he had great influence over the Governor as well. In connection with this subject the only disagreeable remark made to me by the Russians was said when I asked what Hayashide was; the Consul replied that be As I knew that imagined it to be much the same as other explorers and travellers.
the Russian Agents in Mongolia were of the opinion that all Japanese in the country were spies I was too taken aback to reply before the Consul went on rapidly with Hayashide's real business, but an obvious retort would have been "including such illustrious names as Prjralski and Kozloff.”
At Shihu, conversing with the Manchu official about education, he said that there was one Japanese teaching English in the Government School at Urumtsi. I suggested He continued that he saw Hayashide's name, but he said the two were different. Hayashide fairly frequently whenever the latter passed through on his way to Ili. He did not know where Hayashide was now, and asked if I did. I mention this as showing that Hayashide's movements are somewhat frequent and irregular.
At Suiding (Kuldja) the Chentai's secretary told me, in conversation about routes over the mountains to Kashgar, that in 1907 a Japanese had travelled through to India from Urumtsi vià Suiding and Central Russia. At Hsincheng (New Kuldja) there is said to be a Japanese instructor at some school--I believe the police school.
October 31-We slept the night at Suiding on our way to the Russian frontier. Before starting this morning a man, who called himself a Japanese and a doctor, called on me after having minutely inspected my baggage. He said he had been here two years, that he had a good practice, not among Turkis or Chinese, but among Europeans (this can hardly be correct, as the only Europeans are the few Russians whom I know, do not employ him). He had originally come through from India. He was hoping to go to Peking in 1909. (He had never been there.) "He looked very ill, and said he had heart disease. He was dressed in European clothes, and wore no overcoat in spite of the snow on the ground. He spoke excellent English, and said he knew several other languages, including Chinese. He did not speak or look like a Japanese, and unless he had asserted he was, I should have put him down as a native of India. He had "Agent written on every line of his face and in every movement of his eyes. I wondered why he had not called on me during my previous stay in Suiding, and concluded that he did not I believe be live here, but in one of the other cities of the district--perhaps Hsiucheng. mentioned that he knew His Majesty's officers at Kashgar, and it might be of interest to know if they confirm this.
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