In consequence of this glut of silver and curiosities, a regular buying and selling has set up, and all our armies are becoming armies of traders. There are official auctions now being organised, where you will be able to buy legally, and after the approved methods, every kind of loot. The best things, however, are being disposed of privately, for it is the rank and file who have managed to secure the really priceless things. I heard to-day that an amateur who came up with one of the columns bought from an Amerian soldier the Grand Cross of the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle, set in magnificent diamonds, for the sum of twenty dollars. It seems only the other day that Prince Henry was here for the special purpose of donating this mark of the personal esteem of the Kaiser after the Kiaochow affair. Twenty dollars--it is an inglorious end! The native troops from India, seeing all these strange scenes around them, and quickly contaminated by the force of bad example, are most curious to watch. When they are off duty they now select a good corner along the beaten tracks where people can travel in safety, squat down on their heels, spread a piece of cloth, and display thereon all the lumps of silver, porcelain bowls, vases and other things which they have managed to capture. You can sometimes see whole rows of them thus engaged. The Chinese Mohammedans, of whom there are in normal times many thousands in Peking, have found that they can venture forth in safety in all the districts occupied by Indian troops once they put on turbans to show that they are followers of Islam; and now they may be seen in bands every day, with white and blue cloths swathed round their heads in imitation of those they see on the heads of their fellow-religionists, going to fraternise with all the Mussulmans of the Indian Army. It is these Chinese Mohammedans who now largely serve as intermediaries between the population and the occupation troops. They are buying back immense quantities of the silver and silks in exchange for foodstuffs and other things. A number of streets are now safe as long as it is light, and along these people are beginning to move with more and more freedom. But as soon as it is dark the uproar begins again. The Chinese have had time now, however, to hide all the valuables that have been left them. Everything is being buried as quickly as possible in deep holes, and search parties now go out armed with spades and picks, and try to purchase informers by promising a goodly share of all finds made. It is really an extraordinary condition.... V SETTLING DOWN End of August, 1900. * * * * *