An amusing story is related by Sir Bradford Leslie in connection with the construction of the railway. Prior to the commencement of this undertaking labour in the country was rewarded in cloth--there was no money currency, and in fact the natives knew nothing about coinage or its value. However, when the line was commenced, the Government insisted that the natives should not be remunerated in kind, but in cash. Wages were paid once a month, and the natives immediately were urged by Hindoo traders to transfer the money for cloth. The latter played upon the native’s ignorance of money to distinct personal advantage, but the natives had to pay dearly for their goods. Moreover, they came to the conclusion that the textiles they received in exchange for their cash were inferior in quality to that given to them in direct settlement of work done. Consequently, they assailed the engineer and complained that his money was bad, in support of which contention they displayed the small quantity of indifferent material they received in exchange for their wages. They certainly did not evince a very marked appreciation for the railway company’s system of paying for labour in sterling. Although the undertaking cost more than had been estimated, the results justified fully the expenditure, for the railway, in point of construction, compares very favourably with other lines of a similar character on the continent. The engineer in charge of the work, Mr. A. G. Pears, overcame his unique difficulties in a highly satisfactory manner, and its completion in about seven years is a striking tribute to his organisation and methods, while the unceasing expansion of the country supports the initiative of those who fathered the enterprise. CHAPTER XXIV THE INVASION OF THE FAR EAST I.--_Early Days in China_ There has been much discussion during recent years concerning the remarkable awakening of China in every ramification of progress and industry, but without a doubt the most wonderful manifestation of this movement has been in regard to railways. In 1870, when the United Kingdom was criss-crossed with no less than 15,537 miles of the iron road, and the United States was threaded with 52,922 miles of railway, the huge tract of Asiatic territory known as the Chinese Empire, of sufficient area to absorb easily both the United States and the British Isles, and outnumbering the combined population of the two latter nations by more than 6 to 1, did not possess 100 yards of the steel highway.