find and settle with the owners. This was believed to be fair,
for $3 is a large sum where the coin in common circulation
is the copper ``cash,'' so small in value that 1,600 of them
equal a gold dollar, and where a few dozen cash will buy a
day's food for an adult. But while some of the Chinese were
glad to accept this arrangement, others were not. They wanted
more, or they had special affection for the dead, or that particular
spot had been carefully selected because it was favoured
by the spirits. Besides, the magistrates doubtless kept a part
of the price as their share. Chinese officials are underpaid,
are expected to ``squeeze'' commissions, and no funds can
pass through their hands without a percentage of loss. Then,
as the Asiatic is very deliberate, the company was obliged to
specify a date by which all designated graves must be removed.
As many of the bodies were not taken up within that time,
the company had to remove them.

In these circumstances, we should not be surprised that
some of the most furiously anti-foreign feeling in China was in
the villages along the line of that railroad. Why should the
hated foreigner force his line through their country when the
people did not want it? Of course, it would save time, but,
as an official naively said, ``We are not in a hurry.'' So the
villagers watched the construction with ill-concealed anger,
and to-day that railroad, as well as most other railroads in
North China, can only be kept open by detachments of foreign
soldiers at all the important stations. I saw them at almost
every stop,--German soldiers from Tsing-tau to Kiao-chou,
British from Tong-ku to Peking, French from Peking to Paoting-fu,
etc.