of state at Peking, which constitute the central government, and to
which a seventh has recently been added—a department for foreign
affairs.

So long as all goes well—and in ordinary times that "all" is confined
to a regular and sufficient supply of revenue paid into the Imperial
Treasury—viceroys and governors of provinces are, as nearly as can be,
independent rulers, each in his own domain.

For purposes of government, in the ordinary sense of the term, the 18
provinces are subdivided into 80 areas known as "circuits," and over
each of these is set a high official, who is called an intendant of
circuit, or in Chinese a _Tao-t'ai_. His circuit consists of 2 or more
prefectures, of which there are in all 282 distributed among the 80
circuits, or about an average of 3 prefectures to each.

Every prefecture is in turn subdivided into several magistracies, of
which there are 1477 in all, distributed among the 282 prefectures,
or about an average of 5 magistracies to each.

Immediately below the magistrates may be said to come the people; though
naturally an official who rules over an area as big as an average
English county can scarcely be brought into personal touch with all
those under his jurisdiction. This difficulty is bridged over by the
appointment of a number of head men, or headboroughs, who are furnished
with wooden seals, and who are held responsible for the peace and good
order of the wards or boroughs over which they are set. The post is
considered an honourable one, involving as it does a quasi-official
status. It is also more or less lucrative, as it is necessary that all
petitions to the magistrate, all conveyances of land, and other legal