Just across the frontier in Burma, opium is grown freely and much is smuggled into Yuen-nan.  Therefore its use has by no means been abandoned, especially in the south of the province, and in some towns it is smoked openly in the tea houses.  In August, 1916, just before we reached Yuen-nan Fu there was an expose of opium smuggling which throws an illuminating side light on the corruption of some Chinese officials.

Opium can be purchased in Yuen-nan Fu for two dollars (Mexican) an ounce, while in Shanghai it is worth ten dollars (Mexican).  Tang (the Military Governor), the Minister of Justice, the Governor’s brother and three members of Parliament had collected six hundred pounds of opium which they undertook to transfer to Shanghai.

Their request that no examination of their baggage be made by the French during their passage through Tonking was granted, and a similar favor was procured for them at Shanghai.  Thus the sixty cases were safely landed, but a few hours later, through the opium combine, foreign detectives learned of the smuggling and the boxes were seized.

The Minister of Justice denied all knowledge of the opium, as did the three Parliament members, and Governor Tang was not interrogated as that would be quite contrary to the laws of Chinese etiquette; however, he will not receive reappointment when his official term expires.

As we neared Ta-li Fu, and indeed along the entire road, we were amazed at the prevalence of goitre.  At a conservative estimate two out of every five persons were suffering from the disease, some having two, or even three, globules of uneven size hanging from their throats.  In one village six out of seven adults were affected, but apparently children under twelve or fourteen years are free from it as we saw no evidences in either sex.  Probably the disease is in a large measure due to the drinking water, for it is most prevalent in the limestone regions and seems to be somewhat localized.

Every day we passed “chairs,” or as we named them, “mountain schooners,” in each of which a fat Chinaman sprawled while two or four sweating coolies bore him up hill.  The chair is rigged between a pair of long bamboo poles and consists of two sticks swung by ropes on which is piled a heap of bedding.  Overhead a light bamboo frame supports a piece of yellow oilcloth, which completely shuts in the occupant, except from the front and rear.

The Chinese consider it undignified to walk, or even to ride, and if one is about to make an official visit nothing less than a four-man chair is required.  Haste is just as much tabooed in the “front families” as physical exertion, and is utterly incomprehensible to the Chinese.  Major Davies says that while he was in Tonking before the railroad to Yuen-nan Fu had been constructed, M. Doumer, the Governor-General of French Indo-China, who was a very energetic man, rode to Yuen-nan Fu in an extraordinarily short time.  While the Europeans greatly admired his feat, the Chinese believed he must be in some difficulty from which only the immediate assistance of the Viceroy of Yuen-nan could extricate him.