A mob tried to seize upon a mosque, but the police and soldiers opened fire on them, and a serious fight ensued.

The mob was finally repulsed, and the leader arrested.

Simla, which is one of the most fashionable of the Indian summer resorts, is built high up among the Himalayan Mountains.

The seat of the government of India is really in Calcutta, but the heat there is so intense during the summer months that the Europeans cannot endure it.

For fully half the year the Viceroy, who is the representative of the Queen, moves up to Simla, with his council and household, and the government is carried on there.

That riots should have occurred at the seat of government makes the Europeans still more uneasy.

Nor are these the only disturbances we have to record.

In a recent number we told you about the attack on one of the government officials in the Fochi Valley.

There has been a fresh outbreak in the same place.  A number of coolies or porters, who were carrying provisions, were attacked and robbed.

This time the attacking party did not meet with such success.  The military commanders have been on the alert since the last outrage, and no sooner was the news of the attack telegraphed, than a body of cavalry started in pursuit of the offenders.

They were overtaken before they had time to reach their hill dwellings, and fifty of them were captured and brought back as prisoners.

It is little to be wondered at that these various disturbances, coming so closely one upon the other, should be causing the Europeans in India a great deal of uneasiness.

It may be that the memories of the mutiny make them a little over-anxious, but the situation is certainly very serious.

* * * * *

There is a report that the Siamese have invaded the French possessions in Indo-China.

The French colonies in Asia consist of Cochin China, Tonquin, Anam, and Cambodia, and since the year 1896 a large portion of Siam has been added to them.

All these provinces lie to the east of Burmah and Siam, at the extreme southeast of Asia.

The telegrams state that Cambodia has been invaded by the Siamese, who have pillaged and burned many villages and carried off a number of prisoners.

In Bangkok, which is the capital of Siam, and also in the provinces ceded to France, French authority is no longer acknowledged.

The Siamese demand taxes of the people, and when they insist that they are under French protection and must pay their taxes to France, their claims are not listened to.  All their papers which relate to the subject are destroyed, and they are forced to pay the taxes demanded.

When the French in their turn ask for the taxes, the people naturally refuse to pay them twice; then there are lawsuits, and the people who will not pay are brought before the judges.