ORIGINALLY written as letters to the North China Herald, of which my husband’s brother, R. W. Little, was then the Editor, and now for the first time published in England by the kind permission of the present Editor, this volume lacks the final corrections of the author; although in Shanghai he wrote the introduction here given. Before publishing it in book form he wished, [ think, to add to it and somewhat to remodel it. But the time for that never came.

Now, however, that the French have so far completed their railway from Hanoi to Yunnan-fu, that it is to be officially opened on April Ist, 1910, I have done my very imperfect best to revise the volume, as I think my husband would have wished, and to bring it out also in April as a tribute to that French enterprise on which he touches so often with warm admiration in these pages. Had he lived, I know what valuable additions they would have gained from his richly-stored memory and original tone of thought; whereas I could but diminish the value of what he has written by additions. Regarded as his freshly-written impressions of our last travel together in China, the following pages will, I hope, convey to the reader something of his intense enjoyment at the time.

I must acknowledge the kindness of Major H. R. Davies in allowing use to be made of a portion of the valuable map at the end of his ‘‘ Yunnan, the link between India and the Yang-tse ”’ (Cambridge University Press), in place of the rough outline map sketched at the time by the Author, as also of Major L. Fraser’s help in the matter.

這本書最初是以信件的形式寫給《北華捷報》（North China Herald），當時我丈夫的兄弟R. W. 利特爾（R. W. Little）擔任該報的編輯。如今，承蒙現任編輯的慷慨允許，這些信件首次在英國出版。然而，這本書缺少作者的最後修訂，雖然他當時在上海撰寫了書中的序言。我認為他原本打算在出版前對書中的內容進行增補和修改，但這一計劃最終未能實現。

如今，隨著法國人已經完成了從河內至雲南府的鐵路，並將於1910年4月1日正式通車，我盡我所能對這本書進行了不甚完美的修訂。我相信這是我丈夫的心願，並且我希望這本書也能在4月出版，作為對法國這項偉大工程的敬意。他在書中多次以熱忱的語調表達了對這項工程的讚賞。如果他依然在世，我深知這些書頁會因他豐富的記憶和獨特的思想視角而變得更加充實；而我的任何補充，恐怕只會削弱他所寫下的價值。希望讀者在這些頁面中能感受到他在我們最後一次中國之行中所體驗到的巨大快樂。

我必須感謝H. R. 戴維斯少校（Major H. R. Davies）的慷慨，他允許我們使用他在《雲南：印度與長江之間的紐帶》（劍橋大學出版社）一書末尾的部分地圖，取代作者當時繪製的簡略地圖。同時，我也感謝L. 弗雷澤少校（Major L. Fraser）的幫助。