Camps and Trails in China
by
Roy Chapman Andrews and Yvette Borup Andrews
Part 5 out of 6
An old male peacock with a splendid train stole around the point close to
the water, jumped to a high stone within thirty yards of us and stood for a
full minute craning its beautiful green neck to get a better view as we
kneeled in front of him totally unconscious of his presence. After he had
satisfied his curiosity he hopped off the observation pinnacle and, with
his body flattened close to the ground, slipped quietly away. It was an
excellent example of the stalker being stalked and had Heller not witnessed
the scene we should never have known how the clever old bird had fooled us.
The following morning we got a peahen at the same place. Heller had
concealed himself in the bushes on one side of the point while I watched
the other. Shortly after daylight an old female sailed out of the jungle on
set wings and alighted at the water's edge. She saw Heller almost
instantly, although he was completely covered by the vines, and started to
fly, but he dropped her with a broken wing. Recovering herself, she darted
around the rocky point only to meet a charge of B.B.'s from my gun. She was
a beautiful bird with a delicate crown of slender feathers, a yellow and
blue face patch and a green neck and back, but her plumes were short and
inconspicuous when compared with those of the male.
Probably these birds had never before been hunted but they were exceedingly
shy and difficult to kill. Although they called more or less during the
entire day and we could locate them exactly, they were so far back in the
jungle that the crackling of the dry leaves made a stalk impossible. We
tried to drive them but were unsuccessful, for the birds would never flush
unless they happened to be in the open and cut off from cover. Apparently
realizing that their brilliant plumage made them conspicuous objects, the
birds relied entirely upon an actual screen of bushes and their wonderful
sight and hearing to protect themselves from enemies.
They usually came to the river to drink very early in the morning and just
before dusk in the afternoon, but on cloudy days they might appear at
almost any hour. If undisturbed they would remain near the water's edge for
a considerable time or strut about the sand beach just at the edge of the
jungle. At the sound of a gun or any other loud sharp noise the peacocks
would answer with their mournful catlike wail, exactly as the domesticated
birds will do.
The Chinese believe that the flesh of the peafowl is poison and our
servants were horrified when they learned that we intended to eat it. They
fully expected that we would not survive the night and, even when they saw
we had experienced no ill effects, they could not be persuaded to touch any
of it themselves. An old peacock is too tough to eat, but the younger birds
are excellent and when stuffed with chestnuts and roasted they are almost
the equal of turkey.
The species which we killed on the Salween River is the green peafowl
(_Pavo munticus_) which inhabits Burma, Sumatra, Java, and the Malay
Peninsula. Its neck is green, instead of purple, as is that of the common
Indian peacock (_Pavo cristatus_), and it is said that it is the most
beautiful bird of the world.
The long ocellated tail coverts called the "train" are dropped about August
and the birds assume more simple barred plumes, but the molt is very
irregular; usually the full plumage is resumed in March or even earlier.
The train is, of course, an ornament to attract the female and, when a cock
is strutting about with spread plumes, he sometimes makes a most peculiar
rustling sound by vibrating the long feathers.
The eight or ten eggs are laid on the bare ground under a bush in the dense
jungle, are dull brownish white and nearly three inches long. The chicks
are sometimes domesticated, but even when born in captivity, it is said
they are difficult to tame and soon wander away. The birds are omnivorous,
feeding on insects, grubs, reptiles, flower buds, young shoots, and grain.
The common peafowl (_Pavo cristatus_) is a native of India, Ceylon, and
Assam. It is held sacred by some religious castes and we saw dozens of the
birds wandering about the grounds of the temples in Benares, Agra, and
Delhi. Peafowl are said to be rather disagreeable pets because they often
attack infirm persons and children and kill young poultry.
In some parts of Ceylon and India the birds are so abundant and easily
killed that they do not furnish even passable sport, but in other places
they are as wild and difficult to shoot as we found them to be on the
Salween River. In India it is a universal belief among sportsmen that
wherever peafowls are common, there tiger will be found.
A very beautiful variety which seems to have arisen abruptly in
domestication is the so-called "japanned" or black-shouldered peacock named
_Pavo nigripennis_ by Mr. Sclater. In some respects it is intermediate
between _P. munticus_ and _P. cristatus_ and apparently "breeds true" but
never has been found in a wild state. Albino specimens are by no means
unusual and are a feature of many zooelogical gardens.
Peacocks have been under domestication for many centuries and are mentioned
in the Bible as having been imported into Palestine by Solomon; although
the bird is referred to in mythology, the Greeks probably had but little
knowledge of it until after the conquests of Alexander.
In the thick jungle only a few hundred yards from our camp on the Salween
River I put up a silver pheasant (_Euplocamus nycthemerus_), one of the
earliest known and most beautiful species of the family Phasianidae. Its
white mantle, delicately vermiculated with black, extends like a wedding
veil over the head, back and tail, in striking contrast to the blue-black
underparts, red cheek patches, and red legs.
This bird was formerly pictured in embroidery upon the heart and back
badges of the official dresses of civil mandarins to denote the rank of the
wearer, and is found only in southern and western China. It is by no means
abundant in the parts of Yuen-nan which we visited and, moreover, lives in
such dense jungle that it is difficult to find. The natives sometimes snare
the birds and offer them for sale alive.
We also saw monkeys at our camp on the Salween River, but were not
successful in killing any. They were probably the Indian baboon (_Macacus
rhesus_) and, for animals which had not been hunted, were most
extraordinarily wild. They were in large herds and sometimes came down to
the water to skip and dance along the sand and play among the rocks. The
monkeys invariably appeared on the opposite side of the river from us and
by the time we hunted up the boatmen and got the clumsy raft to the other
shore the baboons had disappeared in the tall grass or were merrily running
through the trees up the mountain-side.
The valley was too dry to be a very productive trapping ground for either
small or large mammals, but the birds were interesting and we secured a
good many species new to our collection. Jungle fowl were abundant and
pigeons exceedingly so, but we saw no ducks along the river and only two
cormorants.
Very few natives crossed at the ferry during our stay, for it is a long way
from the main road and the climb out of the gorge is too formidable to be
undertaken if the Salween can possibly be crossed higher up where the
valley is wide and shallow. While we were camped at the river the heat was
most uncomfortable during the middle of the day and was but little
mitigated by the wind which blew continually. During mid-summer the valley
at this point must be a veritable furnace and doubtless reeks with fever.
We slept under nets at night and in the early evening, while we were
watching for peacocks, the mosquitoes were very troublesome.
CHAPTER XXXIV
THE GIBBONS OF HO-MU-SHU
It is a long hard climb out of the Salween valley. We left on March 24 and
all day crawled up the steep sides on a trail which doubled back and forth
upon itself like an endless letter S. From our camp at night the river was
just visible as a thin green line several thousand feet below, and for the
first time in days, we needed a charcoal fire in our tents.
We were _en route_ to Lung-ling, a town of considerable size, where there
was a possibility that mail might be awaiting us in care of the mandarin.
Although ordinarily a three days' journey, it was more than four days
before we arrived, because I had a sharp attack of malaria shortly after
leaving the Salween River and we had to travel half stages.
When we were well out of the valley and at an altitude of 5,000 feet, we
arrived at a Chinese town. Its dark evil-smelling houses, jammed together
in a crowded mass, and the filthy streets swarming with ragged children and
foot-bound women, were in unpleasant contrast to the charming little Shan
villages which we had seen in the low country. The inhabitants themselves
appeared to no better advantage when compared with their Shan neighbors,
for their stares and insolent curiosity were almost unbearable.
The region between the Salween River at Changlung and Lung-ling is as
uninteresting to the zooelogist as it could possibly be, for the hills are
dry and bare and devoid of animal life. Lung-ling is a typical Chinese town
except that the streets are wide and it is not as dirty as usual. The
mandarin was a jolly rotund little fellow who simulated great sympathy when
he informed me that he had received no mail for us. We had left directions
to have a runner follow us from Yung-chang and in the event that he did not
find our camp to proceed to Lung-ling with the mail. We learned some weeks
later that the runner had been frightened by brigands and had turned back
long before he reached Meng-ting.
We had heard from our _mafus_ and other natives that black monkeys were to
be found on a mountain pass not far from the village of Ho-mu-shu, on the
main Yung-chang-Teng-yueh road and, as we were certain that they would
prove to be gibbons, we decided to make that our next hunting camp. It was
three stages from Lung-ling and, toward evening of the second day, we again
descended to the Salween River.
The valley at this point is several miles wide and is so dry that the few
shrubs and bushes seem to be parched and barely able to live. At the upper
end a picturesque village is set among extensive rice fields. Although a
few Chinese live there, its inhabitants are chiefly Shans who are in a
transitory state and are gradually adopting Chinese customs. The houses are
joined to each other in the Chinese way and are built of mud, thatched with
straw. In shape as well as in composition they are quite unlike the
dwellings of the southern Shans. The women wore cylindrical turbans, about
eighteen inches high, which at a distance looked like silk hats, and the
men were dressed in narrow trousers and jackets of Chinese blue. I believe
that some of the Shan women also had bound feet but of this I cannot be
certain.
We camped on a little knoll under an enormous tree at the far end of the
village street, and a short time after the tents were up we had a visit
from the Shan magistrate. He was a dapper energetic little fellow wearing
foreign dress and quite _au courant_ with foreign ways. He even owned a
breech-loading shotgun, and, before we left, sent to ask for shells. He
presented us with the usual chickens and I returned several tins of
cigarettes. He appeared to be quite a sportsman and directed us to a place
on the mountain above the village where he said monkeys were abundant.
We left early in the morning with a guide and, after a hard climb, arrived
at a little village near the forest to which the magistrate had directed
us. Not only did the natives assure us that they had never seen monkeys but
we discovered for ourselves that the only water was more than a mile away,
and that camping there was out of the question.
The next day, April 1, we went on to Ho-mu-shu. It is a tiny village built
into the mountain-side with hardly fifty yards of level ground about it,
but commanding a magnificent view over the Salween valley. Although we
reached there at half past two in the afternoon the _mafus_ insisted on
camping because they swore that there was no water within fifty _li_ up the
mountain. Very unwillingly I consented to camp and the next morning found,
as usual, that the _mafus_ had lied for there was a splendid camping place
with good water not two hours from Ho-mu-shu. It was useless to rage for
the Chinese have no scruples about honesty in such small matters, and the
head _mafu_ blandly admitted that he knew there was a camping place farther
on but that he was tired and wanted to stop early.
As we gained the summit of the ridge we were greeted with a ringing
"hu-wa," "hu-wa," "hu-wa," from the forest five hundred feet below us; they
were the calls of gibbons, without a doubt, but strikingly unlike those of
the Nam-ting River. We decided to camp at once and, after considerable
prospecting, chose a flat place beside the road. It was by no means ideal
but had the advantage of giving us an opportunity to hunt from either side
of the ridge which for its entire length was scarcely two hundred feet in
width. The sides fell away for thousands of feet in steep forest-clad
slopes and, as far as our eyes could reach, wave after wave of mountains
rolled outward in a great sea of green.
Our camp would have been delightful except for the wind which swept across
the pass night and day in an unceasing gale. My wife and I set a line of
traps along a trail which led down the north side of the ridge, while
Heller chose the opposite slope. We were entranced with the forest. The
trees were immense spreading giants with interlaced branches that formed a
solid roof of green 150 feet above the soft moss carpet underneath. Every
trunk was clothed in a smothering mass of vines and ferns and parasitic
plants and, from the lower branches, thousands of ropelike creepers swayed
back and forth with every breath of wind. Below, the forest was fairly open
save for occasional patches of dwarf bamboo, but the upper canopy was so
close and dense that even at noon there was hardly more than a somber
twilight beneath the trees.
Our first night on the pass was spent in a terrific gale which howled up
the valley from the south and swept across the ridge in a torrent of wind.
The huge trees around us bent and tossed, and our tents seemed about to be
torn to shreds. Amid the crashing of branches and the roar of the wind it
was impossible to hear each other speak and sleep was out of the question.
We lay in our bags expecting every second to have the covering torn from
above our heads, but the tough cloth held, and at midnight the gale began
to lull. In the morning the sun was out in a cloudless sky but the wind
never ceased entirely on the pass even though there was a breathless calm
among the trees a few hundred feet below.
My wife and I had just returned from inspecting our line of traps about
nine o'clock in the morning when the forest suddenly resounded with the
"hu-wa," "hu-wa," "hu-wa" of the gibbons. It seemed a long way off at
first, but sounded louder and clearer every minute. At the first note we
seized our guns and dashed down the mountain-side, slipping, stumbling, and
falling. The animals were in the giant forest about five hundred feet below
the summit of the ridge and as we neared them we moved cautiously from tree
to tree, going forward only when they called. It was one of the most
exciting stalks I have ever made, for the wild, ringing howls seemed always
close above our heads.
We were still a hundred yards away when a huge black monkey leaped out of a
tree top just as I stepped from behind a bush, and he saw me instantly. For
a full half minute he hung suspended by one arm, his round head thrust
forward staring intently; then launching himself into the air as though
shot from a catapult he caught a branch twenty feet away, swung to another,
and literally flew through the tree tops. Without a sound save the swish of
the branches and splash after splash in the leaves, the entire herd
followed him down the hill. It was out of range for the shotgun and my wife
was ten feet behind me with the rifle, but had I had it in my hand I doubt
if I could have hit one of those flying balls of fur.
We returned to camp with sorrow in our hearts, but two days later we
redeemed ourselves and brought in the first new gibbons. We were sitting on
a bed of fragrant pine needles watching for a squirrel which had been
chattering in the upper branches of a giant tree, when suddenly the wild
call of the monkeys echoed up the mountain-side.
They were far away to the left, and we ran toward them, stumbling and
slipping on the moss-covered rocks and logs, the "hu-wa," "hu-wa," "hu-wa"
sounding louder every moment. They seemed almost under us at times and we
would stand motionless and silent only to hear the howls die away in the
distance. At last we located them on the precipitous side of a deep gorge
filled with an impenetrable jungle of palms and thorny plants. It was an
impossible place to cross, and we sat down, irresolute and discouraged. In
a few moments a chorus of howls broke out and we saw the big black apes
swinging along through the trees, two hundred yards away. Finally they
stopped and began to feed. They were small marks at that distance but I
rested my little Mannlicher on a stump and began to shoot while Yvette
watched them with the glasses. One big fellow swung out on a branch and
hung with one arm while he picked a cluster of leaves with the other.
Yvette saw my first shot cut a twig above his head but he did not move, and
at the roar of the second he dropped heavily into the vines below. A brown
female ran along the branch a few seconds later and peered down into the
jungle where the first monkey had fallen. I covered her carefully with the
ivory head of the front sight, pulled the trigger, and she pitched headlong
off the tree.
For a few seconds there was silence, then a splash of leaves and three huge
black males leaped into full view from the summit of a tall tree. They were
silhouetted against a patch of sky and I fired twice in quick succession
registering two clean misses. The bullets must have whizzed too close for
comfort and they faded instantly into the forest like three black shadows.
For ten minutes we strained our eyes into the dense foliage hoping to catch
a glimpse of a swaying branch. Suddenly Yvette heard a rustling in the low
tree beneath which we were sitting and seized me violently by the arm,
screaming excitedly, "There's one, right above us. Quick, quick, he's
going!"
I looked up and could hardly believe my eyes for not twenty feet away hung
a huge brown monkey half the size of a man. Almost in a daze I fired with
the shotgun. The gibbon stopped, slowly pivoted on one long arm and a pair
of eyes blazing like living coals, stared into mine. I fired again point
blank as the huge mouth, baring four ugly fangs, opened and emitted a
bloodcurdling howl. The monkey slowly swung back again, its arm relaxed and
the animal fell at my feet, stone dead.
It was a magnificent old female. By a lucky chance we had chosen, from all
the trees in the forest, to sit under the very one in which the gibbon had
been hiding and she had tried to steal away unnoticed.
While my wife waited to direct me from the rim of the gorge, I climbed down
into the jungle to try and make my way up the opposite side where the other
monkeys had fallen. It was dangerous work, for the rocks were covered with
a thin layer of earth which supported a dense growth of vegetation. If I
tried to let myself down a steep slope by clinging to a thick fern it would
almost invariably strip away with a long layer of dirt and send me
headlong.
After two bad falls I reached the bottom of the ravine where a mountain
torrent leaped and foamed over the rocks and dropped in a beautiful cascade
to a pool fifty or sixty feet below. The climb up the opposite side was
more difficult than the descent and twice I had to return after finding the
way impassable.
A sheer, clean wall almost seventy feet high separated me from the spot
where the gibbons had fallen. I skirted the rock face and had laboriously
worked my way around and above it when a vine to which I had been clinging
stripped off and I began to slide. Faster and faster I went, dragging a
mass of ferns and creepers with me, for everything I grasped gave way.
I thought it was the end of things for me because I was hardly ten feet
above the precipice which fell away to the jagged rocks of the stream bed
in a drop of seventy feet. The rifle slung to my back saved my life.
Suddenly it caught on a tiny ragged ledge and held me flattened out against
the cliff. But even then I was far from safe, as I realized when I tried to
twist about to reach a rope of creepers which swung outward from a bush
above my head.
How I managed to crawl back to safety among the trees I can remember only
vaguely. I finally got down to the bottom of the canon, but felt weak and
sick and it was half an hour before I could climb up to the place where my
wife was waiting. She was already badly frightened for she had not seen me
since I left her an hour before and, when I answered her call, she was
about to follow into the jungle where I had disappeared. We left the two
monkeys to be recovered from above and went slowly back to camp.
The gibbons of Ho-mu-shu are quite unlike those of the Nam-ting River. They
represent a well-known species called the "hoolock" (_Hylobates hoolock_)
which is also found in Burma.
The males, both old and young, are coal black with a fringe of white hairs
about the face, and the females are light brown. Their note is totally
unlike the Nam-ting River gibbons and, instead of sitting quietly in the
top of a dead tree to call to their neighbors across the jungle for an hour
or two, the hoolocks howl for about twenty minutes as they swing through
the branches and are silent during the remainder of the day. They called
most frequently on bright mornings and we seldom heard them during cloudy
weather.
Apparently they had regular feeding grounds, which were visited every day,
but the herds seemed to cover a great deal of territory. Like the gibbons
of the Nam-ting River, the hoolocks traveled through the tree tops at
almost unbelievable speed, and one of the most amazing things which I have
ever witnessed was the way in which they could throw themselves from one
tree to another with unerring precision.
On April 5, we received the first mail in nearly three months and our share
amounted to 105 letters besides a great quantity of magazines. Wu had
ridden to Teng-yueh for us and, as well as the greatly desired mail, had a
basket of delicious vegetables and a sheaf of Reuter's cablegrams which
were kindly sent by Messrs. Palmer and Abertsen, gentlemen in the employ of
the Chinese Customs, who had cared for our mail. Mr. Abertsen also sent a
note telling us of a good hunting ground near Teng-yueh.
We spent an entire afternoon and evening over our letters and papers and,
through them, began to get in touch with the world again. It is strange how
little one misses the morning newspaper once one is beyond its reach and
has properly adjusted one's mental perspective. And it is just as strange
how essential it all seems immediately one is again within reach of such
adjuncts of civilization.
On April 6, we had the first rain for weeks. The water fell in torrents,
and the roar, as it drummed upon the tent, was so incessant that we could
barely hear each other shout. Because of the long dry spell our camp had
not been made with reference to weather and during the night I waked to
find that we were in the middle of a pond with fifteen inches of water in
the tent. Shoes, clothes, guns, and cameras were soaked, and the surface of
the water was only an inch below the bottoms of our cots. This was the
beginning of a ten days' rain after which we had six weeks of as delightful
weather as one could wish.
CHAPTER XXXV
TENG-YUEH; A LINK WITH CIVILIZATION
After a week on the pass above Ho-mu-shu we shifted camp to a village
called Tai-ping-pu, ten miles nearer Teng-yueh on the same road. The ride
along the summit of the mountain was a delight, for we passed through grove
after grove of rhododendrons in full blossom. The trees were sometimes
thirty feet in height and the red flowers glowed like clusters of living
coals among their dark green leaves. In the northern part of Yuen-nan the
rhododendrons grow above other timber line on mountains where it is too
high even for spruces.
It rained continually during our stay at Tai-ping-pu. I had another attack
of the Salween malaria and for five or six days could do little work.
Heller, however, made good use of his time and killed a beautiful horned
pheasant, Temmick's tragopan (_Ceriornis temmincki_), besides half a dozen
langurs of the same species as those we had collected on the Nam-ting
River. He also was fortunate in shooting one of the huge flying squirrels
(_Petaurista yunnanensis_) which we had hoped to get at Wei-hsi. He saw the
animal in the upper branches of a dead tree on the first evening we were in
Tai-ping-pu but was not able to get a shot. The next night he watched the
same spot and killed the squirrel with a charge of "fours." It measured
forty-two and one-quarter inches from the nose to the end of the tail and
was a rich mahogany red grizzled with whitish above; the underparts were
cream white. As in all flying squirrels, the four legs were connected by a
sheet of skin called the "patagium" which is continuous with the body. This
acts as a parachute and enables the animal to sail from tree to tree for,
of course, it cannot fly like a bat. As these huge squirrels are strictly
nocturnal, they are not often seen even by the natives. We were told by the
Lutzus on the Mekong River that by building huge fires in the woods they
could attract the animals and shoot them with their crossbows.
A few weeks later we purchased a live flying squirrel from a native and
kept it for several days in the hope that it might become tame. The animal
was exceedingly savage and would grind its teeth angrily and spring at
anyone who approached its basket. It could not be tempted to eat or drink
and, as it was a valuable specimen, we eventually chloroformed it.
Just below our camp in a pretty little valley a half dozen families
of Lisos were living, and we hired the men to hunt for us. They were
good-natured fellows, as all the natives of this tribe seem to be, and
worked well. One day they brought in a fine muntjac buck which had been
killed with their crossbows and poisoned darts. The arrows were about
twelve inches long, made of bamboo and "feathered" with a triangular piece
of the same wood. Those for shooting birds and squirrels were sharpened to
a needle point, but the hunting darts were tipped with steel or iron. The
poison they extracted from a plant, which I never saw, and it was said that
it takes effect very rapidly.
The muntjac which the Lisos killed had been shot in the side with a single
arrow and they assured us that only the flesh immediately surrounding the
wound had been spoiled for food. These natives like the Mosos, Lolos, and
others carried their darts in a quiver made from the leg skin of a black
bear, and none of the men wished to sell their weapons; I finally did
obtain a crossbow and quiver for six dollars (Mexican).
Two days before we left Tai-ping-pu, three of the Lisos guided my wife and
me to a large cave where they said there was a colony of bats. The cavern
was an hour's ride from camp, and proved to be in a difficult and dangerous
place in the side of a cliff just above a swift mountain stream. We strung
our gill net across the entrance and then sent one of the natives inside to
stir up the animals while we caught them as they flew out. In less than
half an hour we had twenty-eight big brown bats, but our fingers were cut
and bleeding from the vicious bites of their needle-like teeth. They all
represented a widely distributed species which we had already obtained at
Yuen-nan Fu.
From Lung-ling I had sent a runner to Mr. Evans at Ta-li Fu asking him to
forward to Teng-yueh the specimens which we had left in his care, and the
day following our visit to the bat cave the caravan bearing our cases
passed us at Tai-ping-pu. We, ourselves, were about ready to leave and two
days later at ten o'clock in the morning we stood on a precipitous mountain
summit, gazing down at the beautiful Teng-yueh plain which lay before us
like a relief map. It is as flat as a plain well can be and, except where a
dozen or more villages cluster on bits of dry land, the valley is one vast
watery rice field. Far in the distance, outside the gray city walls, we
could see two temple-like buildings surrounded by white-walled compounds,
and Wu told us they were the houses of the Customs officials.
Teng-yueh, although only given the rank of a "ting" or second-class Chinese
city, is one of the most important places in the province, for it stands as
the door to India. All the trade of Burma and Yuen-nan flows back and forth
through the gates of Teng-yueh, over the great caravan road to Bhamo on the
upper Irawadi.
An important post of the Chinese Foreign Customs, which are administered by
the British government as security for the Boxer indemnity, is situated in
this city, and we were looking forward with the greatest interest to
meeting its white population. At the time of our visit the foreigners
included Messrs. H.G. Fletcher and Ralph C. Grierson, respectively Acting
Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner of Customs; Messrs. W.R. Palmer and
Abertsen, also of the Customs; Mr. Eastes, H.B.M. Consul; Dr. Chang, Indian
Medical Officer, and Reverend and Mrs. Embry of the China Inland Mission;
Mr. Eastes, accompanied by the resident mandarin, was absent on a three
months' opium inspection tour so that we did not meet him.
We reached Teng-yueh on Sunday morning and camped in a temple outside the
city walls. Immediately after tiffin we called upon Mr. Grierson and went
with him to the Customs House where Messrs. Abertsen and Palmer were
living. We found there a Scotch botanist, Mr. Forrest, an old traveler in
Yuen-nan who was _en route_ to A-tun-zu on a three-year plant-hunting
expedition for an English commercial firm. We had heard much of Forrest
from Messrs. Kok and Hanna and were especially glad to meet him because of
his wide knowledge of the northwestern part of the province. Mr. Forrest
was interested chiefly in primroses and rhododendrons, I believe, and in
former years obtained a rather remarkable collection of these plants.
From Mr. Grierson we first learned that the United States had declared war
on Germany. It had been announced only a week before, and the information
had reached Teng-yueh by cable and telegraph almost immediately. It came as
welcome news to us Americans who had been vainly endeavoring to justify to
ourselves and others our country's lethargy in the face of Teuton
insolence, and made us feel that once again we could acknowledge our
nationality with the pride we used to feel.
On Monday Mr. Grierson invited us to become his guests and to move our
caravan and belongings to his beautiful home. We were charmed with it and
our host. The house was built with upturned, temple-like gables, and from
his cool verandah we could look across an exquisite flower-filled garden to
the blue mountains from which we had had our first view of Teng-yueh the
day before. The interior of the dwelling was as attractive as its
surroundings, and the beautifully served meals were as varied and dainty as
one could have had in the midst of a great city.
Like all Britishers, the Customs men had carried their sport with them.
Just beyond the city walls an excellent golf course had been laid out with
Chinese graves as bunkers, and there was a cement tennis court behind the
Commissioner's house. Mr. Grierson had two excellent polo ponies, besides
three trained pointer dogs, and riding and shooting over the beautiful
hills gave him an almost ideal life. We found that Mr. Fletcher had a
really remarkable selection of records and an excellent Victrola. After
dinner, as we listened to the music, we had only to close our eyes and
float back to New York and the Metropolitan Opera House on the divine
harmony of the sextet from "Lucia" or Caruso's matchless voice. But none of
us wished to be there in body for more than a fleeting visit at least, and
the music already brought with it a lingering sadness because our days in
the free, wild mountains of China were drawing to a close.
During the week we spent with Mr. Grierson we dried and packed all our
specimens in tin-lined boxes which were purchased from the agent of the
British American Tobacco Company in Teng-yueh. They were just the right
size to carry on muleback and, after the birds and mammals had been wrapped
in cotton and sprinkled with napthalene, the cases were soldered and made
air tight. The most essential thing in sending specimens of any kind
through a moist, tropical climate such as India is to have them perfectly
dry before the boxes are sealed; otherwise they will arrive at their
destination covered with mildew and absolutely ruined.
On the day of our arrival in Teng-yueh we purchased from a native two bear
cubs (_Ursus tibetanus_) about a week old. Each was coal black except for a
V-shaped white mark on the breast and a brown nose. When they first came to
us they were too young to eat and we fed them diluted condensed milk from a
spoon.
The little chaps were as playful as kittens and the story of their amusing
ways as they grew older is a book in itself. After a month one of the cubs
died, leaving great sorrow in the camp; the other not only lived and
flourished but traveled more than 16,000 miles.
He went with us on a pack mule to Bhamo, down the Irawadi River to Rangoon,
and across the Bay of Bengal to Calcutta. He then visited many cities in
India, and at Bombay boarded the P. & O.S.S. _Namur_ for Hongkong and
became the pet of the ship. From China we took him to Japan, across the
Pacific to Vancouver, and finally to our home at Lawrence Park, Bronxville,
New York. After an adventurous career as a house pet, when his exploits had
made him famous and ourselves disliked by all the neighbors, we regretfully
sent him to the National Zooelogical Park, Washington, D.C., where he is
living happily at the present time. He was the most delightful little pet
we have ever owned and, although now he is nearly a full grown bear, his
early life is perpetuated in motion pictures and we can see him still as he
came to us the first week. He might well have been the model for the
original "Teddy Bear" for he was a round ball of fur, mostly head and ears
and sparkling little eyes.
CHAPTER XXXVI
A BIG GAME PARADISE
A few months previous to our arrival, Mr. Abertsen had discovered a
splendid hunting ground near the village of Hui-yao, about eighty _li_ from
Teng-yueh. He had been shooting rabbits and pheasants and, while passing
through the village, the natives told him that a large herd of _gnai-yang_
or "wild goats" lived on the side of a hill through which a branch of the
Shweli River had cut a deep gorge.
Although Abertsen was decidedly skeptical as to the accuracy of the report
he spent two days hunting and with his shotgun killed two gorals; moreover,
he saw twenty-five others. We examined the two skins and realized at once
that they represented a different species from those of the Snow Mountain.
Therefore, when we left Teng-yueh our first camp was at Hui-yao.
Heller and I started with four natives shortly after daylight. We crossed a
tumbledown wooden bridge over the river at a narrow canon where the sides
were straight walls of rock, and followed down the gorge for about two
miles. On the way Heller, who was in front, saw two muntjac standing in the
grass on an open hillside, and shot the leader. The deer pitched headlong
but got to its feet in a few moments and struggled off into the thick cover
at the edge of the meadow. It had disappeared before Heller reached the
clearing but he saw the second deer, a fine doe, standing on a rock.
Although his bullet passed through both lungs the animal ran a quarter of a
mile, and he finally discovered her several hours later in the bushes
beside the river.
In a short time we reached an open hillside which rose six or seven hundred
feet above the river in a steep slope; the opposite side was a sheer wall
of rock bordered on the rim by an open pine forest. We separated at this
point. Heller, with two natives, keeping near the river, while I climbed up
the hill to work along the cliffs half way to the summit.
In less than ten minutes Heller heard a loud snort and, looking up, saw
three gorals standing on a ledge seventy-five yards above him. He fired
twice but missed and the animals disappeared around a corner of the hill. A
few hundred yards farther on he saw a single old ram but his two shots
apparently had no effect.
Meanwhile I had continued along the hillside not far from the summit for a
mile or more without seeing an animal. Fresh tracks were everywhere and
well-cut trails crossed and recrossed among the rocks and grass. I had
reached an impassable precipice and was returning across a steep slope when
seven gorals jumped out of the grass where they had been lying asleep. I
was in a thick grove of pine trees and fired twice in quick succession as
the animals appeared through the branches, but missed both times.
I ran out from the trees but the gorals were then nearly two hundred yards
away. One big ram had left the herd and was trotting along broadside on. I
aimed just in front of him and pulled the trigger as his head appeared in
the peep sight. He turned a beautiful somersault and rolled over and over
down the hill, finally disappearing in the bushes at the edge of the water.
The other gorals had disappeared, but a few seconds later I saw a small one
slowly skirting the rocks on the very summit of the hill. The first shot
kicked the dirt beside him, but the second broke his leg and he ran behind
a huge boulder. I rested the little Mannlicher on the trunk of a tree,
covering the edge of the rock with the ivory head of the front sight and
waited. I was perfectly sure that the goral would try to steal out, and in
two or three minutes his head appeared. I fired instantly, boring him
through both shoulders, and he rolled over and over stone dead lodging
against a rock not fifty yards from where we stood.
The two natives were wild with excitement and, yelling at the top of their
lungs, ran up the hill like goats to bring the animal down to me. It was a
young male in full summer coat, and with horns about two inches long. Our
pleasure was somewhat dampened, however, when we went to recover the first
goral for we found that when it had landed in the grass at the edge of the
river it had either rolled or crawled into the water. We searched along the
bank for half a mile but without success and returned to Hui-yao just in
time for tiffin.
In the afternoon we shifted camp to a beautiful little grove on the
opposite side of the river behind the hunting grounds. Heller, instead of
going over with the caravan, went back along the rim of the gorge in the
pine forest where he could look across the river to the hill on which we
had hunted in the morning. With his field glasses he discovered five gorals
in an open meadow, and opened fire. It was long shooting but the animals
did not know which way to run, and he killed three of the herd before they
disappeared. Our first day had, therefore, netted us one deer and four
gorals which was better than at any other camp we had had in China.
We realized from the first day's work that Hui-yao would prove to be a
wonderful hunting ground, and the two weeks we spent there justified all
our hopes. At other places the cover was so dense or the country so rough
that it was necessary to depend entirely upon dogs and untrained natives,
but here the animals were on open hillsides where they could be still
hunted with success. Moreover, we had an opportunity to learn something
about the habits of the animals for we could watch them with glasses from
the opposite side of the river when they were quite unconscious of our
presence.
There was only one day of our stay at Hui-yao that we did not bring in one
or more gorals and even after we had obtained an unrivaled series, dozens
were left. Shooting the animals from across the river was rather an
unsportsmanlike way of hunting but it was a very effective method of
collecting the particular specimens we needed for the Museum series. The
distance was so great that the gorals were unable to tell from where the
bullets were coming and almost any number of shots might be had before the
animals made for cover. It became simply a case of long range target
shooting at seldom less than three hundred yards.
Still hunting on the cliffs was quite a different matter, however, and was
as good sport as I have ever had. The rocks and open meadow slopes were so
precipitous that there was very real danger every moment, for one misstep
would send a man rolling hundreds of feet to the bottom where he would
inevitably be killed.
The gorals soon learned to lie motionless along the sheerest cliffs or to
hide in the rank grass, and it took close work to find them. I used most
frequently to ride from camp to the river, send back the horse by a _mafu_,
and work along the face of the rock wall with my two native boys. Their
eyesight was wonderful and they often discovered gorals lying among the
rocks when I had missed them entirely with my powerful prism binoculars.
Their eyes had never been dimmed by study and I suppose were as keen as
those of primitive man who possibly hunted gorals or their relatives
thousands of years ago over these same hills.
There were many glorious hunts and it would be wearisome were I to describe
them all, but one afternoon stands out in my memory above the others. It
was a brilliant day, and about four o'clock I rode away from camp, across
the rice fields and up the grassy valley to the long sweep of open meadow
on the rim of the river gorge.
Sending back the horse, "Achi," my native hunter, and I crawled carefully
to a jutting point of rocks and lay face down to inspect the cliffs above
and to the left. With my glasses I scanned every inch of the gray wall, but
could not discover a sign of life. Glancing at Achi I saw him gazing
intently at the rock which I had just examined, and in a moment he
whispered excitedly "_gnai-yang_." By putting both hands to the side of his
head he indicated that the animal was lying down, and although he pointed
with my rifle, it was full five minutes before I could discover the goral
flat upon his belly against the cliff, with head stretched out, and fore
legs doubled beneath his body. He was sound asleep in the sun and looked as
though he might remain forever.
By signs Achi indicated that we were to climb up above and circle around
the cliff to a ragged promontory which jutted into space within a hundred
yards of the animal. It was a good three quarters of an hour before we
peered cautiously between two rocks opposite the ledge where the goral had
been asleep. The animal was gone. We looked at each other in blank
amazement and then began a survey of the ground below.
Halfway down the mountain-side Achi discovered the ram feeding in an open
meadow and we began at once to make our way down the face of the cliff. It
was dangerous going, but we gained the meadow in safety and worked
cautiously up to a grassy ridge where the goral had been standing. Again we
crawled like snakes among the rocks and again an empty slope of waving
grass met our eyes. The goral had disappeared, and even Achi could not
discover a sign of life upon the meadow.
With an exclamation of disgust I got to my feet and looked around.
Instantly there was a rattle of stones and a huge goral leaped out of the
grass thirty yards away and dashed up the hill. I threw up my rifle and
shot hurriedly, chipping a bit of rock a foot behind the animal. Swearing
softly at my carelessness, I threw in another shell, selected a spot in
front of the ram, and fired. The splendid animal sank in its tracks without
a quiver, shot through the base of the neck.
I had just ejected the empty shell when Achi seized me by the arm,
whispering "_gnai-yang, gnai-yang, gnai-yang, na, na, na, na_," and
pointing to the cliffs two hundred yards above us. I looked up just in time
to see another goral flash behind a rock on the very summit of the ridge.
An instant later he appeared again and stopped broadside on with his noble
head thrown up, silhouetted against the sky. It was a perfect target and,
resting my rifle on a flat rock, I covered the animal with the white bead
and centered it in the rear sight. As I touched the hair trigger and the
roar of the high-power shell crashed back from the face of the cliff, the
animal leaped with legs straight out, whirling over and over down the
meadow and bringing up against a boulder not twenty yards from the first
goral.
That night as I walked over the hills in the cool dusk I would not have
changed my lot with any man on earth. The breathless excitement of the
stalk and the wild thrill of exultation at the clean kill of two splendid
rams were still rioting in my veins. I came out of the valley and across
the rice fields to the blazing camp fire. Yvette ran to the edge of the
grove, her hands filled with wet photographic negatives. "How many?" she
called. "Two," I answered, "and both big ones. How many for you?" "Fourteen
color plates," she sung back happily, "and all good."
CHAPTER XXXVII
SEROW AND SAMBUR
We had a delightful visit from Mr. Grierson during our first week in camp.
He rode out on Thursday afternoon and remained until Sunday, bringing us
mail, war news, and fresh vegetables, and returning with goral meat for all
the foreigners in Teng-yueh. On the afternoon of his visit I had killed
three monkeys which represented a different species from any we had
obtained before. They were the Indian baboon (_Macacus rhesus_) and were
probably like those of the Salween River at Changlung.
I found two great troupes of the monkeys running along the opposite river
bank. The first herd was climbing up the almost perpendicular rock walls,
swinging on the bushes and sometimes almost disappearing in the tufts of
grass. I could not approach nearer than one hundred and fifty yards and did
some very bad shooting at the little beasts, but a running monkey at that
distance is a pretty uncertain mark, and it requires a much better shot
than I am to register more hits than misses. I did kill two, but both
dropped into the river and promptly sank, so that I gave it up.
Less than a half mile farther on another and larger troupe appeared among
the boulders just at the water's edge. Profiting by my experience, I kept
out of sight among the bushes and watched the animals play about until one
hopped to a rock and sat quietly for an instant. I got six in this way, but
we were able to recover only three of them from the water.
Heller shot three muntjac at Hui-yao, besides the doe which he killed on
the first day. One of the largest bucks had a pair of beautiful antlers
three and one half inches long from the burr to the tip. The skin-covered
projections, or pedicels, of the frontal bone, from the summits of which
the antlers grow, measured two and one-half inches from the skull to the
burrs. Evidently the muntjac are somewhat irregular in shedding for,
although they were all in full summer pelage, two already had lost their
antlers while the other had not. I can think of no more delicious meat than
the flesh of these little deer and they seem to be as highly esteemed by
the English sportsmen of India as they are by the foreigners of China.
I did not see a muntjac while at Hui-yao, but was fortunate in killing a
splendid coal-black serow which represents a sub-species new to science;
although the natives said that serow were known to occur in the thick
jungle on the south side of the river, none had been seen for years. Heller
and I had gone to this part of the gorge to hunt for a troupe of monkeys
which he had located on the previous day. We had separated, Heller keeping
close to the water while I skirted the cliffs near the summit not far from
the road which led through the pine forest.
I was walking just under the rim of the gorge when suddenly with a snort a
large animal dashed out of a thicket below and to the left. I caught a
glimpse of a great coal-black body and a pair of short curved horns as the
beast disappeared in a shallow gully, and realized that it was a serow. A
few seconds later it reappeared, running directly away from me along the
upper edge of the gorge. I fired and the animal dropped, gave a convulsive
twist, rolled over, and plunged into the canon.
As the serow disappeared we heard a chorus of excited yells from below, and
it was evident that some natives near the water had seen it fall. I had
slight hope that they might have rescued it from the river, but my heart
was heavy as we worked along the cliff trying to find a place where it was
possible to descend. A wood cutter whom we discovered a short distance away
guided us down a trail so steep that it seemed impossible for a human being
to walk along it, and in proof I slid the last half of the way to the rocks
at the river's edge, narrowly escaping a broken neck.
When we reached the stream it was only to find a flat wall against which
the water surged in a mass of white foam, separating us from the place
where the serow had fallen. I tried to wade around the rock but in two
steps the water was above my waist. It was evident that we would have to
swim, and I began to undress, inviting Achi and the wood cutter to follow;
the former refused, but the latter pulled off his few clothes with
considerable hesitation.
It was a swim of only about forty feet around the face of the cliff but the
current was strong and it was no easy matter to fight my way to the other
side. After I had climbed out upon the rocks I called to the wood cutter to
follow and he slipped into the water. Evidently the current was more than
he had bargained for and a look of fear crossed his face, but he went
manfully at it.
He had almost reached the rock on which I was standing with outstretched
hand when his strength seemed suddenly to go and he cried out in terror. I
jumped into the water, hanging to the rocks with one hand and letting my
legs float out behind. The wood cutter just managed to reach my big toe, to
which he clung as if it had in reality been the straw of the drowning man
and I dragged him up stream until, to my intense relief, he could grasp the
rocks.
We picked our way among the boulders for a few yards and suddenly came upon
the serow lying partly in the water. I felt like dancing with delight but
the sharp rocks were not conducive to any such demonstrations and I merely
yelled to Achi who understood from the tone, if not from my words, that the
animal was safe.
The men who had shouted when the animal fell over the cliff were only fifty
feet away, but they too were separated from it by a wall of rock and
surging water. They said that there was an easier way up the cliff than the
one by which we had descended, and prepared a line of tough vines, one end
of which they let down to us. We made it fast to the serow and I kept a
second vine rope in my hands, swimming beside the animal as they dragged it
to the other shore. It was landed safely and the wood cutter was hauled
over by the same means.
I had intended to swim back for my clothes but discovered that Achi had
disappeared, taking my garments and those of the wood cutter with him. He
evidently intended to meet us on the hilltop, but it left us in the rather
awkward predicament of making our way through the thick brush with only the
proverbial smile and minus even the necktie.
The men fastened together the serow's four legs, slipped a pole beneath
them and toiled up the steep slope preceded by a naked brown figure and
followed by a white one. The side of the gorge was covered with vines and
creepers, many of them thorny, and pushing through them with no bodily
protection was far from comfortable.
When we arrived at the road on the rim of the gorge I was dismayed to find
that Achi was not there with my clothes. The wood cutter did not appear to
be greatly worried and indicated that we would find him farther up the
road. I walked on dubiously, expecting every second to meet some person,
and sure enough, a Chinese woman suddenly appeared over a little hill. I
dived into the tall ferns beside the road, burrowing like a rabbit, and
from the frightened way in which she hurried past, she must have thought
she had seen one of her ancestral spirits stalking abroad. We eventually
found the boy, and, decently dressed, I faced the world again with
confidence and happiness.
On the way back to camp we saw a goral on the cliffs across the river. It
was high up and fully three hundred and fifty yards away but, of course,
quite unconscious of our presence. My first two shots struck close beside
the animal, but at the third it rolled over and over down the hill, lodging
among the rocks just above the river.
Our entry into camp was triumphal, for fully half the village acted as an
escort to the serow, an animal which few had ever seen. It was a female,
and probably weighed about two hundred and fifty pounds. The mane was short
and black and strikingly unlike the long white manes of the Snow Mountain
serows; the horns were almost smooth. Getting this specimen was one of the
lucky chances which sometimes come to a sportsman, for one might hunt for
weeks in the same place without ever seeing another serow, as the jungle is
exceedingly dense and the cliffs so steep that it is impossible to walk
except in a few spots. The animal had been feeding on the new grass just at
the edge of the heavy cover and probably had been sleeping under a bush
when she was disturbed.
Besides mammals and birds we made a fairly good collection of reptiles and
lizards at Hui-yao, but in all other parts of the province which we visited
they were exceedingly scarce. In fact, I have never been in a place where
there were so few reptiles and batrachians. We obtained only one species of
poisonous snake here. It was a small green viper which we sometimes saw
coiled on a low bush watching mouse holes in the grass. Several species of
nonpoisonous snakes were more common but were nowhere really abundant.
We left Hui-yao the day after I killed the serow for a village called
Wa-tien where there was a report of sambur. None of us had any real hope of
finding the huge deer after our former unsuccessful hunts, but we camped in
the early afternoon on an open hilltop five miles from Wa-tien where the
natives assured us the animals often came to eat the young rice during the
night.
We engaged four men with three dogs as hunters, but awoke to find a dense
fog blanketing the valley and mountains. It was not until half past nine
that the gray mist yielded to the sun and left the hills clear enough for
us to hunt. We climbed a wooded ridge directly behind the camp and skirted
the edge of a heavily forested ravine which the men wished to drive.
Heller took a position in a bean field while I climbed to a sharp ridge
above and beyond him. In less than half an hour the dogs began to yelp in
an uncertain way. I saw one of them running down hill, nose to the ground,
and a few seconds later Heller fired twice in quick succession. Two sambur
had skirted the edge of the wood less than one hundred yards away, but he
had missed with both shots.
The trail led into a deep ravine filled with dense underbrush. In a few
moments the dogs began to yelp again and, while Heller remained on the
hillside to watch the open fields, I followed the hounds along the creek
bed. Suddenly the whiplike crack of his Savage 250-300 rifle sounded five
times in quick succession just above our heads, and we climbed hurriedly
out of the gorge.
Heller shouted that he had fired at a huge sambur running along the edge of
a bean field but the animal showed no sign of being hit. We easily picked
up the trail in the soft earth and in a few moments found several drops of
blood, showing that at least one bullet had found its mark. The blood soon
ceased and we began to wonder if the sambur had not been merely scratched.
Heller had seen the deer disappear in a second ravine, a branch of the one
out of which it had first been driven, and while he watched the upper side
I worked my way to the bottom to look for tracks. A few moments later the
natives began to shout excitedly just above me, and Heller called out that
they had found the deer, which was lying stone dead half way down the side
of the gorge in a mass of thick ferns. The sambur had been hit only once
but the powerful Savage bullet had crashed through the shoulder into the
lungs; it was quite sufficient to do the work even on such a huge animal
and the deer had run less than one hundred yards from the place where it
had been shot.
It was a splendid male, carrying a magnificent pair of antlers which
measured twenty-seven inches in length. The deer was about the size of an
American wapiti, or elk, and must have weighed at least seven hundred
pounds, for it required eight men to lift it. The Chinese hunters were wild
with excitement, but especially so when we began to eviscerate the animal,
for they wished to save the blood which is considered of great medicinal
value. They filled caps, sacks, bamboo joints, and every receptacle which
they could find after each man had drunk all he could possibly force down
his throat and had eaten the huge clots which choked the thorax.
When the sambur was brought to camp a regular orgy was held by our
servants, _mafus_, and dozens of villagers who gathered to buy, beg, or
steal some of the blood. Our interpreter, Wu, took the heart as his
perquisite, carefully extracted the blood, and dried it in a basin. The
liver also seemed to be an especial desideratum, and in fact every part of
the viscera was saved. Because the antlers were hard they were not
considered of especial value, but had they been in the velvet we should
have had to guard them closely; then they would have been worth about one
hundred dollars (Mexican).
We expected from our easy hunt of the morning that it would not be
difficult to get sambur, and indeed, Heller did see another in the
afternoon but failed to kill it. Unfortunately, a relative of one of the
hunters died suddenly during the night and all the men went off with their
dogs to the burial feast which lasted several days, and we were not able to
find any other good hounds.
There were undoubtedly several sambur in the vicinity of our camp but they
fed entirely during the night and spent the day in such thick cover that it
was impossible to drive them out except with good beaters or dogs. We
hunted faithfully every morning and afternoon but did not get another shot
and, after a week, moved camp to the base of a great mountain range six
miles away near a Liso village.
The scenery in this region is magnificent. The mountain range is the same
on which we hunted at Ho-mu-shu and reaches a height of 11,000 feet near
Wa-tien. It is wild and uninhabited, and the splendid forests must shelter
a good deal of game.
The foothills on which we were camped are low wooded ridges rising out of
open cultivated valleys, which often run into the jungle-filled ravines in
which the sambur sleep. Why the deer should occur in this particular region
and not in the neighboring country is a mystery unless it is the proximity
of the great forested mountain range. But in similar places only a few
miles away, where there is an abundance of cover, the natives said the
animals had never been seen, and neither were they known on the opposite
side of the mountain range where the Teng-yueh--Tali-Fu road crosses the
Salween valley.
On May 20, we started back to Hui-yao to spend three or four days hunting
monkeys before we returned to Teng-yueh to pack our specimens and end the
field work of the Expedition. On the way my wife and I became separated
from the caravan but as we had one of our servants for a guide we were not
uneasy.
The man was a lazy, stupid fellow named Le Ping-sang (which we had changed
to "Leaping Frog" because he never did leap for any cause whatever), and
before long he had us hopelessly lost.
It would appear easy enough to ask the way from the natives, but the
Chinese are so suspicious that they often will intentionally misdirect a
stranger. They do not know what business the inquirer may have in the
village to which he wishes to go and therefore, just on general principles,
they send him off in the wrong direction.
Apparently this is what happened to us, for a farmer of whom we inquired
the way directed us to a road at nearly right angles to the one we should
have taken, and it was late in the afternoon before we finally found the
caravan.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
LAST DAYS IN CHINA
It was of paramount importance to pack our specimens before the beginning
of the summer rains. They might be expected to break in full violence any
day after June 1, and when they really began it would be impossible to get
our boxes to Bhamo, for virtually all caravan travel ceases during the wet
season. Therefore our second stay at Hui-yao was short and we returned to
Teng-yueh on May 24, ending the active field work of the Expedition exactly
a year from the time it began with our trip up the Min River to Yeng-ping
in Fukien Province.
Mr. Grierson had kindly invited us again to become his guests and no place
ever seemed more delightful, after our hot and dusty ride, than his
beautiful garden and cool, shady verandah where a dainty tea was served.
Our days in Teng-yueh were busy ones, for after the specimens were packed
and the boxes sealed it was necessary to wrap them in waterproof covers;
moreover, the equipment had to be sorted and sold or discarded, a caravan
engaged, and nearly a thousand feet of motion-picture film developed. This
was done in the spacious dark room connected with Mr. Grierson's house
which offered a welcome change from the cramped quarters of the tent which
we had used for so many months.
Much of the success of our motion film lay in the fact that it was
developed within a short time after exposure, for had we attempted to bring
or send it to Shanghai, the nearest city with facilities for doing such
work, it would inevitably have been ruined by the climatic changes.
Although cinematograph photography requires an elaborate and expensive
outfit and is a source of endless work, nevertheless, the value of an
actual moving record of the life of such remote regions is worth all the
trouble it entails.
The Paget natural color plates proved to be eminently satisfactory and were
among the most interesting results of the expedition. The stereoscopic
effects and the faithful reproduction of the delicate atmospheric shading
in the photographs are remarkable. Although the plates had been subjected
to a variety of climatic conditions and temperatures by the time the last
ones were exposed in Burma, a year and a half after their manufacture, they
showed no signs of deterioration even when the ordinary negatives which we
brought with us from America had been ruined. The other photographs, some
of which are reproduced in this book, speak for themselves.
The entire collections of the Expedition were packed in forty-one cases and
included the following specimens:
2,100 mammals
800 birds
200 reptiles and batrachians
200 skeletons and formalin preparations for anatomical study
150 Paget natural color plates
500 photographic negatives
10,000 feet of motion-picture film.
Since the Expedition was organized primarily for the study of the mammalian
fauna and its distribution, our efforts were directed very largely toward
this branch of science, and other specimens were gathered only when
conditions were especially favorable. I believe that the mammal collection
is the most extensive ever taken from China by a single continuous
expedition, and a large percentage undoubtedly will prove to represent
species new to science. Our tents were pitched in 108 different spots from
15,000 feet to 1,400 feet above sea level, and because of this range in
altitudes, the fauna represented by our specimens is remarkably varied.
Moreover, during our nine months in Yuen-nan we spent 115 days in the
saddle, riding 2,000 miles on horse or mule back, largely over small roads
or trails in little known parts of the province.
In Teng-yueh we were entertained most hospitably and the leisure hours were
made delightful by golf, tennis, riding, and dinners. Mr. Grierson was a
charming host who placed himself, as well as his house and servants, at our
disposal, utter strangers though we were, and we shall never forget his
welcome.
We decided to take four man-chairs to Bhamo because of the rain which was
expected every day, and the coolies made us very comfortable upon our
sleeping bags which were swung between two bamboo poles and covered with a
strip of yellow oil-cloth. They were the regulation Chinese "mountain
schooner," at which we had so often laughed, but they proved to be
infinitely more desirable than riding in the rain.
With the forty-one cases of specimens we left Teng-yueh on June 1, behind a
caravan of thirty mules for the eight-day journey to Bhamo on the outskirts
of civilization. Our chair-coolies were miserable specimens of humanity.
They were from S'suchuan Province and were all unmarried which alone is
almost a crime in China. Every cent of money, earned by the hardest sort of
work, they spent in drinking, gambling, and smoking opium. As Wu tersely
put it "they make how much--spend how much!"
About every two hours they would deposit us unceremoniously in the midst of
a filthy village and disappear into some dark den in spite of our
remonstrances. We would grumble and fume and finally, getting out of our
chairs, peer into the hole. In the half light we would see them huddled on
a "kang" over tiny yellow flames sucking at their pipes. At tiffin each one
would stretch out under a tree with a stone for a pillow and his broad
straw hat propped up to screen him from the wind. With infinite care he
would extract a few black grains from a dirty box, mix them with a little
water, and cook them over an alcohol lamp until the opium bubbled and was
almost ready to drop. Then placing it lovingly in the bowl of his pipe
he would hold it against the flame and draw in long breaths of the
sickly-sweet smoke. The men could work all day without food, but opium was
a prime necessity.
It was almost impossible to start them in the morning and it became my
regular duty to make the rounds of the filthy holes in which they slept,
seize them by the collars and drag them into the street. Force made the
only appeal to their deadened senses and we were heartily sick of them
before we reached Bhamo.
The road to Bhamo is a gradual descent from five thousand feet to almost
sea level. Because of the fever the valleys are largely inhabited by
"Chinese Shans" who differ in dress and customs from the Southern Shans of
the Nam-ting River. Few of the men were tattooed and the women all wore the
enormous cylindrical turban which we had seen once before in the Salween
Valley.
At noon of the fifth day we crossed the Yuen-nan border into Burma. It is a
beautiful spot where a foaming mountain torrent rushes out of the jungle in
a series of picturesque cascades and loses itself in a living wall of
green. The stream is spanned by a splendid iron bridge from which a fine
wide road of crushed stone leads all the way to Bhamo.
What a difference between the country we were leaving and the one we were
about to enter! It is the "deadly parallel" of the old East and the new
West. On the one side is China with her flooded roads and bridges of
rotting timber, the outward and visible signs of a nation still living in
the Middle Ages, fighting progress, shackled by the iron doctrines of
Confucius to the long dead past. Across the river is English Burma, with
eyes turned forward, ever watchful of the welfare of her people, her iron
bridges and macadam roads representing the very essence of modern thought
and progress.
With paternal care of her officials the British government has provided
_dak_ (mail) bungalows at the end of each day's journey which are open to
every foreign traveler. They are comfortable little houses set on piles.
Each one has a spacious living room, with a large teakwood table and
inviting lounge chairs. In a corner stands a cabinet of cutlery, china, and
glass, all clean and in perfect order. The two bedrooms are provided with
adjoining baths and a covered passageway connects the kitchen with the
house. All is ready for the tired traveler, and a boy can be hired for a
trifling sum to make the punkah "punk." Such comforts can only be
appreciated when one has journeyed for months in a country where they do
not exist.
Our last night on the road was spent at a _dak_ bungalow near a village
only a few miles from Bhamo. We were seated at the window, when, with a
rattle of wheels, the first cart we had seen in nine months passed by. That
cart brought to us more forcibly than any other thing a realization that
the Expedition was ended and that we were standing on the threshold of
civilization.
As Yvette turned from the window her eyes were wet with unshed tears, and a
lump had risen in my throat. Not all the pleasures of the city, the love of
friends or relatives, could make us wish to end the wild, free life of the
year gone by. Silently we left the house and walked across the sunlit road
into a grove of graceful, drooping palms; a white pagoda gleamed between
the trees, and the pungent odor of wood smoke filled the air.
The spot was redolent with the atmosphere of the lazy East; the East which,
like the fabled "Lorelei," weaves a mystic spell about the wanderer whom
she has loved and taken to her heart, while yet he feels it not. And when
he would cast her off and return to his own again she knows full well that
her subtle charm will bring him back once more.
* * * * *
The next morning we entered Bhamo. It is a city of low, cool houses, wide
lawns and tree-decked streets built on the bank of the muddy Irawadi River.
Only a few miles away the railroad reaches Katha, and palatial steamers run
to Mandalay and Rangoon. We called upon Mr. Farmer, the Deputy
Commissioner, who offered the hospitality of the "Circuit House" and in the
evening took us with him to the Club.
A military band was playing and men in white, well-dressed women, and
officers in uniform strolled about or sipped iced drinks beside the tennis
court. We felt strange and shy but doubtless we seemed more strange to them
for we were newly come from a far country which they saw only as a mystic,
unknown land.
On June 9, at noon, we embarked for the 1,200-mile journey to Rangoon,
exactly nine months after we had ridden away from Yuen-nan Fu toward the
Mountain of Eternal Snow. Our further travels need not be related here.
When we reached civilization we expected that our transport difficulties
were ended; instead they had only begun. India was well-nigh isolated from
the Pacific and to expose our valuable collection to the attacks of German
pirates in the Mediterranean and Atlantic was not to be considered even
though it necessitated traveling two thirds around the world to reach
America safely.
We left Rangoon for Calcutta, crossed India with all our baggage to Bombay,
and after a seemingly endless wait eventually succeeded in arriving at
Hongkong by way of Singapore. There we separated from our faithful Wu and
sent him to his home in Foochow. It was hard to say "good-by" to Wu, for
his efficient service, his enthusiastic interest in the work of the
Expedition, and, above all, his willingness to do whatever needed to be
done, had won our gratitude and affection. We ourselves went northward to
Japan, across the Pacific to Vancouver, and overland to New York, arriving
on October 1, 1917, nearly nineteen months from the time we left. We were
never separated from our collections for, had we left them, I doubt if they
would ever have reached America. It was difficult enough to gather them in
the field, but infinitely more so to guide the forty-one cases through the
tangled shipping net of a war-mad world.
They reached New York without the loss of a single specimen and are now
being prepared in the American Museum of Natural History for the study
which will place the scientific results of the Asiatic Zooelogical
Expedition before the public.
* * * * *
The story of our travels is at an end. Once more we are indefinable units
in a vast work-a-day world, bound by the iron chains of convention to the
customs of civilized men and things. The glorious days in our beloved East
are gone, and yet, to us, the Orient seems not far away, for the miles of
land and water can be traversed in a thought. Again we stand before our
tent with the fragrant breath of the pines about us, watching the
glistening peaks of the Snow Mountain turn purple and gold in the setting
sun; again, we feel the mystic spell of the jungle, or hear the low, sweet
tones of a gibbon's call. We have only to shut our eyes to bring back a
picture of the bleak barriers of the Forbidden Land or the sunlit streets
of a Burma village. Thank God, we saw it all together and such blessed
memories can never die.
INDEX
Abercrombie & Fitch Co.
Abertsen, Mr., Chinese Customs, employee of;
discovered hunting ground near Hui-yao;
killed two gorals
Africa
Akeley, Carl E.
Alaska
Allen, Dr. J.A.
American flags
American Legation, Peking
American Museum Journal
American Museum of Natural History;
trustees of, specimens being prepared at
Americans
Ammunition, loss of
Amoy
_Anas boscas_ (Mallard ducks)
Anglo-Chinese College
Animal life, lack of
Annamits
Antlers
Ape, gray (_Pygathrix_)
_Apodemus_ (white-footed mouse)
Asia
_Asia_ Magazine, quoted from
Asiatic Zooelogical Expedition;
members of
Assam
Assistants
A-tun-zu
Babies, killing and selling of
Baboon, brown (_Macacus_)
Baboon, Indian (_Macacus rhesus_)
Bamboo chickens
Bandits, attack of
Bankhardt, Mr.
Bat apartment house
Bat cave, description of;
experience of girl in
Bats, method of killing
Batrachians
Bear cubs (_Ursus tibetanus_), purchased at Teng-yueg
Bedding
Berger, Anna Katherine, acknowledgment to
Bering Strait
Bernheimer, Mr. and Mrs. Charles L.
Betel nut
Bhamo;
railroad from;
road to;
description of
Big Ravine, description of;
temples near
Birds, game
_Blarina_
Boat, Chinese, eye on
Bode, Mr.
Bohea Hills
Bound feet
Bowdoin, George
Bradley, Dr.;
established leper hospital at Paik-hoi
Brahmin priests
Brahminy ducks;
habits of
Bridge, suspension, description of
Bridges, rope
Brigand, seal of a pardoned
Brigandage
Brigands; beheading of;
infest Yuen-nan;
description of
British American Tobacco Co., Hongkong
British East Africa
Brooke, Englishman, killed by Lolos
Buffaloes;
water
Bui-tao
Bureau of Foreign Affairs, Director of
Burial, expenses of
Burma;
border of;
girls of;
mammals caught near;
frontier of;
boundary of
Burmans
Calcutta
Caldwell, Rev. Harry R.;
letter from;
house of;
stationed at Futsing;
tiger hunting, method of;
obtains serows at Yen-ping;
purchases serow skins in Fukien
California
_Callosciurus erythraeus_
Camera equipment
Canadian Pacific R.R. Co., Hongkong, General Passenger Agent of
Cantonese, chiefly of Shan stock
_Capricornulus crispus_
_Capricornis sumatrensis_
_Capricornis sumatrensis argyrochaetes_
_Capricornis sumatrensis milne-edwardsi_
Caravan, robbing of;
buying of;
renting of
Caravan ponies
Caravans, distance traveled by
Cary, F.W., Commissioner of Customs
_Casarca casarca_ (ruddy sheldrake)
Caverns
Central Asia
Central Asian plateau
_Cervus macneilli_
Chair-coolies
Chairs, description of
Chang, Dr.
Chang-hu-fan;
night at
Changlung;
ferry at
Chien-chuan
Chi-li
China;
aboriginal inhabitants of;
press;
inland mission
Chinaman, Cantonese
Chinese, Republic;
army of;
face saving;
Foreign Office;
screaming, habit of;
lack of sympathy of;
not affected by sun;
love of companionship;
bride of;
wedding of;
dress of;
Commissioner of Foreign Affairs, meeting with;
education of;
villages, description of;
etiquette of;
New Year;
collecting debts of
Chipmunk (_Tamiops macclellandi_)
Chi-yuen-kang
Chou Chou
Christians, native, persecution of
Christianity, lesson in
Christmas;
celebration of
Chu-hsuing Fu
Chung-tien
Civet (_Viverra_)
Clive, Captain
Clothing
Colgate, Mr. and Mrs. Sidney M.
Collecting case
Color plates
Confucius, rules of
Cook, difficulty in obtaining;
description of
Coolies
Cormorants
Corn
Cows, used as burden-bearers by Chinese
Cranes;
habits of
Crossbows
Cui-kau;
description of
Da-Da
Daing-nei
_Dak_ (mail) bungalows
Da-Ming
Darjeeling
Davies, Major H.R.;
quoted
Dead, burying of
Deer
Deer, barking
Denby, Hon. Charles
Dennet, Tyler, quoted
D'Ollone, Major, member French Expedition
D'Orleans, Prince Henri
Dog, red, death of
Dogs, description of;
for food
Doumer, M., Governor-General of French Indo-China
Duai Uong
Ducks brahminy;
shooting of
Dupontes, Georges Chemin, assistance of, to expedition
Eastes, Mr., Consul
Education, foreign
_Elaphodus_
Elephants
Elk
Ellsworth, Lincoln
Embry, Rev. and Mrs., China Inland Mission, members of
Empress Dowager;
issued edict prohibiting opium growing
Equipment, purchase of
Erh Hai or Ta-li Fu Lake
Etiquette
Europe
European war
Evans, H.G.;
assistance of
Expedition, announcement of;
applicants for positions on;
results of
Expeditions, preliminary
Eye on Chinese boat
Farmer, Mr.
Fauna, mammalian
_Felis temmicki_
_Felis uncia_
Ferry
Fletcher, H.G.
Flying squirrel
Foochow;
foreign residents of;
streets of;
mail from;
schools for native girls at;
woman's college at
Food box
Foot binding, origin of;
method of;
Natural Foot Society of;
agitation against
Forbidden City
Ford, James B.
Foreign Office
Forest conservation, lack of
Formosa
Forrest, Mr.
Fossil animals;
beds
Francolins
French Consul
Frick, Childs
Frick, Henry C.
Fukien Province, China;
deforestation of;
mammals of;
climate and temperature of;
collecting in summer at;
birds of;
herpetology of;
trapping for small mammals at;
zooelogical study of;
language of;
travel in;
servants in;
serows hunted in;
missionary work in
Funeral customs
Futsing;
blue tiger hunting at
Galapagos Islands
_Gallus gallus_
_Gallus lafayetti_
_Gallus sonnerati_
_Gallus varius_
Gamblers
Geese
Gen-kang
Gibbon (_Hylobates_);
description of;
hunting of
Goffe, Consul-General at Yuen-nan Fu
Goitre, prevalence of
Gorals;
first hunt for;
ceremonies at death of;
collecting for groups;
color of;
invisibility of;
description of;
horns of;
distribution of;
hunting of;
fighting of;
habits of;
feet of;
hunting of, at Hui-yao
Great Invisible
Grierson, Ralph C.
_Grus communis_
_Grus nigricollis_
Habala;
hunting at
Hainan, description of;
fauna of
Haiphong;
arrival at
Hanna, Rev. William J.
Hanoi, description of
_Harper's Magazine_
Hartford, Mabel
Heller, Edmund
Himalaya Mountains
Hoi-hau
Homes
Ho-mu-shu;
monkeys found near
Hongkong, purchase of supplies at
Hoolock (_Hylobates hoolock_)
Hornbill
Horses, size of
Hospital attendants
Hotenfa
Hsia-kuan, description of
Hui-yao;
reptiles and lizards found at
Hunan
Hung-Hsien
Hunters
Hutchins, Commander Thomas
Hwa Shan (Flower Mountain), massacre at
_Hylobates_
_Hylomys_
_Hystrix_
India
Inns
Irawadi River
Japan
Japanese newspaper reporters
Joline, Mrs. Adrian Hoffman
Jungle fowl;
habits of
Kachins;
women, appearance of
Katha
Kellogg, C.R.
Kok, Rev. and Mrs. A.;
Pentecostal missionary;
assistance of
Koko-nor
Koo, Wellington
Korea;
pheasants found in
Kraemer, M.
Kucheng
Kwang-si
Kwei-chau Province
Lane & Crawford Company of Hongkong
Lang, Herbert, photograph of serow loaned by
Languages and dialects, number of;
reason for
Langur
Langurs (_Pygathrix_)
Lao-kay, first hotel on railroad
Lapwings
Las
Lashio
Legge, Prof. J., quoted
Leopards
Leper hospital
_Li_, length of
Li-chang;
animal life on route to;
arrival at;
camp in;
collecting in;
mammals of;
important fur market at;
inhabitants of;
return to
Li-Hung Chang
Ling-suik, monastery of;
description of;
priests at;
collecting at
Lisos
Livingstone, H.W.
Loads, weight of
Lolos;
depredations of;
independence of;
dress of;
capes worn by
London Zooelogical Society's Garden
Long Ravine, blue tiger seen at
Lucas, Dr. F.A., acknowledgment to
Lui, Mr., salt commissioner at Tsia-kuan
Lung-ling
Lung-tao
Lutzus
McMurray, J.V.A.
_Macacus rhesus_
_Mafus_, description of
Mail
Malaria
Malay Peninsula
Ma-li-ling
Ma-li-pa;
poppy fields at
Mallard ducks
Mammals, small, importance of;
preparing of
Man, primitive, migrations of
Man-eater, killing of
Mandalay
Mandarins, relations with
Ma-po-lo, low valley at;
game at;
fog in
Marco Polo
Massacre in Hwa Shan (Flower Mountain)
Mazzetti-Haendel, Baron
Meadow vole (_Microtus_)
Mekong
Mekong river, description of
Mekong-Salween divide
Mekong valley;
vegetables in;
zooelogy of
Meng-ting;
description of;
mandarin of;
Buddhist monastery at;
market at;
Cantonese visit and buy opium at;
fog at;
valley at;
birds at
Mergansers
Methodist mission
Mexico
Miao village
Mice
_Micromys_
_Microtus_, meadow vole
Min River;
life on
Mission hospital;
China Inland
Missionaries;
servants of;
natives trading with;
civilizing influence of
Mohammedan Chinese, married to a Shan
Mohammedan hunter
Mohammedan war
Mole
Molloy, Agnes F., acknowledgment to
Money, carrying of;
transmitting of
Monkey
Monkey temple
Moose
Morgan, Cordelia
Mosos;
description of;
capes worn by
Motion pictures;
developing of
Mountain goat
"Mountain Goat Hunting with Camera," quoted from
Mouse (_Micromys_)
Moving picture film
Mu-cheng
Muntjac, description of
Museum authorities
Mustelidae
Myitkyina district
_Naemorhedus griseus_
Nam-ka, Shans at;
description of;
camp at
Nam-ting River, ferry at;
camping at;
hunters at;
camp on;
polecat trapped at;
monkeys, hunting at;
hornbill, seen at;
monkeys found at;
Shans seen at;
caravan crossed
_Namur_, S.S.
Natives;
inaccuracy of
New York, return to
Ngu-cheng
Non-Chinese tribes
North America
Northern soldiers
Northern troops
Opium;
growing of;
inspection of;
scandal;
smuggling of;
smoking of
Osborn, Henry Fairfield, quoted
Pack saddle, description of
Pack, weight of
Page, Howard
Paget color plates
Pagoda Anchorage
Paik-hoi;
leper hospital at
Palaungs
Palmer, Mr.
Pandas, coats of
Pangolin, scales of
Parrots
Partridges, bamboo
Passports
_Pavo cristatus_
_Pavo munticus_
Peacock, black-shouldered
Peacock, hunting of;
habits of;
eggs of;
domestication of
Peacock, Indian
Peafowl, killed on Salween River;
flesh of
Peking
_Petaruista yunnanensis_
Phasiandae
Pheasants, shooting of;
Lady Amherst's;
silver;
horned
Phete;
country about;
natives of
Photographic work
Photographs in natural colors
Photography, cinematograph
Pigeons
Pigs, killing of;
wild;
treatment of
Pin-tail
Pleistocene
Pocock, Mr.
Polecat
Polo, Marco;
quoted
Poppy blossoms
Poppy fields
Porcupine, description of
Portable dark room
Prjevalsky, Lieutenant-Colonel
P'u-erh
_Pygathrix_ (monkeys)
Railroad, Hanoi to Yuen-nan;
description of
Rain, last of the season
Rainey, Paul J.
Rangoon
_Ratufa gigantea_
Rebellion of 1913
Reinsch, Hon. Paul
Republic
Rhododendrons
Rice
Rice fields
Rifle, Mannlicher;
Savage;
Winchester
Riot in Shanghai
Roads, descriptions of
Rocky Mountain sheep
Roosevelt, Colonel Theodore
_Rupicapra_
Rupicaprine antelopes, horns of
Salt, preparation of
Salween River;
heat of
Sambur;
hunting of;
blood of
Sammons, Mr., American Consul-General
Sampans, first night in
San Francisco
Scandinavian steamer
Schools for native girls
Sclater, Mr.
Screaming, Chinese habit of
Sedan chairs
Serows;
hunt for;
habits of;
hunting for;
description of;
color variation of;
Japanese;
difference from gorals;
horns of;
relationship of;
appearance of;
killed on Snow Mountain;
obtained by Mr. Caldwell at Yen-ping;
distribution of;
habits of;
weight of;
hunting of at Hui-yao
Servants, wages of
Shanghai;
riot in
Shans;
description of village of;
houses of;
heavily tattooed;
tribes of;
description of
Sheldrakes
Sherwood, George H., assistance rendered to Expedition by
Shia-chai
Shie-tien;
bird life at;
natives, curiosity of
Shih-ku ferry
Shoverling, Daly & Gales, ammunition, guns, tents, furnished by
Shrew
Shwelie River
Singapore
Slave raiding
Smith, Arthur H., quoted
Snow Mountain, camp at;
traveling to;
description of hunters at;
mammalogy of;
camp on slopes of;
mammals collected at;
serows killed on
Soldiers, guard of;
guns of;
expense of;
use of;
treatment by natives of;
fight with;
extortions of
South America
Specimens, packing of
Squirrel, flying (_Petaurista yunnanensis_);
_Ratufa gigantea_;
red-bellied (_Callosciurus erythraeus_)
S'suchuan Province
S'su-mao
Standard Oil Co.;
launch of
Su Ek
Sun-birds
_Sung-kiang_, S.S.
Tablets, ancestral, description of
Tai-ping-pu
Taku
Taku ferry
Ta-li Fu;
soldiers guard to;
road to;
graves at;
lake at;
mandarin at;
pagodas at
Ta-li Fu Lake, description of
_Tamiops macclellandi_
Taoist temple
_Tao-tai_
Tartars
Temple, camp in
Teng-yueh;
return to
Tents
_Tenyo Maru_
Thompson, Dr.
Tibet;
monopoly of gold in
Tibetan plateaus
Tibetans, description of;
photographing of;
dislike for strangers of;
influence of Chinese on
Tiger;
man-eating;
lairs of;
stalking a goat;
habits of;
daring of;
strength of;
excitement of hunting;
weight of;
blood of;
skins in temples of;
food of;
hunting in lair of;
flesh and bones of;
marking trees by;
skins of
Tiger, blue;
description of;
hunting of;
trying to trap
Tonking
Tragopan, Temmick's
Transportation, difficulties of
Trapping, methods of
Traps, steel;
method of setting
Trees, marking of, by tiger
Tribes, non-Chinese, description of
Trimble, Dr.;
house of
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