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[[underlined]] Chapter I. [[/underlined]] 8.

Lodge the selection of a site upon which to commence [[strikethrough]] our [[/strikethrough]] work in case the Chinese showed themselves ready to accept our offer of coöperation.  We had tentatively agreed upon that of the Pai Mai Ssŭ 百馬寺 or "White Horse Temple", in northwestern Honan, a few miles east of the city of Lo-yang 洛陽. This temple marks the spot, according to tradition, where Buddhism was first officially received in China, in the year 67 A.D.  Whether this tradition be reliable or not, we at least knew that the place had been an important Buddhist center for several centuries during the earlier portion of our Era.  Hence we felt it reasonable to expect that excavations there would reveal a great deal of interest, including perhaps examples of Buddhist art earlier than any hitherto known in China.
Accordingly I proposed to the committee that we undertake our first joint work at the Pai Ma Ssŭ.  The same site was also suggested, quite independently, by Professor Ma Hêng 馬衡, chief of the Archaeological Department of the National University, and by the well known scholar and collector, Mr. Lo Chên-yü. The area within a radius of a few miles of the "White Horse Temple" contained also many other sites of importance, among them the capitals of the Eastern Chou and Eastern Han Dynasties and the sculptured Buddhist grottoes of Lung Mên 龍門.  The region should therefore, we all agreed, supply us with abundance of work for a long time to come.

[[underlined]] Request for Official Authorization to Dig. [[/underlined]]
I at once addressed to the Peking Historical Commission, through the proper official channels, a formal application for permission to undertake excavations in the above area. My study of the situation had however shown me that permits from the civil authorities would not