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[[underline]] SUGGESTIONS FOR EXCAVATION [[/underline]] Considering our present problem of getting the work of the School under way, he believed that the quickest and most important results could be obtained by excavation. He suggested in this connection the regions of the Indian trade-routes through Turkestan, the early culture of the Hoang Ho valley, the Chinese sites in Mongolia near Kara Korum, (a suggestion later amplified by me at Urga and St. Petersburg), the kiln sites of central China and Manchuria.  All these things, he said, should engage our early attention and he gave them as above in what he considered to be the order of their importance. 
 
He strongly advised that if our staff is to include an ethnologist he be set to work from the first, on the racial problems of Western Mongolia and on those presented by the peoples now inhabiting the Tibetan borders of Kansu, Szechwan and Yunnan.  In this way, he believed, we could obtain the best material for studying the racial problems of China proper.  

It was significant that M. Maitre emphasized his opinion that not even the important works of excavation or ethnology should be allowed to interfere with a rapid accumulation of Chinese books and a collection of inscriptions and photographs.
  
His suggestions concerning the training of a future staff, I have for the most part embodied with my recommendations to your Committee on this subject.
  
The list of books published by the School at Hanoi proves that scholarship of the highest order can be attained by a small group of scientists working in different fields and having the same headquarters.  In planning our School in Peking