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127.

[[underline]] MONGOLIA [[/underline]]

     Having completely recorded the sculptures in the grottos of Kung Hsien, I decided that, May being half over, I would choose this time to visit the only other site of North Wei material, near the city of Tat'ung fu in Shansi Province, before the rains and the heat made travel more difficult. Work in Honan and Shansi Provinces was still out of the question, as the activities of the robber bands and depredations of the regular tropps were on the increase. My plans for the summer campaign were still unsettled, but I decided not to spend the hot wet months in any part of China where there was danger of the recurrence of a former heat stroke, and had asked the opinion of certain of the Committee on the wisdom of doing some work in Japan on the art of the period which was inspired by the culture of the Chinese North Wei dynasty. In fact, if my activities in China were nearing an end, this seemed the only course left after visiting Tat'ungfu. 
     My interpreter had not yet recovered sufficiently to go with me, and I missed his aid in all the small matters of transport, inn accommodations, etc., but even more in such things as the reading of dated inscriptions and interpreting conversations with local collectors and literary men. I therefore decided to engage another young man in his place, and started out by rail from Peking, outfitted for a trip of only two weeks' duration in a climate which was rapidly becoming hot. My train stopped at Kalgan where I was to make connection next morning for Tat'ungfu.