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DIARY NO. III

DAVID C. GRAHAM, SUIFU, SZECHUAN, CHINA.

May 27, 1928 to October 12, 1928.

^[[The summer collecting trip is not included]]
^[[Box no. 83 Mammal no. 87]]

May 28, filled box No. 84, insects. Today I received notice from Shanghai that nine boxes of specimens have arrived and are being forwarded to the Smithsonian Institution. I also received a letter for Dr. Wetmore asking that I discontinue sending packages until I hear from Dr. Wetmore again. The only parcels I have any worry about are those now being delayed at La Chi. I am requesting the postmaster to bring those packages back to Suifu so that I can send them to Shanghai in care of a friend who is to pass through on the way to Shanghai in a few days.

The Chinese postoffice is really the safest and cheapest way of sending specimens, but long delays in forwarding parcels and even letters are sometimes unavoidable. 

May 29. Boxes No. 85 and No. 86 were packed today, both containing insects from the Yachow Prefecture secured by the collector Chen Gih Uen in April and May, altitudes varying from 1500 feet to 8000 feet. Box No. 87. Bird bones. Some of the bird specimens I have been preserving for their bones not for their skins have been nearly ruined by maggots. Today I have had to get after them with formalin and arsenic.

May 30. Filled box No. 88, bird bones and small fish.

June 2.  Filled boxes [[strikethrough]] 89, [[/strikethrough]] ^[[90 89, Insects from Suifu,]] Insects, snakes, and frogs from the Yachow Prefecture, Box. 91, shrimps from Suifu and 92, artifacts from Kiating, Szechuan, China.  93, rat and bird skins.  94, fish.

Today I received a letter from Mr. Ravenel stating that $500.00 gold has been sent to Miss Lacey to be credited to my account for a collecting trip to Moupin this summer.  I'll begin getting ready at once in dead earnest.

June 3.  Spent a great deal of time getting 32 packages of specimens ready to send down the river.

June 3. The sixteen packages being held by the General at La chi were brought back and returned to me through the kindness of the Suifu Postmaster. I am getting them ready to send to Shanghai in the care of a friend from Chengtu.

June 4. I worked until midnight last night getting the packages ready to forward to Shanghai. 

Because boxes with hinges and locks go as baggage on the Yangtse river and no duty is required, I have put most of the 32 boxes of specimens in Chinese bamboo boxes with hinges and locks.  I will have to purchase new boxes to replace them later.  I have now packed the specimens all ready for shipping.  I had to purchase four locks for these boxes.  My idea is to send the specimens to Shanghai in care of some friend who can look after them all the way.  This will be more expensive, but will avoid the delays in the Chinese Post Office due to civil war, etc.

Our Mission Executive is thinking of asking me to go to Ningyuen, in south-