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butter, but may use a tin of butter later.  I am in good physical condition.

I have to stay up at night later than the Chinese helpers, and get up when they do at daylight, yet they are a little bit more tired and sleepy than I am at night.  

There is much mineral this side of Yachow, especially iron.  In some places there are good coal deposits.

I have seen none of the larger red ants found about Tatsienlu and Songpan in the higher altitudes.

Today a coolie with a load containing bottles slipped and fell downhill. Several bottles were broken, which will leave us short.

Tonight I visited the head military official of this district, including Ningyuen.  He is probably half Chinese and half tribesman, but he is the leading man of this district.  He is giving me a military escort that means adequate protection to Ningyuenfu. He says it is unwise and unsafe to hunt or collect on the mountains near Ningyuenfu, but if I will come back to where we stopped last night he can furnish adequate protection and there is plenty of game. 

July 25.  Today we got ten birds.  Two were woodpeckers, the kind I got one specimen of near the top of Mt. Omei in 1925.

It rained hard all night last night and this morning until about 8:30.  We travelled to Li Tseo, 70 li.  Tomorrow we have 50 li to travel before reaching Ningyuenfu.  We are travelling almost directly south.

During the past few days we have generally been in narrow valleys or gulches between steep mountains.  Today the valley widened out and the mountains and hillsides are much more gradual or sloping.  This looks like a geologically old valley, while the others passed through look like young valleys.

This afternoon the sun cam out and dried the roads up.

The river and streams are swollen and muddy.

We can not work the high mountains around Ningyuenfu because of the Lolos.  I want to cover Ningyuenfu very thoroughly in 9 or 10 days and then come back and spend about 5 days each in 2 places where it is safe and where we can work in the ligher altitudes.

We are spending the night at Li Tseo, the altitude of which is about 6200 feet.

The coolies were able to ride down the river in boats for about 25 li, but with the netter and the aborigine hunter Yang Tong Tsang I walked all the way so as to collect.  Secured some good insects.

We have seen almost no snakes. We have seen only 2 since the day we left Yachow and have both of them.  We have seen no mammals at all excepting a black bear that the aborigines had killed.  They had torn off some of its claws, or we might have purchased it.