![Transcription Center logo](/themes/custom/tc_theme/assets/image/logo.png)
This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
- 20 - entirely by cattle. In the other, men slept. There was a fireplace which was a hole in the ground, but no chimney or chairs or stools or stove. We made our bed on the floor on a matting of dried ferns. The Lolo, Mr. Li, slept with me. The other men slept on straw near the fire. There was a hard wind practically all the time, so that no insects came to the lantern. We cooked our meals in the first hut described above. The water was from a spring that was a sort of a puddle, and it was not boiled for drinking. I saw the mother chew up cooked rice and put it with her fingers into the mouth of a two-months old baby (I enquired several times and they all affirmed that the baby was only two months old). To cap the climax, she spit the chewed-up rice directly into the mouth of the baby. The poor ignorant mother knew practically nothing about cleanliness. Aug. 19. The green beans were not cooked done this morning. About noon I felt sick at the stomach and determined that I had better clear out of that situation. Our food included no bread nor meat, only rice, salt, potatoes, and green beans. Without eating dinner I called coolies and came down to the home of Mr. Li where my cook can prepare good food for me. This morning, with two Chinese hunting dogs and some hunters, we scoured the nearby woods. I killed a large snake with the Newton high-power rifle. It would have escaped if I had not shot it, for it is a rapid runner. I had to cut it into three pieces and put it into three different bottles. Aug. 20. The locality we are working in now is thirty li down the Fong River or the Da Du Ho from Fu Lin. The local name for this place is Tsao Heo Miao. The altitude is about three thousand feet. This locality is not an ideal collecting spot. The lower altitudes are semi-arid, and the vegetation such that no insects, birds, or animals like to eat it. In addition, this is a famine year for this locality. Already some people are eating wild berries, herbs, and grasses along with such other food as they can get. This morning, Yang Fong Tsang took the Newton high-power rifle and went off for a two-days' hunting trip. We leave for Fu Lin day after tomorrow, and for Yachow from Fu Lin the next day. I think that my coming down quickly off the mountain saved me a spell of sickness. Today I secured Lolo earrings, and a Lolo mouth-harp. I went hunting but did not see a single bird or animal. We secured some good insects. I took anthropometric measurements of several full-blood Lolos. I heard some Lolo music on a mouth or juice harp. It was low, gentle, I might say entrancing. A great foreign musician could make a reputation by translating this music for foreign use.