Viewing page 17 of 37

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-19-

I went hunting twice, and Wang, the carpenter, climbed a high mountain near by. This is a poor place to collect, so we will move towards Tatsienlu. I never saw woods so devoid of birds, etc., as these are now. 

Ho, the skinner, was sick, but managed to do his work up-to-date. I helped him some.

It is a very hard problem how to keep this expedition in provisions. Our Chinese collectors must have rice, and this increases the cost of their food. We are in territory much of the time where vegetables will not grow, and not even wheat or barley. Food must be brought a long way. Butter and milk may generally be procured, but not always. Sometimes a sheep may be bought and eaten.

Aug. 6. Secured mammals 491-2, and about ten birds. 

We crossed the Wa-Hu pass on the way back towards Tatsienlu. We secured some good flies, and a few moths and butterflies. The full moon is out, so night-moth catching does not yield results.

From the top of the pass we got a fine view of a snow mountain range directly westward. Some high peaks are bare, but others are covered with snow. We saw some glaciers. There is one glacier that is an immense snow drift, the snow drifting over mountains that are to the west of the drift. The drift must have a tremendous depth.

The far-spread story that the high-waters of the Yangtse and its tributaries in the summer are due to the melting snows of Tibet is a myth. There is very little snow, comparatively, in Tibet to melt. Very little snow falls in Tibet in the winter-time, and its melting does not cause floods. During the summer, on hot sunshiny days, the streams are at their lowest. On cold, rainy days or just after heavy showers, the streams are at their highest. Most of the flood-waters of the Yangtse and its tributaries in the summer are due to heavy rainfall east of Tibet, in Szechuan, and in other parts of China. This paragraph is the result of years of observation and inquiry.