CHAPTER IX. VOYAGING TO YUEN-NAN

We had a busy week in Hongkong outfitting for our trip to Yuen-nan. Hongkong is one of the best cities in the Orient in which to purchase supplies of almost any kind, for not only is the selection excellent, but the best English goods can be had for prices very little in excess of those in London itself.

The system which we used in our commissary was that of the unit food box which has been adopted by most large expeditions. The boxes were packed to weigh seventy pounds each and contained all the necessary staple supplies for three persons for one week; thus only one box needed to be opened at a time, and, moreover, if the party separated for a few days a single box could be taken without the necessity of repacking and with the assurance that sufficient food would be available.

Our supplies consisted largely of flour, butter, sugar, coffee, milk, bacon, and marmalade, and but little tinned meat, vegetables, or fruit because we were certain to be able to obtain a plentiful supply of such food in the country through which we were expecting to travel.

Our tents were brought from New York and were made of light Egyptian cotton thoroughly waterproof, but we also purchased in Hongkong a large army tent for the servants and two canvas flies to protect loads and specimens. We used sleeping bags and folding cots, tables and chairs, for when an expedition expects to remain in the field for a long time it is absolutely necessary to be as comfortable as possible and to live well; otherwise one cannot work at one's highest efficiency.

For clothing we all wore khaki or "Dux-back" suits with flannel shirts and high leather shoes for mountain climbing, and we had light rubber automobile shirts and rubber caps for use in rainy weather. The auto shirt is a long, loose robe which slips over the head and fastens about the neck and, when one is sitting upon a horse, can be so spread about as to cover all exposed parts of the body; it is especially useful and necessary, and hip rubber boots are also very comfortable during the rainy season.

Our traps for catching small mammals were brought from New York. We had two sizes of wooden "Out of Sight" for mice and rats, and four or five sizes of Oneida steel traps for catching medium sized animals such as civets and polecats. We also carried a half dozen No. 5 wolf traps. Mr. Heller had used this size in Africa and found that they were large enough even to hold lions.

Mr. Heller carried a 250-300 Savage rifle, while I used a 6-1/2 mm. Mannlicher and a .405 Winchester. All of these guns were eminently satisfactory, but the choice of a rifle is a very personal matter and every sportsman has his favorite weapon. We found, however, that a flat trajectory high-power rifle such as those with which we were armed was absolutely essential for many of our shots were at long range and we frequently killed gorals at three hundred yards or over.

The camera equipment consisted of two 3A Kodaks, a Graphic 4 x 5 tripod camera, and Graflex 4 x 5 for rapid work. We have found after considerable field experience that the 4 x 5 is the most convenient size to handle, for the plate is large enough and can be obtained more readily than any other in different parts of the world. The same applies to the 3A Kodak "post-card" size film, for there are few places where foreign goods are carried that 3A films cannot be purchased.

All of our plates and films were sealed in air-tight tin boxes before we left America, and thus the material was in perfect condition when the cans were opened. We used plates almost altogether in the finer photographic work, for although they are heavier and more difficult to handle than films, nevertheless the results obtained are very superior. A collapsible rubber dark room about seven feet high and four feet in diameter was an indispensable part of the camera equipment. This tent was made for us by the Abercrombie &Fitch Company, of New York, and could be hung from the limb of a tree or the rafters of a building and be ready for use in five minutes.

The motion pictures were taken with a Universal camera, and like all other negatives were developed in the field by means of a special apparatus which had been designed by Mr. Carl Akeley of the American Museum of Natural History. This work required a much larger space than that of the portable dark room and we consequently had a tent made of red cloth which could be tied inside of our ordinary sleeping tent.

Our equipment was packed in fiber army trunks and in wooden boxes with sliding tops. The latter arrangement is especially desirable in Yuen-nan, for the loads can be opened without being untied from the saddle, thus saving a considerable amount of time and trouble.

It was by no means an easy matter to get our supplies together, but the Lane &Crawford Company of Hongkong pushed the making and packing of our boxes in a remarkably efficient manner; as the manager of one of their departments expressed it, "the one way to hurry a Chinaman is to get more Chinamen," and they put a small army at work upon our material, which was ready for shipment in just a week.

While in Hongkong we were joined by Wu Hung-tao, of Shanghai, who acted as interpreter and "head boy" as well as a general field manager of the expedition. He formerly had been in the employ of Mr. F. W. Gary, when the latter was Commissioner of Customs in Teng-yueh, Yuen-nan, and he was educated at the Anglo-Chinese College of Foochow. Wu proved to be the most efficient and trustworthy servant whom we have ever employed, and the success of our work was due in no small degree to his efforts.

We left for Tonking on the S.S. Sung-kiang, commanded by Harry Trowbridge, a congenial and well-read gentleman whose delightful personality contributed much toward making our week's stay on his ship most pleasant. On our way to Haiphong the vessel stopped at the island of Hainan and anchored about three miles off the town of Hoi-hau. This island is 90 by 150 miles long, is mountainous in its center, but flat and uninteresting at the northwest.

A large part of the island is unexplored and in the interior there is a mountain called "the Five Fingers" which has never been ascended, for it is reported that the hill tribes are unfriendly and that the tropical valleys are reeking with deadly malaria. The island undoubtedly would prove to be a rich field for zooelogical work as is shown by the collections which the American Museum of Natural History has already received from a native dealer; these include monkeys, squirrels, and other small mammals, and bears, leopards, and deer are said to be among its fauna.

The next night's steaming brought us to the city of Paik-hoi on the mainland. In the afternoon we went ashore with Captain Trowbridge to visit Dr. Bradley of the China Inland Mission who is in charge of a leper hospital, which is a model of its kind. The doctor was away but we made ourselves at home and when he returned he found us in his drawing room comfortably enjoying afternoon tea. He remarked that he knew of a Chinese cook who was looking for a position, and half an hour later, while we were watching some remarkably fine tennis, the cook arrived. He was about six feet two inches high, and so thin that he was immediately christened the "Woolworth Building" and, although not a very prepossessing looking individual he was forthwith engaged, principally because of his ability to speak English. This was at six o'clock in the afternoon and we had to be aboard the ship at eight. The doctor sent a note to the French Consul and the cook returned anon with his baggage and passport. Obtaining this cook was the only really rapid thing which I have ever seen done in China!

When the Sung-kiang arrived in Haiphong the next afternoon we were besieged by a screaming, fighting mob of Annamits who seized upon our baggage like so many vultures, and it was only by means of a few well-directed kicks that we could prevent it from being scattered to the four winds of Heaven. After we had designated a sampan to receive our equipment the unloading began and several trunks had gone over the side, when Mr. Heller happened to glance down just in time to see one of the ammunition boxes drop into the water and sink like lead. The Annamits, believing that it had not been noticed, went on as blithely as before and volubly denied that anything had been lost. We stopped the unloading instantly and sent for divers. The box had sunk in thirty feet of muddy water and it seemed useless to hope that it could ever be recovered, but the divers went to work by dropping a heavy stone on the end of a rope and going down it hand over hand.

After two hours the box was located and brought dripping to the surface. Fortunately but little of the ammunition was ruined, and most of it was dried during the night in the engine room. Because of this delay we had to leave Haiphong on the following day, and with Captain Trowbridge, we went by train to Hanoi, the capital of the colony.

Hanoi is a city of delightful surprises. It has broad, clean streets, overhung with trees which often form a cool green canopy overhead, beautiful lawns and well-kept houses, and in the center of the town is a lovely lake surrounded by a wide border of palms. At the far end, like a jewel in a crystal setting, seems to float a white pagoda, an outpost of the temple which stands in the midst of a watery meadow of lotos plants. The city shops are excellent, but in most instances the prices are exceedingly high.

Like all the French towns in the Orient the hours for work are rather confusing to the foreigner. The shops open at 6:30 in the morning and close at 11 o'clock to reopen again at 3 in the afternoon and continue business until 7:30 or 8 o'clock in the evening. During the middle of the day all houses have the shutters closely drawn, and because of the intense heat and glare of the sun the streets are absolutely deserted, not even a native being visible. In the morning a petit dejeuner, remarkable especially for its "petitness," is served, and a real dejeuner comes later anywhere from 10 to 12:30.

About 6 o'clock in the evening the open cafes and restaurants along the sidewalk are lined with groups of men and women playing cards and dice and drinking gin and bitters, vermouth or absinthe. There is an air of happiness and life about Hanoi which is typically Parisian and even during war time it is a city of gayety. An immense theater stands in the center of the town, but has not been opened since the beginning of the war.

We had letters to M. Chemein Dupontes, the director of the railroads, as well as to the Lieutenant-Governor and other officials. Without exception we were received in the most cordial manner and every facility and convenience put at our disposal. M. Dupontes was especially helpful.

Some time before our arrival a tunnel on the railroad from Hanoi to Yuen-nan Fu had caved in and for almost a month trains had not been running. It was now in operation, however, but all luggage had to be transferred by hand at the broken tunnel and consequently must not exceed eighty-five pounds in weight. This meant repacking our entire equipment and three days of hard work. M. Dupontes arranged to have our 4000 pounds of baggage put in a special third class carriage with our "boys" in attendance and in this way saved the expedition a considerable amount of money. He personally went with us to the station to arrange for our comfort with the chef de gare, telegraphed ahead at every station upon the railroad, and gave us an open letter to all officials; in fact there was nothing which he left undone.

The railroad is a remarkable engineering achievement for it was constructed in great haste through a difficult mountainous range. Yuen-nan is an exceedingly rich province and the French were quick to see the advantages of drawing its vast trade to their own seaports. The British were already making surveys to construct a railroad from Bhamo on the headwaters of the Irawadi River across Yuen-nan to connect with the Yangtze, and the French were anxious to have their road in operation some time before the rival line could be completed.

Owing to its hasty construction and the heavy rainfall, or perhaps to both, the tunnels and bridges frequently cave in or are washed away and the railroad is chiefly remarkable for the number of days in the year in which it does not operate; nevertheless the French deserve great credit for their enterprise in extending their line to Yuen-nan Fu over the mountains where there is a tunnel or bridge almost every mile of the way. While it was being built through the fever-stricken jungles of Tonking the coolies died like flies, and it was necessary to suspend all work during the summer months.

The scenery along the railroad is marvelous and the traveling is by no means uncomfortable, but the hotels in which one stops at night are wretched. One of our friends in Hongkong related an amusing experience which he had at Lao-kay, the first hotel on the railroad. He asked for a bath and discovered that a tub of hot water had been prepared. He wished a cold bath, and seeing a large tank filled with cold water in the corner of the room he climbed in and was enjoying himself when the hotel proprietor suddenly rushed upstairs exclaiming, "Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu, you are in the tank of drinking water."

When we arrived at Yuen-nan Fu we found a surprisingly cosmopolitan community housed within its grim old walls; some were consuls, some missionaries, some salt, telegraph, or customs officials in the Chinese employ, and others represented business firms in Hongkong, but all received us with open handed hospitality characteristic of the East.

We thought that after leaving Hongkong our evening clothes would not again be used, but they were requisitioned every night for we were guests at dinners given by almost everyone of the foreign community. Mr. Howard Page, a representative of the Standard Oil Company, proved a most valuable friend, and through him we were able to obtain a caravan and make other arrangements for the transportation of our baggage. M. Henry Wilden, the French Consul, an ardent sportsman and a charming gentleman, took an active interest in our affairs and arranged a meeting for us with the Chinese Commissioner of Foreign Affairs. Moreover, he later transported our trunks to Hongkong with his personal baggage and assisted us in every possible way.

We went to the Foreign Office at half past ten and were ushered into a large room where a rather imposing lunch had already been spread. The Commissioner, a fat, jolly little man, who knew a few words of French but none of English, received us in the most cordial way and immediately opened several bottles of champagne in our honor. He asked why our passports had not been vised in Peking, and we pleased him greatly by replying that at the time we were in the capital Yuen-nan was an independent province and consequently the Peking Government had not the temerity to put their stamp upon our passports.

Inasmuch as Yuen-nan was infested with brigands we had expected some opposition to our plans for traveling in the interior, but none was forthcoming, and with the exception of an offer of a guard of soldiers for our trip to Ta-li Fu which we knew it would be impolitic to refuse, we left the Foreign Office with all the desired permits.

The Chinese Government appeared to be greatly interested in our zooelogical study of Yuen-nan, offered to assist us in every way we could suggest, and telegraphed to every mandarin in the north and west of the province, instructing them to receive us with all honor and to facilitate our work in every way. None of the opposition which we had been led to expect developed, and it is difficult to see how we could have been more cordially received.