VOYAGING TO YÜN-NAN
We had a busy week in Hongkong outfitting for our trip to Yün-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 × 5
tripod camera, and Graflex 4 × 5 for rapid work. We have found after
considerable field experience that the 4 × 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
Yün-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. Cary, when
the latter was Commissioner of Customs in Teng-yueh, Yün-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 zoölogical 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
lotus 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 8 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 déjeuner_,
remarkable especially for its "petitness," is served, and a real
_déjeuner_ comes later anywhere from 10 to 12:30.
About 6 o'clock in the evening the open _cafés_ 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. Chemin Dupontès, 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. Dupontès was
especially helpful.
Some time before our arrival a tunnel on the railroad from Hanoi to
Yün-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. Dupontès 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.
Yün-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 Yün-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 Yün-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 Yün-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 viséd in Peking, and we pleased him
greatly by replying that at the time we were in the capital Yün-nan was
an independent province and consequently the Peking Government had not
the temerity to put their stamp upon our passports.
Inasmuch as Yün-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
zoölogical study of Yün-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.