TENG-YUEH; A LINK WITH CIVILIZATION
After a week on the pass above Ho-mu-shu we shifted camp to a village
called Tai-ping-pu, ten miles nearer Teng-yueh on the same road. The
ride along the summit of the mountain was a delight, for we passed
through grove after grove of rhododendrons in full blossom. The trees
were sometimes thirty feet in height and the red flowers glowed like
clusters of living coals among their dark green leaves. In the northern
part of Yün-nan the rhododendrons grow above other timber line on
mountains where it is too high even for spruces.
It rained continually during our stay at Tai-ping-pu. I had another
attack of the Salween malaria and for five or six days could do little
work. Heller, however, made good use of his time and killed a beautiful
horned pheasant, Temminck's tragopan (_Ceriornis temmincki_), besides
half a dozen langurs of the same species as those we had collected on
the Nam-ting River. He also was fortunate in shooting one of the huge
flying squirrels (_Petaurista yunnanensis_) which we had hoped to get
at Wei-hsi. He saw the animal in the upper branches of a dead tree on
the first evening we were in Tai-ping-pu but was not able to get a
shot. The next night he watched the same spot and killed the squirrel
with a charge of "fours." It measured forty-two and one-quarter inches
from the nose to the end of the tail and was a rich mahogany red
grizzled with whitish above; the underparts were cream white. As in
all flying squirrels, the four legs were connected by a sheet of skin
called the "patagium" which is continuous with the body. This acts as
a parachute and enables the animal to sail from tree to tree for, of
course, it cannot fly like a bat As these huge squirrels are strictly
nocturnal, they are not often seen even by the natives. We were told by
the Lutzus on the Mekong River that by building huge fires in the woods
they could attract the animals and shoot them with their crossbows.
A few weeks later we purchased a live flying squirrel from a native and
kept it for several days in the hope that it might become tame. The
animal was exceedingly savage and would grind its teeth angrily and
spring at anyone who approached its basket. It could not be tempted
to eat or drink and, as it was a valuable specimen, we eventually
chloroformed it.
Just below our camp in a pretty little valley a half dozen families
of Lisos were living, and we hired the men to hunt for us. They were
good-natured fellows, as all the natives of this tribe seem to be, and
worked well. One day they brought in a fine muntjac buck which had been
killed with their crossbows and poisoned darts. The arrows were about
twelve inches long, made of bamboo and "feathered" with a triangular
piece of the same wood. Those for shooting birds and squirrels were
sharpened to a needle point, but the hunting darts were tipped with
steel or iron. The poison they extracted from a plant, which I never
saw, and it was said that it takes effect very rapidly.
The muntjac which the Lisos killed had been shot in the side with
a single arrow and they assured us that only the flesh immediately
surrounding the wound had been spoiled for food. These natives like
the Mosos, Lolos, and others carried their darts in a quiver made from
the leg skin of a black bear, and none of the men wished to sell their
weapons; I finally did obtain a crossbow and quiver for six dollars
(Mexican).
Two days before we left Tai-ping-pu, three of the Lisos guided my wife
and me to a large cave where they said there was a colony of bats. The
cavern was an hour's ride from camp, and proved to be in a difficult
and dangerous place in the side of a cliff just above a swift mountain
stream. We strung our gill net across the entrance and then sent one of
the natives inside to stir up the animals while we caught them as they
flew out. In less than half an hour we had twenty-eight big brown bats,
but our fingers were cut and bleeding from the vicious bites of their
needle-like teeth. They all represented a widely distributed species
which we had already obtained at Yün-nan Fu.
From Lung-ling I had sent a runner to Mr. Evans at Ta-li Fu asking him
to forward to Teng-yueh the specimens which we had left in his care,
and the day following our visit to the bat cave the caravan bearing
our cases passed us at Tai-ping-pu. We, ourselves, were about ready
to leave and two days later at ten o'clock in the morning we stood on
a precipitous mountain summit, gazing down at the beautiful Teng-yueh
plain which lay before us like a relief map. It is as flat as a plain
well can be and, except where a dozen or more villages cluster on bits
of dry land, the valley is one vast watery rice field. Far in the
distance, outside the gray city walls, we could see two temple-like
buildings surrounded by white-walled compounds, and Wu told us they
were the houses of the Customs officials.
Teng-yueh, although only given the rank of a "ting" or second-class
Chinese city, is one of the most important places in the province, for
it stands as the door to India. All the trade of Burma and Yün-nan
flows back and forth through the gates of Teng-yueh, over the great
caravan road to Bhamo on the upper Irawadi.
An important post of the Chinese Foreign Customs, which are
administered by the British government as security for the Boxer
indemnity, is situated in this city, and we were looking forward with
the greatest interest to meeting its white population. At the time of
our visit the foreigners included Messrs. H. G. Fletcher and Ralph C.
Grierson, respectively Acting Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner
of Customs; Messrs. W. R. Palmer and Abertsen, also of the Customs;
Mr. Eastes, H. B. M. Consul; Dr. Chang, Indian Medical Officer, and
Reverend and Mrs. Embry of the China Inland Mission; Mr. Eastes,
accompanied by the resident mandarin, was absent on a three months'
opium inspection tour so that we did not meet him.
We reached Teng-yueh on Sunday morning and camped in a temple outside
the city walls. Immediately after tiffin we called upon Mr. Grierson
and went with him to the Customs House where Messrs. Abertsen and
Palmer were living. We found there a Scotch botanist, Mr. Forrest, an
old traveler in Yün-nan who was _en route_ to A-tun-tzu on a three-year
plant-hunting expedition for an English commercial firm. We had heard
much of Forrest from Messrs. Kok and Hanna and were especially glad
to meet him because of his wide knowledge of the northwestern part
of the province. Mr. Forrest was interested chiefly in primroses
and rhododendrons, I believe, and in former years obtained a rather
remarkable collection of these plants.
From Mr. Grierson we first learned that the United States had declared
war on Germany. It had been announced only a week before, and the
information had reached Teng-yueh by cable and telegraph almost
immediately. It came as welcome news to us Americans who had been
vainly endeavoring to justify to ourselves and others our country's
lethargy in the face of Teuton insolence, and made us feel that once
again we could acknowledge our nationality with the pride we used to
feel.
On Monday Mr. Grierson invited us to become his guests and to move
our caravan and belongings to his beautiful home. We were charmed
with it and our host. The house was built with upturned, temple-like
gables, and from his cool verandah we could look across an exquisite
flower-filled garden to the blue mountains from which we had had our
first view of Teng-yueh the day before. The interior of the dwelling
was as attractive as its surroundings, and the beautifully served meals
were as varied and dainty as one could have had in the midst of a great
city.
Like all Britishers, the Customs men had carried their sport with them.
Just beyond the city walls an excellent golf course had been laid out
with Chinese graves as bunkers, and there was a cement tennis court
behind the Commissioner's house. Mr. Grierson had two excellent polo
ponies, besides three trained pointer dogs, and riding and shooting
over the beautiful hills gave him an almost ideal life. We found that
Mr. Fletcher had a really remarkable selection of records and an
excellent Victrola. After dinner, as we listened to the music, we had
only to close our eyes and float back to New York and the Metropolitan
Opera House on the divine harmony of the sextet from "Lucia" or
Caruso's matchless voice. But none of us wished to be there in body for
more than a fleeting visit at least, and the music already brought with
it a lingering sadness because our days in the free, wild mountains of
China were drawing to a close.
During the week we spent with Mr. Grierson we dried and packed all
our specimens in tin-lined boxes which were purchased from the agent
of the British American Tobacco Company in Teng-yueh. They were just
the right size to carry on muleback and, after the birds and mammals
had been wrapped in cotton and sprinkled with naphthalene, the
cases were soldered and made air tight. The most essential thing in
sending specimens of any kind through a moist, tropical climate such
as India is to have them perfectly dry before the boxes are sealed;
otherwise they will arrive at their destination covered with mildew and
absolutely ruined.
On the day of our arrival in Teng-yueh we purchased from a native two
bear cubs (_Ursus tibetanus_) about a week old. Each was coal black
except for a V-shaped white mark on the breast and a brown nose. When
they first came to us they were too young to eat and we fed them
diluted condensed milk from a spoon.
The little chaps were as playful as kittens and the story of their
amusing ways as they grew older is a book in itself. After a month one
of the cubs died, leaving great sorrow in the camp; the other not only
lived and flourished but traveled more than 16,000 miles.
He went with us on a pack mule to Bhamo, down the Irawadi River to
Rangoon, and across the Bay of Bengal to Calcutta. He then visited
many cities in India, and at Bombay boarded the P. & O. S. S. _Namur_
for Hongkong and became the pet of the ship. From China we took him
to Japan, across the Pacific to Vancouver, and finally to our home
at Lawrence Park, Bronxville, New York. After an adventurous career
as a house pet, when his exploits had made him famous and ourselves
disliked by all the neighbors, we regretfully sent him to the National
Zoölogical Park, Washington, D. C, where he is living happily at the
present time. He was the most delightful little pet we have ever owned
and, although now he is nearly a full grown bear, his early life is
perpetuated in motion pictures and we can see him still as he came to
us the first week. He might well have been the model for the original
"Teddy Bear" for he was a round ball of fur, mostly head and ears and
sparkling little eyes.