Camps and Trails in China Part 1

Camps and Trails in China.

by Roy Chapman Andrews and Yvette Borup Andrews.

PREFACE

The object of this book is to present a popular narrative of the Asiatic Zoological Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History to China in 1916-17. Details of a purely scientific nature have been condensed, or eliminated, and emphasis has been placed upon our experiences with the strange natives and animals of a remote and little known region in the hope that the book will be interesting to the general reader.

The scientific reputation of the Expedition will rest upon the technical reports of its work which will be published in due course by the American Museum of Natural History. To these reports we would refer those readers who desire more complete information concerning the results of our researches. At the time the ma.n.u.script of this volume was sent to press the collections were still undergoing preparation and the study of the different groups had just begun.

Although the book has been largely written by the senior author, his collaborator has contributed six chapters marked with her initials; all the ill.u.s.trations are from her photographs and continual use has been made of her daily journals; she has, moreover, materially a.s.sisted in reference work and in numerous other ways.

The information concerning the relations.h.i.+ps and distribution of the native tribes of Yun-nan is largely drawn from the excellent reference work by Major H.R. Davies and we have followed his spelling of Chinese names.

Parts of the book have been published as separate articles in the _American Museum Journal, Harper's Magazine_, and _Asia_ and to the editors of the above publications our acknowledgments are due.

That the Expedition obtained a very large and representative collection of small mammals is owing in a great measure to the efforts of Mr. Edmund h.e.l.ler, our companion in the field. He worked tirelessly in the care and preservation of the specimens, and the fact that they reached New York in excellent condition is, in itself, the best testimony to the skill and thoroughness with which they were prepared.

Our Chinese interpreter, Wu Hung-tao, contributed largely to the success of the Expedition. His faithful and enthusiastic devotion to our interests and his tact and resourcefulness under trying circ.u.mstances won our lasting grat.i.tude and affectionate regard.

The nineteen months during which we were in Asia are among the most memorable of our lives and we wish to express our deepest grat.i.tude to the Trustees of the American Museum of Natural History, and especially to President Henry Fairfield Osborn, whose enthusiastic endors.e.m.e.nt and loyal support made the Expedition possible. Director F.A.

Lucas, Dr. J.A. Allen and Mr. George H. Sherwood were unfailing in furthering our interests, and to them we extend our hearty thanks.

To the following patrons, who by their generous contributions materially a.s.sisted in the financing of the Expedition, we wish to acknowledge our great personal indebtedness as well as that of the Museum; Mr. and Mrs.

Charles L. Bernheimer, Mr. and Mrs. Sidney M. Colgate, Messrs. George Bowdoin, Lincoln Ellsworth, James B. Ford, Henry C. Frick, Childs Frick, and Mrs. Adrian Hoffman Joline.

The Expedition received many courtesies while in the field from the following gentlemen, without whose cooperation it would have been impossible to have carried on the work successfully. Their services have been referred to individually in subsequent parts of the book: The Director of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs of the Province of Yun-nan; M. Georges Chemin Dupontes, Director de l'Exploration de la Compagnie Francaise des Chemins de Fer de l'Indochine et du Yun-nan, Hanoi, Tonking; M. Henry Wilden, Consul de France, Shanghai; M. Kraemer, Consul de France, Hongkong; Mr. Howard Page, Standard Oil Co., Yun-nan Fu; the Hon. Paul Reinsch, Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary to the Chinese Republic, Mr. J.V.A. McMurray, First Secretary of the American Legation, Peking; Mr.

H.G. Evans, British-American Tobacco Co., Hongkong; the Rev. William Hanna, Ta-li Fu; the Rev. A. Kok, Li-chang Fu; Ralph Grierson, Esq., Teng-yueh; Herbert Goffe, Esq., H.B.M. Consul General, Yun-nan Fu; Messrs. C.R.

Kellogg, and H.W. Livingstone, Foochow, China; the General Pa.s.senger Agent, Canadian Pacific Railroad Company, Hongkong; and the Rev. H.R. Caldwell, Yenping, who has read parts of this book in ma.n.u.script and who through his criticisms has afforded us the benefit of his long experience in China.

To Miss Agnes F. Molloy and Miss Anna Katherine Berger we wish to express our appreciation of editorial and other a.s.sistance during the preparation of the volume.

ROY CHAPMAN ANDREWS YVETTE BORUP ANDREWS

JUSTAMERE HOME, _Lawrence Park, Bronxville, N.Y._

_May 10, 1917._

CHAPTER I

THE OBJECT OF THE EXPEDITION

The earliest remains of primitive man probably will be found somewhere in the vast plateau of Central Asia, north of the Himalaya Mountains. From this region came the successive invasions that poured into Europe from the east, to India from the north, and to China from the west; the migration route to North America led over the Bering Strait and spread fanwise south and southeast to the farthest extremity of South America. The Central Asian plateau at the beginning of the Pleistocene was probably less arid than it is today and there is reason to believe that this general region was not only the distributing center of man but also of many of the forms of mammalian life which are now living in other parts of the world. For instance, our American moose, the wapiti or elk, Rocky Mountain sheep, the so-called mountain goat, and other animals are probably of Central Asian origin.

Doubtless there were many contributing causes to the extensive wanderings of primitive tribes, but as they were primarily hunters, one of the most important must have been the movements of the game upon which they lived.

Therefore the study of the early human races is, necessarily, closely connected with, and dependent upon, a knowledge of the Central Asian mammalian life and its distribution. No systematic palaeontological, archaeological, or zoological study of this region on a large scale has ever been attempted, and there is no similar area of the inhabited surface of the earth about which so little is known.

The American Museum of Natural History hopes in the near future to conduct extensive explorations in this part of the world along general scientific lines. The country itself and its inhabitants, however, present unusual obstacles to scientific research. Not only is the region one of vast intersecting mountain ranges, the greatest of the earth, but the climate is too cold in winter to permit of continuous work. The people have a natural dislike for foreigners, and the political events of the last half century have not tended to decrease their suspicions.

It is possible to overcome such difficulties, but the plans for extensive research must be carefully prepared. One of the most important steps is the sending out of preliminary expeditions to gain a general knowledge of the natives and fauna and of the conditions to be encountered. For the first reconnoissance, which was intended to be largely a mammalian survey, the Asiatic Zoological Expedition left New York in March, 1916.

Its destination was Yun-nan, a province in southwestern China. This is one of the least known parts of the Chinese Republic and, because of its southern lat.i.tude and high mountain systems, the climate and faunal range is very great. It is about equal in size to the state of California and topographically might be likened to the ocean in a furious gale, for the greater part of its surface has been thrown into vast mountain waves which divide and cross one another in hopeless confusion.

Yun-nan is bordered on the north by Tibet and S'suchuan, on the west by Burma, on the south by Tonking, and on the east by Kwei-chau Province.

Faunistically the entire northwestern part of Yun-nan is essentially Tibetan, and the plateaus and mountain peaks range from alt.i.tudes of 8,000 feet to 20,000 feet above sea level. In the south and west along the borders of Burma and Tonking, in the low fever-stricken valleys, the climate is that of the mid-tropics, and the native life, as well as the fauna and flora, is of a totally different type from that found in the north.

The natives of Yun-nan are exceptionally interesting. There are about thirty non-Chinese tribes in the province, some of whom, such as the Shans and Lolos, represent the aboriginal inhabitants of China, and it is safe to say that in no similar area of the world is there such a variety of language and dialects as in this region.

Although the main work of the Expedition was to be conducted in Yun-nan, we decided to spend a short time in f.u.kien Province, China, and endeavor to obtain a specimen of the so-called "blue tiger" which has been seen twice by the Reverend Harry R. Caldwell, a missionary and amateur naturalist, who has done much hunting in the vicinity of Foochow.

The white members of the first Asiatic Zoological Expedition included Mr.

Edmund h.e.l.ler, my wife (Yvette Borup Andrews) and myself. A Chinese interpreter, Wu Hung-tao, with five native a.s.sistants and ten muleteers, completed the personnel.

Mr. h.e.l.ler is a collector of wide experience. His early work, which was done in the western United States and the Galapagos Islands, was followed by many years of collecting in Mexico, Alaska, South America, and Africa.

He first visited British East Africa with Mr. Carl E. Akeley, next with ex-President Theodore Roosevelt, and again with Mr. Paul J. Rainey. During the Asiatic Zoological Expedition Mr. h.e.l.ler devoted most of his time to the gathering and preparation of small mammals. He joined our party late in July in China.

Mrs. Andrews was the photographer of the Expedition. She had studied photography as an amateur in Germany, France, and Italy, as well as in New York, and had devoted especial attention to the taking of photographs in natural colors. Such work requires infinite care and patience, but the results are well worth the efforts expended.

Wu Hung-tao is a native of Foochow, China, and studied English at the Anglo-Chinese College in that city. He lived for some time in Teng-yueh, Yun-nan, in the employ of Mr. F.W. Carey, Commissioner of Customs, and not only speaks mandarin Chinese but also several native dialects. He acted as interpreter, head "boy," and general field manager. My own work was devoted mainly to the direction of the Expedition and the hunting of big game.

In order to reduce the heavy transportation charges we purchased only such equipment in New York as could not be obtained in Shanghai or Hongkong.

Messrs. Shoverling, Daly & Gales furnished our guns, ammunition, tents, and general camp equipment, and gave excellent satisfaction in attention to the minor details which often a.s.sume alarming importance when an expedition is in the field and defects cannot be remedied. All food and commissary supplies were purchased in Hongkong (_see_ Chapter IX).

When the announcement of the Expedition was made by the American Museum of Natural History it received wide publicity in America and other parts of the world. Immediately we began to discover how many strange persons make up the great cities of the United States, and we received letters and telegrams from hundreds of people who wished to take part in the Expedition. Men and boys were the princ.i.p.al applicants, but there was no lack of women, many of whom came to the Museum for personal interviews.

Most of the letters were laughable in the extreme. One was from a butcher who thought he might be of great a.s.sistance in preparing our specimens, or defending us from savage natives; another young man offered himself to my wife as a personal bodyguard; a third was sure his twenty years' experience as a waiter would fit him for an important position on the Expedition, and numerous women, young and old, wished to become "companions" for my wife in those "drear wastes."

Applicants continued to besiege us wherever we stopped on our way across the continent and in San Francisco until we embarked on the afternoon of March 28 on the S.S. _Tenyo Maru_ for j.a.pan.

Our way across the Pacific was uneventful and as the great vessel drew in toward the wharf in Yokohama she was boarded by the usual crowd of natives.

We were standing at the rail when three j.a.panese approached and, bowing in unison, said, "We are report for leading j.a.panese newspaper. We wish to know all thing about Chinese animal." Evidently the speech had been rehea.r.s.ed, for with it their English ended abruptly, and the interview proceeded rather lamely, on my part, in j.a.panese.

j.a.pan was reveling in the cherry blossom season when we arrived and for a person interested in color photography it was a veritable paradise. We stayed three weeks and regretfully left for Peking by way of Korea. But before we continue with the story of our further travels, we would like briefly to review the political situation in China as a background for our early work in the province of f.u.kien.

CHAPTER II

CHINA IN TURMOIL