MONKEYS FROM A COLD CLIMATE. 665 



MONKEYS FROM A COLD CLIMATE. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY J. FITZGERALD, A. M. 



FOR upward of ten years, the Abbe Armand David, a Catholic 

 missionary, has devoted himself to studying tlie fauna and flora 

 of regions in the Cliinese Empire previously unvisited by any Euro- 

 pean naturalist. He has enriched the Paris Museum of Natural His- 

 tory with collections of great value, representing a number of species 

 either new to science, or not known to have their habitat in Eastern 

 Asia. Tlie Abbe David came to Peking in July, 1862, and in the 

 following year made his first remittance to the museum, of natural 

 history specimens collected and prepared by himself. In 1864 he spent 

 several months at a point 125 miles north of Peking, collecting there 

 fresh materials. Two years later he was in Mongolia, where he spent 

 several months. In 1868 he explored the province of Kiangsi, in 

 Central China, discovering several new species. Toward the end of 

 that year he ascended the Yang-fcse-kiaug, on a steamer, as far as the 

 city of Hanyang. Thence he made the voyage to the ancient city of 

 Ichang, on a junk, navigating a series of lakes and canals. After a 

 week of difficult navigation he again reached the Yang-tse-kiang, and 

 embarked on a junk of greater tonnage for the province of Szchuen ; 

 but, landing at Chungking, he left his baggage on board the junk, and 

 himself cut across-country, reaching Chingtu, the capital of Szchuen, 

 after twelve days' travel. Here M. David spent two months, hunting 

 and botanizing in the surrounding country. Toward the end of Feb- 

 ruary, 1869, he was on the road again, traveling westward over a rug- 

 ged country, till he reached the border of Moupin, an indejiendent 

 principality, situated on the frontier of China proper. Most maps of 

 Eastern Asia make no mention of Moupin, which is inhabited by the 

 Mantzes, a race differing from both the Chinese and the Tibetans, 

 though they resemble the latter rather than the former. This country 

 lies between Kokonor, the K'ham country, and H'lassa, and is 

 separated fi'om Nepaul, Bhotan, and Assam, by the main range of the 

 Himalaya. But the country really forms a part of the Himalaya region, 

 -being covered with lofty mountains whose summits are clad with per- 

 petual snow. Hence, though the centre of Moupin is situated be- 

 tween the thirty-first and the thirty-second degree of north latitude, 

 that is to say, in the latitude of Egypt, its winters are extremely cold, 

 the snow persists in the valleys for several months, and, during the 

 rest of the year, the rain and snow fall with great frequency. This 

 constant humidity of the atmosphere gives rise to a very abundant 

 vegetation ; on all sides are to be seen magnolias, laurels, and rhodo- 

 dendrons, which often attain a considerable size; and the mountains 



