THE BLUE TIGER 



879 



his foniuT \ i^it ^Ir. Caldwell had inado 

 friends with the head ]iriest and we 

 \\vw allowed to i'stal)li>li oiii->('l\('> upon 

 the broad porch of the third ;md hii:li- 

 cst biiildin,!;'. It was ;iii ideal place for 

 a eidleetinii" eanip and would iiave been 

 deliiiht t'ul exeepL J'or the tei'rihie heat 

 which was rendered doubly disai^reeable 

 bv the ahnost continual rain. 



Our stay at Tdnii'-suik was ])i-oduc- 

 tive. and tlie temple life intei-esl Iiil;-. 

 We slejit on the porch and each nioiMi- 

 inji'. about half an hour het'oi-e daylight. 

 the measured strokes of a great gong 

 pounded from the tem])le just below us. 

 ''Boom — boom — boom — boom" it went, 

 then ra]ddly "bamj. bang, hang." It 

 was a religious alarm clock to rouse the 



W(U-li]. 



.V little later, when the upturned 

 gables and twisted dolphins on the roof 

 had begun to take definite shape in the 

 gray light of the new day, the gong 

 l)oomiMl out again, doors creaked, and 

 from their cell-like rooms shuffled the 

 priests to yawn and stretch themselves 

 before the early service. The droning 

 chorus of hoarse voices, swelling in a 

 meaningless half-wild chant, harmo- 

 nized strangely with the romantic sur- 

 roundings of the temple and became 

 our daily matin and evensong. 



At the first gong we slipped from be- 

 neath onr mosquito nets and dressed to 

 be ready for the bats which fluttered 

 into the building to hide themselves be- 

 neath the tiles and rafters. When day- 

 light had fully come we scattered to the 

 four winds to inspect traps, hunt bark- 

 ing deer, or collect birds, but gathered 

 again at nine o'clock for breakfast and 

 to deposit our spoil. Caldwell and I 

 always sjienl the afternoon at the blue 

 tiger's lair but the animal had suddenly 

 shifted his operations back to lAing-tao 

 and did not appear at Ling-suik Avhile 

 we were there. 



Our work in Fukien taught us mucli 

 that may be of help to other natural- 

 ists who contemplate a visit to the ]n-ov- 

 ince. ^^'e satisfied ourselves tliat sum- 



mer collecting is impi-aclicable, for the 

 heat is so intense and th(> vegetation so 

 liea\y that (udy lueagei' results can be 

 ohtained fiu' t he ell'orls expended. Con- 

 tinual tramping o\-er the mountains in 

 the hlazinn' sun necessarily must have 

 its eU'ect upon the strongest constitu- 

 tion, and e\en a man like Mr. Caldwell, 

 who has liecouie thiM'oughly acclimated, 

 is not immune. 



i'.oth Caldwell and 1 lost from fif- 

 teen to twenty ])ounds in weight dur- 

 ing the time we hnnte(l the blue tiger, 

 and each of us had serious trouble from 

 abscesses. 1 have never worked in a 

 more trying climate — even that of Bor- 

 neo and the Dutch East Indies where I 

 collected in 1909-10 was much less de- 

 l)ilitating than Fukien in the summer, 

 'idle average temperature was about 95 

 degrees in the shade, but the humidity 

 was so high that one felt as though he 

 were wrapped in a wet blanket. 



In winter the weather is raw and 



Tlie iiioiiasstcry ol' Jjing-suik is a beautiful 

 temple, built into the hillside at the end of a long 

 valley which swells out like a great bowl between 

 lianiboo-clothed mountains two thousand feet in 

 height 



