and Chinese), had every qualification for the undertaking. A good Mussul- 
man, he required a co-religionist to do his cooking, and in consequence a 
second Panjabi, Muhammad Husein, who had been a camp follower in the 
Soudan and South African wars, was also engaged. Accompanied by these 
two men, Mr. Clark continued his journey to Peking, and there engaged the 
services-of Mr. Grant, a gentleman who had resided in China for several 
years, as interpreter, and to assist in the general management of the 
expedition. Mules and horses had been purchased already in Honan, and 
these were sent to T’ai-yiian Fu, the city which, as stated above, was to be 
the starting-point. Thither, too, the party proceeded by rail, with a following 
of native servants, and the numerous boxes and panniers containing stores, 
and settled down to perfect their preparations for the long journey westward, 
meteorological observations being commenced on May 16th. 
On May 27th a camp was made close to a small village named Chao- 
chuang, situated on the plain about five miles north-west of T’ai-ytian Fu. 
Here Messrs. Clark and Grant, with Hazrat Ali, Muhammad Husein, and 
some of the Chinese servants, took up their quarters for the purpose of 
measuring a ‘‘ base line.” Owing to many interruptions this work took a long 
time, but eventually a base line of 2400 feet was measured twice over by 
means of an invar tape; the probable error working out to one in fifty 
thousand (1 in 50,000). A visit of four days duration was paid to a temple in 
the hills about ten miles north-west of T’ai-yiian Fu. From a peak close to 
this, angles were observed to various other peaks and stations, including both 
ends of the base line in the plain, and various other points in the vicinity 
were fixed. Hazrat Ali, then commenced his plane-tabling, and before very 
long had mapped out a wide sweep of the country extending north-east and 
north-west of T’ai-yiian Fu for a distance varying from twenty to fifty miles. 
A splendid view of the surrounding country was obtained, and a good idea of 
its configuration could be formed. The following description is taken from a 
diary kept at the time: ‘‘ Fifteen hundred feet below, the valley of the Fén Ho, 
now covered with bright green rice-fields and the golden ripening corn, 
spreads southwards in an ever-widening plain of rich alluvial soil, irrigated by 
numerous canals from the river. Ten miles beyond the river, to the east, the 
mountains, which, running northwards, ultimately join the Wu-t'ai Shan, rise 
in successive terraces of loess to a height of 5000 feet. To the north-east of 
this position rugged bare mountains form a half-circle, and join up with this 
range, which is rocky and steep on its eastern side, but slopes gently in the 
usual loess terraces towards the river on the west. A little to the north the 
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