heavy rains being experienced, which rendered the roads very bad. The latter, 
being cut in the loess, became very slippery and treacherous. So bad was the 
weather that we were forced to make a halt of one day at Kan-ch’iian Hsien 
(“The dry fountain town”). In the Lo Shui, which flows down the valley, 
numerous mud-turtles were seen, and the party indulged in the (to them) 
novel sport of turtle-shooting. Sowerby, of course, claimed the bag for 
scientific purposes, and the ugly creatures were carefully preserved in alcohol. 
On the third day after leaving Fu Chou we entered the fine game 
preserves where deer were shot the previous winter, and we decided to camp 
there that night and try our luck. We were amply rewarded for our pains, 
each securing two roedeer that evening, while Sowerby shot a magnificent 
wild boar next morning, an account of which is given in the chapter on the 
general biological work of the expedition (Chapter X.). 
On August 22nd Yen-an Fu was reached, and astronomical observations 
were taken. Next day we ascended a peak some distance south of Yen-an Fu, 
where we made solar observations for latitude. The temperature on this peak 
was now about go° Fahr. in the shade—a striking contrast to that experienced 
in January, when the party visited the same peak for similar purposes. The 
thermometer then registered —1° Fahr. at Io a.m. 
On August 25th we left Yen-an Fu and travelled northward to Sui-té 
Chou. Nothing worthy of mention occurred on this part of the road, which 
has been dealt with already, except that one of the mules died from the 
excessive heat. Travelling up the deep loess ravines the caravan was cut off 
entirely from any cooling breezes, and the heat became insupportable. It is 
noteworthy that in this same district the travellers had suffered most severely 
from cold during the previous winter, when the temperature fell to 
—6° Fahr. 
After leaving Sui-té Chou the party turned eastward once more till the 
Yellow River was reached two days later at a place named K’ang-chia-t’a. 
The crossing was effected once more in safety, and all rejoiced at setting foot 
again on Shansi soil. The road now lay along the rocky boulder-strewn 
valleys so characteristic of Shansi. The first large town passed was a busy, 
evil-smelling place named Liu-lin-chén. This town should have been called 
“the city of flies,” for nowhere in all our travels had we seen such swarms of 
these noisome insects. The food on the street stalls was literally buried 
beneath black masses, which, when disturbed, flew up in dense clouds—the 
air filled with the hum of myriad wings. They swarmed on the mules and on 
the naked backs of the natives, who, however, did not seem to mind them in 
7 
