540 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 



a specific culture, and which would also serve in many respects as 

 typical for all China. I gradually, however, extended my travels 

 to cover a large part of the entire country. 



I spent the first months in Peking in making preparatory studies of 

 China. As soon as the weather permitted I made short excursions 

 to the imperial tombs of the Ming dynasty, and to the eastern impe- 

 rial tombs of the present dynasty, two days' journey from Peking, 

 where the late Empress-Dowager was recently buried. I then visited 

 the ancient summer residence at Jehol, five days' journey from 

 Peking, where in the midst of a wild mountainous region a number 

 of important Lama monasteries are scattered around a famous impe- 

 rial hunting park. 



The summer was passed in the charming neighborhood of Peking, 

 especially among the western hills, with its numerous magnificent 

 temples, of which Pi-yiin-sze, the temple of the Blue-black Clouds, 

 is regarded as one of the most beautiful in all China. 



Then followed a seven months' trip to the western imperial tombs 

 of the present dynasty, where the remains of the deceased Emperor 

 will be buried. Thence to Wut'aishan, the sacred mountain, which is 

 visited chiefly by the • Mongolians. On this occasion, the only one 

 during all my travels in China, I was for some weeks accompanied by 

 a friend. At all other times I traveled alone with my Chinese follow- 

 ers, that at times numbered 30, including the burden bearers. 



The train carried us south over the bridge across the dangerous 

 Yellow River to K'aifengfu, the capital of Honan ; thence a four days' 

 trip down the Yellow River, at a time when the dam had just been 

 broken and when the river in places was so broad that the farther 

 bank could not be seen. In Shantung I visited the sacred mountain 

 T'aishan, then K'ufu, the birthplace of Confucius and the site of his 

 tomb. The winter drove me southward. I spent Christmas in 

 Ningpo and in January, 1908, I dwelt alone, remote from the world, 

 on the island Pu-to-shan, the sacred island of Kuanyin, the goddess 

 of mercy. 



Upon returning to Peking by sea, I prepared for a long 12 months' 

 journey, to extreme western and southern China, that carried me 

 overland across the whole of China; first to T'aiyiianfu, capital of 

 Shansi, then diagonally across that Province to Lu ts'un, where there 

 is a large salt marsh, that provides salt for the four northwestern 

 Provinces. 



Shansi, like Shensi, is a dry Province. In some years there is almost 

 no rain at all. A mild famine is expected with considerable certainty 

 every 5 years and a serious one at 10 year periods. This aridity 

 favors the manufacture of salt, which is accomplished by simple 

 evaporation in the bright sunshine. This ceases in rainy weather. 

 Wheat is then grown. The salt Mandarin expressed the conditions 



