﻿NO. I 



SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I925 



35 



Omei, he received a Chinese letter stating that the Buddhist society 

 in charge of this sacred mountain had heard that he was collecting 

 specimens here, and had sent instructions to order him to discontinue 

 all shooting above Wan Nien Si. He met all of the priests in the 

 temple and carefully explained his purpose in securing the specimens, 

 but they were obdurate and there was no alternative but to comply. 

 He says : " Instructions were definitely given for me to discontinue 

 shooting on this holy mountain, as it would cause some to believe that 

 the Buddhist priests were insincere, and the Buddhist society control- 

 ling the mountain would make trouble with the priests of the local 

 temple. I therefore plan to go down the mountain to-morrow as far 



Fig. 36. — Steamboat at Chien Way. Foreigners can be seen on the upper 

 deck. The native soldiers are part of the retreating army. This is just 

 before the great retreat began, when over 30,000 soldiers were ferried across 

 the river by this steamboat. (Photograph by D. C. Graham.) 



as possible." He adds : " the top of JNIt. Omei is a rich place for col- 

 lecting, and the above order is much to be regretted." 



In preparing for his return journey, Mr. Graham decided to pack 

 his summer's accumulation of specimens and mail them from the vil- 

 lage of Shin Kai Si, to reduce the danger of loss from robbers. Over 

 seventy parcels were packed and mailed from this place, after which 

 he set out for Kiating, where he was to try and arrange for the safe 

 transport of the Suifu foreigners from Kiating to Suifu. 



Mr. Graham's return from Kiating to Suifu was filled with excit- 

 ing incidents, due to war, brigands, and lack of food. He writes : 

 " With over one hundred thousand troops engaged in civil war in 

 the Province, with bands of robbers eveiT where, and with the serious 

 complications between China and the foreign powers, it may be con- 



