SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I929 87 



from Shanghai, so we have received no letters from America for at 

 least a month .... specimens cannot at present be forwarded, but 



must await the end of civil war in Szechuan I have gone 



over my ammunition, and find .... I am shortest of the kinds which 



I need most This makes rather scant supplies for the Moupin 



trip, but with careful economy we can do with what we have. I will 

 practically do no shooting until next summer so as to save my am- 

 munition for the summer collecting." Three days later (April 28, 

 1929) he notes that. ". . . . for over a month now, mail has not come 

 through from Shanghai. It seems certain that neither ammunition nor 

 photo supplies will reach me in time for the .... trip." 



As the time allotted for the trip was drawing near the difficulties 

 seemed to increase. On June 6 Dr. Graham writes, ". . . . I am 

 building high hopes for the Moupin trip, but today some bad luck 

 showed its face. I sent a messenger a few days ago to bring in my 

 aborigine hunter, Yang Fong Tsang. Today he returned. A large 

 band of robbers is operating on the Yunnan border between the 

 home of Yang Fong Tsang and Suifu. They have looted several 

 small towns. There is war between them and the militia. The mes- 

 senger was unable to get to Yang Fong Tsang, and the latter may 

 not get to Suifu for the Moupin trip. 



" Another indication of bad luck is that there is drought in Kiating 

 and at Yachow, which has doubled the price of rice. This will mean 

 that some of our expenses are higher this summer." 



Finally, after several vicissitudes of luck, good and bad, Yang 

 Fong Tsang got through to Suifu. and on June 15 the party, con- 

 sisting of Dr. Graham, five Chinese collectors, a military escort, and 

 some 20 coolies, left Suifu, expecting to reach Moupin in 11 days. 

 However, owing to unusual rains which made the paths muddy and 

 turned what were ordinarily small streams into swollen torrents, 

 it took eight days to reach Yachow and five more to reach Moupin. 



Here the mountains ". . . . and the hills are covered with forests 

 and bushes. Nature has a much freer hand here than in most parts 



.... and .... specimens seem to be more abundant The 



town of Moupin is surrounded by high mountains. Near the town 

 the vegetation is very poor .... almost semi-arid. To secure much 

 here, we will have to get ofif and work the high mountains that sur- 

 round the town. The nearby hills are rather badly deforested." On 

 the first day in Moupin Dr. Graham had the good fortune to procure, 

 at the low price of three dollars in gold, a skin of the giant panda, 

 a very rare large mammal unrepresented in the collections of the 

 National Museum. It was however not a perfect specimen, as it 



