394 Messrs. Robinson and Kloss on Birds [Ibis, 



After two or three days in Saigon^ occupied with local 

 arrangements, I left with three Dyak collectors on 9 March, 

 1918, in company with my friend Dr. Malcolm Smith, who had 

 come from Bangkok to obtain a change of air and to collect 

 reptiles and batrachiaus. He brought two native assistants, 

 so that with our boys we were a party of nine and had with 

 us a great quantity of baggage of various kinds — camping- 

 outfit, collecting-apparatus and materials, food, and some 

 warm clothing for the mountains. Late at night we reached 

 Tour Cham, a railway-station some 200 miles from Saigon 

 and four or five inland from Phanrang. The farther north- 

 east we got from Saigon the drier the country and the less 

 luxuriant the vegetation became, until towards the end of the 

 day's journey it was strongly reminiscent of South African 

 scenery. 



At Tour Cham we stopped a couple of nights to make 

 arrangements for further progress and do a little collecting ; 

 and on my way homewards I remained there from the 19th 

 to the 24th of May for the latter purpose and also to visit 

 Nhatrang farther north along the coast, where there is a 

 famous Cham temple and the Pasteur Institute directed by 

 Dr. Yersin. At Nhatrang had lived also Dr. and Mrs. Vassal, 

 to whom we owe the first knowledge of the fauna of the 

 Langbian Hills. It was the latter's interesting book ' On 

 and off Duty in Annam ' which gave me the idea of visiting 

 this region. 



In May the dry season was just ending at Tour Cham, 

 and the time was very unfavourable for collecting ; the heat 

 (over 90° F. in the shade), after our rapid descent from tlie 

 cool climate of the mountains, was very oppressive and the 

 country was much burnt up. The cracked earth was 

 covered "with short dry grass, grey-brown in colour and 

 slippery to walk on, and was dotted with small, thorny, 

 almost leafless shrubs ; the hills in the neighbourhood were 

 rocky and almost bare, and one might best compare the 

 general aspect with some portions of Mashonaland. This is 

 the appearance of the country for some distance south of 

 Phanrang, with, in addition, sand-dunes along the coast. 



