814 



which ferry boats glide on some of the swift flowing moun- 

 tain streams. 



"Well, these are a few things I am mentioning now; 

 later on, when sending off all collected material I'll 

 mention more things. 



"I am in a hole, however, as regards a competent Chi- 

 nese interpreter! I do not know yet what I shall do. 

 Perhaps I'll try to get a young missionary to get along 

 with me. This desertion of my interpreter at such an in- 

 opportune place and time has upset all of my plans for the 

 present. And life is so fearfully primitive yet here in 

 Kansu, it is one of the most backward provinces of all 

 China. Pood in general is very coarse, houses are badly 

 built, conditions at large are primitive to bhe extreme 

 and a white man wonders why people are willing to exist 

 only, while it would be so easy to live and to live well 

 indeed. 



"Here in this city there is a station of the China 

 Inland Mission with several workers; also a Roman Catholic 

 Mission, with one Father, I think; also an Englsh Post 

 master with whom I am acquainted with from Sianfu already, 

 then last but not least, Mr. Farrer, an alpine amateur and 

 his assistant, Wm. Purdom are here." 



Darjeeling, India, Mr. L. J. Mackintosh writes Sept. 

 28, 1914. We have a great number of plants of economic 

 value in these hills and not a few of great medicinal 

 value, some well known in Europe such as Cheritea and 

 Quinine, others again quite unknown. The hill tribes 

 are more successful in combating tropical diseases than 

 some of the qualified doctors. I shall give you one 

 simple example. You know the red Rhododendron arboreum ruf- 

 escens , the hill people use for diarrhea and dysentry. 

 The flowers are gathered and dried in the sun, then stored 

 away for the year. They infuse about ten or twelve petals 

 (dry) in water and take (drink) the first thing in the 

 morning, it being considered the best time. The time how- 

 ever matters but little. I have seen really bad cases, 

 hopelessly neglected or muddled by others cured by this 

 treatment. I could write a whole treatise on the economic 

 value of plants in our district and new to our western 

 readers. Do you think any of these plants could find a 

 field of utility in America? If so I would be most happy 

 to collect seeds of these plants. 



