and Chinese), had every qualification for the undertaking. A good Mussul- 

 man, he required a co-religionist to do his cooking, and in consequence a 

 second Panjabi, Muhammad Husein, who had been a camp follower in the 

 Soudan and South African wars, was also engaged. Accompanied by these 

 two men, Mr. Clark continued his journey to Peking, and there engaged the 

 services of Mr. Grant, a gentleman who had resided in China for several 

 years, as interpreter, and to assist in the general management of the 

 expedition. Mules and horses had been purchased already in Honan, and 

 these were sent to T'ai-yiian Fu, the city which, as stated above, was to be 

 the starting-point. Thither, too, the party proceeded by rail, with a following 

 of native servants, and the numerous boxes and panniers containing stores, 

 and settled down to perfect their preparations for the long journey westward, 

 meteorological observations being commenced on May i6th. 



On May 27th a camp was made close to a small village named Chao- 

 chuang, situated on the plain about five miles north-west of T'ai-ytian Fu. 

 Here Messrs. Clark and Grant, with Hazrat Ali, Muhammad Husein, and 

 some of the Chinese servants, took up their quarters for the purpose of 

 measuring a " base line." Owing to many interruptions this work took a long 

 time, but eventually a base line of 2400 feet was measured twice over by 

 means of an invar tape ; the probable error working out to one in fifty 

 thousand (i in 50,000). A visit of four days duration was paid to a temple in 

 the hills about ten miles north-west of T'ai-yiian Fu. From a peak close to 

 this, angles were observed to various other peaks and stations, including both 

 ends of the base line in the plain, and various other points in the vicinity 

 were fixed. Hazrat Ali, then commenced his plane-tabling, and before very 

 long had mapped out a wide sweep of the country extending north-east and 

 north-west of T'ai-ytian Fu for a distance varying from twenty to fifty miles. 

 A splendid view of the surrounding country was obtained, and a good idea of 

 its configuration could be formed. The following description is taken from a 

 diary kept at the time : " Fifteen hundred feet below, the valley of the Fen Ho, 

 now covered with bright green rice-fields and the golden ripening corn, 

 spreads southwards in an ever-widening plain of rich alluvial soil, irrigated by 

 numerous canals from the river. Ten miles beyond the river, to the east, the 

 mountains, which, running northwards, ultimately join the Wu-t'ai Shan, rise 

 in successive terraces of loess to a height of 5000 feet. To the north-east of 

 this position rugged bare mountains form a half-circle, and join up with this 

 range, which is rocky and steep on its eastern side, but slopes gently in the 

 usual loess terraces towards the river on the west. A little to the north the 



