SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 



waste of sand, that "Never-never country." The 

 romance of those wild Tartars, living their lives 

 of untrammelled freedom always appealed to my 

 imagination and I longed to go and see it all. 



At last the chance came, and never shall I 

 regret the step that once and for all settled my 

 destiny, when I exchanged a town life of com- 

 parative ease for that of the explorer and col- 

 lector. 



It was in Tientsin in the summer of 1907 that 

 I first met Mr. Malcolm P. Anderson, who was 

 out in the East collecting mammals and specimens 

 of zoological interest generally for the British 

 Museum at South Kensington, in connexion 

 with the Duke of Bedford's Exploration of Eastern 

 Asia. 



At the time I was engaged in mounting the 

 fruits of a hunting and collecting trip in Western 

 Shansi for a local museum. 



With common interests a friendship sprang up 

 between us, which culminated a month or so later 

 in a decision to join forces in carrying out an 

 expedition into the hitherto practically unknown 

 Ordos Desert. 



As I would not be free till the end of the year 

 Anderson went to T'ai-yiian Fu in Shansi, where 

 he continued to collect, till, everything having 

 been arranged satisfactorily, I joined him towards 

 the end of January 1908. 



The proximity of the Chinese New Year pre- 



5 



