20G DEPABTUBE FBOM TA-TSIEN-LU 



over to the French Consul. Upon my deciding to take 

 them, he sent me eighteen coolie loads. These, with 

 twenty coolie loads of my own, formed the total that I 

 started with. I was now very busy packing up all the 

 collections and getting in those from the stations outside 

 the town. My collectors had orders to leave a month 

 after I had gone, bring all they had found with them, 

 and meet me at Kia-ting-fu. I also sent two men to a 

 place called Ho-kow, ten days' journey west of Ta-tsien- 

 lu, on the road, and about half way to Litang, which is 

 situated in a valley nearly surrounded by lofty plateaux, 

 where I expected they would find some interesting and 

 rare insects. 



Many of my boxes were covered with raw hide by 

 the Tibetans, who are very expert at this work. They 

 take a hide from a freshly killed animal and fit and sew 

 this over the boxes in a particularly neat way with the 

 hair inside. When the hide dries, it shrinks and 

 hardens, forming a splendid and almost indestructible 

 •covering. 



July 21. — All being ready, I left Ta-tsien-lu after 

 Tiaving thanked Mgr. Biet and the Fathers for their 

 kindness and said good-bye, and arrived at Wa-ssu-kou 

 in the evening. 



July 22. — A village was passed to-day situated on the 

 side of a valley near the banks of the Tung, which had 



