LEAVE KIA-TIXa-FU 225 



of the town and district liad been turned over to the 

 civil mandarin. This will probably be a bad thing for 

 the missionaries, for he is an ignorant man and much 

 prejudiced against foreigners. I took his photograph 

 while there, as he was particularly anxious to have it 

 done. 



My collectors arrived the next day, having been 

 delayed slightly on their journey down by the floods 

 on the Ya Eiver. They had all done very well, and I 

 o'ot the collections on board at once to arrange and 

 pack. The living specimens consisted of fifty-three 

 Crossoptilon (mentioned before), three Amherst phea- 

 sants, one LophopJiorus L'huysii, two pheasants (Phasi- 

 anus decollatus), one tragopan and two bear cubs. There 

 was no room in my boat for these, and I was obliged to 

 hire a large sampan for their conveyance. I also got 

 the French missionaries to hire a boat for the collection I 

 had taken charge of for Prince Henri, as I thought they 

 would be able to do so on more advantageous terms 

 than I could. They only chartered her for the voyage 

 to Chung-king, however, and at that place I had to 

 hire afresh. All my arrangements were completed on 

 September 4. Mr. Vale, of the China Inland Mission, 

 came on board and said good-bye, and a start for home 

 was made at twelve o'clock, with such a strong current 

 in our favour that Sui-fu was reached the next day, 



Q 



