INTRODUCTORY PREFACE 



EARLY in the spring of 1911 Mr. George Fen wick- 

 Owen invited me to accompany him on an ex- 

 pedition into the interior of China, his aim being 

 to secure specimens of the takin (JSudorcas bed- 

 fordi), a rare animal about which little is on 

 record, a collection of small mammals for the 

 British Museum, and any other species of big 

 game which we might chance to encounter. We 

 accordingly left Liverpool in May that same year, 

 and arrived back in England in April 1912. 



In the following pages I have endeavoured to 

 convey to those who do me the honour of reading 

 this book some idea of a country which has been 

 but seldom visited by sportsmen, and the strange 

 people and still stranger animals to be found 

 there. 



Our original intention, having secured the takin, 

 was to hunt in the mountains in Koko Nor, and 

 to return home through Szechuan and the valley 

 of the Yangtse-kiang. This idea we were re- 

 luctantly compelled, owing to the outbreak of the 

 Revolution, to abandon. We had, however, ob- 

 tained specimens of a number of rare species 



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