A HUNTER OF PLANTS 



63 



THE INSPIRING MOUNTAIN SCENERY OE SHAN HAI KWAN, CHINA 



Among the enviable things about the explorer's life are the scenes which his eyes are 

 permitted to rest upon. A wonderful forest once covered the slopes of China's mountains, 

 now denuded as the result of the lack of a forest policy. 



in full bloom and its small pinkish-purple 

 flowers, produced by the million, gave 

 color to the landscape, just like the heath 

 in northwestern Europe. 



"This camel's thorn is a very useful 

 plant here. First, it is a great feed for 

 the camels, which are said to love this 

 plant better than any other wild herb. 

 Second, it is mown, dried, and used as 

 a fuel. Nearly all of the bricks in the 

 oases are baked through the heat of this 

 plant. Third, it is a great sand-binder, 

 growing even in pure, sterile sand, and 

 being leguminous it prepares the soil by 

 enriching it for better vegetation." 



THE TRIALS OE THE TRAVELER 



Writing from Chugutchak, Mongolia, 

 the explorer says : 



"Of the fourteen nights we spent en 

 route I was under cover only four of 

 them, and out of the other ten, one night 

 we were disturbed by a wolf, two nights 

 by rain, four nights by robbers prowling 



about, and the remaining three we made 

 the most of. 



"But on the whole it was not a bad 

 journey, so far as personal comforts were 

 concerned, for the sheep and goats had 

 just lambed, and wherever we struck a 

 Kalmuck or a Kirghiz settlement we were 

 able to obtain a goodly quantity of either 

 sour or sweet milk. The spring had 

 really started and the cold at night was 

 not very great. A few times our milk 

 and tea froze overnight, but we are so 

 hardened that we didn't suffer from the 

 cold. 



"We had serious trouble with the 

 guides. I hadn't been able to obtain a 

 man for the whole journey in Kuldja ; so 

 we took one from one village to another. 

 The first four days it wasn't so bad, but 

 on the fifth day, having entered a robber 

 district, our Kirghiz guide deserted us 

 and, worse than that, took with him the 

 general letter of introduction with which 

 he was supplied by the Chinese prefect 



