REPORT OF WORK IN 191 4 IN KANSU AND TIBET. 47 
REPORT OF WORK IN 1914 IN KANSU AND TIBET. 
By Reginald Farrer. 
[The following notes were written by Mr. Farrer in China in 191 4, but did 
not reach us until April 191 6 ; hence this somewhat belated appearance. Mr. 
Farrer has added a few comments to his original notes and these are inserted 
in square brackets in the body of the report. We are greatly indebted to 
Prof. I. Bayley Balfour for looking through the proofs and revising the 
nomenclature so far as is possible at present. — Ed.] 
In spite of all the perils and tragedies with which the Kansu-Tibet 
border seethed in the earlier part of 1914, neither the " White Wolf " 
nor local insurrections succeeded in frustrating the Expedition. It 
now becomes necessary to give its course in detail. On April 13 we 
left Tsin Chow, a bygone imperial city of S. Kansu, and struck 
almost due south for Kiai Chow. The way ran through loess country, 
largely cultivated, and over high open downs. The two most im- 
portant finds were Farreria sp. [novum genus) Balf . fil. twice occurring 
on the barren fells, and — yet more important if possible — the first 
(as I believe) record of Viburnum fragrans as a wild plant, scantily 
appearing in the hilly copses south of Shi-ho. At Kiai Chow we 
entered upon the arid country of the Hei Shui Jang, or Blackwater 
River, a justly-named voluminous tide of filth, which, in all its course 
between Siku and Bi-gu, where it joins the Whitewater (the Pei 
Shui Jang), runs through a series of loess and sandstone ravines, 
hedged in on both sides by vast arid and Saharan crags of loess. 
The climate here is African in heat and drought. I have made a 
point of sending samples of all good seeds from this region to Professoi 
Berger, secure that at least at Mortola they will do well, whatever 
be their fate in the damps of England. Kiai Chow, during our short 
stay, yielded only the lovely little Iris Henry i and Paeonia Moutan. 
Leaving Kiai Chow (pronounced in every province differently, but 
usually Jie-Jo*) on April 25, we continued southward down the grilling 
ravines of the Blackwater towards Wen Hsien, crossing the Feng S'an 
Ling Pass the day before our arrival, and there making acquaintance 
with two treasures in Pleione F 4 and Primula F 300. This pass 
separates the Blackwater from the Whitewater, which flows beneath 
the acacia'd walls of sunny Wen Hsien in unsullied purity, to join the 
Blackwater a little further east, at Bi-gu. On May 3 we rode out of 
Wen Hsien, striking due westwards up towards Tibet. Ere long 
the Whitewater deserted us, and our way continued up the East 
* I often diverge from the official Romanized spelling of Chinese names, 
which in all cases seems nicely calculated to give them as they are not 
pronounced. 
