21 
Mr. Meyer did not write again until April 15, 1918, 
when he sent, from Ichang, the following comment on his 
acoaints : 
Herewith please find my accounts for 
the past quarter; they are, I suppose, the 
most meagre expenditures I have made jfor a 
long time, all due to the extremely un- 
settled conditions here in this part of the 
Yang tze Valley. 
I had to discharge my interpreter since 
he did not take the slightest interest in my 
work any longer. My present guide will Tae 
able to manage things until I find again a 
better fellow. It seems however that ex- 
ploration work in China may have to be 
stopped altogether, for brigandage, local 
famines and the awfully upset conditions 
everywhere do not allow travel any longer. 
Fighting has been going on around here 
for over four months and foreigners are not 
allowed- to travel freely in Szechuan and in 
Hupeh. Soldiers are drilling in the streets 
with machine guns these last days and v/e 
have been vj'arned not to go into the mountains 
one day West of here, where bands of uniformed 
bandits are plundering to their hearts' con- • 
tent. 
Well, enough for this time. 
He wrote again on April ?3, 1918, still from Ichang, as 
follows regarding his itinerai"y report: 
Herewith please find enclosed my itinerary 
report for the quarter ending March ^1, I91B. 
I am compelled to make several remarks with it. 
Firstly it is somewhat belated, due to the 
fact that these last days we had another crisis 
here and I felt oiit of sorts. You also v/ill 
notice the running form of the dates and not 
put down on separate weekly sheets as the regu- 
lation form is. This I did for reason that 
desirable writing paper is getting to be quite 
scarce here and I want to reserve my supply for 
more valuable purposes than a mere itinerary 
report. 
September PI, I918. 
