1726 
size of a small cherry, which you can see by the 
specimens I am sending. I am forwarding to you these 
little pears, packed in charcoal, by registered first 
class mail. The distance is enormous. All mail is 
carried overland on pack mules for 25 days, to a rail- 
way station at Taunggyi in Burma. 
"The mountains have been glorious, the nights 
very cold but no frost. There is a drop in temperature 
every day of 50° F., so one feels It. At noon it is 
about 88° or 90° and in the early morning about 36° 
or 38°. I have inquired about Taraktogenos kurzii on the 
way and looked out for it but no sign of it anywhere. 
At Muang Lin I saw a native drug vender who had Kalow 
seeds, selling five of them for 2 pecks, about one 
cent; he said they came from Kengtung. I found out 
that they grow three days' journey from here, and as 
that is not far , considering the distance I have trav- 
eled and will yet have to travel, I shall go there. It 
is at Man Pangpeng in the hills. I am going from there 
to Kengtung in Yunnan. 
"This is the best way to enter Yunnan, as there is 
nobody to hinder one. The boundary is a great moun- 
tain range, that is all. At Menglen In Chinese terri- 
tory there is a band of several thousand bandits work- 
ing but, thank goodness , they are west of where I shall 
go. Under the present conditions I think it best to 
spend the coming year in Yunnan to make a reconnolter- 
ing trip and go into the chestnut region, for then it 
will not be a blind chase. I will then know where to 
go to get them. It is difficult to get carriers from 
October to the end of December, as that Is the rice- 
harvesting season and all^the men are busy in their 
fields. Once the rice is harvested carriers can be 
obtained, although many have refused and I was told 
the reason was that they were not hungry. Before the 
harvesting season traveling is very difficult, as 
rice is scarce and people will not sell until the new 
rice comes in. It is impossible to get paddy for the 
ponies. So you see there is much that interferes with 
one ' s plans . 
"As I write now, the sun is about to set, the hills 
are purple, and the cupolas of the Sawbwas palace,- an 
imitation of the Taj Mahal but with a board wall in 
the back,- are still glistening in the sunlight. To 
my left are the hills (6,000 feet). I shall soon cross 
Into mysterious China." 
