In 1928 the Kelly-Roosevelt Expedition spent U.S.$100000 just to Shoot one giant Panda. Last year, Mrs. William Harkness arrived in Shanghai, hugging a baby model that she had captured north of Chengtu—eight days' journey, to be exact—and which was the first one believed io have been captured alive. She kept it in the Palace Hotel for some time before she eventually. received permission to take it with her to the United States.
Now both their efforts fade into insignificance with the Chinese report of the capture by a* woodcutter of two fairly adult pandas, a male and a female, in the forests around Lifanting, a city a few kilometres north-west of Chengtu. Mrs. Harkness's panda weighed a few ounces under 5 Ib. when captured.
The woodcutter's captures weigh considerably more. The male panda weighs over 200 kilogrammes (over 90 1b. and the female over 100 kilogrammes (over 45 10.) He immediately built a cage in his hut, and has found himself to be a very popular man, people'coming from far and near to lod at the rare animals.
"Certain foreigners," concludes the report, have offered the woodcutter high prices for the pair, but for reasons of his own the woodcutter has so far refused to part with them. He may be holding out for a higher price, it is true, but on the other hand he may be a true collector, a man to whom possession of something rare means more than its mere monetary value,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.