Tachientu, July 12.
When Crawford Brown, some years ego, measured the magnetic content of the Tibetan frontier we foolishly Jumped to the conclusion that there was nothing further to discover along The border. One week ago a highly selentife party arrived in Tuchlenlu apparently quite determined to dis cover the uncertain movements of Iithle man on the Root of the World The idea evidently ts something like this; inthe dark" mysterious past, great! unreasonable forces, "so. the Sclentie explanation goes, thrust uP enormous mountain ranges, capturing and. enclosing a very simple-minded People who ultimately came to be Known og the nomad and the lama, Escape apparently being impossible and finding that he was not the only sible. Lao Liu set off in the direction of Jurong and very soon the welcome tinkle of bells was heard In the distance, This faithful Chinese servant had managed somehow to secure two animals and soon Potts had his tent up and the small caravan was again on ite way. to Baurong, with {ire cheers for Myitkyina, The two animals apparently formed part of a caravan of ten returning to Yunnan. The financial brain of the party, when he saw Potts was walking, kindly moved some things on to the other fanimats end the young man from Birmingham had a horse to ride at two Tupees per day. 'The road was ter~ ible, up and down and along the free of precipitous lifts til finally Baurong was' reached. Baurong is only six or seven days from Ta~ chien lu and the traveller is still 20 Gays from Liking in Yunnan. What happened afier Baurong we have no dea but reports say that Potts was helped in the direction of Mull, the country of the famous Yellow Lama.
Several High Passes of. J, Hangon-Lows and Baron van ie tim of this cruel thrust—a kind Hrrangement including the flaky yak—he calmly and quietly went through all the processes of evolution including residence In the eolithic, palaeolithic, and neolithic ages. The Expedition had the good fortune on its way Into Tachienlu to pick up a tooth ton the public highway which bore all the evidence and marks of having een used in the pleistocene period, This was very good luck and a meet Yemarkable find and a great encour agement to the archaeological expedi~ tion How Tong it had tain on the pubile highway, and why, will Roubt be explained when the expedition, expiins seit to the seentte arid.
"Tu the meantime the strange tooth is being carefully treasured and when solentists have finally disagreed as the nature of the mouth it once occupied we may hear quite keen Aiscussions on the Lama Man or the Lama Horse who lived and moved tund had their being during the glacial period, Dr, Agnew is probably the greatest living authority on teeth in Ching fat the present time and he and his party are travelling along this high-ay on their way to Tachienlu. It Is" most unfortunate that this teeth expert should not have discovered this lonely tooth. As Dr. Agnew, however, ig also leading a solentine parly which includes Dr. Shareviteh, Russian lady, It not impossible that food forking may follow his steps and miraculously drop some Kind of tooth somewhere along the puiblle highway.
Mr, Potts describes the approach to Baurong as follows. "We crossed the Joes! Pass 16,000 feet, on the 16th; the Chitrin Pass, 16,000, on the 18th, the Wushi Pass on the 20th, We turned west following w wide valley and then entered a deep ravine, on the side of which we camped. Yes: terday the Yunnan caravan picked us amd we erossed a 15,000 foot pass. Today we crossed over one 16,000 feet, and all afternoon we have been running down towards Baurong on the left bank "of the Yalong. The scenery has been glorious reminding mie of the Blue Mountains In Austr lia. "There was no. snow. on. the passes but we had hail storms on the last two we crossed, T have seen' the Gong Gy at last, having climbed the opposite' side near the Tzemel Pass.
One of the four animals from Yulonging turned out to be a bull—one of the 1896 models with two speeds, slower and stop. Arriving 40 minutes late for the luncheon Interval on the 17h, It retired and we went on with the other three "animals. On the morning of the 19th we, had. great Aiculty In persuading the second Tibetan to continue the Journey with his horse, which Twas riding. "Ap-Earently he had no food with him. Then on the 20th at Jurong, the Tibetan to whom the money was. paid. tried to hand us" over, "bag "and baggage, to the local people for fur ther transport. T shouted however, Ju his ear, reminding him of various statements made at Tachleniy and reluctantly the Tibelan continued the journey. That evening he came to the tent bogaing money. but Twas now thoroughly suspicious. T promised him some of the end of the next day's stage. "The other Tibetan came later and begged for food; he esting Expeditions Going from and coming to Tachientw at the present time are a number of Interesting expeditions. Potts, poor fellow, is still having a rough Lime. A young Tibetan, named "Beautituys" - volunteered his ser= vices as far as Midirong on the left bank of the Yalong. As far as we could gather things seemed to be xolng well till we received a letter ac-Quainting us with disaster number two to the Potts' expedition, Apparently "Beautiful" provided the traveller with a bull, 2 donkey and two horses. The bull died, evidently from over exertion, and later both the horses showed serious. slams following In the footsteps of the unfortunate bull.
"The caravan was now reduced to tone donkey and one tired horse. 'Things were now moving very slowly and Birmingham seemed a long way from the grasslands of 'Tibet, "Yesterday, just after dawn," wrote Mr. Potts, "an indignant shout from Lao Liu, as he banged' the stirrups down fu front of my tent door, awoke me. The two Tibetans had lett us in the night. We were camped in " ravine or the side of a steep track leading from Jurong to Baurong." Tt was a strange predicament for the young, English traveller, Lao Liu couldn't speak Tibetan and Potts could neither speak Tibetan nor Chinese; and the animals and their owners had completely and mysteriously disappeared during the dark watches of the night.
Progress in any direction, upwards or downwards, now seemed impos wrecked and a number also was unlucky: fed. that night they TE was only that evening that 1 Giscovered we were on the Baurong road and over which Thad not travelled before. The present car von men are going to help us so think everything is now set, Tam lad they have brought me to Jurong as this provides me with much interest and drama on an otherwise uunexeiting Journey.
Other Sclentife Parties Among the parties arriving at and leaving Tachienlu during the present month are as follows: Dr. Andersen, the famous Swedish archaeologist and Beologist, with Dr. D. Graham and Miss Dorf, arrived on July 5 and left for the interior on July 10. With Dr. Andersen were Dr. Chow a geologist Post from the Szechuen University and Dr. Chi from the Academia Sinica, Nanking. Dr. Chi is working at present with-Dr. Andersen In archaeoloaieal studies.
Many years ago the late Mr, J. H. Edgar discovered number of sites which showed considerable evidence of having been the dwelling place of primitive man. The world may hear
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.