I had thought of sending the whole staff of the expedition with baggage and equipment to Pao-t'ou on March igth, as we had our own house there, and this, with the much lower cost of living, would have reduced our expenses very considerably. A couple of days before this date, however, I received the following communication from Mr YUNG: »WANG YIN-T'AI advises you to wait until things are cleared up with the opposition. Otherwise you risk being forced to return from Pao-t'ou to Peking with the whole expedition ». Furthermore, a meeting of the opposition had been convened for March igth, and they had declared that before this date they must have a newly written report of our desires and plans. It looked as if we could no longer count on the support of the Government. It was really scarcely surprising that the latter body should think of its own welfare in the first place. Even within its own ranks the Government had members who were whole-heartedly on the side of Kuomintang. When now the university circles and the learned institutions, which unreservedly embraced the cause of Kuomintang, attacked the Government on account of the support it had given us, it would have been too much to expect the Government to jeopardize its already sufficiently precarious position for our sakes.
When NoRIN heard that the fate of the expedition might depend upon his dismissal, he immediately stated his willingness to resign. I replied that if his resignation proved necessary I would at my own expense put him in a position to carry out a special expedition in the Transhimalayas, whose geological and geographical exploration lay so close to my heart. BERGMAN, too, was perfectly prepared to spring overboard to save the common ship. Dr HrMMEL, our physician, was the only one who was tolerated, as there was no danger of his encroaching upon the inexhaustible archaeological and palaeontological resources of this vast country. But HimmEI, had for some weeks been a patient at the Peking Union Medical College, struck down by a serious infectious disease; he was himself afraid that he would be compelled to return home. Was I then to lose the whole Swedish scientific staff? The self-sacrifice and faithfulness shown me during this time by the Swedish members was magnificent. We could sit up until 4 o'clock in the morning discussing new plans and measures. None of us was willing to give up. In one way or another we would save our honour; and we were determined that science should benefit from our work in some form or other. Finally we parted, to sleep for a few hours after a trying day and to wake up to another — still worse.
The morrow brought the information that the journey to Pao-t'ou, including customs duties, would amount to 7,000 Mexican dollars! For this sum one might carry out a whole little expedition to the heart of Asia!
From Wai-chiao-pu I received another message with the old advice: »Wait! » I replied that the carriage and trucks had been ordered for a certain day and that I should lose them if I let them stand unused. For answer I received the smiling reply: »Wait! » Our life in Peking cost us 225 Mexican dollars a day. We were
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