National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

A sewing-machine was bought as a present for the Torgut prince, or perhaps rather for his wife. A number of other gifts such as silks, silver ornaments, a gramophone etc. were also to be sent.

MONTELL's AND SÖDERBOM's DEPARTURE

The start was delayed by several days' downpour, that made the roads impassable for cars. I was thus able to write many and long letters to each separate member of the Gobi-group. The digger CHIN was sent on ahead by train to Kueihua with the heavy baggage. Not until August 15th did MONTELL, GEORG and the driver DONGORA set off early in the morning on the long and adventurous journey to the Edsen-gol and BERGMAN. They had a number of spare parts for the car with them and two thousand dollars in silver in a couple of flat boxes that were placed under the floor-mat in the car. They reckoned on reaching Tsondol on the Edsen-gol by September 1st, and MONTELL wished to be in Peking again by the Ist of October.

Another who was intimately concerned with BERGMAN'S discoveries of 2,000-year old manuscripts in the Gobi desert was Professor LESSING. In order to help BERGMAN and if possible to give him some guidance for the planning of the autumn's excavations, LESSING plunged into the Chinese historical literature from this period to look for data concerning the Chinese defences and military campaigns in the tracts where BERGMAN was at work. These data regarding the struggles between the Chinese and the Huns he then collated and brought together in the form of a work, that subsequently was sent to BERGMAN to give him the historical background of the finds at the Edsen-gol.

When the car had left, LESSING moved over to our house; and once more life in the old Imperial City resumed its even tenor. The 27th of August was one of those rather colourless week-days when it seemed that nothing happened. But there was an unexpected interruption in the form of three aeroplanes, that CHIANG KAI-SHEK had sent up from the south. They dropped some bombs over Peking, but only in the western part of the city, and we did not hear of anyone being injured. As a matter of fact the mosquitoes were more disturbing than such odd aeroplanes, for they were always pestering one.

RAIN

During the middle of August there was a prolonged interruption of the postal connections with Sweden via Siberia, as on a couple of stretches between Shan-haikuan and Tientsin the railway had been flooded in consequence of the heavy rains,

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