国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

NEWS FROM THE FIELD-GROUPS

In a telegram that • arrived on February 13th we were informed by Professor YUAN from Urumchi that our Chinese members TING, HUANG and KUNG, as well as the digger PAI, intended to return to Peking via Siberia, while the students LI and Liu were to go to Berlin for further training in meteorology. YUAN himself wished to undertake a six months' geological-palaeontological expedition to the Altai.

Unfortunately, however, YUAN'S plan did not materialize. Our committee telegraphed to him to return to Peking. The Chinese participation in the Sinkiang-group of the expedition was thus practically at an end.

The Gobi-group followed on the whole the same way towards the Edsen-gol as the main caravan had taken in 1927. This was to enable the geologists to investigate a number of plant-fossil localities where NORIN had not had time to make any collections. Further, BERGMAN wished for an opportunity to make a more thorough examination of some important stone-age sites that he had come across in the course of the first expedition. They did not, however, stick strictly to the old road, but struck off to the side now and then and divided themselves into two or three groups. In this way they were able to investigate more ground than if they had been together the whole time. In letters and reports they related their experiences and adventures in the chilly fields of work up on the Mongolian plateau.

In the middle of December they had been surprised on the march by a terrible snowstorm, and all of them had got frost-bitten. HÖRNER was the worst case; the fingers of his right hand were so frost-bitten that he could not write for some time, and they were a source of much personal discomfort to him.

In the week between Christmas and New Year 1929, BoHLIN and BEXEI,I, had journeyed from the common Christmas camp at Dal-ulan-obo in Dunda-gung hoshio to a fossil locality somewhat to the north. HÖRNER and BERGMAN betook themselves southward through the Lang-shan to the Huang-ho valley, while the rest of the caravan proceeded some little distance to the west along the high road.

During this trip, HÖRNER was twice shot at by Mongol soldiers, and he was even deprived of his instruments. Fortunately, he recovered the latter, thanks to the sensible and decided behaviour of his Mongol cook. But the shooting was an unpleasant experience. None of us had been exposed to anything of the sort during the expedition. Neither HÖRNER nor BERGMAN knew that the southern border of the Lang-shan was the frontier between the domains of »The Three Dukes » in the north and the northern part of Ordos around the north bend of the Huang-ho in the south, that was cultivated by Chinese. This frontier was guarded, to prevent the Chinese from pushing up into the uncultivated tracts to

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