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

text; but the scope of the commentaries could not be estimated. The entire work will, however, undoubtedly run to i,000 pages. It was expected that the task of commenting the text in detail would require several years. I pointed out that BERGMAN must be accorded the full honour of their discovery, and was assured that this would be the case. I also expressed my recognition of the great piety that was being devoted to this precious material, and hoped that when it was finally published with a detailed commentary it would throw light on the geographical and administrative conditions in the Edsen-gol district during the Han dynasty.'

On the evening of March 16th a dinner was given for 15o persons, in honour of the expedition. The hosts on this occasion were the Peking Society of Natural History, the Geological Survey of China and the Geological Society of China. Speeches were held by WONG WEST-HAO, HU-SHIH, Professor STEVENSON, Professor NYSTRÖM, NORIN and myself. TSERAT was also among the guests who took part in this dinner.

At the university in Peking as well as at the Tsing Hua University I gave several lectures to the students, who showed the warmest interest in our work. We were also invited to the house of Professor P. L. YUAN, who showed us his beautiful and valuable collections.2

During our stay in Peking the financial differences between the expedition and the Chinese were all cleared up. The considerable sum that we were owing the latter was much reduced by the subtraction of the 9,000 dollars that ex-Governor CHIN SHU-JEN had unjustly mulcted from the part of the expedition that had stayed in Urumchi.

With WONG WEN-HAO we again had long discussions concerning publication and the distribution of the collections amongst different specialists for classification and publication. As regards the big expedition, everything was practically wound up; but now it was a matter of getting permission to take home the archaeological collections made during the car-journey, so that BERGMAN might have an opportunity of investigating them scientifically.

I If peace had been kept in East Asia these proud and promising plans would doubtless have been carried out. But Japan's attack on China on July 7th 1937 enveloped our plans and hopes in thick clouds of uncertainty and confusion. Later we received the extremely disquieting news that on the occasion of the Japanese attack on Shanghai the premises of the Commercial Press, where the texts and commentaries of BERGMAN'S collection were just being printed, had been destroyed by bombs. I telegraphed at once to the Swedish Minister in Shanghai, Baron JOHAN BEcx-I'RIIS, and got the reassuring reply that although the printed edition had gone up in smoke, the original collection itself had been taken to Hongkong in good time, and was quite safe in the vault of an English bank. But the war afterwards reached Hongkong, and the precious manuscripts were once again in danger. Now we knew nothing of their fate. According to a rumour, however, BERGMAN'S collection had been taken to the U. S. A. before the Japanese captured Hongkong.

2 Some years later a great misfortune overtook a considerable part of Professor YUAN'S geological collections. He had sent five chests to Shanghai by rail. These never arrived at their destination. They had been taken through parts of China that had been occupied by the Japanese. I wired to the Swedish Minister, Baron BECK-Ii RIIS, and to the German Minister, Dr O. TRAUTMANN, begging them to request the Japanese authorities to institute an enquiry along the railway between Peking and Shanghai. The enquiry was made, but the chests could not be found.

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