s quite convinced he will go
a long way and is prepared to accept much heavier weights than I have
given him. Lashly's opinion is perhaps more doubtful, but on the whole
hopeful. Clissold is to make the fourth man of the motor party. I have
already mentioned his mechanical capabilities. He has had a great deal
of experience with motors, and Day is delighted to have his assistance.

We had two lectures last week--the first from Debenham dealing with
General Geology and having special reference to the structures of
our region. It cleared up a good many points in my mind concerning
the gneissic base rocks, the Beacon sand-stone, and the dolerite
intrusions. I think we shall be in a position to make fairly good
field observations when we reach the southern land.

The scientific people have taken keen interest in making their
lectures interesting, and the custom has grown of illustrating
them with lantern slides made from our own photographs, from books,
or from drawings of the lecturer. The custom adds to the interest
of the subject, but robs the reporter of notes. The second weekly
lecture was given by Ponting. His store of pictures seems unending
and has been an immense source of entertainment to us during the
winter. His lectures appeal to all and are fully attended. This time
we had pictures of the Great Wall and other stupendous monuments of
North China. Ponting always manages to work in detail concerning the
manners and customs of the peoples in the countries of his travels;
on Friday he told us of Chinese farms and industries, of hawking and
other sports, most curious of all, of the pretty amusement of flying
pigeons with aeolian whistling pipes attached to their tail feathers.

Ponting would have been a great asset to our party if only on account
of his lectures, but his value as pictorial recorder of events
becomes daily more apparent. No expedition has ever been illustrated
so extensively, and the only difficulty will be to select from the
countless subjects that have been recorded by his camera--and yet not
a single subject is treated with haste; the first picture is rarely
counted good enough, and in some cases five or six plates are exposed
before our very critical artist is satisfied.

This way of going to work would perhaps be more striking if it were not
common to all our workers here; a very demon of unrest seems to stir
them to effort and there is now not a single man who is not striving
his utmost to