A BOTANICAL PIONEER IN SOUTH WEST CHINA

Experiences and Impressions of an Austrian Botanist During the First World War

HEINRICH HANDEL-MAZZETTI

title


Introduction by Dr C. Grey-Wilson

i

Handel-Mazzetti's foreword to the first edition

ii

Translator's preface

iv

Biography of Handel-Mazzetti

v

Part I 1914. The Plateau and Mountain Ranges of Yunnan and Southwest Sichuan


Chapter 1. The Journey to Kunming and Our First Expeditions

1

Chapter 2. Over the Jinsha Jiang Gorge to Huili in Sichuan

6

Chapter 3. The Jianchang Valley and its Mountains

12

Chapter 4. In the Land of the Black Yi

17

Chapter 5. Yanyuan and the Yalong District

21

Chapter 6. To Lijiang via Yongning and Yongsheng

28

Chapter 7. Lijiang and Mount Yulong Shan

33

Chapter 8. To the Zhongdian Mountains

37

Chapter 9. From Chuxiong via Huili to Yanyuan and back to Kunming

44

Part II 1915. To the Tibetan Border


Chapter 10. Winter in Kunming

53

Chapter 11. To Manhao in Tropical Yunnan

54

Chapter 12. Over the Highlands to Lijiang

57

Chapter 13. Exploring the Mountains near Lijiang

62

Chapter 14. To Haba Shan

66

Chapter 15. From Lijiang to Yongning and up the Waha Range

69

Chapter 16. The Land of Muli

73

Chapter 17. Over the Zhongdian Uplands to the Mekong (Lancang Jiang)

79

Chapter 18. The Lancang Jiang (Mekong) Valley

85

Chapter 19. The Doker-La

89

Chapter 20. On Foot to the Nu Jiang

91

Chapter 21. Via Weixi, Shigu and Dali to Kunming

96

Part III 1916 To the Frontier of Upper Burma


Chapter 22. To Lijiang with a Visit to Mount Gang Shan

99

Chapter 23. Up the Yangzi and over the Lenago Pass to the Lancang Jiang

102

Chapter 24. Over the Xi-lato Bahan on the Nu Jiang

106

Chapter 25. To the Upper Irrawaddy

109

Chapter 26. Along the Lancang Jiang — Nu Jiang Divide Towards the Tibetan Border

117

Chapter 27. Exploration on the Nu Jiang; Back to Cigu

121

Chapter 28. Via Weixi to Jianchuan and Lijiang

123

Chapter 29. Autumn in the Lijiang District

127

Chapter 30. Via Yongsheng and the Jinsha Jiang to Kunming

131

Part IV 1917. Through Guizhou to Hunan


Chapter 31. Across East Yunnan

135

Chapter 32. Across Southwest Guizhou

140

Chapter 33. Along the Main Road From Huangguoshu via Guiyang to Guiding

145

Chapter 34. To Sandu in Southeast Guizhou

148

Chapter 35. To Liping via Rongjiang

150

Chapter 36. Through Southwest Hunan to Wugang

154

Chapter 37. To Changsha via Xinning and Yongzhou (Lingling)

158

Part V 1918. Work and Travels in Hunan


Chapter 38. Changsha

161

Chapter 39. To Xikuang Shan

164

Chapter 40. Summer on Yun Shan Near Wugang

166

Chapter 41. Back to Changsha via Xikuangshan

170

Chapter 42. Repatriated

172

Biographical notes . . . Schneider, Amundsen and Andrews

177

The Maps

179



Glossary of Chinese place names

180

References

184

Index.

185



Maps


Map 1 Itinerary 6th March to 16th October 1914..

1

Map 2 Part of the route in 1914 — Xichang (Ningyuen) and Yanyuan (Yenyuen)

12

Map 3 Routes in the Mekong, Salween and Irrawaddy gorges in 1915 and 1916

53

Map 4 Routes around Lijiang and elsewhere in Yunnan in 1914, 1915 and 1916.

53

Map 5 Routes from Muli to Lijiang and near the Jinsha Jiang loop in 1914 to 1916

53

Map 6 Route from Kunming to Changsha in 1917 (western part)

134

Map 7 Route from Kunming to Changsha in 1917 (eastern part)

145

ILLUSTRATIONS


Frontispiece Heinrich Handel-Mazzetti in the Alps near Kals, 1938.

Fig.1 In the temple of Tjiungju-se ("five hundred genies") near Kunming.

Fig.2 Stoneworts (Chara) mixed with mud for use as manure.

Fig.3 A fig (Ficus tikoua) common near Huili.

Fig.4 The Jinsha Jiang near Lagachang north of Kunming.

Fig.5 A village street in Jianchang, southwest Sichuan.

Fig.6 The abbot of Yongning.

Fig.7 Rhododendron decorum in pine forest (Pinus tabulaeformis).

Fig.8 Primula vialii near Yongning, 23 July 1915.

Fig.9 The sinter basins of Bedi.

Fig.10 Tibetans from Djiatshrin.

Fig.11 The largest of all gentians (Gentiana stylophora, now Megacodon stylophorus).

Fig.12 Oroxylon indicum on the Anning He near Huili.

Fig. 13 The main caravan route from Kunming to Burma, between Lüfeng and Shezi.

Fig.14 Christmas in Kunming, 1914

Fig.15 Lithospermum hancockianum (now Lithodora hancockiana) near Kunming.

Fig.16 Karst on the Xi Shan near Kunming.

Fig.17 Arisaema wilsonii (A. elephas) above Xiangshuihe.

Fig.18 Market day in Songgui. Minchia women; buildings in Chinese style.

Fig.19 Tsuga yunnanensis at 3300m below the Zuningkou pass.

Fig.20 The south face of Satseto, the main peak of the Yulong Shan, 5450m.

Fig.21 Glacier snout, moraine and talus bed at 3700m in the Luoqu gorge.

Fig.22 Cypripedium ebracteatum (now C margaritaceum) above Nguluke, 3350m.

Fig.23 Camp above Tuguancun at 4175m, looking WNW over the Chongdian plateau.

Fig.24 The ridge between Tuguancun and Haba at 4450m, looking NW.

Fig.25 High alpines on the ridge between Tuguancun and Haba.

Fig.26 Lu'di (Moso) women at Yongning with children in Chinese dress.

Fig.27 Alpine sward (yak pasture) at 4300m on limestone soil at the tree-line.

Fig.28 Interior of a temple at Muli.

Fig.29 Grain drying racks on the huts in an unidentified village.

Fig.30 Rope bridge over the Lancang Jiang (Mekong) near Tseku.

Fig.31 The Lancang Jiang (Mekong) gorge above Lota.

Fig.32 Pseudotsuga wilsoniana on the Doker La.

Fig.33 Lisu people in their village above Xiao Weixi.

Fig.34 Rhododendron rarosquameum (R. caeruleum) on the Ji Shan crest NE of Dali.

Fig.35 The Lisu village of Aoalo.

Fig.36 Berneuxia tibetica beneath Rhododendron sanguineum at the tree-line (3900m).

Fig.37 Cardiocrinum giganteum in the forest below Doshiracho (3100m).

Fig.38 Crossing the Nu Jiang (Salween) at Tjionra in a dugout canoe.

Fig.39 Subalpine woodland in the Saoa-lumba (3450m).

Fig.40 Primula cattiantha beneath Rhododendron beesianum.

Fig.41 Primula agleniana beneath cherry tanglewood (Prunus mugus).

Fig.42 Temperate zone rain forest with Strobilanthes understorey at 2700m.

Fig.43 Pegaeophyton sinense in alpine springwater flushes.

Fig.44 Meconopsis speciosa on mica-schist on the Xi La.

Fig.45 Omphalogramma souliei beneath Salix sp. at 3900m on the Xi La.

Fig.46 Didymocarpus eburneus near Anshun.

Fig.47 The Jinsha Jiang gorge below the Yulong Shan.

Fig.48 A cataract on the Jinsha Jiang in its gorge below the Yulong Shan.