CRADLE OF MANKIND

Evening Star, Issue 19004, 28 July 1925, Page 5

CRADLE OF MANKIND

WILDS OF CHINESE TUSKESTAH AN EXPLORATION EXPEDITION. PLANS OUTLINED. In further pursuit, of its quest for traces for primitive man in the stratum of the ice age, the tlnrd Asiatic expedition of the Now York Museum of Natural History. _in_ co-operation with :!io American Asiatic Association, has started on the first leg of its renewed penetration of the wilds of Mongolia. and Chinese Turkestan. Its first permanent camp will bo 1,000 miles north-west of Kalgan, on the site of last vein’s discovery of dinosaur eggs, which aroused such keen interest throughout the western world. Hero the leader of t he expedition, Roy Chapman Andrews, and hi® corps of scientists expect to overtake the imposing transport train of DO camels despatched some two mouths ago. HUNT DINOSAUR. The work of exploration will start at the first camp, where an effort will he made to rediscover a nest of dinosaur eggs found on Ihe last expedition, but lost again because of a terrific sandstorm that, changed tlio topography of the country. It is planned to drop off the first group of men there, where tich finds are anticipated ’also in fossil remains of prehistoric animals, while the main expedition continues west along the north slope of the Altai Mountains and then south in tin- direction of Chinese Turkestan. The, objective this year is to work in a, more recent stratum ot rocks, which might result in fossilised traces of human evolution. ■‘On tiie zoological side,” Mr Andrews explained,. we hope to get into the zone of true wild horses and wild camels. "We hope to secure groups of both for the museum. Wo have with us also a pa ! eo-bolanist whose work will lie to study fossilised plant life and to judge what the climate was like in the various periods. This will enable ns to decide whether it was a suitable place for man, and thus of our chances of finding truces of prehistoric man." TAKE MOTOR TRUCKS. Besides the camel transport, ihe expedition's equipment, includes seven motor vehicles, ears and trucks, equipped with special tyres for negotiating desert sands. The personnel totals forty men, and of supplies there is being transported 3,500 gallons gasoline and 100 gallons of od for the cars; two tons of flour, a ton of rice, half a ton of sugar, and other things in proportion. The only food supply that can be counted upon in the f untry to bo covered is meat The expedition expects to reach Kalgan on its leturn about the middle of September.