The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-04-17
FIRST WHITE MAN
TO EXPLORE WALL
OF CHINA
Dr.. VIM. E. Cell Traversed
Barrier From End to End
FOUND RACE OF PYGMIES
Believed to be Descendants of Work
men Who Built Famous
Structure.
FOUND RACE OF PYGMlEs

New York, April 17.-Back from an
extended trip of exploration in China
and Tibet, in the course of which he
made interesting discoveries along the
Chinese Great Wall, Or. William Ed
gar Cell of Doylestown, Pa, has arriv-
ed here on the steamship Minnehaha
DR.. Dowle traced the Great Wall
through the entire distance, from the
coast to the northern border of Tibet,
discovering about 200 miles of the
structure that had not yet been map
ped. He said he had found evidences
of the existence of at least ten great
wells. apart from the famous one, and
confirmed the reports of the existence
of wild race of Chinese pygmies in
the northern mountains, where they
had dwelt for twenty centuries.
This was the first time a white man
had travelled the entire length of the
wall Dr. Cell explained and he be-
lieved that it was the first time any
one had done so.
1--WE had an expedition of about %
men, he said land did most of our
travelling with pack mules, starting
in May, 1903, from Shan Hia Kuan,
where the Great Wall has one of it's
ends, dipping into the Yellow Sea. The
other end of the wall is at Khan Yu
Kuan north of the Nan Shanmountain
range, which we reached in Septem-
Der We discovered about two hun
dred miles of Great Wall that had not
been charted,
The distance between the two ends
of the Great Wall is about 1850 miles,
but our whole trip was about 1900
miles. Our whole journey took us in
to Tibet where | fell i'll and had to be
carried along by my men for several
days"
Speaking Of the strange race of
pygmies, he said that Chinese legends
regarded them as defendants ola race
which was engaged in the laborious
work OF building the wall centuries
ago.
THE legend says that a certain peo-
pie were unable to stand the abuses
of the masters in the building Of the
wall" added DR.. Cell and fled into
the country south of the wall and that
the laborers, when they would fall ex-
hausted from their endeayors, would
be thrown into the wall structure and
be buried there"
Members of the expedition had no
serious fights with natives but ex-
IRENE care was necessary at many
times to prevent trouble. They met
Chinese who said that they had never
seen white men. Along the wall six
or seven main varieties of the Chinese
language we're spoken, and there were
variations OF these varieties, but the
Chinese interpreters with the party
were able to talk with any of the
natives encountered
Dr. Cell crossed China six years ago
and found that the empire has shown
wonderful advance since then. China
he said had been building up won
derful standing army, and might be
some day in a position where she
could place three millions of trained
men in the field on short notice. In
every little town, he said. men were
drilling in army work.
The explorer said he had been in
the same country in which Col Theo-
dore Roosevelt was TO hunt The ex-
president would find himself in an al
titude where there would be small
danger from serious sickness, unless
from the taetse fly. DR.. Cell thought
mosquito nettings would be needed as
the teatse flies would be found in
abundance. DR.. Cell did not think
enough Importance had been given to
the subject of these insects in the
published accounts of the dangers to
be encountered by the hunter. The
teaste is the carrier of sleeping sick
ness germs, according to some scien-
lists.