Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-16
KERMIT ROOSEVELT
TELLS ADVENTURES
Capture of Panda and Other
Rare Animals Heard by
Geographic Society.

Kermit Roosevelt last night told 9
National Geographic Society audience
at the washington Auditorium of hi;
1,90o-mile trek through the China
Tibet borderland and Indo~ China, dur
ing which was captured the giant
panda, the golden monkey and other
rare animals.
The expedition also brought back pic
lures of little visited areas, which are
warrens of strange tribes, museums OF
scenic beauty, gardens OF botanical
specimens, and offer many perilS, rang
ing from precariouS bridges to rowing
bandits. The meeting was the first OF
the season and was attended by dis
tinguished audience, including Mrs
Hoover.
DR.. Gilbert Grosvenor, president OF
the National Geographic Society, be-
fore introducing the speaker, announced
the elimination of one of the society's
expeditions which has been studying
the chronology of Indian ruins of the
Southwest United States. BY match
ing crosS-sectionS of living trees with
ancient timbeTS from numerous ruins,
DR.. GrosYenor said, chronology has
fully reported, that carries the pre-
Columbian history of the United States
back to TOO AID.
1rlDute 10 LATE L. Js beii.
DR.. Grosvenor also paid tribute to
the late Charles j. Bell, who had been
associated with the National Geographic
Society for Al years, having been one
of the 10 founders of the society.
Other current exploration work of
the society, he said, included appropri-
alton OF $4,000 toward the Byrd South
Polar expedition, and he announced
that 1t is hoped to have Comdr. Byrd
lecture On his Antarctic expedition be-
fore the society the coming Spring.
Mr.. Roosevelt related a pictorial
story, using both slides and motion pic
lures, of the journey he and his brother,
Theodore, jr., took, with a party of
scientists, that ranged through Burma,
into Scchewan, Yunnan, and along the
wild border of Tibet. The gorgeS of
the upper Yangtze resemble the canyons
of the Colorado, and some of the noun
tains have the aspect of our Rockies.
In the wilder part of Yunnan Mr..
Roosevelt came upon National Geo.
graphic Society expedition which has
been in the field for some years, that
I headed by DR.. Joseph F. Rock, famous
aturalist-explorer and discoverer of
chaulmoogra oil, palliative of leprosy.
The speaker gave views of the rhododen-
dron forests, whence DR.. Rock has been
sending back many specimens, some of
which are now growing in Western ma
tional parks of our own country.
Strangest Of Pictures.
Among the strangest OF the pictures
obtained were those of the paper mache
horses, used in the ornate funerals of
the more primitive Chinese, and also
the highly decorated hearses. Many
types of the bridges were illustrated,
including intricate wooden ones, which
are built without the use of iron nails
The pig is a major item in the iVeli-
hood of many Chinese communities.
Often" Mr.. Roosevelt said, 1.-The pigs
literally pay the rent-and more. We
slept with them in the huts at night,
they blocked our progress by day, and
between times We ate their meat"
Other customs he described included
the use of brick tea, favored with ran
cid butter, and further fortified with
salt If the user was able to afford that
delicacy. Open-air barber shops, strange
types OF beggars, games of Chinese chess
and mammoth Tibetan prayer wheels,
run by water power, also were caught
by his camera.