Evening star., 1930-06-28
BIRDS FROM HOLY
CHINESE PEAK ARE
SENT TO MUSEUM
81 Specimens, Gathered on
! Mount Omei, Are Received
From Missionary.
SACRED SPOT DRAWS
THOUSANDS YEARLY
Shrine of Buddha Has Suicide
Cliff" Over Which Faithful
Plunge to Be in His Arms.

Rev. David C. Graham, intrepid
American missionary-n has Sc
cured for the National Museum an
almost complete collection of the birds
of one of the earth's weirdeSt places
one of Chinas four holy mountains.
A shipment was received here this
week of 81 specimens gathered on
Mount Omei, in the Szechwan Province
of China, where thousands OF pilgrims
Journey annually to witness strange
natural phenomenon which they inter-
pret as a manifestation of the living
Buddha. Because of its sacred char
acter, the mountain long has been a
refuge of bird life so that the Graham
collection shows interesting examples of
the extension of biological ranges.
Mount Omei towers IL 900 feet above
sea level. For the last 5000 feet there
is a precipice, one of the highest in
the world. extending through the clouds.
In some places ascent is possible only
by ladders.
Pilgrims Walk Thousands of Miles.
Once on the summit the pilgrims look
down into the cloud ocean below them
and behold the "fo-kuang," great
golden ball of fire surrounded by a
rainbow floating in the mist. This can
be seen practically any day when the
sun is shining and is believed to be
the glory emanating from Buddha.
Bands of pilgrims walk for thousands
of miles from all over China to view
this optical phenomenon. The edge of
the precipice is guarded with chains,
but in spite of this many pilgrims throw
themselves into the chasm below, in the
belief that they are throwing them
selves into the arms of Buddha. 1t is
known as suicide cliff"
On top of the precipice is a giant
image of one of the buddhas mounted
on an elephant, the guided and
lacuuered mummieS of three holy men
and tooth of Buddha II inches long
and weighing 18 pounds, which he is
reputed to have lost while sojourning
here. Nearby are the ruins of temple
Of solid bronze set up in honor of
Buddha by one of the early emperors
and destroyed by lightning.
1000 Monks Live on Slopes.
The mountain slopes harbor one of
the worlds largest religious commun-
ities. There are 56 pagodas and more
than 20 temples and monasteries with
approximately 1000 monks. Most of
these are above the 4,000-foot level
where the slopes begin to be difficult
to cultivate. The extreme need for
agricultural land has driven farmers
gradually to invade the lower slopes
with great groves of ash trees for the
culture of insect wax, one of the i'm
portant products of that part of the
world. Small farmsteads are inter-
spersed even among the monasteries
higher up.
The general scenery, with great for
ests of silver fir, hemlock and yew
breaking through the cloud ocean is in
keeping with the sublime nature of the
place. Here a group of Christian mis-
sionarieS in that part of the world have
established Summer quarters, called ST
Gi Pin, at about the 4,000-foot level
Hitherto, Mr. Graham has collected
only occasional specimens from the
Holy Mountain. There has been con-
siderable objection TO shooting there
But the present collection was obtained
with the consent of the local authori-
ties The American clergyman has
made several expeditions into The
more remote sections of Western China
encountering not only extremely diff
cult roads, but bandit gangs, 10 OBJ
tain natural history and chronological
collections for the museum.
Contains Rare Specimens.
The present collection contains sew
eral birds not previously received from
China and others rare IN collections,
hlJHCugn lHeTe PROBABLY are IIOC TN
described varieties. Among the raritieS
are two specimens of liocihla, probably
a distant relative of the local thrashers,
which first was discovered by the mis-
sionary few years ago ard named in
his honor when it was catalogued by
the National Museum
Practically the same bird say Ma
tional Museum experts, is found en- the
island of Forlnosa and was supposed
80 Ao - l,oE n
ham discovery shows it living in a far
different environment hundreds of
miles away. but it does lot occur be-
tween the two places. Among the
birds are group allied to China's ia
nous Laughing thrusheS" and others
which resemble the sweetest singers
among Oriental birds, kept by cultured
families for their songs. Some of the
mountain birds are highly colored with
red blue and yellow feathers.