October 17, 1917 This morning at 3am, the steamer crossed the bar and at daylight, we were anchored in the Pei-ho River opposite Taku, but disembarked at Tangku² RR Station and took the train to Tientsin. This was a two hour ride and we passed en route through the flooded district and saw villages and houses standing in three or four feet of muddy water. The refugees were gathered in cane huts along the RR embankment and in those cities that were on high ground and had escaped. The top of millet, heavy with grain, were to be seen all along the way, but this grain had hot yet been harvested. On reaching Tientsin, we went at once to find Somerby at the Tientsin Times & Gazette, where he is now holding down the editorial chair. We found him a live man of 40 years, the sort that is capable of carrying through any enterprise. He lunched with us at the Imperial Hotel and then we took rickshaws for a ride to his house out in the submerged part of town. Halfway to his house, we changed our rickshaw for a boat and poled along the flooded streets to his house, the basement of which was under water and three feet of water stood in his dooryard. About half of Tientsin is in this aquatic state. He showed us his trophies. He had three sheep heads on the wall from North Shansai of Ovis Jubata, the maned sheep and one of the heaviest horned sheep in the world. He had a white Takin from Kansu (Budarras Bedfordi) which is a distinct white race. He showed us the body skin which was also pure white and used as a rug.