ndred camels, tried to cross. We
watched the huge beasts step majestically into the water, only to
huddle together in a yellow-brown mass when they reached midstream.
All their dignity fled, and they became merely frightened mountains
of flesh amid a chaos of writhing necks and wildly switching tails.

But stranger still was a motor car standing on a partly submerged
island between two branches of the torrent. We learned later that
its owners had successfully navigated the first stream and entered
the second. A flooded carburetor had resulted, and ere the car was
again in running order, the water had risen sufficiently to maroon
them on the island.

My wife and I both lack the philosophical nature of the Oriental,
and it was a sore trial to camp within rifle shot of Urga. But we
did not dare leave our carts, loaded with precious specimens, to the
care of servants and the curiosity of an ever increasing horde of
Mongols.

For a well-nigh rainless month we had been hunting upon the plains,
while only one hundred and fifty miles away Urga had had an almost
daily deluge. In midsummer heavy rain-clouds roll southward to burst
against "God's Mountain," which rears its green-clad summits five
thousand feet above the valley. Then it is only a matter of hours
before every streamlet becomes a swollen torrent. But they subside
as quickly as they rise, and the particular river which barred our
road had lost its menace before the sun had risen in a cloudless
morning sky. All the valley seemed in motion. We joined the motley
throng of camels, carts, and horsemen; and even the motor car
coughed and wheezed its way to Urga under the stimulus of two
bearded Russians.

[Illustration: Tibetan Yaks]

[Illustration: Our Caravan Crossing the Terelche River]

We made our camp on a beautiful bit of lawn within a few hundred
yards of one of the most interesting of all the Urga temples. It is
known to the foreigners in the city as "God's Brother's House," for
it was the residence of the Hutukhtu's late brother. The temple
presents a bewildering collection of carved gables and gayly painted
pavilions flaunting almost every color of the rainbow. Yvette and I
were consumed with curiosity to see what was contained within the
high palisades which surround the buildings. We knew it would be
impossible to obtain permission for her to go inside, and one
evening as we were walking along the walls we glanced through the
open gate. No one was in s