prove unfaithful
to duty, and so I conferred no longer with likings or dislikings,
resolved to go should an opportunity offer, and in the meantime
worked away at Chinese.

'By-and-by a Russian merchant turned up; he was going to Kiachta,
so I started with him. I could not go sooner, as it was not safe to
travel in the country before the Imperial edict was issued; to wait
longer was to run the risk of not going at all.'

[Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING JAMES GILMOUR'S JOURNEYS ON THE GREAT
PLAIN OF MONGOLIA]

CHAPTER III

MONGOLIAN APPRENTICESHIP

The name Mongolia denotes a vast and almost unknown territory situated
between China Proper and Siberia, constituting the largest dependency of
the Chinese Empire. It stretches from the Sea of Japan on the east to
Turkestan on the west, a distance of nearly 3,000 miles; and from the
southern boundary of Asiatic Russia to the Great Wall of China, a
distance of about 900 miles. It consists of high tablelands, lifted up
considerably above the level of Northern China, and is approached only
through rugged mountain passes. The central portion of this enormous
area is called the Desert of Gobi.

A kind of highway for the considerable commercial traffic between China
and Russia runs through the eastern central part of Mongolia, leaving
China at the frontier town of Kalgan, and touching Russia at the
frontier town of Kiachta. Along this route during all but the winter
months, caravans of camel-carts and ox-carts attended by companies of
Mongols and Chinese are constantly passing. The staple export from China
is tea; the chief imports are salt, soda, hides, and timber.

The west and the centre of Mongolia is occupied by nomad Mongols. They
have clusters of huts and tents in fixed locations which form their
winter dwellings. But in summer they journey over the great plains in
search of the best pasturage for their flocks and herds. They are
consequently exceedingly difficult to reach by any other method than
that of sharing their roving tent life. In the southeastern district of
Mongolia there are large numbers of agricultural Mongols who speak both
Chinese and Mongolian. The towns in this part are almost wholly
inhabited by Chinese.

The winter in Mongolia is both long and severe; in the summer the heat
is often very oppressive, and the great Plain is subject to severe
storms of dust, rain and wind.

Buddhism is all-powerful, and