MONGOLIA 



3889 



MONGOOSE 



nal Zone, Philippine Islands, Porto Rico, Saint 

 Christopher,' Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, To- 

 bago, Trinidad, Turks Islands, Tutuila, Virgin 

 Islands and the United States: 



AMOUNT SENT COMMISSION 



Up to $10 5 cents 



Over $10 and up to $30 10 ' 



" $30 " " " $50 15 " 



" $50 " " " $60 20 " 



" $60 " " " $100 25 ' 



Rates for sending Canadian postoffice orders 

 payable in the British Isles, British possessions 

 and in all other lands where such may be drawn, 

 except those countries mentioned, are, for sums 

 up to five dollars, five cents; over five and up 

 to ten, ten cents, the cost for each extra ten 

 dollars or fraction of that amount being an ad- 

 ditional ten cents. M.K. 



MONGO'LIA, a vast section of Eastern Asia, 

 belonging to China, bounded on the north by 

 Siberia and on the south by the province of 

 Sin-Kiang, which comprises Turkestan, Kulja 

 and Kashgaria, all Chinese dependencies. It 

 stretches from the 

 Kinghan Moun- 

 tains on the east 

 to the Tarbagatai 

 range on the west 

 and covers an 

 area of about 1,- 

 367,600 square 

 miles nearly half 

 that of the United 

 States. The heart 

 of the region is 

 occupied by the Desert of Gobi. The native 

 inhabitants, wandering Mongols and Kalmucks, 

 are little given to agriculture, but roam through 

 the desert with camels, horses and sheep. The 

 chief town is Urga, from which the caravan 

 trade is carried on with China across the Gobi 

 Desert, goods being transported by camels to 

 Kiakhta, a Siberian town lying about 100 miles 

 from Lake Baikal. 



Outer Mongolia (Khalkha, the Kobdo dis- 

 trict and Urianghai) declared its independence 

 on November 3, 1912, after the outbreak of the 

 Chinese Revolution, and proclaimed Jebtsun 

 Hutuku emperor. An agreement was reached 

 in Peking on November 5, 1913, between Rus- 

 sia and China, whereby Russia recognized Outer 

 Mongolia as part of Chinese territory; China, 

 in turn, recognized the autonomy, or self-gov- 

 ernment, of Outer Mongolia. In September, 

 1914, Russia recognized Mongolia's right to con- 

 struct its own railways and lent cooperation in 

 244 



LOCATION MAP 



finding the capital for their construction. Con- 

 cessions were also granted to build telegraph 

 lines from the Irkutsk district in Southern Sibe- 

 ria to the Mongolian line at Uliasutai. Since 

 March, 1915, Mongolia has had its own legal 

 currency. Population, about 2,600,000. 



Consult Kendall's A Wayfarer in China. 



MONGOLIAN, mong go' li an, RACE, or 

 YELLOW RACE. See RACES OF MEN. 



MONGOLS, mong'golz, a wandering, warlike 

 tribe of people, a branch of the Tartar race, 

 whose original home was the plains of Central 

 and Eastern Asia. Early in the thirteenth cen- 

 tury countless hordes, led by their first great 

 chieftain, Genghis Khan, began a devastating 

 march through Northern China, Turkestan and 

 Persia, slaughtering, burning and pillaging with 

 inhuman cruelty (see GENGHIS KHAN). In the 

 reign of Oktai (died 1241), son and successor 

 of Genghis Khan, the invaders pressed into Eu- 

 rope and devastated a large part of Russia, Po- 

 land and Hungary. Just when the civilization 

 of Western Europe seemed doomed to be de- 

 stroyed, Oktai died and the merciless warriors 

 were called home. 



Kublai Khan (1214-1294), one of the most 

 famous successors of Oktai, set up his royal 

 court in China at Cambalu, the modern Peking. 

 There the celebrated traveler Marco Polo (see 

 POLO, MARCO) lived for many years. When 

 Kublai Khan died his empire was separated * 

 into several weak kingdoms. These were re- 

 united by the great Timur, or Tamerlane (1336- 

 1405), a powerful monarch who extended his 

 dominions over nearly all Asia and ruled as the 

 lord of the earth from his capital city, Samar- 

 kand. See TIMUR. 



The great empire of Timur fell to pieces after 

 his death, but a powerful Mongol state, known 

 as the Kingdom of the Great Moguls, was es- 

 tablished in India in 1525, by Baber, one of his 

 descendants. Magnificent courts were main- 

 tained at Delhi and Agra, and a Mogul em- 

 peror, Shah Jehan (1628-1658), erected* at the 

 latter city, as a mausoleum for his favorite wife, 

 one of the most beautiful buildings in the 

 world (see TAJ MAHAL). The Mogul kingdom 

 in India lasted until the eighteenth century, 

 when it was destroyed by the English. The in- 

 habitants of Mongolia (see above), a colonial 

 possession of China, are descendants of the an- 

 cient tribe. 



MONGOOSE, mong'goos, or MUNGOOSE, a 

 small weasel-like animal of a yellowish-gray 

 color and long, stiff hair, notable for its skill 



