CHAPTER XX. 



From Wong to the Kesil Bach Lake. 



Wong — two marches to the west of the Kesil Bach Lake — is the 

 principal settlement and residence of the chief of this part of 

 Western Mongolia. The latter is a young man of 24, living in a 

 hut of wood and plaster. 



Mongolia forms part of the Chinese Empire and is bounded 

 on the east by Manchuria, on the south by Chinese Turkistan 



LAMAS AT WONG WHO CAME OUT TO MEET THE EXPEDITION. 



and China proper, and on the west and north by Siberia. Its 

 area exceeds 1,250,000 square miles, the greater part com- 

 prising barren and sterile land, of which the desert of Gobi or 

 Shamo is the best known. 



357 



