xlviii CONTENTS OF 



PAGE 



Cycle — Language and diversities —Literature — Love of gossip 

 — Songs — Mongol women — Marriage customs and domestic 

 relations — Hospitality and polite customs — Freedom of man- 

 ners — Lamaism — Religious service — ' От viani padmi Jiom ' — 

 The Dalai Lama — Pilgrimages— The Clergy — Monasticism — 

 Superstitions — Masses for the dead — The Author's view of 

 Missions — Administrative organisation of the Mongol tribes — 

 Grades of rank among chiefs, and their salaries — Population — 

 Laws, punishment, and taxation — Military force — Decay of 

 martial spirit 47 



CHAPTER IIL 



THE SOUTH-EASTERN BORDER OF THE MONGOLIAN PLATEAU. 



Peking — First impressions — The sti'eets and walls — European 

 establishments — Preparations for the journey — Fire-arms and 

 outfit — Insufficiency of funds and its consequence — Financial 

 Arrangements — Chinese Currency — Inconvenience of the 

 Copper Currency^Passport — Departure from Peking — Pre- 

 liminary tour to the North — Ku-pe-kau gate in wall — Migra- 

 tion of wild-fowl — Road to Dolon-nor — Wood on the way — 

 Jehol— Fauna of the route — Goitre — Khingan Range — Dolon- 

 nor— Idol foundry^ — Shandu River — Tsagan Balgas — Sandhills 

 called Guc/tin, gu7'bu or ' the 33 ' — A Steppe-fire on the Dalai- 

 nor — The Lake Dalai — Birds on the lake — Mocking-bird — 

 Surveying difficulties — Mode of surveying — Suspicions of the 

 Natives — The Route plotted daily — Road back to Kalgan — 

 Steppe horses — Imperial pasture lands — Climate of South- 

 Eastern Mongolia — The two-humped camel — Its habits, uses, 

 &c. — Arrival at Kalgan 90 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE SOUTH-EASTERN BORDER OF THE MONGOLIAN 



PLATEAU — {contimied). 



Reorganisation of the Party — Fresh start from Kalgan — R. C. 

 Missions — Samdadchiemba, Hue's companion — Dishonest con- 

 vert — Vigilance needed against thieves — Shara-hada Range — 

 Suma-hada Range — The Argali ; its habits and incidents of 

 chase — Late spring — Lifeless aspects — The Urute country and 

 Western Tumites — Tedious purchase of sheep — Dumb bar- 

 gaining — Difficulties in purchase of milk — Our traffic with the 

 Mongols — Throw off the trading character with advantage — 



