2 PASSPORT. 



Mongols, the long pigtails of the Chinese, the 

 strange and unintelligible language, all plainly told 

 us we were about to bid a long farewell to our 

 country and all dear to us there. Hard as it was to 

 reconcile ourselves to the thought, we were some- 

 what cheered by the prospect of soon commencing 

 a journey which had been the dream of my early 

 childhood. Entirely in the dark as we were in re- 

 gard to our future wanderings, we resolved first 

 of all to go to Peking, there to obtain a passport 

 from the Chinese Government, and then to start 

 for the remoter regions of the Celestial Empire. 

 This advice was given us by General Vlangali, at 

 that time our Ambassador in China, who from first 

 to last assisted the expedition by every means in his 

 power, and whose generous forethought contributed 

 more than anything to its ultimate success. After- 

 wards, on our first march from Peking, we saw the 

 advantage of having a passport direct from the 

 Chinese Foreign Office, instead of one from the 

 Frontier Commissioner at Kiakhta. Such a pass- 

 port gave us far greater importance in the eyes of 

 the local population, a very material consideration 

 in China, and (it must be confessed) in other 

 countries also. 



Europeans have the choice of two modes of 

 conveyance from Kiakhta to Peking; either by post- 

 horses, or by caravan camels engaged by special 

 bargain with their owners. 



Postal communications through Mongolia were 

 established by the treaties of Tien-tsin (1858) and 



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