4 MODE OF CONVEYANCE. 



On extraordinary occasions when papers of great 

 importance have to be transmitted to our Ambas- 

 sador at Peking, or by him to his Government, it is 

 arranged that Russian officers may be . despatched 

 as couriers," notice being given a day before the 

 despatch of the messenger to the Chinese governor 

 at Kiakhta and the Ministry of War at Peking. 

 Horses are then prepared at all the Chinese and Mon- 

 golian stations, and the entire distance of i,ooo miles 

 may in this way be accomplished in a two-wheeled 

 Chinese government cart in nine or ten days. No 

 charge is made for this special service, but according 

 to established custom, the Russian officer presents a 

 gratuity of three silver rubles (about 8^-.) at each 

 station. Another mode of communication across 

 Mongolia is by hiring a Mongol who undertakes to 

 transport the traveller by camel caravan across the 

 Gobi. This is the way in which all our merchants 

 travel on their way to China for business purposes, 

 or on their way back to Russia. The traveller 

 usually disposes himself in a Chinese cart, which 

 presents the appearance of a great square wooden 

 box, set on two wheels, and closed on all sides. In 

 the fore part of this machine there are openings at 

 the sides, closed with small doors. These holes 

 serve the traveller as a means of ingress and egress 

 to his vehicle, in which he must preserve a recum- 

 bent position head foremost, in order that his legs 

 may not be on a higher level than his head. The 

 shaking in this kind of car baffles description. The 

 smallest stone or lump of earth over which one 



