1 6 DESERT OF GOBI. 



the eyes of the nomads, induced the Chinese to 

 march hither 2,000 of their own soldiers, and to 

 assemble 1,000 Mongol troops. But the notorious 

 cowardice of these fighting men afforded a very 

 insufficient safeguard to Urga, and the Russian 

 Government was obliged to send a considerable force 

 (600 infantry and Cossacks, with two guns) to pro- 

 tect the consulate and the tea trade. This detach- 

 ment remained at Urga more than a year, and 

 thanks were due entirely to it if the insurgents re- 

 linquished their attack on Bogdo-Kuren. 



At Urga the Siberian character of Northern Mon- 

 golia ceases. On crossing the Tola the traveller 

 leaves behind him the last remaining stream ; and 

 here too, on Mount Khan-ola, considered sacred ever 

 since the Emperor Kang-hi hunted there, ^ he must 

 take his last look at forest scenery. Southwards, as 

 far as the borders of China Proper, lies the same 

 desert of Gobi,^ which extends like an enormous 

 girdle across the plateau of Eastern Asia, from the 

 western spurs of the Kuen-lun to the Khingan moun- 

 tains, which divide Mongolia from Manchuria. 



The western part of this desert, especially be- 

 tween the Thian-shan and Kuen-lun, is entirely 

 unexplored even at the present day. The eastern 

 half is best known along the Kiakhta and Kalgan 



' It is probable that the sacredness of Khan-ola is due to a more 

 ancient and notable circumstance, viz. that the great Chinghiz-Khan 

 was buried there ; see ' Ouatremere, H. des Mongols,' p. 117 seqq, ; 

 and ' Marco Polo,' bk. i. ch. li. note 3. — Y. 



''■ 'J"he word Gobi in Mongol literally means a waterless barren plain 

 almost devoid of grass. The word for stcp])e is Tala. 



