32 CHAKHAR MONGOLS AND THEIR COUNTRY. 



of a herd of these antelope on myself and com- 

 panion. We went after them day after day, to the 

 extreme dissatisfaction of our Mongols, who had to 

 wait hours for us, and at length became so discon- 

 tented that we could only appease them by giving 

 them a share of the spoil. 



Notwithstanding the barrenness and desolate 

 appearance of the Gobi, the road to Kalgan was 

 kept amply alive by the tea-caravans which passed 

 us by the dozen daily. I will presently describe 

 one of these caravans, but now let us go back to the 

 plateau of Mongolia. 



After leaving the Khalka country, we passed 

 through the land of the Sunni Mongols, and left 

 behind the most barren part of the Gobi, entering 

 a more fertile belt, which forms a fringe on the 

 south-east, as a like belt does on the north, to the 

 wild and barren centre of the plateau. The surface 

 of the country now becomes more uneven, and is, 

 covered with excellent grass, on which the Chakhar 

 Mongols pasture their numerous herds. These 

 people are the frontier police of China Proper, hav- 

 ing been enrolled in the government service, and 

 divided into eight banners. Their country is about 

 130 miles in width, but its length from east to west 

 is nearly three times as much. 



Owing to their constant intercourse with the 

 Chinese, the Chakhars of the present day have lost 

 not only the character, but also the type, of pure 

 Monq-ols. Prescrvino- the native idleness of their 

 past existence, they have adopted from tlie Chinese 



