б4 ESTIMATIOX OF DISTANCE. 



vioiis visitors explain and show him all your posses- 

 sions, and, if they get the chance, make off with 

 something by way of a keepsake. 



One of their peculiarities cannot fail to arrest 

 the attention of the stranger, and that is, their habit 

 of moving from place to place without ever using 

 the words right or left, as though the ideas they 

 express were unknown to them. Even in the yurta 

 a Mongol will never say to the right hand or to the 

 left, but always such or such a thing is cast or west 

 of him. It may be worth mentioning here that the 

 points of their compass are the reverse of ours ; 

 their north is our south, and therefore the east is 

 on the left, not on the right, of their horizon.^ 



They calculate distances by the time occupied in 

 travelling with camels or horses, and have no other 

 accurate scale of measurement. If you ask how far 

 it is to any given place, the answer is always so 

 many days' journey with camels, or so many days' 

 ride on horseback. But as the rate of travelling 

 and length of marches vary according to circum- 

 stances and the disposition of the rider, they never 

 fail to add ' if you ride well,' or ' if you travel slowly.' 

 A day's journey in Khalkas is twenty-eight miles 

 with camels, and from forty to forty-seven on horses. 

 About Koko-nor they travel more slowly with the 

 former, not over twenty miles a day. A good 

 camel will average about three miles an hour with a 

 load on its back, or four without one. 



The unit in the Mongol's scale of distances is a 



' Sec Supi)lcnicntary Note. 



