68 LOVE OF GOSSIP. 



late Into Mongol historical, educational, and religious 

 works. The numerals are also peculiar to the people, 

 and are used in business transactions equally with 

 the Manchu. There are schools at Peking and 

 Kalgan for teaching the language, and an almanac 

 and some books are from time to time printed in it. 

 The lettered classes are the princes, nobles, and 

 lamas, the latter also learning Tibetan, the princes 

 and nobles Mongol and Manchu. The common 

 people are in general illiterate. All Mongols are 

 fond of talking. Their greatest pleasure is to sit 

 and chat over a cup of tea. On meeting them, their 

 first question is, ' What's the news ? ' and they will 

 ride twenty or thirty miles to communicate some bit 

 of gossip to a friend. In this way rumours fly 

 through the country with astounding celerity, almost 

 equal to the telegraph. During our journey, the 

 inhabitants, hundreds of miles ahead of us, knew all 

 about us, down to the smallest details — of course 

 with all sorts of exaggerations. 



The first thing which strikes a stranger in talking 

 to them is the frequent use of the words ise and sc^ 

 both signifying ' very good,' and occurring in nearly 

 every phrase. They are also used as affirmatives, 

 ' yes,' ' it is so.' In receiving an order or listening 

 to an anecdote from an official, the Mongol utters 

 his invariable tse or se. If he wish to express a 

 good or bad quality in anything, approval or cen- 

 sure, besides repeating these two syllables, and 

 sometimes without, he holds up the thumb or fore- 

 finger of the right hand, as the case may be, the 



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