20 TRADE CARAVANS. DZERENS. 



fire while writing to prevent the ink in it from con- 

 geahng. And I always preferred writing my journal 

 in ink, only using a pencil in extreme cases — the 

 latter rubs out so easily and becomes illegible. 



Every day caravans passed us on their way from 

 Inner Mongolia, Uliassutai, and Kobdo to Koko- 

 nor. They carried leather and wool to barter with 

 the Chinese for millet, tea, tobacco, flour, cotton 

 yarn, and other articles of domestic use. With 

 the exception of tea, all the other articles might 

 be supplied by the Russians if our commercial rela- 

 tions with Mongolia were more extensive. Kobdo, 

 Uliassutai and Urga, the chief places in the north 

 and the richest part of the country, are almost 

 adjacent to our Siberian frontier, and yet all the 

 imports to these towns are derived from China, and 

 it is to China that the inhabitants go to make their 

 purchases, travelling thousands of miles across the 

 desert and passing months on the way. 



On fine calm days I went after dzerens, which 

 were plentiful at a distance of three miles from 

 camp. At that time the dzerens were attacked by 

 an epidemic producing great weakness, soon followed 

 by death. Numbers of their dead bodies strewed 

 the steppe, where they were devoured by crows and 

 wolves, and were also collected for food by the 

 Chinese, who came from Kuku-khoto for this 

 purpose. 



Although we were not on the best of terms with 

 the inhabitants, whose character we thoroughly un- 

 derstood by this time, Mongol visitors would often 



