TRADE ROUTES. COUNTRY IMPROVES. 281 



is mostly on camels. Since the reinforcement of the 

 Chinese garrison at Uliassutai after its destruction by 

 the Dungans in 1870, the trade has considerably 

 increased ; supplies for the troops are sent this way, 

 and Chinese merchants travel with millet and mer- 

 chandise to barter with the Mongols for wool, leather, 

 and cattle. ^ 



Another route, a hundred miles further north, is 

 maintained for the conveyance of mails and officials, 

 between the two above-mentioned towns. Soon 

 after leaving Kuku-khoto this track joins the Kalgan- 

 Urga post road, from which it again diverges at Sair- 

 ussu'"^ in the direction of Uliassutai. 



Northwards the character of the Gobi again 

 changes, and this time for the better. The sterile 

 desert becomes a steppe, more and more fruitful as 

 луе advance to the north. The shino^le and eravel 

 are in turn succeeded by sand mixed in small quan- 

 tities with clay. The country becomes extremely 

 undulating. The gradual slopes of low hills ^ inter- 

 sect one another in every possible direction, and 

 earn for this region the Mongol name, ' KangaV, i.e. 

 hilly. This continues for upwards of a hundred 

 miles to the north of the Uliassutai post road, when 

 the waterless steppe touches the margin of the basin 

 of Lake Baikal ; here finally, at Hangin-daban, you 

 find yourself among groups and ridges of rock)- 



' Chinese petty traders ply a barter trade all through the summer 

 in all parts of Mongolia, especially in the east and centre. 

 ' Sair-ussu is 220 miles south-east of Urga. 

 ' ' In this part of the Gf>bi ihc low hills are almost without rocks. 



