10 ACROSS MONGOLIAN PLAINS 



we learned very soon never to approach a native en- 

 campment on foot. 



The village was as unlike a Chinese settlement as it 

 well could be, for instead of closely packed mud houses 

 there were circular, latticed frameworks covered with 

 felt and cone-shaped in the upper half. The yurt f as it 

 is called, is perfectly adapted to the Mongols and their 

 life. In the winter a stove is placed in the center, and 

 the house is dry and warm. In the summer the felt 

 covering is sometimes replaced by canvas which can be 

 lifted on any side to allow free passage of air. When 

 it is time for the semiannual migration to new grazing 

 grounds the yurt can be quickly dismantled, the frame- 

 work collapsed, and the house packed on camels or carts. 



The Mongols of the village were rather disappoint- 

 ing, for many of them show a strong element of Chinese 

 blood. This seems to have developed an unfortunate 

 combination of the worst characteristics of both races. 

 Even where there is no real mixture, their contact with 

 the Chinese has been demoralizing, and they will rob and 

 steal at every opportunity. The headdresses of the 

 southern women are by no means as elaborate as those 

 in the north. 



When the hills of Tabool had begun to sink on the 

 horizon behind us, we entered upon a vast rolling plain, 

 where there was but little water and not a sign of human 

 life. It resembled nothing so much as the prairies of 

 Nebraska or Dakota, and amid the short grass larkspur 

 and purple thistles glowed in the sunlight like tongues 

 of flame. 



