THE SACRED CITY OF THE LIVING BUDDHA 77 



The customs of the Mongols are not all as gruesome 

 as those I have described, yet Urga is essentially a 

 frontier city where life is seen in the raw. Its natives 

 are a hard-living race, virile beyond compare. Children 

 of the plains, they are accustomed to privation and fa- 

 tigue. Their law is the law of the northland: 



". . . . That only the Strong shall thrive, 



That surely the Weak shall perish and only the Fit survive." 



In the careless freedom of his magnificent horseman- 

 ship a Mongol seems as much an untamed creature of 

 the plains as does the eagle itself which soars above his 

 yurt. Independence breathes in every movement ; even 

 in his rough good humor and in the barbaric splendor of 

 the native dress. 



But the little matter of cleanliness is of no importance 

 in his scheme of life. When a meal has been eaten, the 

 wooden bowl is licked clean with the tongue ; it is seldom 

 washed. Every man and woman usually carries through 

 life the bodily dirt which has accumulated in childhood, 

 unless it is removed by some accident or by the wear of 

 years. One can be morally certain that it will never be 

 washed off by design or water. Perhaps the native is 

 not altogether to blame, for, except in the north, water 

 is not abundant. It can be found on the plains and in 

 the Gobi Desert only at wells and an occasional pond, 

 and on the march it is too precious to be wasted in the 

 useless process of bathing. Moreover, from September 

 until May the bitter winds which sweep down from the 



