THE SACRED CITY OF THE LIVING BUDDHA 79 



i 



Its ornate roof, flashing in the sun, can be seen for 

 many miles, like a religious beacon guiding the steps of 

 wandering pilgrims to the Mecca of their faith. 



At the near end of the broad street below the Lama 

 City is the tent market, and just beyond it are the black- 

 smith shops where bridles, cooking pots, tent pegs, and 

 all the equipment essential to a wandering life on the 

 desert can be purchased in an hour if you have the 

 price ! Nothing is cheap in Urga, with the exception of 

 horses, and when we began to outfit for our trip on the 

 plains we received a shock similar to that which I had 

 a month ago in New York, when I paid twenty dollars 

 for a pair of shoes. We ought to be hardened to it now, 

 but when we were being robbed in Urga by profiteering 

 Chinese, who sell flour at ten and twelve dollars a sack 

 and condensed milk at seventy-five cents a tin, we roared 

 and grumbled and paid the price! I vowed I would 

 never pay twenty dollars for a pair of shoes at home, 

 but roaring and grumbling is no more effective in pro- 

 curing shoes in New York than it was in obtaining flour 

 and milk in Urga. 



We paid in Russian rubles, then worth three cents 

 each. (In former years a ruble equaled more than half 

 a dollar.) Eggs were well-nigh nonexistent, except 

 those which had made their way up from China over the 

 long caravan trail and were guaranteed to be "addled" 

 or whatever it is that sometimes makes an egg an un- 

 pleasant companion at the breakfast table. Even those 

 cost three rubles each ! Only a few Russians own chick- 

 ens in Urga and their productions are well-nigh "golden 



