CHAPTER X 



AN ADVENTURE IN THE LAMA CITY 



Late on a July afternoon my wife and I stood dis- 

 consolately in the middle of the road on the outskirts 

 of Urga. We had halted because the road had ended 

 abruptly in a muddy river. Moreover, the river was 

 where it had no right to be, for we had traveled that 

 road before and had found only a tiny trickle across its 

 dusty surface. We were disconsolate because we 

 wished to camp that night in Urga, and there were 

 abundant signs that it could not be done. 



At least the Mongols thought so, and we had learned 

 that what a Mongol does not do had best "give us 

 pause." They had accepted the river with Oriental 

 philosophy and had made their camps accordingly. Al- 

 ready a score of tents dotted the hillside, and argul 

 fires were smoking in the doorways. Hundreds of carts 

 were drawn up in an orderly array while a regiment 

 of oxen wandered about the hillside or sleepily chewed 

 their cuds beside the loads. In a few hours or days or 

 weeks the river would disappear, and then they would 

 go on to Urga. Meanwhile, why worry? 



Two adventurous spirits, with a hundred camels, tried 

 to cross. We watched the huge beasts step majes- 

 tically into the water, only to huddle together in a yel- 



133 



