SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 



Chinese settlement composed mainly of squalid 

 mud buildings, divided by filthy, slushy streets. 

 Here and there are a few more pretentious houses 

 of brick, though even these are badly built. 

 There are a great many shops, which cater for 

 the growing needs of the Mongols. The inhabi- 

 tants are chiefly engaged in trading with the latter, 

 exchanging grain and manufactured articles for 

 such raw material as wool, skins, hides, and also 

 horses and cattle. On the whole the town is very 

 uninteresting. 



On the other hand, the temples situated about 

 a mile from the town are well worth a visit. They 

 differ but little from the Lama Temple in Peking, 

 v/ith their extensive courtyards and wide and 

 lofty halls, decorated with rich tapestries and 

 gaudily painted idols, and hung with drums, 

 trumpets, cymbals and gongs. There in a corner 

 stands the great prayer wheel, which reels off a 

 hundred or more prayers a minute, according to 

 the energy of him who adopts this method of 

 supplication. At the doors of the courts sit blind 

 lamas, who, for a small consideration of a cash 

 or two, will save him even that trouble, by re- 

 volving at a great speed miniature models of the 

 great prayer wheel. 



We arrived in Lama Miao just in time to witness 

 the annual devil-dance, a most important function 

 of a religious nature, which draws crowds of 

 Mongols from all the surrounding districts. It 



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