SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 



hide. With this he is very dexterous and can 

 soon catch the wildest ponj^ Shpping the loop 

 over the pony's head while going at top speed, 

 the rider gives it a twist to prevent it slipping. 

 Then he jumps on to his own pony's crupper, bracing 

 his thighs against the back of the saddle. His 

 mount at once slows down, and it is a strong 

 animal, that being thus caught, can continue to 

 drag his captors about or break the raw-hide 

 thong. Some of these cowboys are so dexterous 

 that they can put a complete halter upon the pony 

 they are after, by a double turn of the wrist as 

 they slip the loop over the animal's head. 



Branding and saddling are simple processes 

 and are done without throwing the pony. Often 

 a pony shows great fight when being broken, and 

 being small, with a very short neck, is very hard 

 to manage. Still the Mongols are superb horse- 

 men and seldom let an animal get the better of 

 them. 



Mr. Larson, who for fifteen years has travelled 

 about amongst the Mongols, and who is greatly 

 respected and looked up to by them, introduced us 

 to some of his neighbours and friends. These 

 simple, kindly people treated us with great hos- 

 pitality whenever we had occasion to drop into 

 one of their tents for a drink of milk. Always 

 the best they had was produced. Cheese and 

 cakes would be spread before us, and though it 

 was only with the greatest difficulty that we could 



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