TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 621 



dominion, like the breaking up of the ice on its own frozen rivers, are historical 

 themes beyond the scope of this address. But the changes which have gradually 

 come over the national character of Mongolians are cognate to the studies of 

 geographers. As already seen, the annals of the Mongols reveal one of tlie many 

 examples of the theory of causation, explaining how geographical surroundings 

 mould or aifect the human character. There remain the mountains, the sea of un- 

 dulating uplands, which are still among the few important regions not essentially 

 modified by human action. The pine forests, though hardly intact, have not been 

 extensively cleared. There is the dread desert — where to the ears of superstitious 

 Mongols the roll of the mustering drums and the shouts of victorious battle are 

 audible — which has engulfed in sandy waves additional tracts once produc- 

 tive. The pastoral resources, the nomadic diet and exercises, the social arrange- 

 ments, are in kind the same as of yore, though perhaps modified in extent or degree. 

 The short-lived heat may perhaps be gaining strength as the ages advance ; but the 

 winters must be nearly as long and hard as ever. Thus the same physical and 

 climatic conditions which once caused the Mongolian nation to become one of the 

 mightiest engines ever directed by man are still surrounding the politically degene- 

 rate Mongols of to-day, who are best represented by the tribe of Khalkas. Once 

 audaciously ambitious, the Mongols are now sluggish and narrow-minded ; once 

 passionately fond of an independence as free as their mountain air, they are now 

 submissive to the domination of races formerly despised by them as inferior ; once 

 proud of a tribal organisation and a voluntary discipline which wrought world- 

 renowned wonders, they are now split up into factions like a faggot of sticks 

 that has been unbound. A man who, though the feeblest of pedestrians, grips 

 with his bowed legs the saddle of the most restive horse as with a vice, is all that 

 remains of the historic Mongol. It is for the social inquirer to determine what 

 have been the circumstances counteracting the climatic and local causes which 

 made this nation potential in moulding medieval history. 



Here too may be observed the tendencies of Paganism, Buddhism, and Mu- 

 hammadanism respectively. Of all regions our plateau oflers the best means of 

 studying Buddhism, which still counts more adherents than any other faith. 

 Though the mid-Ganges Valley was the birthplace of this widespread rehgion, and 

 was for ages regarded by pious Buddhists as their holy lind — yet during recent 

 centuries the active centre of the faith has been in Tibet. Of the four incarnations 

 of Buddha now held to exist, three are within our plateau, namely, two in Tibet 

 near Lhassa and at Teshu Lumbo, and one in Mongolia at Urga, near the spot 

 where mounds attest the burial of heaps of slain after one of Cbinghiz Khan's 

 earliest battles. In Tibet may be seen to the best advantage those religious cere- 

 monies, the sight of which has always attracted the observation of Roman Catholic 

 missionaries. 



In conclusion, this brief summary of our geographical knowledge regarding the 

 plateau of mid-Asia is provisional only. For it avowedly deals with regions 

 mostly unsurveyed and seldom even explored completely. Further exploration or 

 discovery therefore may reverse some of our specific conclusions, or may modify the 

 current of our topographical ideas. It is probable indeed that there will be such 

 changes, inasmuch as almost every investigation within this vast area has revealed 

 something unimagined before, or has caused disbelief of something previously 

 believed. This address, then, is limited to a reswne of things imperfectly known, 

 with a view of bringing into strong relief two matters which are unquestionable, 

 namely, the importance of our plateau and the grand field it oSers for research. 

 If the public consideration of these matters shall induce inquirers to direct their 

 enterprise towards this grand region, we may hope that by degrees the errors in 

 our facts may be removed, the misdirection of our conclusions remedied, the vague- 

 ness of our notions made definite. At present the physical obstacles in the path of 

 such inquiries are so grave as to be almost deterring. But they do not finally 

 deter those who after forethought decide to brave peril, distress, sickness, suSering, 

 in order to enlarge the bounds of knowledge. Each inquirer, however, has the 

 consolation of reflecting that he makes the rough ways smoother for those who 

 shall come after him. Every journey that is accompUshed must facilitate successive 



