STARTING UP THE HAN OR 



Photo by Ethan C. Le Munyon 

 HILL : NOT A PLEASANT OUTLOOK 



Note the camel caravan, which is loaded with cigarettes en route from Kalgan to Urga. 

 It will take this caravan 30 days to make the trip. Each camel will carry about 300 pounds, 

 the freight rate in this case being about 13 taels per camel, about $7.75 for the trip. 



It was received in Tientsin during the 

 last week of September, 1912, and was 

 set up and placed in working order im- 

 mediately and driven round the streets 

 for two or three days to test out the 

 working parts. It was then placed on a 

 flat car and shipped by rail to the end of 

 the Peking- Kalgan Railway at Kalgan, 

 the point nearest the Gobi Desert, over 

 which it was necessary to pass to reach 

 Urga. 



The car arrived at Kalgan without in- 

 cident on the afternoon of the 22nd, and 

 was unloaded at the station and driven 

 through the native streets under its own 

 power, across the old stone bridge and 

 through the crowded part of the town. 

 The natives crowded around and it was 

 with difficulty that we were able to move 

 without running over some of them, as 

 they filled the road, for in almost every 

 case they had never seen a motor-car be- 

 fore and a great number had never even 

 heard of one. One and all, they wanted 

 to know what made it go, like the old 

 Chinaman in the early days of railroads : 



"No pullee, no pushee, how fashion can 

 makee goee." 



Many hundreds of years ago these 

 streets were originally paved with huge 

 slabs of stone, but during the passing 

 centuries holes have been worn in and 

 between these stone blocks, so that in 

 some places the wheels of the car would 

 drop into holes 12 to 18 inches deep, and 

 in most cases they were filled with slip- 

 pery mud. 



USING A RIVER-BED AS A ROAD 



Leaving the city behind us, we now be- 

 gan the climb up the pass, the river-bed 

 serving us as a road for about 20 miles. 

 It was necessary for us to cross and re- 

 cross the stream from time to time, for 

 the river-bed was full of loose stone, soft 

 gravel, interspersed with larger stones, 

 which made progress exceedingly diffi- 

 cult. The grade was so steep and the 

 road so poor we were forced to use low 

 gear most of the way, and darkness over- 

 took us before we had gone six miles. 



To add to our discomfort, it now be- 



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