Photo by Ethan C. Le Muiiyon 

 A GROUP OF CURIOUS NATIVES GATIIERKD AROUND TIIK CAR 



droves there must have been at least 500. 

 \\'e began a cHnib of over five miles, to 

 a grassy plain about 30 miles wide ; here 

 the road was scattered with the bleached 

 bones of cattle that had died by the way 

 and also of other animals. About dark 

 we stuck in the sand of a river-bed and 

 had to dig ourselves out. This caused a 

 delay of a couple of hours, so that we 

 were forced to sit up in the car that night, 

 as it was raining a little and very cold, 

 and we dare not go on, as we were, of 

 course, not familiar with the trail, and 

 even in daylight we lost the way two or 

 three times, as the beaten path was not 

 very well marked. 



During the night a string of 90 bullock 

 carts passed us, bound for Kalgan. loaded 

 with small hewn logs to be used for lum- 

 ber ; this had come all the way from the 

 other side of Urga. It would take at 

 least 30 days for them to reach Kalgan, 

 as they could only make about 15 to 20 

 miles per day, because the bullocks had 

 to get their living from the country and. 

 of course, had to be pastured during the 

 daytime. 



The following day we reached Sume, 

 which consists of the two temples and 

 their outbuildings and forms one of the 

 largest and most important lamaseries 

 in outer Mongolia. The altitude here is 

 4,800 feet. There are about 2.000 lamas 

 living here, some quite young, as Sume 

 is an important theological school. 



This lamasery, or monastery, is a town 

 in itself and very interesting. Lamas 

 may be seen here of all ages and degrees 

 of filth. On the tops and corners of the 

 temples are prayer-wheels covered with 

 gold leaf ; these contain long prayers 

 written on rolls of script, the wheels re- 

 volve in the wind, and the results of these 

 special prayers are said to be as satis- 

 factory as those offered by any other 

 method, either ancient or modern. 



WHAT THE I.AMAS ARE EIKE 



Every third man in Mongolia is a 

 Lama. Some live in yiirts, or tents, with 

 and on their relatives, while others live 

 in the temples. The temple lamas are 

 of the lower type ; they are coarse and 

 filthy and much inferior, both morally 

 and physically, to the tent lamas. They 

 are not unlike those sometimes seen by 

 travelers in the Lama temple at Peking, 

 China. The lamas living in tents among 

 the people are of a better class and are 

 much respected and looked up to all over 

 Mongolia. 



\\'e had now taken on our last tin of 

 gasoline and were on the "home stretch." 

 We had to drive against a strong head 

 wind, and were it not for our heavy fur 

 coats we would have suflFered greatly 

 from the cold. The wind blew so hard 

 that on the up grades it was almost im- 

 possible to flrive the car in high gear and 

 make speed. On this high, grassy plain 



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