ENTERING THE LAND OF MYSTERY 3 



Yet I was dining that night with one of the men who 

 had destroyed the mystery of Mongolia. In 1916, Colt- 

 man and his former partner, Oscar Mamen, had driven 

 across the plains to Urga, the historic capital of Mon- 

 golia. But most unromantic and incongruous, most dis- 

 heartening to a dreamer of Oriental dreams, was what 

 I learned a few days later when the awakening had 

 really come — that among the first cars ever to cross 

 the desert was one purchased by the Hutukhtu, the 

 Living Buddha, the God of all the Mongols. 



When the Hutukhtu learned of the first motor car 

 in Mongolia he forthwith demanded one for him- 

 self. So his automobile was brought safely through 

 the rocky pass at Kalgan and across the seven hundred 

 miles of plain to Urga by way of the same old caravan 

 trail over which, centuries ago, Genghis Khan had sent 

 his wild Mongol raiders to conquer China. 



We arose long before daylight on the morning of 

 August 29. In the courtyard lanterns flashed and dis- 

 appeared like giant fireflies as the mafus (muleteers) 

 packed the baggage and saddled the ponies. The cars 

 had been left on the plateau at a mission station called 

 Hei-ma-hou to avoid the rough going in the pass, and 

 we were to ride there on horseback while the food and 

 bed-rolls went by cart. There were five of us in the 

 party — ^Mr. and Mrs. Coltman, Mr. and Mrs. Lucander, 

 and myself. I was on a reconnoissance and Mr. Colt- 

 man's object was to visit his trading station in Urga, 

 where the Lucanders were to remain for the winter. 



The sun was an hour high when we clattered over the 



