THE LONG TRAIL TO SAIN NOIN KHAN 97 



almost beyond belief, and can stand punishment that 

 would kill an ordinary horse. The Mongols seldom 

 ride except at a trot or a full gallop, and forty to fifty 

 miles a day is not an unusual journey. Moreover, the 

 animals are not fed grain; they must forage on the plains 

 the year round. During the winter, when the grass is 

 dry and sparse, they have poor feeding, but neverthe- 

 less are able to withstand the extreme cold. They grow 

 a coat of hair five or six inches in length, and when 

 Kublai Khan arrived in Peking after his long journey 

 across the plains he looked more like a grizzly bear than 

 a horse. He had changed so completely from the sleek, 

 fine-limbed animal we had known in Mongolia that 

 my wife was almost certain he could not be the same 

 pony. He had to be taught to eat carrots, apples, and 

 other vegetables and would only sniff suspiciously at 

 sugar. But in a very short time he learned all the tastes 

 of his city-bred companions. 



Horses are cheap in Mongolia, but not extraordinarily 

 so. In the spring a fair pony can be purchased for from 

 thirty to sixty dollars (silver), and especially good ones 

 bring as much as one hundred and fifty dollars. In the 

 fall when the Mongols are confronted with a hard win- 

 ter, which naturally exacts a certain toll from any herd, 

 ponies sell for about two-thirds of their spring price. 



In Urga we had been led to believe that the entire trip 

 to Sain Noin Khan's village could be done in eight days 

 and that game was plentiful along the trail. We had 

 already been on the road five days, making an average 

 of twenty-five miles at each stage, and the natives as- 



