THE PASSING OF MONGOLIAN MYSTERY 179 



business in Mongolia at any point without coming in 

 contact with the Chinese. 



All work not connected with animals is assumed by 

 Chinese, for the Mongols are almost useless for any- 

 thing which cannot be done from the back of a horse. 

 Thus the Chinese have a practical monopoly and they 

 exercise all their prerogatives in the enormous prices 

 which they charge for the slightest service. Mongols 

 and foreigners suffer together in this respect, but there 

 is no alternative — ^the Chinaman can charge what he 

 pleases, for he knows full well that no one else will do 

 the work. 



Although there is considerable mineral wealth in 

 northern Mongolia, up to the present time very little 

 prospecting has been done. For several years a Rus- 

 sian company has carried on successful operations for 

 gold at the Yero mines, between Urga and Kiakhta on 

 the Siberian frontier, but they have had to import prac- 

 tically all their labor from China. We often passed 

 Chinese in the Gobi Desert walking across Mongolia 

 pushing a wheelbarrow which contained all their earthly 

 belongings. They were on their way to the Yero mines 

 for the summer's work; in the fall they would return on 

 foot the way they had come. Now that Mongolia is 

 once more a part of the Chinese Republic, the labor 

 problem probably will be improved for there will cer- 

 tainly be an influx of Chinese who are anxious to work. 



Transportation is the greatest of all commercial fac- 

 tors in the Orient and upon it largely depends the de- 

 velopment of any country. In Mongolia the problem 



