SPORT AND SCIENCE ON THE 
ing our mules we refused to proceed any further. 
Finding that these border Mongols could speak 
Chinese fluently, I went into the hut to discuss 
with the owners of the place, a newly married 
couple, the much vexed question of quarters for 
ourselves and fodder for our mules. 
The Mongols were polite, and offered us shelter 
for one night only, this being the custom. More 
they dared not do, or they would be held re- 
sponsible for our actions. It was plain that they 
were suspicious of us, and my explanation that 
we were collecting small animals only seemed 
to deepen their suspicions. Evidently they had 
not yet experienced the eccentricities of white 
men. 
At last we decided to take what we could get, 
and as we could not bring ourselves to sleep in the 
hut with the natives, we put up our beds inside 
the willow fence. 
We were next invited to take some salted tea, 
in which parched millet was steeped. This was 
not very palatable, but was better than nothing. 
The hut was built after the manner of those 
occupied by the poorer Chinese, and, as already 
stated, was enclosed by a high willow fence. There 
were also stables and storehouses built of willow 
stems plastered over with mud. The confines 
of our hosts’ property were marked by a low 
mud wall, about two feet high, outside which 
was a ditch of corresponding depth. 
20 
