SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 
hide. With this he is very dexterous and can 
soon catch the wildest pony. Slipping the loop 
over the pony’s head while going at top speed, 
the rider gives it a twist to prevent it slipping. 
Then he jumps on to his own pony’s crupper, bracing 
his thighs against the back of the saddle. His 
mount at once slows down, and it is a strong 
animal, that being thus caught, can continue to 
drag his captors about or break the raw-hide 
thong. Some of these cowboys are so dexterous 
that they can put a complete halter upon the pony 
they are after, by a double turn of the wrist as 
they slip the loop over the animal’s head. 
Branding and saddling are simple processes 
and are done without throwing the pony. Often 
a pony shows great fight when being broken, and 
being small, with a very short neck, is very hard 
to manage. Still the Mongols are superb horse- 
men and seldom let an animal get the better of 
them. 
Mr. Larson, who for fifteen years has travelled 
about amongst the Mongols, and who is greatly 
respected and looked up to by them, introduced us 
to some of his neighbours and friends. These 
simple, kindly people treated us with great hos- 
pitality whenever we had occasion to drop into 
one of their tents for a drink of milk. Always 
the best they had was produced. Cheese and 
cakes would be spread before us, and though it 
was only with the greatest difficulty that we could 
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