ii2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



gari, which is navigable for vessels of three or four feet draught 

 as far as Kirin, and whose rich valley is every year attracting 

 thousands of colonists from China. The drawback is brigandage, 

 which is very rife in northern Manchuria, and on account of 

 which the people have to collect, for their own protection, in 

 large villages and towns, so that small hamlets and detached 

 farm-houses are never seen. Though it is Manchuria, the coun- 

 try is not inhabited by Manchus. They have been drained off 

 to China proper, and their places are taken by immigrants from 

 the Chinese provinces. The people of the original race have lost 

 their old warlike spirit, and are a laughing-stock to the Chinese 

 colonists. Unable to make headway against the brigands, they 

 depend on the Chinese regiments to do that work for them. 



A great many things had to be thought of in preparing for a 

 long journey over an almost unknown country, in which were 

 included the crossing of the terrible Desert of Gobi and of the 

 Himalaya Mountains. Bills could not be obtained on any town 

 in Turkistan, and it was necessary to carry money in bulk. If 

 the Chinese copper coinage were taken, it would require a train 

 of mules to carry a sufficient sum. The problem was solved by 

 taking sixty pounds of solid silver, stowed away in the baggage. 

 Clothing must be provided in anticipation both of great heat and 

 of intense cold ; and medicines had to be laid in, for the people 

 as well as for the traveler and his party, " for they are always 

 useful for giving to the natives. It is well I did so, for Mr. Dal- 

 gleisch's fame as a medicine-man had spread throughout Turkis- 

 tan, and the Turkis thought that I, being also English, must be 

 able to cure them instantly of any illness they had/' 



Ascending the valley of the Yangho from Kalgan, " the coun- 

 try presented a desolate and deserted appearance, for the villages 

 were half in ruins ; numerous watch-towers, now falling in pieces, 

 were scattered over the country ; and the inhabitants, looking ill- 

 fed and badly clothed, were attempting in a half-hearted way to 

 cultivate fields which were constantly being covered with layers 

 of dust by the horrible sand-storms that used to occur almost 

 daily at this time of the year. The country is of the formation 

 called loess — a light, friable soil which crumbles to dust when the 

 slightest pressure is put upon it. In consequence of this the roads 

 are sunk thirty to forty feet below the level of the surrounding 

 country ; for when a cart passes along a road the soil crumbles 

 into dust, the wind blows the dust away, and a rut is formed. 

 More traffic follows, more dust is blown away, and gradually the 

 roadway sinks lower and lower below the surrounding level ; for 

 the Chinese here, as elsewhere, never think of repairing a road. 

 ... On the 14th of April, 1886, I emerged on to the real steppes 

 which are the characteristic features of Mongolia proper. Stretch- 



