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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Eugene Lee Stewart 

 MONGOLIAN WOMEN OE HAIEAR IN HOLIDAY ATTIRE WATCHING A CHINESE NEW 



YEAR PARADE 

 In the right foreground are a Chinese man, a Chinese girl, and a Mongolian man. 



of his mount, as otherwise the dust of 

 the steppe might injure wind or eyesight. 



RACING PONIES LEAN ON EACH OTHER 

 FOR SUPPORT 



The straight course is so long that 

 often there is a good deal, of difference 

 in time between the arrival of the ponies. 



Enthusiastic owners or spectators, in- 

 cluding bishops and archbishops of the 

 Lamaist faith (for the church does not 

 frown on racing on the plains), gallop 

 out to meet the contestants and assist in 

 whipping them in. But sometimes two 

 favorites arrive at the finish literally 

 leaning against each other shoulder to 

 shoulder. Tims they support each other 

 on the run, though both are so exhausted 



that if they were suddenly separated they 

 would drop in their tracks. 



Wonderful tales are told of the dis- 

 tances covered by famous Mongol racers 

 at a stretch. Fifty, even a hundred, 

 miles at full gallop are claimed. This is 

 doubtless exaggeration, but fifteen- and 

 twenty-mile races at great speed are well 

 authenticated. 



After the "meeting," the crowd usually 

 adjourns to some neighboring monastery, 

 where a festival in honor of the day is 

 held. 



A REUGION OE TERROR 



In Mongolia monasteries are the great 

 centers of amusement, interest, culture, 

 and — wickedness (see illustration, page 



