TRAVELS IN MONGOLIA.
CHAPTER I.
FROM KIAKHTA TO PEKING.
Eve of departure — Post across Mongolia — Mode of conveyance — Departure from Kiakhta — Physical features of the country north of Urga — Temples there — Brick-tea — The Kutukhtu and Chinese у towards Lamaism — Description of the town — Disposal of the dead — Government — The Dungans — The Gobi — Its character — Its vegetation and inhabitants — The post-road — Argols — Rapacity of crows — The sand-grouse (Syrrhaptes) — The Mongol lark — The Alpine hare — the Steppe antelope (Dzeren)— Antelope-shooting — The native methods of hunting — Pastures of the Chakhar Mongols — Characteristics of people — Border-land of the Mongolian Plateau — Town of Kalgan or Chang-kia-kau — Tea caravans — Chinese Impositions on Mongols — The Great Wall — Compradors and their Dialect — 'Pigeon-Russian' — Road to Peking — Chinese inns and cuisine — Descent into great Plain of China — Arrival at Peking.
Early in November 1870, after posting through Siberia, I arrived with my young companion, Michail Alexandrovitch Pyltseff, at Kiakhta, where our journey through Mongolia and the adjacent countries of Inner Asia was to begin. At Kiakhta we were at once sensible of our approach to foreign countries. The strings of camels in the streets of the town, the sunburnt faces and prominent cheekbones of the
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