Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/64

On extraordinary occasions when papers of great importance have to be transmitted to our Ambassador at Peking, or by him to his Government, it is arranged that Russian officers may be despatched as couriers, notice being given a day before the despatch of the messenger to the Chinese governor at Kiakhta and the Ministry of War at Peking. Horses are then prepared at all the Chinese and Mongolian stations, and the entire distance of 1,000 miles may in this way be accomplished in a two-wheeled Chinese government cart in nine or ten days. No charge is made for this special service, but according to established custom, the Russian officer presents a gratuity of three silver rubles (about 8s.) at each station. Another mode of communication across Mongolia is by hiring a Mongol who undertakes to transport the traveller by camel caravan across the Gobi. This is the way in which all our merchants travel on their way to China for business purposes, or on their way back to Russia. The traveller usually disposes himself in a Chinese cart, which presents the appearance of a great square wooden box, set on two wheels, and closed on all sides. In the fore part of this machine there are openings at the sides, closed with small doors. These holes serve the traveller as a means of ingress and egress to his vehicle, in which he must preserve a recumbent position head foremost, in order that his legs may not be on a higher level than his head. The shaking in this kind of car baffles description. The smallest stone or lump of earth over which one