The first part of the road, until one reaches the plateau is, distinctly poor. T wag told that it is kept In repair, but T failed -to notice any signs of this, We ascended steadily through sandy and stony valley, my com anion steering with great skill round the boulders which were impartially sentiered about on the so-called motor road. We then climbed painfully over a very steep and badly graded pass, with the help of bands of wayfarers, anxious to earn a few cents by pushing behind. miles, the big car gave up. It was Interesting to note that whereas its driver, who was a Mongol, expressed regret at having to give up the chase, his companion, a Chinese, denounced the whole proceeding as a waste of time and petrol, because "a wolf's chin is of mo value at this time of year'
To one Who has never seen it, the Mongolian plateau comes as a surprise. Instead of the flat, sandy plain as one generally pictures it to oneself, one finds it to be undulating grass country, interspersed with wide plains and ranges of low hills on the @istant horizon. It reminds one a little of the moors at home, only on an infinitely Targer scale, One gets the impression of vast distance and feels that one is really out in the wilds. Nevertheless, I think that T should only care to do a tour of Mongolia in a fast motor car.
Came! Caravan Treks ite other chief method travel in parts, trekking with a camel esrevan for days on end wcross hose bare spaces, without a single buld-ing, tree or even shrub of any height, would T imagine, become very boring after a short time.
Wild animals of all kinds get up in front of the car, as it rushes past: antelope, hare and bustard. But what struck me most, was the never-end-Ing line of bleached white bones scattered along both sides of the road and looking, for all the world, just the paper litter one sees ying Theaths at home after a They are the remains, of the skeletons of caravan animals that have fallen by the wayside We arrived at Pailingmiao long] after date, At some barracks about three miles outside the place we were frst stopped by Mongol soldiers in grey uniforms who belonged to Prince Teh, and a second time, as we enter-the town, by the khaki-clad men of Li Shou-hsin. As my companion was well-known tebeth lots, we were allowed to proceed without dim culty to our destination, a very mediocre Chinese inn which, I was proudly informed, was the finest building in Thence we descended through an sri stonier valley to the little walled, town of Wuchuan where a regiment of Pu Tso-y!'s troops is stationed, It is the last Chinese town on the border and stands of the Mongolian plateau: other thirty miles or so we passed Through country under cultivation, with an occasional poverty-stricken mud village of the Chinese immigrants, Just beyond the small village of 'Tsatsarh all cultivation comes to an abrupt end, just as if a Wine had been drawn' across "the country. This is, the limit of Chinese rule the end of all settled civilization: beyond it one enters the grey lands of real Mongolia, We had, however not seen quite frontier we stopped at what appeared to be a walled village standing all by self on the grassy plain, It was, however, not a village at, all, but a Targe Chinese trading firm which does big business with the Mongols who bring in their skins and other products in exchange for luxuries Such as wine, tobacco, salt and grain, Dreary Life for Traders The community of Atty persons composing the establishment must ead a rather dreary life: no women fare allowed foreside on the premises, there are no neighbours for miles Found and home leave is only granted every three years,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.