By mere chance we had come to halt close to a camel inn. A camel finn, at the best of times, is regarded even by the Chinese carter fraternity, as a very interior form of accommodation. The one we struck was even more primitive than usual. A peculiar ardour of old clothes struck us like a blast as we entered; the kang space was fully taken up by about a dozen camel-drivers; while the usual swarms of non-paying guests crawled all over the place.
Worst of all there was no edible food of any kind, at least not edible fo us, mot even an egg. So we had to go supperless to bed. At least, my companion did. For after persuading the camel-men to make room for him on the kang by pressing closer together, he laid down and pulling his skin coat over him was|- soon fast asleep. I reclined on a small stool and spent a restless night. On the numerous occasions when I opened my eyes, some occupant of the kang was sitting up indulging jin the usual indoor sport of hunting among his clothes.
On the following morning, after few minor repairs the car graciously decided to start again, and we reached Suiyuan shortly before mid-
The trip Is certainly well worth doing. But my advice to those who wish to visit Mongolia is, to do it by car, and by a car that has been thoroughly overhauled beforehand.
Loxoox mail of June 1, trans~ mitted via Siberia, was delivered in Shanghai on June 29.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.