In no other way can I describe the journey from the River Ero tothe border of Tibet. About eleven hundred miles through the snowysteppes, over mountains and across deserts we traveled in forty-eight days. We hid from the people as we journeyed, made shortstops in the most desolate places, fed for whole weeks on nothingbut raw, frozen meat in order to avoid attracting attention by thesmoke of fires. Whenever we needed to purchase a sheep or a steerfor our supply department, we sent out only two unarmed men whorepresented to the natives that they were the workmen of someRussian colonists. We even feared to shoot, although we met agreat herd of antelopes numbering as many as five thousand head.
Behind Balir in the lands of the Lama Jassaktu Khan, who hadinherited his throne as a result of the poisoning of his brother atUrga by order of the Living Buddha, we met wandering RussianTartars who had driven their herds all the way from Altai andAbakan. They welcomed us very cordially, gave us oxen and thirty-six bricks of tea. Also they saved us from inevitable destruction,for they told us that at this season it was utterly impossible forhorses to make the trip across the Gobi, where there was no grassat all. We must buy camels by exchanging for them our horses andsome other of our bartering supplies. One of the Tartars the nextday brought to their camp a rich Mongol with whom he drove thebargain for this trade. He gave us nineteen camels and took allour horses, one rifle, one pistol and the best Cossack saddle. Headvised us by all means to visit the sacred Monastery ofNarabanchi, the last Lamaite monastery on the road from Mongolia toTibet. He told us that the Holy Hutuktu, "the Incarnate Buddha,"would be greatly offended if we did not visit the monastery and hisfamous "Shrine of Blessings," where all travelers going to Tibetalways offered prayers. Our Kalmuck Lamaite supported the Mongolin this. I decided to go there with the Kalmuck. The Tartars gaveme some big silk hatyk as presents and loaned us four splendidhorses. Although the monastery was fifty-five miles distant, bynine o'clock in the evening I entered the yurta of this holyHutuktu.
He was a middle-aged, clean shaven, spare little man, laboringunder the name of Jelyb Djamsrap Hutuktu. He received us verycordially and was greatly pleased with the presentation of thehatyk and with my knowledge of the Mongol etiquette in which myTartar had been long and persistently instructing me. He listenedto me most attentively and gave valuable advice about the road,presenting me then with a ring which has since opened for me thedoors of all Lamaite monasteries. The name of this Hutuktu ishighly esteemed not only in all Mongolia but in Tibet and in theLamaite world of China. We spent the night in his splendid yurtaand on the following morning visited the shrines where they wereconducting very solemn services with the music of gongs, tom-tomsand whistling. The Lamas with their deep voices were intoning theprayers while the lesser priests answered with their antiphonies.
The sacred phrase: "Om! Mani padme Hung!" was endlessly repeated.
The Hutuktu wished us success, presented us with a large yellowhatyk and accompanied us to the monastery gate. When we were inour saddles he said:
Remember that you are always welcome guests here. Life is verycomplicated and anything may happen. Perhaps you will be forced infuture to re-visit distant Mongolia and then do not miss NarabanchiKure.That night we returned to the Tartars and the next day continuedour journey. As I was very tired, the slow, easy motion of thecamel was welcome and restful to me. All the day I dozed off atintervals to sleep. It turned out to be very disastrous for me;for, when my camel was going up the steep bank of a river, in oneof my naps I fell off and hit my head on a stone, lostconsciousness and woke up to find my overcoat covered with blood.
My friends surrounded me with their frightened faces. Theybandaged my head and we started off again. I only learned longafterwards from a doctor who examined me that I had cracked myskull as the price of my siesta.
We crossed the eastern ranges of the Altai and the Karlik Tag,which are the most oriental sentinels the great Tian Shan systemthrows out into the regions of the Gobi; and then traversed fromthe north to the south the entire width of the Khuhu Gobi. Intensecold ruled all this time and fortunately the frozen sands gave usbetter speed. Before passing the Khara range, we exchanged ourrocking-chair steeds for horses, a deal in which the Torgutsskinned us badly like the true "old clothes men" they are.
Skirting around these mountains we entered Kansu. It was adangerous move, for the Chinese were arresting all refugees and Ifeared for my Russian fellow-travelers. During the days we hid inthe ravines, the forests and bushes, making forced marches atnight. Four days we thus used in this passage of Kansu. The fewChinese peasants we did encounter were peaceful appearing and mosthospitable. A marked sympathetic interest surrounded the Kalmuck,who could speak a bit of Chinese, and my box of medicines.
Everywhere we found many ill people, chiefly afflicted with eyetroubles, rheumatism and skin diseases.
As we were approaching Nan Shan, the northeast branch of the AltynTag (which is in turn the east branch of the Pamir and Karakhorumsystem), we overhauled a large caravan of Chinese merchants goingto Tibet and joined them. For three days we were winding throughthe endless ravine-like valleys of these mountains and ascendingthe high passes. But we noticed that the Chinese knew how to pickthe easiest routes for caravans over all these difficult places.
In a state of semi-consciousness I made this whole journey towardthe large group of swampy lakes, feeding the Koko Nor and a wholenetwork of large rivers. From fatigue and constant nervous strain,probably helped by the blow on my head, I began suffering fromsharp attacks of chills and fever, burning up at times and thenchattering so with my teeth that I frightened my horse who severaltimes threw me from the saddle. I raved, cried out at times andeven wept. I called my family and instructed them how they mustcome to me. I remember as though through a dream how I was takenfrom the horse by my companions, laid on the ground, supplied withChinese brandy and, when I recovered a little, how they said to me:
The Chinese merchants are heading for the west and we must travelsouth."No! To the north, I replied very sharply.
But no, to the south, my companions assured me.
God and the Devil! I angrily ejaculated, "we have just swum theLittle Yenisei and Algyak is to the north!""We are in Tibet," remonstrated my companions. "We must reach theBrahmaputra."Brahmaputra. . . . Brahmaputra. . . . This word revolved in myfiery brain, made a terrible noise and commotion. Suddenly Iremembered everything and opened my eyes. I hardly moved my lipsand soon I again lost consciousness. My companions brought me tothe monastery of Sharkhe, where the Lama doctor quickly brought meround with a solution of fatil or Chinese ginseng. In discussingour plans he expressed grave doubt as to whether we would getthrough Tibet but he did not wish to explain to me the reason forhis doubts.
A fairly broad road led out from Sharkhe through the mountains andon the fifth day of our two weeks' march to the south from themonastery we emerged into the great bowl of the mountains in whosecenter lay the large lake of Koko Nor. If Finland deserves theordinary title of the "Land of Ten Thousand Lakes," the dominion ofKoko Nor may certainly with justice be called the "Country of aMillion Lakes." We skirted this lake on the west between it andDoulan Kitt, zigzagging between the numerous swamps, lakes andsmall rivers, deep and miry. The water was not here covered withice and only on the tops of the mountains did we feel the coldwinds sharply. We rarely met the natives of the country and onlywith greatest difficulty did our Kalmuck learn the course of theroad from the occasional shepherds we passed. From the easternshore of the Lake of Tassoun we worked round to a monastery on thefurther side, where we stopped for a short rest. Besides ourselvesthere was also another group of guests in the holy place. Thesewere Tibetans. Their behavior was very impertinent and theyrefused to speak with us. They were all armed, chiefly with theRussian military rifles and were draped with crossed bandoliers ofcartridges with two or three pistols stowed beneath belts with morecartridges sticking out. They examined us very sharply and wereadily realized that they were estimating our martial strength.
After they had left on that same day I ordered our Kalmuck toinquire from the High Priest of the temple exactly who they were.
For a long time the monk gave evasive answers but when I showed himthe ring of Hutuktu Narabanchi and presented him with a largeyellow hatyk, he became more communicative.
Those are bad people, he explained. "Have a care of them."However, he was not willing to give their names, explaining hisrefusal by citing the Law of Buddhist lands against pronouncing thename of one's father, teacher or chief. Afterwards I found outthat in North Tibet there exists the same custom as in North China.
Here and there bands of hunghutze wander about. They appear at theheadquarters of the leading trading firms and at the monasteries,claim tribute and after their collections become the protectors ofthe district. Probably this Tibetan monastery had in this bandjust such protectors.
When we continued our trip, we frequently noticed single horsemenfar away or on the horizon, apparently studying our movements withcare. All our attempts to approach them and enter intoconversation with them were entirely unsuccessful. On their speedylittle horses they disappeared like shadows. As we reached thesteep and difficult Pass on the Hamshan and were preparing to spendthe night there, suddenly far up on a ridge above us appeared aboutforty horsemen with entirely white mounts and without formalintroduction or warning spattered us with a hail of bullets. Twoof our officers fell with a cry. One had been instantly killedwhile the other lived some few minutes. I did not allow my men toshoot but instead I raised a white flag and started forward withthe Kalmuck for a parley. At first they fired two shots at us butthen ceased firing and sent down a group of riders from the ridgetoward us. We began the parley. The Tibetans explained thatHamshan is a holy mountain and that here one must not spend thenight, advising us to proceed farther where we could considerourselves in safety. They inquired from us whence we came andwhither we were going, stated in answer to our information aboutthe purpose of our journey that they knew the Bolsheviki andconsidered them the liberators of the people of Asia from the yokeof the white race. I certainly did not want to begin a politicalquarrel with them and so turned back to our companions. Ridingdown the slope toward our camp, I waited momentarily for a shot inthe back but the Tibetan hunghutze did not shoot.
We moved forward, leaving among the stones the bodies of two of ourcompanions as sad tribute to the difficulties and dangers of ourjourney. We rode all night, with our exhausted horses constantlystopping and some lying down under us, but we forced them everonward. At last, when the sun was at its zenith, we finallyhalted. Without unsaddling our horses, we gave them an opportunityto lie down for a little rest. Before us lay a broad, swampyplain, where was evidently the sources of the river Ma-chu. Notfar beyond lay the Lake of Aroung Nor. We made our fire of cattledung and began boiling water for our tea. Again without anywarning the bullets came raining in from all sides. Immediately wetook cover behind convenient rocks and waited developments. Thefiring became faster and closer, the raiders appeared on the wholecircle round us and the bullets came ever in increasing numbers.
We had fallen into a trap and had no hope but to perish. Werealized this clearly. I tried anew to begin the parley; but whenI stood up with my white flag, the answer was only a thicker rainof bullets and unfortunately one of these, ricocheting off a rock,struck me in the left leg and lodged there. At the same momentanother one of our company was killed. We had no other choice andwere forced to begin fighting. The struggle continued for abouttwo hours. Besides myself three others received slight wounds. Weresisted as long as we could. The hunghutze approached and oursituation became desperate.
There's no choice, said one of my associates, a very expertColonel. "We must mount and ride for it . . . anywhere.""Anywhere. . . ." It was a terrible word! We consulted for but aninstant. It was apparent that with this band of cut-throats behindus the farther we went into Tibet, the less chance we had of savingour lives.
We decided to return to Mongolia. But how? That we did not know.
And thus we began our retreat. Firing all the time, we trotted ourhorses as fast as we could toward the north. One after anotherthree of my companions fell. There lay my Tartar with a bulletthrough his neck. After him two young and fine stalwart officerswere carried from their saddles with cries of death, while theirscared horses broke out across the plain in wild fear, perfectpictures of our distraught selves. This emboldened the Tibetans,who became more and more audacious. A bullet struck the buckle onthe ankle strap of my right foot and carried it, with a piece ofleather and cloth, into my leg just above the ankle. My old andmuch tried friend, the agronome, cried out as he grasped hisshoulder and then I saw him wiping and bandaging as best as hecould his bleeding forehead. A second afterward our Kalmuck washit twice right through the palm of the same hand, so that it wasentirely shattered. Just at this moment fifteen of the hunghutzerushed against us in a charge.
Shoot at them with volley fire! commanded our Colonel.
Six robber bodies lay on the turf, while two others of the gangwere unhorsed and ran scampering as fast as they could after theirretreating fellows. Several minutes later the fire of ourantagonists ceased and they raised a white flag. Two riders cameforward toward us. In the parley it developed that their chief hadbeen wounded through the chest and they came to ask us to "renderfirst aid." At once I saw a ray of hope. I took my box ofmedicines and my groaning, cursing, wounded Kalmuck to interpretfor me.
Give that devil some cyanide of potassium, urged my companions.
But I devised another scheme.
We were led to the wounded chief. There he lay on the saddlecloths among the rocks, represented to us to be a Tibetan but I atonce recognized him from his cast of countenance to be a Sart orTurcoman, probably from the southern part of Turkestan. He lookedat me with a begging and frightened gaze. Examining him, I foundthe bullet had passed through his chest from left to right, that hehad lost much blood and was very weak. Conscientiously I did allthat I could for him. In the first place I tried on my own tongueall the medicines to be used on him, even the iodoform, in order todemonstrate that there was no poison among them. I cauterized thewound with iodine, sprinkled it with iodoform and applied thebandages. I ordered that the wounded man be not touched nor movedand that he be left right where he lay. Then I taught a Tibetanhow the dressing must be changed and left with him medicatedcotton, bandages and a little iodoform. To the patient, in whomthe fever was already developing, I gave a big dose of aspirin andleft several tablets of quinine with them. Afterwards, addressingmyself to the bystanders through my Kalmuck, I said very solemnly:
The wound is very dangerous but I gave to your Chief very strongmedicine and hope that he will recover. One condition, however, isnecessary: the bad demons which have rushed to his side for hisunwarranted attack upon us innocent travelers will instantly killhim, if another shot is let off against us. You must not even keepa single cartridge in your rifles.With these words I ordered the Kalmuck to empty his rifle and I, atthe same time, took all the cartridges out of my Mauser. TheTibetans instantly and very servilely followed my example.
Remember that I told you: 'Eleven days and eleven nights do notmove from this place and do not charge your rifles.' Otherwise thedemon of death will snatch off your Chief and will pursue you!--and with these words I solemnly drew forth and raised above theirheads the ring of Hutuktu Narabanchi.
I returned to my companions and calmed them. I told them we weresafe against further attack from the robbers and that we must onlyguess the way to reach Mongolia. Our horses were so exhausted andthin that on their bones we could have hung our overcoats. Wespent two days here, during which time I frequently visited mypatient. It also gave us opportunity to bandage our ownfortunately light wounds and to secure a little rest; thoughunfortunately I had nothing but a jackknife with which to dig thebullet out of my left calf and the shoemaker's accessories from myright ankle. Inquiring from the brigands about the caravan roads,we soon made our way out to one of the main routes and had the goodfortune to meet there the caravan of the young Mongol PrincePounzig, who was on a holy mission carrying a message from theLiving Buddha in Urga to the Dalai Lama in Lhasa. He helped us topurchase horses, camels and food.
With all our arms and supplies spent in barter during the journeyfor the purchase of transport and food, we returned stripped andbroken to the Narabanchi Monastery, where we were welcomed by theHutuktu.
I knew you would come back, said he. "The divinations revealedit all to me."With six of our little band left behind us in Tibet to pay theeternal toll of our dash for the south we returned but twelve tothe Monastery and waited there two weeks to re-adjust ourselves andlearn how events would again set us afloat on this turbulent sea tosteer for any port that Destiny might indicate. The officersenlisted in the detachment which was then being formed in Mongoliato fight against the destroyers of their native land, theBolsheviki. My original companion and I prepared to continue ourjourney over Mongolian plains with whatever further adventures anddangers might come in the struggle to escape to a place of safety.
And now, with the scenes of that trying march so vividly recalled,I would dedicate these chapters to my gigantic, old and ruggedlytried friend, the agronome, to my Russian fellow-travelers, andespecially, to the sacred memory of those of our companions whosebodies lie cradled in the sleep among the mountains of Tibet--Colonel Ostrovsky, Captains Zuboff and Turoff, LieutenantPisarjevsky, Cossack Vernigora and Tartar Mahomed Spirin. Alsohere I express my deep thanks for help and friendship to the Princeof Soldjak, Hereditary Noyon Ta Lama and to the Kampo Gelong ofNarabanchi Monastery, the honorable Jelyb Djamsrap Hutuktu.
In the heart of Asia lies the enormous, mysterious and rich countryof Mongolia. From somewhere on the snowy slopes of the Tian Shanand from the hot sands of Western Zungaria to the timbered ridgesof the Sayan and to the Great Wall of China it stretches over ahuge portion of Central Asia. The cradle of peoples, histories andlegends; the native land of bloody conquerors, who have left heretheir capitals covered by the sand of the Gobi, their mysteriousrings and their ancient nomad laws; the states of monks and evildevils, the country of wandering tribes administered by thedescendants of Jenghiz Khan and Kublai Khan--Khans and Princes ofthe Junior lines: that is Mongolia.
Mysterious country of the cults of Rama, Sakkia-Mouni, Djonkapa andPaspa, cults guarded by the very person of the living Buddha--Buddha incarnated in the third dignitary of the Lamaite religion--Bogdo Gheghen in Ta Kure or Urga; the land of mysterious doctors,prophets, sorcerers, fortune-tellers and witches; the land of thesign of the swastika; the land which has not forgotten the thoughtsof the long deceased great potentates of Asia and of half ofEurope: that is Mongolia.
The land of nude mountains, of plains burned by the sun and killedby the cold, of ill cattle and ill people; the nest of pests,anthrax and smallpox; the land of boiling hot springs and ofmountain passes inhabited by demons; of sacred lakes swarming withfish; of wolves, rare species of deer and mountain goats, marmotsin millions, wild horses, wild donkeys and wild camels that havenever known the bridle, ferocious dogs and rapacious birds of preywhich devour the dead bodies cast out on the plains by the people:
that is Mongolia.
The land whose disappearing primitive people gaze upon the bones oftheir forefathers whitening in the sands and dust of their plains;where are dying out the people who formerly conquered China, Siam,Northern India and Russia and broke their chests against the ironlances of the Polish knights, defending then all the Christianworld against the invasion of wild and wandering Asia: that isMongolia.
The land swelling with natural riches, producing nothing, in needof everything, destitute and suffering from the world's cataclysm:
that is Mongolia.
In this land, by order of Fate, after my unsuccessful attempt toreach the Indian Ocean through Tibet, I spent half a year in thestruggle to live and to escape. My old and faithful friend and Iwere compelled, willy-nilly, to participate in the exceedinglyimportant and dangerous events transpiring in Mongolia in the yearof grace 1921. Thanks to this, I came to know the calm, good andhonest Mongolian people; I read their souls, saw their sufferingsand hopes; I witnessed the whole horror of their oppression andfear before the face of Mystery, there where Mystery pervades alllife. I watched the rivers during the severe cold break with arumbling roar their chains of ice; saw lakes cast up on theirshores the bones of human beings; heard unknown wild voices in themountain ravines; made out the fires over miry swamps of the will-o'-the-wisps; witnessed burning lakes; gazed upward to mountainswhose peaks could not be scaled; came across great balls ofwrithing snakes in the ditches in winter; met with streams whichare eternally frozen, rocks like petrified caravans of camels,horsemen and carts; and over all saw the barren mountains whosefolds looked like the mantle of Satan, which the glow of theevening sun drenched with blood.
Look up there! cried an old shepherd, pointing to the slope ofthe cursed Zagastai. "That is no mountain. It is HE who lies inhis red mantle and awaits the day when he will rise again to beginthe fight with the good spirits."And as he spoke I recalled the mystic picture of the noted painterVroubel. The same nude mountains with the violet and purple robesof Satan, whose face is half covered by an approaching grey cloud.
Mongolia is a terrible land of mystery and demons. Therefore it isno wonder that here every violation of the ancient order of life ofthe wandering nomad tribes is transformed into streams of red bloodand horror, ministering to the demonic pleasure of Satan couched onthe bare mountains and robed in the grey cloak of dejection andsadness, or in the purple mantle of war and vengeance.
After returning from the district of Koko Nor to Mongolia andresting a few days at the Narabanchi Monastery, we went to live inUliassutai, the capital of Western Outer Mongolia. It is the lastpurely Mongolian town to the west. In Mongolia there are but threepurely Mongolian towns, Urga, Uliassutai and Ulankom. The fourthtown, Kobdo, has an essentially Chinese character, being the centerof Chinese administration in this district inhabited by thewandering tribes only nominally recognizing the influence of eitherPeking or Urga. In Uliassutai and Ulankom, besides the unlawfulChinese commissioners and troops, there were stationed Mongoliangovernors or "Saits," appointed by the decree of the Living Buddha.
When we arrived in that town, we were at once in the sea ofpolitical passions. The Mongols were protesting in great agitationagainst the Chinese policy in their country; the Chinese raged anddemanded from the Mongolians the payment of taxes for the fullperiod since the autonomy of Mongolia had been forcibly extractedfrom Peking; Russian colonists who had years before settled nearthe town and in the vicinity of the great monasteries or among thewandering tribes had separated into factions and were fightingagainst one another; from Urga came the news of the struggle forthe maintenance of the independence of Outer Mongolia, led by theRussian General, Baron Ungern von Sternberg; Russian officers andrefugees congregated in detachments, against which the Chineseauthorities protested but which the Mongols welcomed; theBolsheviki, worried by the formation of White detachments inMongolia, sent their troops to the borders of Mongolia; fromIrkutsk and Chita to Uliassutai and Urga envoys were running fromthe Bolsheviki to the Chinese commissioners with various proposalsof all kinds; the Chinese authorities in Mongolia were graduallyentering into secret relations with the Bolsheviki and in Kiakhtaand Ulankom delivered to them the Russian refugees, thus violatingrecognized international law; in Urga the Bolsheviki set up aRussian communistic municipality; Russian Consuls were inactive;Red troops in the region of Kosogol and the valley of the Selengahad encounters with Anti-Bolshevik officers; the Chineseauthorities established garrisons in the Mongolian towns and sentpunitive expeditions into the country; and, to complete theconfusion, the Chinese troops carried out house-to-house searches,during which they plundered and stole.
Into what an atmosphere we had fallen after our hard and dangeroustrip along the Yenisei, through Urianhai, Mongolia, the lands ofthe Turguts, Kansu and Koko Nor!
Do you know, said my old friend to me, "I prefer stranglingPartisans and fighting with the hunghutze to listening to news andmore anxious news!"He was right; for the worst of it was that in this bustle and whirlof facts, rumours and gossip the Reds could approach troubledUliassutai and take everyone with their bare hands. We should verywillingly have left this town of uncertainties but we had no placeto go. In the north were the hostile Partisans and Red troops; tothe south we had already lost our companions and not a little ofour own blood; to the west raged the Chinese administrators anddetachments; and to the east a war had broken out, the news ofwhich, in spite of the attempts of the Chinese authorities atsecrecy, had filtered through and had testified to the seriousnessof the situation in this part of Outer Mongolia. Consequently wehad no choice but to remain in Uliassutai. Here also were livingseveral Polish soldiers who had escaped from the prison camps inRussia, two Polish families and two American firms, all in the sameplight as ourselves. We joined together and made our ownintelligence department, very carefully watching the evolution ofevents. We succeeded in forming good connections with the Chinesecommissioner and with the Mongolian Sait, which greatly helped usin our orientation.
What was behind all these events in Mongolia? The very cleverMongol Sait of Uliassutai gave me the following explanation.
"According to the agreements between Mongolia, China and Russia ofOctober 21, 1912, of October 23, 1913, and of June 7, 1915, OuterMongolia was accorded independence and the Moral Head of our'Yellow Faith,' His Holiness the Living Buddha, became the Suzerainof the Mongolian people of Khalkha or Outer Mongolia with the titleof 'Bogdo Djebtsung Damba Hutuktu Khan.' While Russia was stillstrong and carefully watched her policy in Asia, the Government ofPeking kept the treaty; but, when, at the beginning of the war withGermany, Russia was compelled to withdraw her troops from Siberia,Peking began to claim the return of its lost rights in Mongolia. It was because of this that the first two treaties of 1912 and 1913were supplemented by the convention of 1915. However, in 1916,when all the forces of Russia were pre-occupied in the unsuccessfulwar and afterwards when the first Russian revolution broke out inFebruary, 1917, overthrowing the Romanoff Dynasty, the ChineseGovernment openly retook Mongolia. They changed all the Mongolianministers and Saits, replacing them with individuals friendly toChina; arrested many Mongolian autonomists and sent them to prisonin Peking; set up their administration in Urga and other Mongoltowns; actually removed His Holiness Bogdo Khan from the affairs ofadministration; made him only a machine for signing Chinesedecrees; and at last introduced into Mongolia their troops. Fromthat moment there developed an energetic flow of Chinese merchantsand coolies into Mongolia. The Chinese began to demand the paymentof taxes and dues from 1912. The Mongolian population were rapidlystripped of their wealth and now in the vicinities of our towns andmonasteries you can see whole settlements of beggar Mongols livingin dugouts. All our Mongol arsenals and treasuries wererequisitioned. All monasteries were forced to pay taxes; allMongols working for the liberty of their country were persecuted;through bribery with Chinese silver, orders and titles the Chinesesecured a following among the poorer Mongol Princes. It is easy tounderstand how the governing class, His Holiness, Khans, Princes,and high Lamas, as well as the ruined and oppressed people,remembering that the Mongol rulers had once held Peking and Chinain their hands and under their reign had given her the first placein Asia, were definitely hostile to the Chinese administratorsacting thus. Insurrection was, however, impossible. We had noarms. All our leaders were under surveillance and every movementby them toward an armed resistance would have ended in the sameprison at Peking where eighty of our Nobles, Princes and Lamas diedfrom hunger and torture after a previous struggle for the libertyof Mongolia. Some abnormally strong shock was necessary to drivethe people into action. This was given by the Chineseadministrators, General Cheng Yi and General Chu Chi-hsiang. Theyannounced that His Holiness Bogdo Khan was under arrest in his ownpalace, and they recalled to his attention the former decree of thePeking Government--held by the Mongols to be unwarranted andillegal--that His Holiness was the last Living Buddha. This wasenough. Immediately secret relations were made between the peopleand their Living God, and plans were at once elaborated for theliberation of His Holiness and for the struggle for liberty andfreedom of our people. We were helped by the great Prince of theBuriats, Djam Bolon, who began parleys with General Ungern, thenengaged in fighting the Bolsheviki in Transbaikalia, and invitedhim to enter Mongolia and help in the war against the Chinese. Then our struggle for liberty began.Thus the Sait of Uliassutai explained the situation to me.
"Afterwards I heard that Baron Ungern, who had agreed to fight forthe liberty of Mongolia, directed that the mobilization of theMongolians in the northern districts be forwarded at once andpromised to enter Mongolia with his own small detachment, movingalong the River Kerulen. Afterwards he took up relations with theother Russian detachment of Colonel Kazagrandi and, together withthe mobilized Mongolian riders, began the attack on Urga. Twice hewas defeated but on the third of February, 1921, he succeeded incapturing the town and replaced the Living Buddha on the throne ofthe Khans.
At the end of March, however, these events were still unknown inUliassutai. We knew neither of the fall of Urga nor of thedestruction of the Chinese army of nearly 15,000 in the battles ofMaimachen on the shore of the Tola and on the roads between Urgaand Ude. The Chinese carefully concealed the truth by preventinganybody from passing westward from Urga. However, rumours existedand troubled all. The atmosphere became more and more tense, whilethe relations between the Chinese on the one side and theMongolians and Russians on the other became more and more strained.
At this time the Chinese Commissioner in Uliassutai was Wang Tsao-tsun and his advisor, Fu Hsiang, both very young and inexperiencedmen. The Chinese authorities had dismissed the Uliassutai Sait,the prominent Mongolian patriot, Prince Chultun Beyle, and hadappointed a Lama Prince friendly to China, the former Vice-Ministerof War in Urga. Oppression increased. The searching of Russianofficers' and colonists' houses and quarters commenced, openrelations with the Bolsheviki followed and arrest and beatingsbecame common. The Russian officers formed a secret detachment ofsixty men so that they could defend themselves. However, in thisdetachment disagreements soon sprang up between Lieutenant-ColonelM. M. Michailoff and some of his officers. It was evident that inthe decisive moment the detachment must separate into factions.
We foreigners in council decided to make a thorough reconnaissancein order to know whether there was danger of Red troops arriving.
My old companion and I agreed to do this scouting. Prince ChultunBeyle gave us a very good guide--an old Mongol named Tzeren, whospoke and read Russian perfectly. He was a very interestingpersonage, holding the position of interpreter with the Mongolianauthorities and sometimes with the Chinese Commissioner. Shortlybefore he had been sent as a special envoy to Peking with veryimportant despatches and this incomparable horseman had made thejourney between Uliassutai and Peking, that is 1,800 miles, in ninedays, incredible as it may seem. He prepared himself for thejourney by binding all his abdomen and chest, legs, arms and neckwith strong cotton bandages to protect himself from the wracks andstrains of such a period in the saddle. In his cap he bore threeeagle feathers as a token that he had received orders to fly like abird. Armed with a special document called a tzara, which gave himthe right to receive at all post stations the best horses, one toride and one fully saddled to lead as a change, together with twooulatchen or guards to accompany him and bring back the horses fromthe next station or ourton, he made the distance of from fifteen tothirty miles between stations at full gallop, stopping only longenough to have the horses and guards changed before he was offagain. Ahead of him rode one oulatchen with the best horses toenable him to announce and prepare in advance the complement ofsteeds at the next station. Each oulatchen had three horses inall, so that he could swing from one that had given out and releasehim to graze until his return to pick him up and lead or ride himback home. At every third ourton, without leaving his saddle, hereceived a cup of hot green tea with salt and continued his racesouthward. After seventeen or eighteen hours of such riding hestopped at the ourton for the night or what was left of it,devoured a leg of boiled mutton and slept. Thus he ate once a dayand five times a day had tea; and so he traveled for nine days!
With this servant we moved out one cold winter morning in thedirection of Kobdo, just over three hundred miles, because fromthere we had received the disquieting rumours that the Red troopshad entered Ulankom and that the Chinese authorities had handedover to them all the Europeans in the town. We crossed the RiverDzaphin on the ice. It is a terrible stream. Its bed is full ofquicksands, which in summer suck in numbers of camels, horses andmen. We entered a long, winding valley among the mountains coveredwith deep snow and here and there with groves of the black wood ofthe larch. About halfway to Kobdo we came across the yurta of ashepherd on the shore of the small Lake of Baga Nor, where eveningand a strong wind whirling gusts of snow in our faces easilypersuaded us to stop. By the yurta stood a splendid bay horse witha saddle richly ornamerited with silver and coral. As we turned infrom the road, two Mongols left the yurta very hastily; one of themjumped into the saddle and quickly disappeared in the plain behindthe snowy hillocks. We clearly made out the flashing folds of hisyellow robe under the great outer coat and saw his large knifesheathed in a green leather scabbard and handled with horn andivory. The other man was the host of the yurta, the shepherd of alocal prince, Novontziran. He gave signs of great pleasure atseeing us and receiving us in his yurta.
Who was the rider on the bay horse? we asked.
He dropped his eyes and was silent.
Tell us, we insisted. "If you do not wish to speak his name, itmeans that you are dealing with a bad character.""No! No!" he remonstrated, flourishing his hands. "He is a good,great man; but the law does not permit me to speak his name."We at once understood that the man was either the chief of theshepherd or some high Lama. Consequently we did not further insistand began making our sleeping arrangements. Our host set threelegs of mutton to boil for us, skillfully cutting out the boneswith his heavy knife. We chatted and learned that no one had seenRed troops around this region but in Kobdo and in Ulankom theChinese soldiers were oppressing the population, and were beatingto death with the bamboo Mongol men who were defending their womenagainst the ravages of these Chinese troops. Some of the Mongolshad retreated to the mountains to join detachments under thecommand of Kaigordoff, an Altai Tartar officer who was supplyingthem with weapons.
We rested soundly in the yurta after the two days of travel whichhad brought us one hundred seventy miles through the snow and sharpcold. Round the evening meal of juicy mutton we were talkingfreely and carelessly when suddenly we heard a low, hoarse voice:
Sayn--Good evening!We turned around from the brazier to the door and saw a mediumheight, very heavy set Mongol in deerskin overcoat and cap withside flaps and the long, wide tying strings of the same material.
Under his girdle lay the same large knife in the green sheath whichwe had seen on the departing horseman.
Amoursayn, we answered.
He quickly untied his girdle and laid aside his overcoat. He stoodbefore us in a wonderful gown of silk, yellow as beaten gold andgirt with a brilliant blue sash. His cleanly shaven face, shorthair, red coral rosary on the left hand and his yellow garmentproved clearly that before us stood some high Lama Priest,--with abig Colt under his blue sash!
I turned to my host and Tzeren and read in their faces fear andveneration. The stranger came over to the brazier and sat down.
Let's speak Russian, he said and took a bit of meat.
The conversation began. The stranger began to find fault with theGovernment of the Living Buddha in Urga.
There they liberate Mongolia, capture Urga, defeat the Chinesearmy and here in the west they give us no news of it. We arewithout action here while the Chinese kill our people and stealfrom them. I think that Bogdo Khan might send us envoys. How isit the Chinese can send their envoys from Urga and Kiakhta toKobdo, asking for assistance, and the Mongol Government cannot doit? Why?"Will the Chinese send help to Urga? I asked.
Our guest laughed hoarsely and said: "I caught all the envoys,took away their letters and then sent them back . . . into theground."He laughed again and glanced around peculiarly with his blazingeyes. Only then did I notice that his cheekbones and eyes hadlines strange to the Mongols of Central Asia. He looked more likea Tartar or a Kirghiz. We were silent and smoked our pipes.
How soon will the detachment of Chahars leave Uliassutai? heasked.
We answered that we had not heard about them. Our guest explainedthat from Inner Mongolia the Chinese authorities had sent out astrong detachment, mobilized from among the most warlike tribe ofChahars, which wander about the region just outside the Great Wall.
Its chief was a notorious hunghutze leader promoted by the ChineseGovernment to the rank of captain on promising that he would bringunder subjugation to the Chinese authorities all the tribes of thedistricts of Kobdo and Urianhai. When he learned whither we weregoing and for what purpose, he said he could give us the mostaccurate news and relieve us from the necessity of going farther.
Besides that, it is very dangerous, he said, "because Kobdo willbe massacred and burned. I know this positively."When he heard of our unsuccessful attempt to pass through Tibet, hebecame attentive and very sympathetic in his bearing toward us and,with evident feeling of regret, expressed himself strongly:
Only I could have helped you in this enterprise, but not theNarabanchi Hutuktu. With my laissez-passer you could have goneanywhere in Tibet. I am Tushegoun Lama.Tushegoun Lama! How many extraordinary tales I had heard abouthim. He is a Russian Kalmuck, who because of his propaganda workfor the independence of the Kalmuck people made the acquaintance ofmany Russian prisons under the Czar and, for the same cause, addedto his list under the Bolsheviki. He escaped to Mongolia and atonce attained to great influence among the Mongols. It was nowonder, for he was a close friend and pupil of the Dalai Lama inPotala (Lhasa), was the most learned among the Lamites, a famousthaumaturgist and doctor. He occupied an almost independentposition in his relationship with the Living Buddha and achieved tothe leadership of all the old wandering tribes of Western Mongoliaand Zungaria, even extending his political domination over theMongolian tribes of Turkestan. His influence was irresistible,based as it was on his great control of mysterious science, as heexpressed it; but I was also told that it has its foundationlargely in the panicky fear which he could produce in the Mongols.
Everyone who disobeyed his orders perished. Such an one never knewthe day or the hour when, in his yurta or beside his gallopinghorse on the plains, the strange and powerful friend of the DalaiLama would appear. The stroke of a knife, a bullet or strongfingers strangling the neck like a vise accomplished the justice ofthe plans of this miracle worker.
Without the walls of the yurta the wind whistled and roared anddrove the frozen snow sharply against the stretched felt. Throughthe roar of the wind came the sound of many voices in mingledshouting, wailing and laughter. I felt that in such surroundingsit were not difficult to dumbfound a wandering nomad with miracles,because Nature herself had prepared the setting for it. Thisthought had scarcely time to flash through my mind before TushegounLama suddenly raised his head, looked sharply at me and said:
There is very much unknown in Nature and the skill of using theunknown produces the miracle; but the power is given to few. Iwant to prove it to you and you may tell me afterwards whether youhave seen it before or not.He stood up, pushed back the sleeves of his yellow garment, seizedhis knife and strode across to the shepherd.
Michik, stand up! he ordered.
When the shepherd had risen, the Lama quickly unbuttoned his coatand bared the man's chest. I could not yet understand what was hisintention, when suddenly the Tushegoun with all his force struckhis knife into the chest of the shepherd. The Mongol fell allcovered with blood, a splash of which I noticed on the yellow silkof the Lama's coat.
What have you done? I exclaimed.
Sh! Be still, he whispered turning to me his now quite blanchedface.
With a few strokes of the knife he opened the chest of the Mongoland I saw the man's lungs softly breathing and the distinctpalpitations of the heart. The Lama touched these organs with hisfingers but no more blood appeared to flow and the face of theshepherd was quite calm. He was lying with his eyes closed andappeared to be in deep and quiet sleep. As the Lama began to openhis abdomen, I shut my eyes in fear and horror; and, when I openedthem a little while later, I was still more dumbfounded at seeingthe shepherd with his coat still open and his breast normal,quietly sleeping on his side and Tushegoun Lama sitting peacefullyby the brazier, smoking his pipe and looking into the fire in deepthought.
It is wonderful! I confessed. "I have never seen anything likeit!""About what are you speaking?" asked the Kalmuck.
About your demonstration or 'miracle,' as you call it, Ianswered.
I never said anything like that, refuted the Kalmuck, withcoldness in his voice.
Did you see it? I asked of my companion.
What? he queried in a dozing voice.
I realized that I had become the victim of the hypnotic power ofTushegoun Lama; but I preferred this to seeing an innocentMongolian die, for I had not believed that Tushegoun Lama, afterslashing open the bodies of his victims, could repair them again soreadily.
The following day we took leave of our hosts. We decided toreturn, inasmuch as our mission was accomplished; and TushegounLama explained to us that he would "move through space." Hewandered over all Mongolia, lived both in the single, simple yurtaof the shepherd and hunter and in the splendid tents of the princesand tribal chiefs, surrounded by deep veneration and panic-fear,enticing and cementing to him rich and poor alike with his miraclesand prophecies. When bidding us adieu, the Kalmuck sorcerer slylysmiled and said:
Do not give any information about me to the Chinese authorities.Afterwards he added: "What happened to you yesterday evening was afutile demonstration. You Europeans will not recognize that wedark-minded nomads possess the powers of mysterious science. Ifyou could only see the miracles and power of the Most Holy TashiLama, when at his command the lamps and candles before the ancientstatue of Buddha light themselves and when the ikons of the godsbegin to speak and prophesy! But there exists a more powerful andmore holy man. . .""Is it the King of the World in Agharti?" I interrupted.
He stared and glanced at me in amazement.
Have you heard about him? he asked, as his brows knit in thought.
After a few seconds he raised his narrow eyes and said: "Only oneman knows his holy name; only one man now living was ever inAgharti. That is I. This is the reason why the Most Holy DalaiLama has honored me and why the Living Buddha in Urga fears me.
But in vain, for I shall never sit on the Holy Throne of thehighest priest in Lhasa nor reach that which has come down fromJenghiz Khan to the Head of our yellow Faith. I am no monk. I ama warrior and avenger."He jumped smartly into the saddle, whipped his horse and whirledaway, flinging out as he left the common Mongolian phrase of adieu:
Sayn! Sayn-bayna!On the way back Tzeren related to us the hundreds of legendssurrounding Tushegoun Lama. One tale especially remained in mymind. It was in 1911 or 1912 when the Mongols by armed force triedto attain their liberty in a struggle with the Chinese. Thegeneral Chinese headquarters in Western Mongolia was Kobdo, wherethey had about ten thousand soldiers under the command of theirbest officers. The command to capture Kobdo was sent to HunBaldon, a simple shepherd who had distinguished himself in fightswith the Chinese and received from the Living Buddha the title ofPrince of Hun. Ferocious, absolutely without fear and possessinggigantic strength, Baldon had several times led to the attack hispoorly armed Mongols but each time had been forced to retreat afterlosing many of his men under the machine-gun fire. UnexpectedlyTushegoun Lama arrived. He collected all the soldiers and thensaid to them:
You must not fear death and must not retreat. You are fightingand dying for Mongolia, for which the gods have appointed a greatdestiny. See what the fate of Mongolia will be!He made a great sweeping gesture with his hand and all the soldierssaw the country round about set with rich yurtas and pasturescovered with great herds of horses and cattle. On the plainsappeared numerous horsemen on richly saddled steeds. The womenwere gowned in the finest of silk with massive silver rings intheir ears and precious ornaments in their elaborate head dresses.
Chinese merchants led an endless caravan of merchandise up todistinguished looking Mongol Saits, surrounded by the gaily dressedtzirik or soldiers and proudly negotiating with the merchants fortheir wares.
Shortly the vision disappeared and Tushegoun began to speak.
Do not fear death! It is a release from our labor on earth andthe path to the state of constant blessings. Look to the East! Doyou see your brothers and friends who have fallen in battle?"We see, we see! the Mongol warriors exclaimed in astonishment, asthey all looked upon a great group of dwellings which might havebeen yurtas or the arches of temples flushed with a warm and kindlylight. Red and yellow silk were interwoven in bright bands thatcovered the walls and floor, everywhere the gilding on pillars andwalls gleamed brightly; on the great red altar burned the thinsacrificial candles in gold candelabra, beside the massive silvervessels filled with milk and nuts; on soft pillows about the floorsat the Mongols who had fallen in the previous attack on Kobdo.
Before them stood low, lacquered tables laden with many dishes ofsteaming, succulent flesh of the lamb and the kid, with high jugsof wine and tea, with plates of borsuk, a kind of sweet, richcakes, with aromatic zatouran covered with sheep's fat, with bricksof dried cheese, with dates, raisins and nuts. These fallensoldiers smoked golden pipes and chatted gaily.
This vision in turn also disappeared and before the gazing Mongolsstood only the mysterious Kalmuck with his hand upraised.
To battle and return not without victory! I am with you in thefight.The attack began. The Mongols fought furiously, perished by thehundreds but not before they had rushed into the heart of Kobdo.
Then was re-enacted the long forgotten picture of Tartar hordesdestroying European towns. Hun Baldon ordered carried over him atriangle of lances with brilliant red streamers, a sign that hegave up the town to the soldiers for three days. Murder andpillage began. All the Chinese met their death there. The townwas burned and the walls of the fortress destroyed. Afterwards HunBaldon came to Uliassutai and also destroyed the Chinese fortressthere. The ruins of it still stand with the broken embattlementsand towers, the useless gates and the remnants of the burnedofficial quarters and soldiers' barracks.
After our return to Uliassutai we heard that disquieting news hadbeen received by the Mongol Sait from Muren Kure. The letterstated that Red Troops were pressing Colonel Kazagrandi very hardin the region of Lake Kosogol. The Sait feared the advance of theRed troops southward to Uliassutai. Both the American firmsliquidated their affairs and all our friends were prepared for aquick exit, though they hesitated at the thought of leaving thetown, as they were afraid of meeting the detachment of Chahars sentfrom the east. We decided to await the arrival of this detachment,as their coming could change the whole course of events. In a fewdays they came, two hundred warlike Chahar brigands under thecommand of a former Chinese hunghutze. He was a tall, skinny manwith hands that reached almost to his knees, a face blackened bywind and sun and mutilated with two long scars down over hisforehead and cheek, the making of one of which had also closed oneof his hawklike eyes, topped off with a shaggy coonskin cap--suchwas the commander of the detachment of Chahars. A personage verydark and stern, with whom a night meeting on a lonely street couldnot be considered a pleasure by any bent of the imagination.
The detachment made camp within the destroyed fortress, near to thesingle Chinese building that had not been razed and which was nowserving as headquarters for the Chinese Commissioner. On the veryday of their arrival the Chahars pillaged a Chinese dugun ortrading house not half a mile from the fortress and also offendedthe wife of the Chinese Commissioner by calling her a "traitor."The Chahars, like the Mongols, were quite right in their stand,because the Chinese Commissioner Wang Tsao-tsun had on his arrivalin Uliassutai followed the Chinese custom of demanding a Mongolianwife. The servile new Sait had given orders that a beautiful andsuitable Mongolian girl be found for him. One was so run down andplaced in his yamen, together with her big wrestling Mongol brotherwho was to be a guard for the Commissioner but who developed intothe nurse for the little white Pekingese pug which the officialpresented to his new wife.
Burglaries, squabbles and drunken orgies of the Chahars followed,so that Wang Tsoa-tsun exerted all his efforts to hurry thedetachment westward to Kobdo and farther into Urianhai.
One cold morning the inhabitants of Uliassutai rose to witness avery stern picture. Along the main street of the town thedetachment was passing. They were riding on small, shaggy ponies,three abreast; were dressed in warm blue coats with sheepskinovercoats outside and crowned with the regulation coonskin caps;armed from head to foot. They rode with wild shouts and cheers,very greedily eyeing the Chinese shops and the houses of theRussian colonists. At their head rode the one-eyed hunghutze chiefwith three horsemen behind him in white overcoats, who carriedwaving banners and blew what may have been meant for music throughgreat conch shells. One of the Chahars could not resist and sojumped out of his saddle and made for a Chinese shop along thestreet. Immediately the anxious cries of the Chinese merchantscame from the shop. The hunghutze swung round, noticed the horseat the door of the shop and realized what was happening.
Immediately he reined his horse and made for the spot. With hisraucous voice he called the Chahar out. As he came, he struck himfull in the face with his whip and with all his strength. Bloodflowed from the slashed cheek. But the Chahar was in the saddle ina second without a murmur and galloped to his place in the file.
During this exit of the Chahars all the people were hidden in theirhouses, anxiously peeping through cracks and corners of thewindows. But the Chahars passed peacefully out and only when theymet a caravan carrying Chinese wine about six miles from town didtheir native tendency display itself again in pillaging andemptying several containers. Somewhere in the vicinity of Harganathey were ambushed by Tushegoun Lama and so treated that neveragain will the plains of Chahar welcome the return of these warriorsons who were sent out to conquer the Soyot descendants of theancient Tuba.
The day the column left Uliassutai a heavy snow fell, so that theroad became impassable. The horses first were up to their knees,tired out and stopped. Some Mongol horsemen reached Uliassutai thefollowing day after great hardship and exertion, having made onlytwenty-five miles in forty-eight hours. Caravans were compelled tostop along the routes. The Mongols would not consent even toattempt journeys with oxen and yaks which made but ten or twelvemiles a day. Only camels could be used but there were too few andtheir drivers did not feel that they could make the first railwaystation of Kuku-Hoto, which was about fourteen hundred miles away.
We were forced again to wait: for which? Death or salvation? Onlyour own energy and force could save us. Consequently my friend andI started out, supplied with a tent, stove and food, for a newreconnaissance along the shore of Lake Kosogol, whence the MongolSait expected the new invasion of Red troops.
Our small group consisting of four mounted and one pack camel movednorthward along the valley of the River Boyagol in the direction ofthe Tarbagatai Mountains. The road was rocky and covered deep withsnow. Our camels walked very carefully, sniffing out the way asour guide shouted the "Ok! Ok!" of the camel drivers to urge themon. We left behind us the fortress and Chinese dugun, swung roundthe shoulder of a ridge and, after fording several times an openstream, began the ascent of the mountain. The scramble was hardand dangerous. Our camels picked their way most cautiously, movingtheir ears constantly, as is their habit in such stress. The trailzigzagged into mountain ravines, passed over the tops of ridges,slipped back down again into shallower valleys but ever made higherand higher altitudes. At one place under the grey clouds thattipped the ridges we saw away up on the wide expanse of snow someblack spots.
Those are the obo, the sacred signs and altars for the bad demonswatching this pass, explained the guide. "This pass is calledJagisstai. Many very old tales about it have been kept alive,ancient as these mountains themselves."We encouraged him to tell us some of them.
The Mongol, rocking on his camel and looking carefully all aroundhim, began his tale.
"It was long ago, very long ago. . . . The grandson of the greatJenghiz Khan sat on the throne of China and ruled all Asia. TheChinese killed their Khan and wanted to exterminate all his familybut a holy old Lama slipped the wife and little son out of thepalace and carried them off on swift camels beyond the Great Wall,where they sank into our native plains. The Chinese made a longsearch for the trails of our refugees and at last found where theyhad gone. They despatched a strong detachment on fleet horses tocapture them. Sometimes the Chinese nearly came up with thefleeing heir of our Khan but the Lama called down from Heaven adeep snow, through which the camels could pass while the horseswere inextricably held. This Lama was from a distant monastery. We shall pass this hospice of Jahantsi Kure. In order to reach itone must cross over the Jagisstai. And it was just here the oldLama suddenly became ill, rocked in his saddle and fell dead. TaSin Lo, the widow of the Great Khan, burst into tears; but, seeingthe Chinese riders galloping there below across the valley, pressedon toward the pass. The camels were tired, stopping every moment,nor did the woman know how to stimulate and drive them on. TheChinese riders came nearer and nearer. Already she heard theirshouts of joy, as they felt within their grasp the prize of themandarins for the murder of the heir of the Great Khan. The headsof the mother and the son would be brought to Peking and exposed onthe Ch'ien Men for the mockery and insults of the people. Thefrightened mother lifted her little son toward heaven andexclaimed: 'Earth and Gods of Mongolia, behold the offspring of the man whohas glorified the name of the Mongols from one end of the world tothe other! Allow not this very flesh of Jenghiz Khan to perish!'
" "At this moment she noticed a white mouse sitting on a rock nearby. It jumped to her knees and said: 'I am sent to help you. Go on calmly and do not fear. Thepursuers of you and your son, to whom is destined a life of glory,have come to the last bourne of their lives.'
" "Ta Sin Lo did not see how one small mouse could hold in checkthree hundred men. The mouse jumped back to the ground and againspoke: 'I am the demon of Tarbagatai, Jagasstai. I am mighty and belovedof the Gods but, because you doubted the powers of the miracle-speaking mouse, from this day the Jagasstai will be dangerous forthe good and bad alike.'
"The Khan's widow and son were saved but Jagasstai has everremained merciless. During the journey over this pass one mustalways be on one's guard. The demon of the mountain is ever readyto lead the traveler to destruction.All the tops of the ridges of the Tarbagatai are thickly dottedwith the obo of rocks and branches. In one place there was evenerected a tower of stones as an altar to propitiate the Gods forthe doubts of Ta Sin Lo. Evidently the demon expected us. When webegan our ascent of the main ridge, he blew into our faces with asharp, cold wind, whistled and roared and afterwards began castingover us whole blocks of snow torn off the drifts above. We couldnot distinguish anything around us, scarcely seeing the camelimmediately in front. Suddenly I felt a shock and looked about me.
Nothing unusual was visible. I was seated comfortably between twoleather saddle bags filled with meat and bread but . . . I couldnot see the head of my camel. He had disappeared. It seemed thathe had slipped and fallen to the bottom of a shallow ravine, whilethe bags which were slung across his back without straps had caughton a rock and stopped with myself there in the snow. This time thedemon of Jagasstai only played a joke but one that did not satisfyhim. He began to show more and more anger. With furious gusts ofwind he almost dragged us and our bags from the camels and nearlyknocked over our humped steeds, blinded us with frozen snow andprevented us from breathing. Through long hours we dragged slowlyon in the deep snow, often falling over the edge of the rocks. Atlast we entered a small valley where the wind whistled and roaredwith a thousand voices. It had grown dark. The Mongol wanderedaround searching for the trail and finally came back to us,flourishing his arms and saying:
"We have lost the road. We must spend the night here. It is verybad because we shall have no wood for our stove and the cold willgrow worse. With great difficulties and with frozen hands we managed to set upour tent in the wind, placing in it the now useless stove. Wecovered the tent with snow, dug deep, long ditches in the driftsand forced our camels to lie down in them by shouting the Dzuk!
"Dzuk!" command to kneel. Then we brought our packs into the tent.
My companion rebelled against the thought of spending a cold nightwith a stove hard by.
I am going out to look for firewood, said he very decisively; andat that took up the ax and started. He returned after an hour witha big section of a telegraph pole.
You, Jenghiz Khans, said he, rubbing his frozen hands, "take youraxes and go up there to the left on the mountain and you will findthe telegraph poles that have been cut down. I made acquaintancewith the old Jagasstai and he showed me the poles."Just a little way from us the line of the Russian telegraphspassed, that which had connected Irkutsk with Uliassutai before thedays of the Bolsheviki and which the Chinese had commanded theMongols to cut down and take the wire. These poles are now thesalvation of travelers crossing the pass. Thus we spent the nightin a warm tent, supped well from hot meat soup with vermicelli, allin the very center of the dominion of the angered Jagasstai. Earlythe next morning we found the road not more than two or threehundred paces from our tent and continued our hard trip over theridge of Tarbagatai. At the head of the Adair River valley wenoticed a flock of the Mongolian crows with carmine beaks circlingamong the rocks. We approached the place and discovered therecently fallen bodies of a horse and rider. What had happened tothem was difficult to guess. They lay close together; the bridlewas wound around the right wrist of the man; no trace of knife orbullet was found. It was impossible to make out the features ofthe man. His overcoat was Mongolian but his trousers and underjacket were not of the Mongolian pattern. We asked ourselves whathad happened to him.
Our Mongol bowed his head in anxiety and said in hushed but assuredtones: "It is the vengeance of Jagasstai. The rider did not makesacrifice at the southern obo and the demon has strangled him andhis horse."At last Tarbagatai was behind us. Before us lay the valley of theAdair. It was a narrow zigzagging plain following along the riverbed between close mountain ranges and covered with a rich grass.
It was cut into two parts by the road along which the prostratetelegraph poles now lay, as the stumps of varying heights and longstretches of wire completed the debris. This destruction of thetelegraph line between Irkutsk and Uliassutai was necessary andincident to the aggressive Chinese policy in Mongolia.
Soon we began to meet large herds of sheep, which were diggingthrough the snow to the dry but very nutritious grass. In someplaces yaks and oxen were seen on the high slopes of the mountains.
Only once, however, did we see a shepherd, for all of them, spyingus first, had made off to the mountains or hidden in the ravines.
We did not even discover any yurtas along the way. The Mongols hadalso concealed all their movable homes in the folds of themountains out of sight and away from the reach of the strong winds.
Nomads are very skilful in choosing the places for their winterdwellings. I had often in winter visited the Mongolian yurtas setin such sheltered places that, as I came off the windy plains, Ifelt as though I were in a conservatory. Once we came up to a bigherd of sheep. But as we approached most of the herd graduallywithdrew, leaving one part that remained unmoved as the otherworked off across the plains. From this section soon about thirtyof forty head emerged and went scrambling and leaping right up themountain side. I took up my glasses and began to observe them.
The part of the herd that remained behind were common sheep; thelarge section that had drawn off over the plain were Mongolianantelopes (gazella gutturosa); while the few that had taken to themountain were the big horned sheep (ovis argali). All this companyhad been grazing together with the domestic sheep on the plains ofthe Adair, which attracted them with its good grass and clearwater. In many places the river was not frozen and in some placesI saw great clouds of steam over the surface of the open water. Inthe meantime some of the antelopes and the mountain sheep beganlooking at us.
Now they will soon begin to cross our trail, laughed the Mongol;"very funny beasts. Sometimes the antelopes course for miles intheir endeavor to outrun and cross in front of our horses and then,when they have done so, go loping quietly off."I had already seen this strategy of the antelopes and I decided tomake use of it for the purpose of the hunt. We organized our chasein the following manner. We let one Mongol with the pack camelproceed as we had been traveling and the other three of us spreadout like a fan headed toward the herd on the right of our truecourse. The herd stopped and looked about puzzled, for theiretiquette required that they should cross the path of all four ofthese riders at once. Confusion began. They counted about threethousand heads. All this army began to run from one side toanother but without forming any distinct groups. Whole squadronsof them ran before us and then, noticing another rider, camecoursing back and made anew the same manoeuvre. One group of aboutfifty head rushed in two rows toward my point. When they wereabout a hundred and fifty paces away I shouted and fired. Theystopped at once and began to whirl round in one spot, running intoone another and even jumping over one another. Their panic costthem dear, for I had time to shoot four times to bring down twobeautiful heads. My friend was even more fortunate than I, for heshot only once into the herd as it rushed past him in parallellines and dropped two with the same bullet.
Meanwhile the argali had gone farther up the mountainside and takenstand there in a row like so many soldiers, turning to gaze at us.
Even at this distance I could clearly distinguish their muscularbodies with their majestic heads and stalwart horns. Picking upour prey, we overtook the Mongol who had gone on ahead andcontinued our way. In many places we came across the carcasses ofsheep with necks torn and the flesh of the sides eaten off.
It is the work of wolves, said the Mongol. "They are alwayshereabout in large numbers."We came across several more herds of antelope, which ran alongquietly enough until they had made a comfortable distance ahead ofus and then with tremendous leaps and bounds crossed our bows likethe proverbial chicken on the road. Then, after a couple ofhundred paces at this speed, they stopped and began to graze quitecalmly. Once I turned my camel back and the whole herd immediatelytook up the challenge again, coursed along parallel with me untilthey had made sufficient distance for their ideas of safety andthen once more rushed across the road ahead of me as though it werepaved with red hot stones, only to assume their previous calmnessand graze back on the same side of the trail from which our columnhad first started them. On another occasion I did this three timeswith a particular herd and laughed long and heartily at theirstupid customs.
We passed a very unpleasant night in this valley. We stopped onthe shore of the frozen stream in a spot where we found shelterfrom the wind under the lee of a high shore. In our stove we didhave a fire and in our kettle boiling water. Also our tent waswarm and cozy. We were quietly resting with pleasant thoughts ofsupper to soothe us, when suddenly a howling and laughter as thoughfrom some inferno burst upon us from just outside the tent, whilefrom the other side of the valley came the long and doleful howlsin answer.
Wolves, calmly explained the Mongol, who took my revolver andwent out of the tent. He did not return for some time but at lastwe heard a shot and shortly after he entered.
I scared them a little, said he. "They had congregated on theshore of the Adair around the body of a camel.""And they have not touched our camels?" we asked.
We shall make a bonfire behind our tent; then they will not botherus.After our supper we turned in but I lay awake for a long timelistening to the crackle of the wood in the fire, the deep sighingbreaths of the camels and the distant howling of the packs ofwolves; but finally, even with all these noises, fell asleep. Howlong I had been asleep I did not know when suddenly I was awakenedby a strong blow in the side. I was lying at the very edge of thetent and someone from outside had, without the least ceremony,pushed strongly against me. I thought it was one of the camelschewing the felt of the tent. I took my Mauser and struck thewall. A sharp scream was followed by the sound of quick runningover the pebbles. In the morning we discovered the tracks ofwolves approaching our tent from the side opposite to the fire andfollowed them to where they had begun to dig under the tent wall;but evidently one of the would-be robbers was forced to retreatwith a bruise on his head from the handle of the Mauser.
Wolves and eagles are the servants of Jagasstai, the Mongol veryseriously instructed us. However, this does not prevent theMongols from hunting them. Once in the camp of Prince Baysei Iwitnessed such a hunt. The Mongol horsemen on the best of hissteeds overtook the wolves on the open plain and killed them withheavy bamboo sticks or tashur. A Russian veterinary surgeon taughtthe Mongols to poison wolves with strychnine but the Mongols soonabandoned this method because of its danger to the dogs, thefaithful friends and allies of the nomad. They do not, however,touch the eagles and hawks but even feed them. When the Mongolsare slaughtering animals they often cast bits of meat up into theair for the hawks and eagles to catch in flight, just as we throw abit of meat to a dog. Eagles and hawks fight and drive away themagpies and crows, which are very dangerous for cattle and horses,because they scratch and peck at the smallest wound or abrasion onthe backs of the animals until they make them into uncurable areaswhich they continue to harass.
Our camels were trudging to a slow but steady measure on toward thenorth. We were making twenty-five to thirty miles a day as weapproached a small monastery that lay to the left of our route. Itwas in the form of a square of large buildings surrounded by a highfence of thick poles. Each side had an opening in the middleleading to the four entrances of the temple in the center of thesquare. The temple was built with the red lacquered columns andthe Chinese style roofs and dominated the surrounding low dwellingsof the Lamas. On the opposite side of the road lay what appearedto be a Chinese fortress but which was in reality a tradingcompound or dugun, which the Chinese always build in the form of afortress with double walls a few feet apart, within which theyplace their houses and shops and usually have twenty or thirtytraders fully armed for any emergency. In case of need theseduguns can be used as blockhouses and are capable of withstandinglong sieges. Between the dugun and the monastery and nearer to theroad I made out the camp of some nomads. Their horses and cattlewere nowhere to be seen. Evidently the Mongols had stopped herefor some time and had left their cattle in the mountains. Overseveral yurtas waved multi-colored triangular flags, a sign of thepresence of disease. Near some yurtas high poles were stuck intothe ground with Mongol caps at their tops, which indicated that thehost of the yurta had died. The packs of dogs wandering over theplain showed that the dead bodies lay somewhere near, either in theravines or along the banks of the river.
As we approached the camp, we heard from a distance the franticbeating of drums, the mournful sounds of the flute and shrill, madshouting. Our Mongol went forward to investigate for us andreported that several Mongolian families had come here to themonastery to seek aid from the Hutuktu Jahansti who was famed forhis miracles of healing. The people were stricken with leprosy andblack smallpox and had come from long distances only to find thatthe Hutuktu was not at the monastery but had gone to the LivingBuddha in Urga. Consequently they had been forced to invite thewitch doctors. The people were dying one after another. Just theday before they had cast on the plain the twenty-seventh man.
Meanwhile, as we talked, the witch doctor came out of one of theyurtas. He was an old man with a cataract on one eye and with aface deeply scarred by smallpox. He was dressed in tatters withvarious colored bits of cloth hanging down from his waist. Hecarried a drum and a flute. We could see froth on his blue lipsand madness in his eyes. Suddenly he began to whirl round anddance with a thousand prancings of his long legs and writhings ofhis arms and shoulders, still beating the drum and playing theflute or crying and raging at intervals, ever accelerating hismovements until at last with pallid face and bloodshot eyes he fellon the snow, where he continued to writhe and give out hisincoherent cries. In this manner the doctor treated his patients,frightening with his madness the bad devils that carry disease.
Another witch doctor gave his patients dirty, muddy water, which Ilearned was the water from the bath of the very person of theLiving Buddha who had washed in it his "divine" body born from thesacred flower of the lotus.
Om! Om! both witches continuously screamed.
While the doctors fought with the devils, the ill people were leftto themselves. They lay in high fever under the heaps ofsheepskins and overcoats, were delirious, raved and threwthemselves about. By the braziers squatted adults and children whowere still well, indifferently chatting, drinking tea and smoking.
In all the yurtas I saw the diseased and the dead and such miseryand physical horrors as cannot be described.
And I thought: "Oh, Great Jenghiz Khan! Why did you with yourkeen understanding of the whole situation of Asia and Europe, youwho devoted all your life to the glory of the name of the Mongols,why did you not give to your own people, who preserve their oldmorality, honesty and peaceful customs, the enlightenment thatwould have saved them from such death? Your bones in the mausoleumat Karakorum being destroyed by the centuries that pass over themmust cry out against the rapid disappearance of your formerly greatpeople, who were feared by half the civilized world!"Such thoughts filled my brain when I saw this camp of the deadtomorrow and when I heard the groans, shoutings and raving of dyingmen, women and children. Somewhere in the distance the dogs werehowling mournfully, and monotonously the drum of the tired witchrolled.
Forward! I could not witness longer this dark horror, which Ihad no means or force to eradicate. We quickly passed on from theominous place. Nor could we shake the thought that some horribleinvisible spirit was following us from this scene of terror. "Thedevils of disease?" "The pictures of horror and misery?" "Thesouls of men who have been sacrificed on the altar of darkness ofMongolia?" An inexplicable fear penetrated into our consciousnessfrom whose grasp we could not release ourselves. Only when we hadturned from the road, passed over a timbered ridge into a bowl inthe mountains from which we could see neither Jahantsi Kure, thedugun nor the squirming grave of dying Mongols could we breathefreely again.
Presently we discovered a large lake. It was Tisingol. Near theshore stood a large Russian house, the telegraph station betweenKosogol and Uliassutai.