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No. 3. Their rifles are stacked in their huts. The 600 Mongols live in yourts scattered among the hillocks. They are not allowed to keep their rifles, but have to fetch them before parade from the yamên, whither they return them afterwards. I understood that no barracks are to be built here, but the establishment of the colony to the south first awaited. The men come from Kansu and Hsinkiang; the Mongols are those of Ulianghai; they are said to be extremely slow and densely stupid. In winter there is parade twice a-day; in summer the Captains take parties of five or six at a time into the mountains for a few days to learn the country, tracks, watercourses, &c.
Pay is at the rate of 7 tacls (218.) a-month for each man. Of this sum 1t. 80c. is deducted for flour, and as much for clothes, firing, &c., so that each man gets 4t. 60c. (14s.) clear. There is a military doctor, who treats men in their own homes; a military hospital is to be built later in the new colony.
I heard that the soldiers frequently deserted, not being able to stand the loneliness of the life, the lack of women, &c., but a Captain (not unnaturally) denied this.
He had
I called on the Captain of No. 1 company, a Tien-tsin man called Dor. been at some military school at Tien-tsin, and is to have the work of putting the six new German guns together. These, he said, bad arrived, and the cases were stored in the yamên. Mr. Dor was of the aggressive type of Chinaman, with a great deal of self-confidence; he expressed himself as perfectly able to piece the guns together. I gathered that at present there were not enough uniforms for the men.
The present uniform is a neat black costume, with black Chinese shoes as footgear and a black handkerchief wound round the head, The Captain had an illustrated book of kit, and, I understood, was going to select a suitable uniform. He said that, as regards drill and marching, German and Japanese ways had been tried, and that now the Chinese were bent on having a Chinese way of doing these things. The Captain's room was littered with cheap Japanese photos and mirrors and useless luxuries.
At the south-west corner of the settlement and at the point nearest to the stream (half a mile away from it) a kind of fort is being constructed a square with a side of 85 yards, walls 7 feet high, entirely of mud. Round this place is a dry ditch, 6 feet wide and 3 feet deep, from which the material for the walls has been dug. There is a large single gateway facing north and another on the east side, but I believe the latter to be only temporary. Through the latter flows a tiny brook, leaving the inclosure again on the west side; this has evidently been diverted from the small canal which feeds the settlement from the river. There are only two buildings in the inclosure; both resemble stalls. Workmen were busy on these. I was told that a Major lived, or was to live, in the inclosure, but I did not see or know where.
In the afternoon I dined with the Amban and spent four hours in his company. His Excellency was kind enough to allow me to photograph him before dinner in his courtyard. He was most courteous and friendly. During the meal we discussed the religions of the world from their point of view of welding a people; the possibility of a Parliament in China; Sun Wen, Kangyuwel, and their hopes and ambitions; and women's suffrage, among a number of more local topics. His Excellency was a most intelligent and interesting talker.
I asked him why he had not built his first colony half a mile away and down by the river side, but his Excellency seems to have preferred to use the temple buildings which were still standing, in spite of the lack of water.
September 12.--Two Hassacks, condemned to wear the cangue for a month for quarrelling with a Mongol and breaking his face open, were in the street this morning. They were free to walk about as they pleased between the various orderly-rooms, and were lounging about the streets a little sulky.
A number of sheep were brought into the market to-day; they are of the fat- tailed variety-the first we have seen of their kind. A pair of chamois horns were brought me during the day; there are said to be a few chamois about here.
The soldiers are kept busy at present bringing in firewood from the hills for the winter; by next month the settlement will'8 or 10 feet deep in snow. The rest of the guns arrived from Kobdo to-day.
The
The Captain (Dor) begged me to photograph some of his men; they are small and of poor physique. The Captain is the author of a large Chinese map of the neigh- bourhood which hangs in the yamên; he has compiled it from Russian sources. soldiers are not punished by beatings nor by the cangue, but have to stand with arms for several hours for small offences, do coolie work for so long for more serious offences, and are dismissed for worse.
He had an extremely good idea
In the evening Captain Dor came to call on me.
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of the policy of his Government as regards these dependencies, but wanted to go much farther than they. He told me there was one official in Peking in especial who was urging the policy of dividing Mongolia into provinces, to be governed entirely by Chinese officials. I observed that if the Chinese Government did so, or did what he wanted them to do-ie, bring criminals in large batches to settle here, or open schools and force the Hassacks and Mongols to learn Chinese too quickly-there must inevitably be trouble. He replied that that was exactly what the Amban had said: "We must go slow, for if there is trouble on the frontier the Russians will send troops over to quell it, and we shall never get them out again."
So it seems that the Amban, with all his vigorous policy, has thoroughly grasped the possibilities. Captain Dor spoke of the possibility of a railway to Zaisan, which would make this Colony grow, I did not comment on this except to say that I should like to see a railway to Chuguchak and Ili and another from Kweihuacheng to Ili; and I would here again urge that the more trade grows between these northern Colonies and Russia, while the Chinese Government, content to hear of an apparent prosperity, neglects to connect them with the mother country and to divert the trade towards herself, the faster they are playing into the hands of Russia.
Captain Dor seemed very depressed, and my impression was that this was due to the German guns.
He begged me to take a letter on his behalf to Berlin, addressed to a Secretary in the Chinese Legation there, and I felt that this was in connection with the guns; either all the pieces had not arrived or some instructions for putting them together had not been sent. The matter was urgent.
Captain Dor has done much work in the new Colony. It is he who has conducted the small canal from the river; he has also built some small bridges and superintended the construction of the houses. He told me there was plenty of coal and gold in the mountains, and that he knew where to lay his hands on the former. He said that the objects of the Colony were--
(a.) To establish a fixed Government where chaos has hitherto reigned supreme; (b). To tame and civilize the Elassacks and Mongols; and
(c.) To exploit the mineral wealth of the Altaishan,
He said the expenses of the Colony were enormous, and only partly met by some revenues of some province which were earmarked for the purpose.
September 13.We had violent rain all night and this continued most of the day. The snow lay deep on the low hills all round.
My efforts to obtain transport had resulted in an offer of eight camels for, firstly, 150 taels, then 200 taels, and finally 210 tuels. This worked out at the rate of 26 taels a-piece for a fortnight, as against 18 taels a-piece for two months for the journey through the Ordos; this was an attempt at squeeze which I could neither afford nor resist, so I had appealed to the yamên to procure some. I went round in the morning to hear what had been done, and found that the young "foreign affairs" official had got from the Hassacks six camels at 8 taels a-piece and three ponies at 4 taels a-piece, to go as far as the capital of the King of the Turgut Mongols, half way to Chuguchak. The Amban would give me a letter to the King inviting His Highness to supply me with fresh camels.
The young official's room was full of prepared ginseng; there were huge balls of this lying about, which he said he was sending away as presents. My impression was that he did quite a little trade in it, and doubtless a very honest and innocent one.
He accompanied me home and spent the morning with me. I was very glad of his company on such a terribly wet morning. He said that the missing Russian subject was a Hassack en route from Kobdo to Chuguchak by the south road; that in any case the Russian official at Uliassutai had no right to take up the matter, for he was not Also that in even a Consul at Uliassutai, and in no case had any right to come here.
no case did the disappearance concern Altaishan, for the man had never been here.
Russian goods pay no tax on entering Altaishan; he doubted whether they paid any at the frontier station between Zaisan and Altaishan.
The only means of sending letters from Sharasumé is to confide them to a silk- A letter by this mercer's shop, who will forward them to Peking by his next caravan. route will probably not reach Peking for eighty days.
September 14.--The Hassack camels arrived, and we made arrangements for leaving to-morrow. It is especially difficult to get transport at this time of the year, because the nomads are moving their tents to winter quarters, and object to taking long journeys during this process. I called on the Governor in the late afternoon to say good-bye and
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