146
62
inclined to ascribe this check to the following causes. It must be remembered that the year 1878 saw the severest famine in Shansi that has ever been recorded and when it was computed that some millions of persons died, also that the years 1899, 1900, and 1901 were extremely severe years. It must not be forgotten that it is, thanks to men of Shansi, that the Chinese Government is being enabled to open up Mongolia to cultivation. I think that these disastrous years may have been one of the causes of the check to this movement in the northern direction. Another cause was doubtless the prosperity of the Chinese communities in Northern Mongolia, Urga, Uliassutai, and Kobdo; thus more men were induced to come from Chih-li and Shansi and to become small shopkeepers in these regions; hence the gradual growth of these communities, and lastly, that the strip of Mongolia in the Yellow River basin, the Bautu strip, is by no means all opened up yet. Those immigrants from Shansi, therefore, who wish to become agriculturalists prefer to go there, where the ground is well-watered and fertile and where they get good results from their labours rather than go to the badly-watered plateau of Mongolia. I think, therefore, that the tide of immigration has ceased for a long time to flow towards the north, in spite of the exceptional advantages offered, such as no taxes with the exception of one of 3 cents per mou of land cultivated.
The last Chinese post to the north is the small village of Sanyiyuan 8 miles from Kokoillikung. Chinese settlements are fairly frequent between Kokoillikung and Sanyiyuan; they are, however, poor-looking and have a bleak appearance lying on the plateau with no trees anywhere in sight. All are engaged in agriculture; wheat and oats, peas, and beans are grown in great quantities and sent to market at Kokoillikung and Kweihnacheng. I could not find that after Kokoillikung any settlers paid taxes other than the above-mentioned land tax. In defiance of the agreement which
Ney. Elias mentions as having been made between the Chinese Government and the Mongols that no land should be cultivated within 15 li (5 miles) of the road on either side, this strip being left for pasturage, cultivation invariably comes right down to the road. There is a registry for land development at Kokoillikung, the office where the books are kept being at one of the principal inns. The official in charge is only of low rank, he is under the Tartar General at Kweihuacheng.
Sanyiyuan though consisting of a few houses is an important place for there are three shops here engaged in the barter traffic, the Mongols bringing wool, hair, skins, ponies, &c., and receiving flour, rice, and tea-bricks in return. One of the shops at Sanyiyuan is also the principal inn. The Mongol Princes also send commodities down thither receiving in exchange the before-mentioned goods.
But while there has been a lull in the growth of settled Chinese communities in this direction, there has been a development of another nature which cannot but prove of service to the Chinese Government. This has been the voluntary establishment of one Chinese trader in many of the districts through which the Government track runs and close to where the post-station is established. These men live for some eight months in the year generally at the station though some are there permanently. The ostensible reason for the establishment of these men has been trade and no doubt a certain amount of this goes on, rice, flour, and tea as against ponies, wool, skins, hair, &c. The Chinese merchant is patient, he sells his goods one year and never claims payment until the next; the price of goods is 75 per cent, dearer than the price for the same at Kweihuacheng but that is of little concern to the Mongols who merely bring in additional animals as payment.
The merchant has also to consider in his price, the expenses for conveying the wool, &c., skins, or ponies to market and the fact that the prices for the same fluctuate very much when arrived there. Among the merchant's expenses seems in some cases to be a tax of from 2 to 5 tacls per annum to the local Prince for the privilege of establishing himself. But these traders while engaged in an honest calling have also adopted the less honour- able one of lending money to the Mongols at the exorbitant rate of 3 per cent. per month, 36 per cent. per annum, and they seem to do an excessively large business. In this case again they are very patient and while the debt and interest are rolling up they are content to receive presents of animals from time to time and to consent to defer settlement. There is thus no reason why they should not show patience especially as if the debtor dies, his debts are taken over by the next of kin, and also for this reason that if the debtor is connected with the service of the Tai and refuses after some time to acknowledge his promissory note, this is forwarded to the Tutung at Kalgau or Kweihuacheng, who subtracts the amount from the subsidy payment. In this way and also in the fact that these so-called traders receive a pass to travel on the Government road, they may be said to be recognized by the Government. This money-lending business is most deleterious to the Mongols, who are a happy-go-lucky thriftless race, taking no
63
thought for the morrow. They love pretty things, especially those that glitter, no Where it is so matter how tawdry they may really be, and are constantly buying these. simple to borrow money, they are therefore permanently in debt.
(Confidential.) In this connection my report on the loans to Mongols of the Russo-Chinese Bank at Urga is of interest.
It is a curious fact that, in spite of the increase of points of contact between the Mongols and the Chinese, the line af separation between the two has never been bridged, and there has not been the slightest assimilation either in dress, customs, or language. The Chinese have invariably found themselves obliged to learn Mongol, the eases where the Mongols learn Chinese are rare. When I state that the Chinese learn Mongol, I must limit this to the trading community; the officials rarely speak it. believe it to be a fact that none of the Manchu high officials at the Lifanfu, or those sent out by that Government Board to rule in the distant dependencies, have any knowledge of the language.
I
The lack of knowledge of Chinese on the part of the Mongols makes it highly useful for the traveller to have a knowledge, no matter whether great or small, of Mongol, for he cannot always reckon on finding one of these Chinese traders at a station, while if he travel away from the post road, he will probably find none at all. In addition to the station traders already mentioned, there are also the itinerating Chinese traders, who travel with a caravan from south to north during the summer months, with such goods as they can dispose of to the Mongols, or which they will be able to sell to the small Chinese shops at Urga, &c. These caravans move slowly northwards taking, perhaps, fifty days or even more for the journey, stopping a few days at each Tai. A small quantity of oil and coal are sometimes among the goods they sell.
Along the Tai Road to Urga.
June 29.-We reached the first of the long chain of stations, Tarkhan, in the evening. The place consists of only one mud building, a dreary comfortless place to arrive at, with a heavy attack of fever threatening mischief.
June 30.--The Chinese Government pay no subsidy to this or the next few stations, the Mongol Prince maintaining them for official use, and the bills being sent in to the Tutung at Kweihuacheng, these being paid, without a doubt, in kind (tea bricks, flour, &c.), so that the Government get off very cheaply; the Mongols seem quite contented with the arrangement.
After leaving Tarkhan we only passed one settlement the whole day. Several of the districts through which we passed seemed to have names, but it is useless to mention them as the Mongols frequently transplant these names at the same time as their tents, and in many cases the localities have no natural distinguishing features.
The second Tai is Ulan habo. Here the natives pay no taxes to any one, furnishing in exchange the necessary transport for all officials travelling, and charging the Government nothing.
July 1-An hour after starting we reached the Derrisu gol, and kept it on our right for half a-mile or so, when it turned due north and disappeared. It was quite dry, but is said to hold water after the rains. For some time we kept from time to time crossing the dry sandy beds of its tributaries. During the morning we halted to rest with a Chinese caravan. There were sixteen men, all from Shansi, en route for Some of Urga with flour, rice, and millet to renew the stock of a Chinese shop there. the men were new colonists. The third Tai is Hassartu, where no one pays any taxes; the inhabitants of those yourts who do not keep the official rest-house providing the necessary transport. The officials said with joy that they rarely had to entertain a passing official." Caravans to Uliassutai were fairly frequent, but as these had no official pass they did not matter.
July 2.---An hour after starting we were abreast of two Mongol yourts. One of these is a Chinaman's shop, where for some three years a merchant has been established bartering flour, millet, rice, &c., for ponies, wool, and goats' hair. Stock is renewed from Kokoillikung. The merchant pays an annual sum of 5 taels to the local Prince as tax. An hour and a-quarter later we crossed a narrow stream of water, flowing west to east, the Borotolgoi, on either side of which the ground is covered with saline efflorescence. Water, it is said, is always to be found here, even during the worst droughts. The actual water now where we crossed it is 6 feet wide and a few inches deep, but in places it was wider. The character of the shallow valley, which, where we crossed it is 3 miles broad, is wholly different from the surrounding country, and
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.