THE OLD MONGOLS.

Hastings Standard, Volume XIII, Issue 4204, 10 July 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE OLD MONGOLS.

EXPLORER'S REMARKABLE JOURNEY.

Commandant d'Ollone has returned to France, after two years spent in West ern China and North-eastern Tibet, at the nead of a French mission of exploration. The mission, left Hanoi to go up country at the end of 1906, and reached Pekin, the end of its travels, last October. Commandant d'Olloti© was seconded by Captain Le Page ai)d Lieutenant de Fleurelle. The commandant, in speaking of his these In rest of Tib?t the land is generally fertile. Grass grows almost everywhere. and even among the highest mountains (some 19,000 ft.) the slopes are so gentle and regular that there are very few places where a man may not ride on horsobacj*. It is for this reason that the Chinese have never been able to subdue the llsifani. ■'Having a social organisation like the f-lans of Scotland, and being well mounted on horses which are a cro s between the shaggy Mongol and the finer Svrian stock, which they ride with skill, thev fight- each exped'tion which the omnire sends against them as the Boers fought the Brit : sh troops in the Transvaal Their stock rais'ng—sheep, horses, goats, and yaks—and their trade in ekins give them all they want to live upon. They are very sober in habit, and pract : cally live upon tea (which they drink with melt-d butter) and harlcv meal. They win their arms by their forays, and will ride several days and as far as 600 miles to surprise a caravan. Besides a long lance each mar. carries a gun of tome kind or other, and Russian guns are becoming common.

"The Hsifani fit their gnnp with a forked stand, such as we fitted to the eighteenth Centura muske l ". and so ars able to take good aim. They live in tents, a' d wear no other clothing than sheep skins in the rough, sewn "together. The Chinese have only Ifoii ah'o to subdue thorn in the lower vallavs, whore some of the tribes have built villages. As for tlio'r religions an:l customs they are peculiar to the race. Thev have made a 'salad" of several thenioHei. They practice simultanronslv Buddhism, Brahman ism. and n primitive rel-'gion not nnlike that of the ancient Greeks and ear'v Scandinavians, wrrfhipning the spirits of the rivers, plains ati<l K"> n : oin ere they that they never drink before invoking the spirits of the four points oF the comnass, or of the moun+s'm which l'"o in such d : rec L ions. Their chief deity is the Anie-Matche. spirit of the highest mountain of tho'r conntrv. and they pray t~> li'm, curiou-ly enough, both for good and evil a<"t r on = . For them he represents strength; vir'ne 5® represented by Buddha. Amine them I discovered two new Feet* of Buddhist*, the white and the black priests, who

differ from the yellow and red priests already known. "Iri habits and customs the Hsifani to neither like the Turks nor like the Mongols; nor are they like the true Tibetans or the Chinese. They are not communists or polyandrists like the Tibetans ; they have large families, ana havo a language unlike any yet discovered. They have two culture?!. Those who remain nomadic are most barbaric m appearance, and scarcely le s so in habit, but their brothers in the lamaseries for monastries) are highly educated and artistic. They are accomplished painters, sculptors and architects, and have produced much literature. Their women wear few ornaments., and are simply clothed, but they are very proud of cheai jewellery, and also of brass buttons taken from Indian military uniforms, which are counted mere valuable than anv precious stones. Thev have also learned the beauty of imitation coral. So far from being decadent, the race is increasing in numbers. Given a common chieftain and better arms, they would be formidable, and one may foresee the t'me when thev will turn the tables on the Chineee and will send expeditions against them. At present, however, they are without a leader."