Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/534

 MONGOLIA

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MONGOLIA

Bot'u Leaguo: (5) Kharaoh'in, 3 banners; (0) T'umod; 2 banners. III. Chao lUla Leapiie: (7) Ao-Khan, 1 ban- ner; (S) Naiman, 1 banner; (9) H;uin,2 banners; (10) Djarud, 2 banners; (11) Am Kliorcirin, 2 banners; (12) Ongniod, 1 banner; (13) Keshikhtenjj, 1 banner; (14) Khalka of the Left, 1 banner. IV. Silinghol League: (15) Uehumueh'in, 2 banners; (16) Khao- chid, 2 banners; (17) Sunid, 2 banners; (IS) Ahaga, 2 banners: (19) Abaganur, 2 b.anncrs. V. Ulan Ch'ap League: (20) 8ze Tze Pu Lo, or Durban Keukcd, 1 banner; (21) Mou Mingan, 1 banner; (22) Urad, 3 banners; (23) Khalka of tlie Right, 1 banner; VI. Ikh Chao League: (24) Onlos, 7 banners. W. F. Mayers who gives these particulars (Chinese Government) adds that with the tribes of the Ordos there are amal- gamated certain fragments of the T'uiiK'd tribe, oeeupying the region adjacent to Kwci Hwa C'li'eng, to the nortli-east of the Great Bend of the Yellow River.

Inner Mongolia is broadly speaking "what is to the south of the Great Desert"; it extends over the pla- teau beyond the K'ingan Mountains into the upper valleys of the Manehurian rivers, the Liao and the Sungari; it includes part of Outer Chi-li. With the exception of the Ch'ahar and the T'umed, placed under the government of Manchu generals, each Mongolian banner is ruled by an hereditary chieftain or noble (Dzassak or Jassak). These nobles are classed in six ranks, from Is'in wang, "prince of the first order", to taichi, or daidji, "noble". They are controlled by the Li fan Yiian. Campbell writes (op. cit. supra): "The descent and honours of every noble are registered in the Li Fan Yuan, at Peking, and the bearers of hereditary titles indicate their successors, who must be confirmed in the succession by decrees of the Chinese Emperor. On succeeding to a title, a Jassak is summoned to Peking for audience. All the nobility of the Inner Mongol tribes pay visits to the Chinese Court at New Year by roster, a cycle of three years completing the roster; and those who do not go to Court are required to attend at the local Jassak's residence on New Y'ear's Day in full Court dress, and perform the proper obeisances in the direction of Peking. A jassak presents a sheep and a bottle of milk spirit to the emperor on these occasions, and a taichi gives a ' scalded sheep. ' Such as visit Peking are banqueted and receive presents of silk, and they attend in the suite of the Chinese Emperor when he goes forth to offer the seasonable sacrifices. "

The Wai Mung-ku, or Outer Mongols, comprise the Khalkhas and the Kalmuks, or Western Mongols. The country stretches "along the Siberian frontier from near Lake Kulun to the Altai, and includes the four Aimak, or Khantaes, of the Khalkas, and the west Mongol territories under the jurisdiction of the Chi- nese Military Government at Uliasut'ai, Kobdo, Tar- bagatai, and Uriankhai. In the term Outer Mon- golia may also be included the Mongols of Kokonor and Tsaidam, who are under the control of an Im- perial agent stationed at Si-ning Fu" (Campbell, op. cit.). The Khalkhas constitute four great pu:(l) the T'ush^t'u Khanate, 20 banners; (2) Tsetsen Khanate, 23 banners; (3) Dzassakt'u Khanate, 18 banners; (4) Sain-noin Tribe, 22 banners. Urga (Ta-kuren) is the administrative centre of the East KhaUcha Khanates, within the territory of the T'ushC't- 'u Khan. Its name represents the Russian pronun- ciation of the Mongol word orgo (residence). Ac- cording to C. W. Campbell, the full native name is Bodgo Lamain Khure (The God-lama's Encamp- ment); shorter names are Da Khure, or Ikhe Khure (Great Encampment), Bogdo Khure, and simply Khure; the Chinese call the place K'u-lun, or K'u- lien, or Ta K'u-lien. Urga includes three towns lying to the north of the Tola River: Urga proper, the Mongol quarters; the Russian consulate and settle- ment, a mile and a half to the east; and farther east

Mai-mai chdiij the Chinese Urga, the commercial town. There is a population of 2.'),000, half of wliom are lamas. There is a Chinese CDtnmi.ssioiiiT, styled K'u-lun pan sW te c/t'cn (incunihcnt in 1910, Yen Chi), and an assistant commissioner, styled pii/iij jian. la rh'en (incumbent in 1910, Peng-ch'u-k'o-ch'e-lin). Urga is also the residence of the cheplsundampa hut'ukht'u, or patriarch of the Khalkha tribes, ranking, in the Lamaist Church, next to the Dalai and the Paiislien erdeni lamas; this title was conferred in the middle of the seventeenth century by the Dalai lama on a son of the T'ushet'u khan, known in Mong<il history as Un- durGegen. When the British troops entered Lhasa, the Dalai lama fled to Urga, where he arrived on tlie 27 Nov., 1904. Uliasut'ai, in the territory of the Sain Noin Khalkas, is the seat of a Isianq kiun, or military governor (in 1910 K'un siu), and of two Is'an Isan la Men, or military assistant governors (in 1910 Ch'e- teng-so-no-mu and K'uei Huan. Kobdo, on the Bayantu, has, subject to Uliasut'ai, a military assist- ant governor (in 1910, P'u Jun), and a commissioner, or pan ski ta ch'en (in 1910 Si Heng). At Si-ning there is a pan shi ta ch'en (in 1910, Ch'ing Shu).

The Kalmuks, or Western Mongols, next in impor- tance to the Khalkhas, include six tribes: (1) Oelot (Eleuths), Kalmuks; (2) Turbet; (3) Turgut; (4) Khoshoit; (5) Khoit; (6) Ch'oros. To these should be added the Ts'ing Hai Mung-ku, Mongols of Ko- konor, including 29 banners, all Kalmuk, 21 banners being Khoshoit; the Alashan Mung-ku, Mongols of Alashan, of Kalmuk descent, with Ning hia as their chief centre; the Y'eo Muh, nomadic tribes, including the Ch'ahar, near the Great Wall, the Bargu tribe, controlled by Je-hol and Kalgan, the Urianghai, Min- gad, and Djakch'in under the Governor of Uliasut'ai. The Buriat are subject to Russia, and the Dam Mon- gols live in Tsaidam between Kokonor and Tibet.

As a result of the recent Russo-Japanese agreement, the Chinese Imperial Grand Council studied the means of preserving the integrity of Mongolian terri- tory; it was resolved that two divisions of modern troops should be sent to this country, that education should be established according to Chinese methods, and that a railway should be built across Mongolia with its terminus at Peking.

Religion. — The religion of the Mongols is Buddhism under the Lamaist form, introduced from Tibet at the end of the Ming Dynasty. The lamas like the chepl- sundampa hut'ukht'u at Urga, have their head clean shaven. Large monasteries exist at Je-hol and Do- lon-nor (Lama-miao), and at Wu T'ai shan, in the Shan-si Province. The Lamaist organization in and near Peking is named Chu King Lama; the metropoli- tan, Chang-chia Hut'ukht'u lives at Dolon-nor — or rather at Yung Ho Kung — and controls the Mongols of Ch'ahar. Eamaism has certainly altered the char- acter of the warlike followers of Jenghiz, who are now a peaceful population of herdsmen. "The Lamas", writes Kidston (op. cit., p. 19), "exercise enormous influence; every tent has its altar, every high ridge on the plain has its sacred cairn, the repetition of prayers and the telling of beads is universal and incessant, and almost every collection of 'yurts' has its prayer flags, fluttering conveniently easy petitions with every breeze that blows. Belief in the transmigration of the soul and in the utter unimportance of the mere body is so strong that the bodies of laymen are not buried at all, but simply thrown out on the plain, where the dogs make short work of them. The taking of life is re- garded with horror, though sheer necessity makes an exception and provides quibbling excuses for the slaughter of sheep. On the whole journey we only saw one fire-arm, and that was evidently intended for show rather than for use. It was carried by one of the escort provided for us by Prince Ha-larhan, and, from inquiries, I believe that it represented the entire annar ment of the Principality."