Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/103

 camels, the owner of some dozens of these animals may gain a large profit; but many carriers have several hundred camels, and of course their earnings are proportionately greater. One would suppose that the Mongols would grow rich in this way, but in fact it is otherwise, — hardly one of them taking home a few hundred rubles, and almost all the money passes into the hands of the Chinese.

The latter impose upon the simple-minded Mongols in the most scandalous way. On the arrival of the autumn caravans, the Chinese ride out to meet them, and invite the owners to stay with them. Lodgings are given gratis, and every attention is shown. The unkempt Mongol, to whom the Chinese at any other time does not deign to speak, now lounges on the couches of his host, the rich merchant, who generally waits upon his guest in person, and anticipates his slightest wish. The Mongol accepts all this hospitality as genuine, and authorises his host to settle accounts for him with the merchant whose tea he contracts to carry. This is exactly what is required by the Chinaman. On receiving the money, always paid in advance, he swindles his client in the most unconscionable way, and then offers him first one and then another article, charging double price for all. Part of the money is then kept back for taxation and fees to officials, and more is expended on entertainment, until the Mongol takes his departure from Kalgan with a mere fraction left of his large earnings. Some of this, too, he is compelled to devote to religious uses,