Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/216

 Ordos, and on the north with the Sunites and Khalkas. For administrative purposes this aimak is divided into six koshungs, viz. Durbute, Nimgan, Barun-kung, Dundu-kung, Tsun-kung, and Darhan-bil. The chief seat of government, and the headquarters of the prince, is at Ulan-sabo in the koshung of the Durbutes.

The Urutes are very distinct from the Chakhars in external appearance, resembling more closely the thoroughbred Mongols; but they also are demoralised by Chinese influence. Their nearest neighbours, the Western Tumites of Kuku-khoto, like the Chakhars, have become assimilated with the Chinese, and are intermixed with them, living either in yurtas or more rarely in houses. Here and there they cultivate the soil in imitation of the latter, but agriculture is in general very backward. A striking trait in their character, as in that of all the nomads, is an extraordinary thirst after money; in this respect they are not even surpassed by the Chinese; they will do anything for a lump of silver, and travellers who have sufficient means at their command can profit by their venality. But in dealing with them you must have the patience of an angel; in the most ordinary transactions the difficulties are innumerable. For instance, you want to buy a sheep, a thing one would suppose to be simple enough, but in reality quite the reverse. If you go straight to a Mongol and ask him to sell you a sheep, offering to pay him his own price, nine times out of ten you will be unsuccessful. Finding a ready compliance on your part, he