Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/70

8 rich grass supplies abundant food for the cattle of the Mongols all the year round.

Of the animal kingdom we found few varieties in winter. The most common kinds were the grey partridge (Perdix barbata), hare (Lepus Tolai), and Alpine hare (Lagomys Ogotono); wintering larks (Otocoris albigula), and linnets (Fringilla linota), along the road-side in large flocks. Handsome red-billed jackdaws (Fregillus graculus) became more numerous as we approached Urga, where they actually build their nests in the house occupied by our Consul. The natives told us there were numbers of roe in the woods, as well as wild swine and bears. In fact, the fauna of this district, as well as its flora, is quite of a Siberian character.

After a week's journey, we arrived at the town of Urga, where wе passed four delightful days with the family of the Russian Consul, J. P. Shishmareff.

The town of Urga, the chief place of Northern Mongolia, is situated on the river Tola, an affluent of the Orkhon, and is well known to all the nomads under the name of Bogdo-Kuren or Ta-Kuren, i.e. sacred encampment; its name of Urga, derived from the word Urgo (palace), was given it by the Russians.

The town is divided into two halves — the Mongolian and Chinese. The former is called Bogdo-Kuren, and the latter, not quite three miles to the east of it, bears the name of Mai-mai-cheng, i.e. place of trade. In the centre, half-way between the two parts of Urga, well situated on rising ground near