Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/81

Rh dogs tear it to pieces, and in a couple of hours nothing remains of the dead man. The Buddhists consider it a good sign if the body be quickly devoured; in the contrary event they believe that the departed led an ungodly life. The dogs are so accustomed to feed in this way that when a corpse is being carried through the streets of the town to the cemetery the relations of the deceased are invariably followed by dogs, sometimes belonging to his own encampment (yurta).

The government of Urga, together with the two eastern aimaks (khanates) of the Khalkas, or of Northern Mongolia, viz. those of Tushetu-khan, and Tsitseng-khan, is in the hands of two ambans or governors. One of them is always a Manchu sent from Peking, the other, one of the local Mongol princes. The two remaining aimaks of the Khalkas, those of the Djasaktu-khan and Sain-noin, are under the Tsiang-tsiun (commander-in-chief) of Uliassutai.

Although the Mongol Khans who govern these aimaks are absolute masters in all that concerns the internal affairs of their khanates as sovereign princes, they, nevertheless, own allegiance to their Chinese rulers, who are the jealous guardians of Chinese ascendancy over the nomads.

During our stay at Bogdo-Kuren wе heard terrible reports of the Dungans, i.e. the Mahomedan insurgents, who had just plundered Uliassutai, and threatened Urga with a similar fate. Their apprehensions for this city, which is of such importance in