Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/99

Rh only the worst features of their character, and are degenerate mongrels, without either the honesty of the Mongol or the industry of the Chinaman. The dress of the Chakhars is the same as that worn by the Chinese, whom they resemble in features, having generally a drawn or angular, rather than a flat or round face. This change of type is produced by frequent intermarriages between the Chakhar men and Chinese women; the offspring of this union of race is called Erlidzi. Other Mongols, particularly the Khalkas, detest them as much as they do the Chinese, and our drivers always kept watch at night while travelling through this country, because they said that all its inhabitants were the greatest thieves.

The Chakhar country is badly watered, but a few lakes may now and again be seen, the largest of which is Lake Anguli-nor. It is only when you get near the border of the plateau, and after you have passed some small streams, that the first signs of cultivation and settled life appear. The Chinese villages and cultivated fields plainly tell the traveller that he has at last left the wild desert behind him, and has entered a country more congenial to man.

At length, far away on the horizon, can be discerned the dim outlines of that range which forms so distinct a definition between the high chilly plateau of Mongolia and the warm plains of China Proper. This range is thoroughly Alpine. Steep hill-sides, deep valleys, lofty precipices, sharp peaks often crowned with overhanging rocks and an VOL. I