Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/175

Rh became more powerful, in their turn took to plundering.

'Had we but slain those three accursed girls,' remarked the Mongols, 'there would be no Kara-Tangutans now, and we should live in peace.' According to their reckoning eight generations have elapsed since the Oliuths came to this country.

For administrative purposes the district of Koko-nor includes a vast region besides the basin of the lake: viz. the upper Tatung-gol on the north, and the whole country to the borders of Tibet on the south; or in other words, the region comprising the sources and head waters of the Hoang-ho and Tsaidam, extending a long way to the north-west. The whole of this is divided into twenty-nine koshungs (banners), five of which lie on the right, i.e. western bank of the Upper Hoang-ho, five in Tsaidam, whilst the remaining nineteen are situated in the basin of the lake and on the upper Tatung-gol. With the exception of the five koshungs on the right bank of the Upper Hoang-ho, under the immediate control of the amban (governor) of Si-ning, all the administrative divisions are under two Tsiun-wangs, Tsing-hai-wang and Mur-wang, each having twelve koshungs under his supervision; the former governing the western or larger, the latter the eastern part of the country.

Our camels were quite done up and unfit for further use when we left Kan-su. Fortunately camels