the great conqueror, jenghiz khan, the son of sad, stern, severemongolia, according to an old mongolian legend "mounted to the topof karasu togol and with his eyes of an eagle looked to the westand the east. in the west he saw whole seas of human blood overwhich floated a bloody fog that blanketed all the horizon. therehe could not discern his fate. but the gods ordered him to proceedto the west, leading with him all his warriors and mongoliantribes. to the east he saw wealthy towns, shining temples, crowdsof happy people, gardens and fields of rich earth, all of whichpleased the great mongol. he said to his sons: 'there in the westi shall be fire and sword, destroyer, avenging fate; in the east ishall come as the merciful, great builder, bringing happiness tothe people and to the land.'"thus runs the legend. i found much of truth in it. i had passedover much of his road to the west and always identified it by theold tombs and the impertinent monuments of stone to the mercilessconqueror. i saw also a part of the eastern road of the hero, overwhich he traveled to china. once when we were making a trip out ofuliassutai we stopped the night in djirgalantu. the old host ofthe ourton, knowing me from my previous trip to narabanchi,welcomed us very kindly and regaled us with stories during ourevening meal. among other things he led us out of the yurta andpointed out a mountain peak brightly lighted by the full moon andrecounted to us the story of one of the sons of jenghiz, afterwardsemperor of china, indo-china and mongolia, who had been attractedby the beautiful scenery and grazing lands of djirgalantu and hadfounded here a town. this was soon left without inhabitants, forthe mongol is a nomad who cannot live in artificial cities. theplain is his house and the world his town. for a time this townwitnessed battles between the chinese and the troops of jenghizkhan but afterwards it was forgotten. at present there remainsonly a half-ruined tower, from which in the early days the heavyrocks were hurled down upon the heads of the enemy, and thedilapidated gate of kublai, the grandson of jenghiz khan. againstthe greenish sky drenched with the rays of the moon stood out thejagged line of the mountains and the black silhouette of the towerwith its loopholes, through which the alternate scudding clouds andlight flashed.
when our party left uliassutai, we traveled on leisurely, makingthirty-five to fifty miles a day until we were within sixty milesof zain shabi, where i took leave of the others to go south to thisplace in order to keep my engagement with colonel kazagrandi. thesun had just risen as my single mongol guide and i without any packanimals began to ascend the low, timbered ridges, from the top ofwhich i caught the last glimpses of my companions disappearing downthe valley. i had no idea then of the many and almost fataldangers which i should have to pass through during this trip bymyself, which was destined to prove much longer than i hadanticipated. as we were crossing a small river with sandy shores,my mongol guide told me how the mongolians came there during thesummer to wash gold, in spite of the prohibitions of the lamas.
the manner of working the placer was very primitive but the resultstestified clearly to the richness of these sands. the mongol liesflat on the ground, brushes the sand aside with a feather and keepsblowing into the little excavation so formed. from time to time hewets his finger and picks up on it a small bit of grain gold or adiminutive nugget and drops these into a little bag hanging underhis chin. in such manner this primitive dredge wins about aquarter of an ounce or five dollars' worth of the yellow metal perday.
i determined to make the whole distance to zain shabi in a singleday. at the ourtons i hurried them through the catching andsaddling of the horses as fast as i could. at one of thesestations about twenty-five miles from the monastery the mongolsgave me a wild horse, a big, strong white stallion. just as i wasabout to mount him and had already touched my foot to the stirrup,he jumped and kicked me right on the leg which had been wounded inthe ma-chu fight. the leg soon began to swell and ache. at sunseti made out the first russian and chinese buildings and later themonastery at zain. we dropped into the valley of a small streamwhich flowed along a mountain on whose peak were set white rocksforming the words of a tibetan prayer. at the bottom of thismountain was a cemetery for the lamas, that is, piles of bones anda pack of dogs. at last the monastery lay right below us, a commonsquare surrounded with wooden fences. in the middle rose a largetemple quite different from all those of western mongolia, not inthe chinese but in the tibetan style of architecture, a whitebuilding with perpendicular walls and regular rows of windows inblack frames, with a roof of black tiles and with a most unusualdamp course laid between the stone walls and the roof timbers andmade of bundles of twigs from a tibetan tree which never rots.
another small quadrangle lay a little to the east and containedrussian buildings connected with the monastery by telephone.
"that is the house of the living god of zain," the mongolexplained, pointing to this smaller quadrangle. "he likes russiancustoms and manners."to the north on a conical-shaped hill rose a tower that recalledthe babylonian zikkurat. it was the temple where the ancient booksand manuscripts were kept and the broken ornaments and objects usedin the religious ceremonies together with the robes of deceasedhutuktus preserved. a sheer cliff rose behind this museum, whichit was impossible for one to climb. on the face of this werecarved images of the lamaite gods, scattered about without anyspecial order. they were from one to two and a half metres high.
at night the monks lighted lamps before them, so that one could seethese images of the gods and goddesses from far away.
we entered the trading settlement. the streets were deserted andfrom the windows only women and children looked out. i stoppedwith a russian firm whose other branches i had known throughout thecountry. much to my astonishment they welcomed me as anacquaintance. it appeared that the hutuktu of narabanchi had sentword to all the monasteries that, whenever i should come, they mustall render me aid, inasmuch as i had saved the narabanchi monasteryand, by the clear signs of the divinations, i was an incarnatebuddha beloved of the gods. this letter of this kindly disposedhutuktu helped me very much--perhaps i should even say more, thatit saved me from death. the hospitality of my hosts proved ofgreat and much needed assistance to me because my injured leg hadswelled and was aching severely. when i took off my boot, i foundmy foot all covered with blood and my old wound re-opened by theblow. a felcher was called to assist me with treatment andbandaging, so that i was able to walk again three days later.
i did not find colonel kazagrandi at zain shabi. after destroyingthe chinese gamins who had killed the local commandant, he hadreturned via van kure. the new commandment handed me the letter ofkazagrandi, who very cordially asked me to visit him after i hadrested in zain. a mongolian document was enclosed in the lettergiving me the right to receive horses and carts from herd to herdby means of the "urga," which i shall later describe and whichopened for me an entirely new vista of mongolian life and countrythat i should otherwise never have seen. the making of thisjourney of over two hundred miles was a very disagreeable task forme; but evidently kazagrandi, whom i had never met, had seriousreasons for wishing this meeting.
at one o'clock the day after my arrival i was visited by the local"very god," gheghen pandita hutuktu. a more strange andextraordinary appearance of a god i could not imagine. he was ashort, thin young man of twenty or twenty-two years with quick,nervous movements and with an expressive face lighted anddominated, like the countenances of all the mongol gods, by large,frightened eyes. he was dressed in a blue silk russian uniformwith yellow epaulets with the sacred sign of pandita hutuktu, inblue silk trousers and high boots, all surmounted by a whiteastrakhan cap with a yellow pointed top. at his girdle a revolverand sword were slung. i did not know quite what to think of thisdisguised god. he took a cup of tea from the host and began totalk with a mixture of mongolian and russian.
"not far from my kure is located the ancient monastery of erdenidzu, erected on the site of the ruins of karakorum, the ancientcapital of jenghiz khan and afterwards frequently visited by kublaikahn for sanctuary and rest after his labors as emperor of china,india, persia, afghanistan, mongolia and half of europe. now onlyruins and tombs remain to mark this former 'garden of beatificdays.' the pious monks of baroun kure found in the undergroundchambers of the ruins manuscripts that were much older than erdenidzu itself. in these my maramba meetchik-atak found the predictionthat the hutuktu of zain who should carry the title of 'pandita,'
should be but twenty-one years of age, be born in the heart of thelands of jenghiz khan and have on his chest the natural sign of theswastika--such hutuktu would be honored by the people in the daysof a great war and trouble, would begin the fight with the servantsof red evil and would conquer them and bring order into theuniverse, celebrating this happy day in the city with white templesand with the songs of ten thousand bells. it is i, panditahutuktu! the signs and symbols have met in me. i shall destroythe bolsheviki, the bad 'servants of the red evil,' and in moscow ishall rest from my glorious and great work. therefore i have askedcolonel kazagrandi to enlist me in the troops of baron ungern andgive me the chance to fight. the lamas seek to prevent me fromgoing but who is the god here?"he very sternly stamped his foot, while the lamas and guard whoaccompanied him reverently bowed their heads.
as he left he presented me with a hatyk and, rummaging through mysaddle bags, i found a single article that might be consideredworthy as a gift for a hutuktu, a small bottle of osmiridium, thisrare, natural concomitant of platinum.
"this is the most stable and hardest of metals," i said. "let itbe the sign of your glory and strength, hutuktu!"the pandita thanked me and invited me to visit him. when i hadrecovered a little, i went to his house, which was arranged ineuropean style: electric lights, push bells and telephone. hefeasted me with wine and sweets and introduced me to two veryinteresting personages, one an old tibetan surgeon with a facedeeply pitted by smallpox, a heavy thick nose and crossed eyes. hewas a peculiar surgeon, consecrated in tibet. his duties consistedin treating and curing hutuktus when they were ill and . . . inpoisoning them when they became too independent or extravagant orwhen their policies were not in accord with the wishes of thecouncil of lamas of the living buddha or the dalai lama. by nowpandita hutuktu probably rests in eternal peace on the top of somesacred mountain, sent thither by the solicitude of hisextraordinary court physician. the martial spirit of panditahutuktu was very unwelcome to the council of lamas, who protestedagainst the adventuresomeness of this "living god."pandita liked wine and cards. one day when he was in the companyof russians and dressed in a european suit, some lamas came runningto announce that divine service had begun and that the "living god"must take his place on the altar to be prayed to but he had goneout from his abode and was playing cards! without any confusionpandita drew his red mantle of the hutuktu over his european coatand long grey trousers and allowed the shocked lamas to carry their"god" away in his palanquin.
besides the surgeon-poisoner i met at the hutuktu's a lad ofthirteen years, whose youthfulness, red robe and cropped hair ledme to suppose he was a bandi or student servant in the home of thehutuktu; but it turned out otherwise. this boy was the firsthubilgan, also an incarnate buddha, an artful teller of fortunesand the successor of pandita hutuktu. he was drunk all the timeand a great card player, always making side-splitting jokes thatgreatly offended the lamas.
that same evening i made the acquaintance of the second hubilganwho called on me, the real administrator of zain shabi, which is anindependent dominion subject directly to the living buddha. thishubilgan was a serious and ascetic man of thirty-two, well educatedand deeply learned in mongol lore. he knew russian and read muchin that language, being interested chiefly in the life and storiesof other peoples. he had a high respect for the creative genius ofthe american people and said to me:
"when you go to america, ask the americans to come to us and leadus out from the darkness that surrounds us. the chinese andrussians will lead us to destruction and only the americans cansave us."it is a deep satisfaction for me to carry out the request of thisinfluential mongol, hubilgan, and to urge his appeal to theamerican people. will you not save this honest, uncorrupted butdark, deceived and oppressed people? they should not be allowed toperish, for within their souls they carry a great store of strongmoral forces. make of them a cultured people, believing in theverity of humankind; teach them to use the wealth of their land;and the ancient people of jenghiz khan will ever be your faithfulfriends.
when i had sufficiently recovered, the hutuktu invited me to travelwith him to erdeni dzu, to which i willingly agreed. on thefollowing morning a light and comfortable carriage was brought forme. our trip lasted five days, during which we visited erdeni dzu,karakorum, hoto-zaidam and hara-balgasun. all these are the ruinsof monasteries and cities erected by jenghiz khan and hissuccessors, ugadai khan and kublai in the thirteenth century. nowonly the remnants of walls and towers remain, some large tombs andwhole books of legends and stories.
"look at these tombs!" said the hutuktu to me. "here the son ofkhan uyuk was buried. this young prince was bribed by the chineseto kill his father but was frustrated in his attempt by his ownsister, who killed him in her watchful care of her old father, theemperor and khan. there is the tomb of tsinilla, the belovedspouse of khan mangu. she left the capital of china to go to kharabolgasun, where she fell in love with the brave shepherd damcharen,who overtook the wind on his steed and who captured wild yaks andhorses with his bare hands. the enraged khan ordered hisunfaithful wife strangled but afterwards buried her with imperialhonors and frequently came to her tomb to weep for his lost love.""and what happened to damcharen?" i inquired.
the hutuktu himself did not know; but his old servant, the realarchive of legends, answered:
"with the aid of ferocious chahar brigands he fought with china fora long time. it is, however, unknown how he died."among the ruins the monks pray at certain fixed times and they alsosearch for sacred books and objects concealed or buried in thedebris. recently they found here two chinese rifles and two goldrings and big bundles of old manuscripts tied with leather thongs.
"why did this region attract the powerful emperors and khans whoruled from the pacific to the adriatic?" i asked myself. certainlynot these mountains and valleys covered with larch and birch, notthese vast sands, receding lakes and barren rocks. it seems that ifound the answer.
the great emperors, remembering the vision of jenghiz khan, soughthere new revelations and predictions of his miraculous, majesticdestiny, surrounded by the divine honors, obeisance and hate.
where could they come into touch with the gods, the good and badspirits? only there where they abode. all the district of zainwith these ancient ruins is just such a place.
"on this mountain only such men can ascend as are born of thedirect line of jenghiz khan," the pandita explained to me. "halfway up the ordinary man suffocates and dies, if he ventures to gofurther. recently mongolian hunters chased a pack of wolves upthis mountain and, when they came to this part of the mountainside,they all perished. there on the slopes of the mountain lie thebones of eagles, big horned sheep and the kabarga antelope, lightand swift as the wind. there dwells the bad demon who possessesthe book of human destinies.""this is the answer," i thought.
in the western caucasus i once saw a mountain between soukhoum kaleand tuopsei where wolves, eagles and wild goats also perish, andwhere men would likewise perish if they did not go on horsebackthrough this zone. there the earth breathes out carbonic acid gasthrough holes in the mountainside, killing all animal life. thegas clings to the earth in a layer about half a metre thick. menon horseback pass above this and the horses always hold their headsway up and snuff and whinny in fear until they cross the dangerouszone. here on the top of this mountain where the bad demon perusesthe book of human destinies is the same phenomenon, and i realizedthe sacred fear of the mongols as well as the stern attraction ofthis place for the tall, almost gigantic descendants of jenghizkhan. their heads tower above the layers of poisonous gas, so thatthey can reach the top of this mysterious and terrible mountain.
also it is possible to explain this phenomenon geologically,because here in this region is the southern edge of the coaldeposits which are the source of carbonic acid and swamp gases.
not far from the ruins in the lands of hun doptchin djamtso thereis a small lake which sometimes burns with a red flame, terrifyingthe mongols and herds of horses. naturally this lake is rich withlegends. here a meteor formerly fell and sank far into the earth.
in the hole this lake appeared. now, it seems, the inhabitants ofthe subterranean passages, semi-man and semi-demon, are laboring toextract this "stone of the sky" from its deep bed and it is settingthe water on fire as it rises and falls back in spite of theirevery effort. i did not see the lake myself but a russian colonisttold me that it may be petroleum on the lake that is fired eitherfrom the campfires of the shepherds or by the blazing rays of thesun.
at any rate all this makes it very easy to understand theattractions for the great mongol potentates. the strongestimpression was produced upon me by karakorum, the place where thecruel and wise jenghiz khan lived and laid his gigantic plans foroverrunning all the west with blood and for covering the east witha glory never before seen. two karakorums were erected by jenghizkhan, one here near tatsa gol on the caravan road and the other inpamir, where the sad warriors buried the greatest of humanconquerors in the mausoleum built by five hundred captives who weresacrificed to the spirit of the deceased when their work was done.
the warlike pandita hutuktu prayed on the ruins where the shades ofthese potentates who had ruled half the world wandered, and hissoul longed for the chimerical exploits and for the glory ofjenghiz and tamerlane.
on the return journey we were invited not far from zain to visit avery rich mongol by the way. he had already prepared the yurtassuitable for princes, ornamented with rich carpets and silkdraperies. the hutuktu accepted. we arranged ourselves on thesoft pillows in the yurtas as the hutuktu blessed the mongol,touching his head with his holy hand, and received the hatyks. thehost then had a whole sheep brought in to us, boiled in a hugevessel. the hutuktu carved off one hind leg and offered it to me,while he reserved the other for himself. after this he gave alarge piece of meat to the smallest son of the host, which was thesign that pandita hutuktu invited all to begin the feast. in atrice the sheep was entirely carved or torn up and in the hands ofthe banqueters. when the hutuktu had thrown down by the brazierthe white bones without a trace of meat left on them, the host onhis knees withdrew from the fire a piece of sheepskin andceremoniously offered it on both his hands to the hutuktu. panditabegan to clean off the wool and ashes with his knife and, cuttingit into thin strips, fell to eating this really tasty course. itis the covering from just above the breast bone and is called inmongolian tarach or "arrow." when a sheep is skinned, this smallsection is cut out and placed on the hot coals, where it is broiledvery slowly. thus prepared it is considered the most dainty bit ofthe whole animal and is always presented to the guest of honor. itis not permissible to divide it, such is the strength of the customand ceremony.
after dinner our host proposed a hunt for bighorns, a large herd ofwhich was known to graze in the mountains within less than a milefrom the yurtas. horses with rich saddles and bridles were led up.
all the elaborate harness of the hutuktu's mount was ornamentedwith red and yellow bits of cloth as a mark of his rank. aboutfifty mongol riders galloped behind us. when we left our horses,we were placed behind the rocks roughly three hundred paces apartand the mongols began the encircling movement around the mountain.
after about half an hour i noticed way up among the rocks somethingflash and soon made out a fine bighorn jumping with tremendoussprings from rock to rock, and behind him a herd of some twenty oddhead leaping like lightning over the ground. i was vexed beyondwords when it appeared that the mongols had made a mess of it andpushed the herd out to the side before having completed theircircle. but happily i was mistaken. behind a rock right ahead ofthe herd a mongol sprang up and waved his hands. only the bigleader was not frightened and kept right on past the unarmed mongolwhile all the rest of the herd swung suddenly round and rushedright down upon me. i opened fire and dropped two of them. thehutuktu also brought down one as well as a musk antelope that cameunexpectedly from behind a rock hard by. the largest pair of hornsweighed about thirty pounds, but they were from a young sheep.
the day following our return to zain shabi, as i was feeling quiterecovered, i decided to go on to van kure. at my leave-taking fromthe hutuktu i received a large hatyk from him together with warmestexpressions of thanks for the present i had given him on the firstday of our acquaintance.
"it is a fine medicine!" he exclaimed. "after our trip i feltquite exhausted but i took your medicine and am now quiterejuvenated. many, many thanks!"the poor chap had swallowed my osmiridium. to be sure it could notharm him; but to have helped him was wonderful. perhaps doctors inthe occident may wish to try this new, harmless and very cheapremedy--only eight pounds of it in the whole world--and i merelyask that they leave me the patent rights for it for mongolia,barga, sinkiang, koko nor and all the other lands of central asia.
an old russian colonist went as guide for me. they gave me a bigbut light and comfortable cart hitched and drawn in a marvelousway. a straight pole four metres long was fastened athwart thefront of the shafts. on either side two riders took this poleacross their saddle pommels and galloped away with me across theplains. behind us galloped four other riders with four extrahorses.
