"Noyon has the right of 'urga.' Horses will be brought very soon."He jumped into his saddle, took two of my Mongols with him,providing them and himself with long thin poles, four or fivemetres in length, and fitted at the end with a loop of rope, andgalloped away. My cart moved behind them. We left the road,crossed the plain for an hour and came upon a big herd4 of horsesgrazing there. The Mongol began to catch a quota5 of them for uswith his pole and noose6 or urga, when out of the mountains nearbycame galloping7 the owners of the herds8. When the old Mongol showedmy papers to them, they submissively acquiesced9 and substitutedfour of their men for those who had come with me thus far. In thismanner the Mongols travel, not along the ourton or station road butdirectly from one herd to another, where the fresh horses arecaught and saddled and the new owners substituted for those of thelast herd. All the Mongols so effected by the right of urga try tofinish their task as rapidly as possible and gallop3 like mad forthe nearest herd in your general direction of travel to turn overtheir task to their neighbor. Any traveler having this right ofurga can catch horses himself and, if there are no owners, canforce the former ones to carry on and leave the animals in the nextherd he requisitions. But this happens very rarely because theMongol never likes to seek out his animals in another's herd, as italways gives so many chances for controversy10.
It was from this custom, according to one explanation, that thetown of Urga took its name among outsiders. By the Mongolsthemselves it is always referred to as Ta Kure, "The GreatMonastery." The reason the Buriats and Russians, who were thefirst to trade into this region, called it Urga was because it wasthe principal destination of all the trading expeditions whichcrossed the plains by this old method or right of travel. A secondexplanation is that the town lies in a "loop" whose sides areformed by three mountain ridges12, along one of which the River Tolaruns like the pole or stick of the familiar urga of the plains.
Thanks to this unique ticket of urga I crossed quite untraveledsections of Mongolia for about two hundred miles. It gave me thewelcome opportunity to observe the fauna13 of this part of thecountry. I saw many huge herds of Mongolian antelopes14 running fromfive to six thousand, many groups of bighorns, wapiti and kabargaantelopes. Sometimes small herds of wild horses and wild assesflashed as a vision on the horizon.
In one place I observed a big colony of marmots. All over an areaof several square miles their mounds15 were scattered17 with the holesleading down to their runways below, the dwellings18 of the marmot.
In and out among these mounds the greyish-yellow or brown animalsran in all sizes up to half that of an average dog. They ranheavily and the skin on their fat bodies moved as though it weretoo big for them. The marmots are splendid prospectors19, alwaysdigging deep ditches, throwing out on the surface all the stones.
In many places I saw mounds the marmots had made from copper20 oreand farther north some from minerals containing wolfram andvanadium. Whenever the marmot is at the entrance of his hole, hesits up straight on his hind2 legs and looks like a bit of wood, asmall stump21 or a stone. As soon as he spies a rider in thedistance, he watches him with great curiosity and begins whistlingsharply. This curiosity of the marmots is taken advantage of bythe hunters, who sneak22 up to their holes flourishing streamers ofcloth on the tips of long poles. The whole attention of the smallanimals is concentrated on this small flag and only the bullet thattakes his life explains to him the reason for this previouslyunknown object.
I saw a very exciting picture as I passed through a marmot colonynear the Orkhon River. There were thousands of holes here so thatmy Mongols had to use all their skill to keep the horses frombreaking their legs in them. I noticed an eagle circling highoverhead. All of a sudden he dropped like a stone to the top of amound, where he sat motionless as a rock. The marmot in a fewminutes ran out of his hole to a neighbor's doorway25. The eaglecalmly jumped down from the top and with one wing closed theentrance to the hole. The rodent26 heard the noise, turned back andrushed to the attack, trying to break through to his hole where hehad evidently left his family. The struggle began. The eaglefought with one free wing, one leg and his beak27 but did notwithdraw the bar to the entrance. The marmot jumped at therapacious bird with great boldness but soon fell from a blow on thehead. Only then the eagle withdrew his wing, approached themarmot, finished him off and with difficulty lifted him in histalons to carry him away to the mountains for a tasty luncheon28.
In the more barren places with only occasional spears of grass inthe plain another species of rodent lives, called imouran, aboutthe size of a squirrel. They have a coat the same color as theprairie and, running about it like snakes, they collect the seedsthat are blown across by the wind and carry them down into theirdiminutive homes. The imouran has a truly faithful friend, theyellow lark29 of the prairie with a brown back and head. When hesees the imouran running across the plain, he settles on his back,flaps his wings in balance and rides well this swiftly gallopingmount, who gaily30 flourishes his long shaggy tail. The lark duringhis ride skilfully32 and quickly catches the parasites33 living on thebody of his friend, giving evidence of his enjoyment34 of his workwith a short agreeable song. The Mongols call the imouran "thesteed of the gay lark." The lark warns the imouran of the approachof eagles and hawks35 with three sharp whistles the moment he seesthe aerial brigand36 and takes refuge himself behind a stone or in asmall ditch. After this signal no imouran will stick his head outof his hole until the danger is past. Thus the gay lark and hissteed live in kindly37 neighborliness.
In other parts of Mongolia where there was very rich grass I sawanother type of rodent, which I had previously23 come across inUrianhai. It is a gigantic black prairie rat with a short tail andlives in colonies of from one to two hundred. He is interestingand unique as the most skilful31 farmer among the animals in hispreparation of his winter supply of fodder38. During the weeks whenthe grass is most succulent he actually mows39 it down with swiftjerky swings of his head, cutting about twenty or thirty stalkswith his sharp long front teeth. Then he allows his grass to cureand later puts up his prepared hay in a most scientific manner.
First he makes a mound16 about a foot high. Through this he pushesdown into the ground four slanting40 stakes, converging41 toward themiddle of the pile, and binds42 them close over the surface of thehay with the longest strands43 of grass, leaving the ends protrudingenough for him to add another foot to the height of the pile, whenhe again binds the surface with more long strands--all this to keephis winter supply of food from blowing away over the prairie. Thisstock he always locates right at the door of his den24 to avoid longwinter hauls. The horses and camels are very fond of this smallfarmer's hay, because it is always made from the most nutritiousgrass. The haycocks are so strongly made that one can hardly kickthem to pieces.
Almost everywhere in Mongolia I met either single pairs or wholeflocks of the greyish-yellow prairie partridges, salga or"partridge swallow," so called because they have long sharp tailsresembling those of swallows and because their flight also is aclose copy of that of the swallow. These birds are very tame orfearless, allowing men to come within ten or fifteen paces of them;but, when they do break, they go high and fly long distanceswithout lighting44, whistling all the time quite like swallows.
Their general markings are light grey and yellow, though the maleshave pretty chocolate spots on the backs and wings, while theirlegs and feet are heavily feathered.
My opportunity to make these observations came from travelingthrough unfrequented regions by the urga, which, however, had itscounterbalancing disadvantages. The Mongols carried me directlyand swiftly toward my destination, receiving with greatsatisfaction the presents of Chinese dollars which I gave them.
But after having made about five thousand miles on my Cossacksaddle that now lay behind me on the cart all covered with dustlike common merchandise, I rebelled against being wracked and tornby the rough riding of the cart as it was swung heedlessly overstones, hillocks and ditches by the wild horses with their equallywild riders, bounding and cracking and holding together onlythrough its tenacity45 of purpose in demonstrating the cosiness46 andattractiveness of a good Mongol equipage! All my bones began toache. Finally I groaned47 at every lunge and at last I suffered avery sharp attack of ischias or sciatica in my wounded leg. Atnight I could neither sleep, lie down nor sit with comfort andspent the whole night pacing up and down the plain, listening tothe loud snoring of the inhabitants of the yurta. At times I hadto fight the two huge black dogs which attacked me. The followingday I could endure the wracking only until noon and was then forcedto give up and lie down. The pain was unbearable48. I could notmove my leg nor my back and finally fell into a high fever. Wewere forced to stop and rest. I swallowed all my stock of aspirinand quinine but without relief. Before me was a sleepless49 nightabout which I could not think without weakening fear. We hadstopped in the yurta for guests by the side of a small monastery11.
My Mongols invited the Lama doctor to visit me, who gave me twovery bitter powders and assured me I should be able to continue inthe morning. I soon felt a stimulated50 palpitation of the heart,after which the pain became even sharper. Again I spent the nightwithout any sleep but when the sun arose the pain ceased instantlyand, after an hour, I ordered them to saddle me a horse, as I wasafraid to continue further in the cart.
While the Mongols were catching51 the horses, there came to my tentColonel N. N. Philipoff, who told me that he denied all theaccusations that he and his brother and Poletika were Bolshevikiand that Bezrodnoff allowed him to go to Van Kure to meet BaronUngern, who was expected there. Only Philipoff did not know thathis Mongol guide was armed with a bomb and that another Mongol hadbeen sent on ahead with a letter to Baron52 Ungern. He did not knowthat Poletika and his brothers were shot at the same time in ZainShabi. Philipoff was in a hurry and wanted to reach Van Kure thatday. I left an hour after him.
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1
espied
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| v.看到( espy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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quota
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| n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额 | |
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noose
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| n.绳套，绞索（刑）；v.用套索捉；使落入圈套；处以绞刑 | |
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galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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fauna
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| n.(一个地区或时代的)所有动物，动物区系 | |
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antelopes
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| 羚羊( antelope的名词复数 )； 羚羊皮革 | |
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mounds
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| 土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆 | |
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mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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prospectors
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| n.勘探者，探矿者( prospector的名词复数 ) | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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rodent
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| n.啮齿动物；adj.啮齿目的 | |
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beak
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| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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lark
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| n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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parasites
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| 寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫 | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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hawks
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| 鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物 | |
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brigand
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| n.土匪，强盗 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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fodder
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| n.草料；炮灰 | |
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mows
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| v.刈，割( mow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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converging
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| adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集 | |
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binds
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| v.约束( bind的第三人称单数 )；装订；捆绑；（用长布条）缠绕 | |
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43
strands
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| n.（线、绳、金属线、毛发等的）股( strand的名词复数 )；缕；海洋、湖或河的)岸；（观点、计划、故事等的）部份v.使滞留，使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 ) | |
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44
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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45
tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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cosiness
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| n.舒适，安逸 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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48
unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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49
sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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50
stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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51
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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52
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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