National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

vessel, a ring and some other ornaments for the ethnographical collection. We also purchased a couple of chess-sets with curiously carved figures.'

The road took us further to the south-east and E. S. E. It consisted of a lot of parallel and shallow ruts from the wheels of carts and the tramp of camels' feet. At the foot of a ridge extended a couple of little lakes. The nearby village Atikinbuluk comprised twelve yurts. Here the Norwegian Mongolian Mission Ebenesar had been established since May 1929. Mr and Mrs KAiu. B. OLSEN, a Norwegian-American couple, were in charge. He gave one the impression of being a capable and enterprising man, addressing all alike with Biblical simplicity. As always with missionaries, we were regaled with endless coffees.

GUL-CHAGHAN

From here we set out in a north-easterly direction. There was a hard wind from the north-west, and one had to be well wrapped up to withstand the cold. At half-past eight we arrived at the Swedish station Gul-chaghan, where we found a whole Swedish colony: Mr and Mrs SKAL1,sJö and their three little children, Dr O1,LAN, a physician, and Miss DAGNY HANSEN.2

On the morning of November 15th we looked over the clinic, the pharmaceutical supplies, the operating-room, the sick-room with six beds and the schoolroom, which latter also served as a chapel. Altogether, the station boasted six houses.

MONTELL purchased twelve Mongol robes that Dr OLL N had received from patients in lieu of cash payment. The missionaries were glad to get rid of them, and we needed them for our collections.

Gul-chaghan is situated 17o kilometers W. N. W. of the town Dolon-nor, one of the places where lamaistic images are produced on a large scale. From this town and the surrounding countryside the Swedish missionaries lay in the stock of millet and oats that they need for the three stations belonging to the Swedish Mongol Mission. They buy about twenty tons for the winter, to feed forty children in Gul-chaghan, fifteen in Khadain-sume and ten in Doyen. A cart holds three hundred kilograms and this amount costs, including delivery, about thirty-five silver dollars. Thus, nearly sixty cartloads are needed. During the first part of the winter the merchants `hug' their stocks, in order to be able to raise the prices during the latter part of winter.

1 Cf MONTELL'S paper »Mongolian chess and chess-men» in Ethnos IV, Stockholm 1939. F. B.

2 Mr SKALLSJÖ and Dr OLLEN were carried away in February 1930 by typhoid at almost the same time. LARSON, who happened to be in Kalgan, drove up to Gul-chaghan in our car to take the bereaved women and children to a safer place.

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