RECORDS OF THE JOURNEY.
and tried to persuade him to give up some coal mines, for the exploitation of which the Yögurs received certain payments from the Chinese. They were situated in the Livenku (Li Yuan) gorge. A sum of 3-4 lan a year is paid for the right of working a mine. As he declined to agree, they repaired to the mine and told the Chinese to ignore the Yögurs and thenceforward to pay the money to the Chinese authorities.
I was unable to obtain any information either from the Thumu or from the lamas concerning the origin of the tribe. Formerly they had inhabited a place or a country in Kou wai (outside the wall), probably to the north, which was called »Tanguta» in Chinese and Sedjc Hadje in their own language, and had moved very long ago to their present place of abode. When I mentioned that the Sarö Yögurs had come from Shidja Hadje, 45 days' journey to the W or SW, they said that they had come from the same place and that perhaps it lay to the W or NW. They did not know where Tanguta lay, how far off, whether it was mountainous country or a plain. Nor did they know if they had been governed by their own princes, nor the names of any of their ancestors. Documents concerning their origin had been preserved by the military mandarin at Li Yuan, but the Dungans had burnt his yamen and the documents were probably destroyed. One of the documents was supposed to have stated that they had immigrated and adopted Chinese nationality in the time of the Emperor Kang si, another that they had come here and lived by robbery. They seemed to believe that they had settled here in the time of the Emperor Kang si, but they had no idea as to when he reigned. A couple of lamas maintained that they had immigrated in the time of the Emperor Shundji and had built the Kanglungsu monastery, when they arrived. The name Kanglungsu was inscribed over the entrance to the temple in Chinese characters, the same sign appearing as in the name of Kang si. The tribe had been far more numerous and had numbered over 3,000 tents. They had driven away another tribe called »Khu mouza hsi fan» by the Chinese and »Sjamar» by the Tanguts. Their numbers had been reduced both by amalgamating with the Chinese element and by dying off. The population was still decreasing. Many of the women were childless and the women outnumbered the men considerably. There were about 3 children to a family, never more than 5 or 6. They did not intermarry with the Chinese nor with the Tanguts nowadays. Formerly, however, they intermarried with the latter. The Thumu said he was ignorant of this. There are a great many lamas, as among the Kalmuks. There were said to be quite loo of them. If a family has two or more sons, it is customary for one of them to become a lama. Weakly boys are also brought up to be lamas. They claim to be Mongols, but to belong to the same tribe as the Sarö Yögurs whom they consider to be »Tshentu» and whose name is not Sarö (yellow), but Qara (black) Yögurs. They believe that they immigrated at the same time and from the same Tatgetta.
In case of death the corpse is carried within 3-7 days into the mountains some distance from the tent and is left to be devoured by birds of prey. The eyes of the corpse are closed, but the limbs are not straightened. No importance is attached to the position of the body in regard to the points of the compass. Three days later the relatives go to see, if the corpse has been devoured by vultures, which proves that the deceased was a good man. If this is not the case, a lama is called upon to say prayers. The bodies of richer people are burnt
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