Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 60 (Color Image)

0060	Among the Celestials : vol.1

36 AMONG THE CELESTIALS. [CHAP. II.

comfort ; to get even this was such a luxury

that I was sorely tempted to feign sickness

for another day to obtain more ! But here

was the pure article in any quantity, and as

rich and thick with cream as any from Devon-

shire.

Of the Mongols we saw very little. They

were probably removed from the main line of

traffic, to keep well clear of the shady characters

who might frequent it. We only came across

two of the felt yurts which are their character-

istic abodes, and those Mongols whom we did

meet lived in houses, and were more or less

tamed and settled.

At length, on September 20, we reached

Tsi-tsi-har, a large town of about forty or fifty

thousand inhabitants, and the seat of govern-

ment of the province of the same name, which

fills up the whole of North Manchuria. But

there was little to see beyond the ordinary

shops, the dirty streets, and tumble-down

temples of any Chinese town. This was the

most northern point we reached. Winter was

approaching, and already we had felt some

touches of frost. We had yet much ground to

get over, and so we struck off back again

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