From the native standpoint the distinction enjoyed by Urga -or, to give its native name, Ta Kuren or Bogdo Kuren, meaning the sacred encampmentlies in the fact that it is the earthly abode of their Everliving God or Kutukhtu. To world, worldly. Possessing not a few traits which it might be thought must discredit his godlike attributes in the eyes of the Buddhist faithful, this extraordinary being yet remains the spiritual god of millions. to city, nor a village, Urga is a collection of yurts and wooden houses, sprinkled with Lama temples, the former surrounded as a rule by heavy log palings eight to ten feet high. The Russian settlement, in which was the European-built Russian To mention one only of such Consulate as well as the Cos- characteristics—he is unable sack fort, lies in the eastern to provide himself with the part of the town. The fort various objects upon which consisted of a modest earth- his ever-changing fancy settles work, whose ditch was pro- without having recourse tected by a barbed-wire en- the vulgar method of paying tanglement and trous-de-loups. for the same in brick tea, the "hard cash" of the surrounding country. Yet considerations such as these do not enter into the minds of the simple Mongols, who revere his name. Should any such disturbing thought flash through some more than usually inquisitive brain, who is there to offer an answer? Of a certainty not the common Lama. His business, so far as he can make it, is with his own concerns: how he shall live, not how he shall die; what the morrow may bring forth; what he shall eat and what he shall drink. Though it is true that as yet he confines himself to a scrip and perhaps a staff, it is only because the possession of these satisfies all his present needs. Mongols, Urga ranks next to Lhassa in sacred character, as containing the third figure in the Thibetan patriarchate. In the doctrine of the Lamas, as is well known, these earthly impersonations of God can never die, but are reincarnated by the passing of their souls after death into new-born infants. At the time of the writer's visit the Ever-living God was represented by a young man whose age was not yet thirty. He lived in a replica of the Russian Consulate, from whose representative, possibly, his abode was a votive offering. Any personification of the deity was said to be confined to public life. In private it was whispered he was of the It was a day of good luck which afforded the writer the chance of studying in the flesh such a remarkable entity as one of the spiritual heads of the Buddhist religion. Nor was the setting of the picture 1 Yurt a circular tent used by Mongols, Khirghiz, and such nomad tribes. The framework is of crossed sticks, the covering felt. VOL. CLXXVIII.—NO. MLXXVII. H BILZ simust iden ica v r r with ze Fapanese. in that both His vere indrets of don- moulders of the fefeated man rin der er must touch the ground before hara ng mark and he reef confess usei: van112 ore vio food meit. Such a successful and acte their wide 15Ciraw is the signal to both tention dzert 15on the scene in men a loose hold the winner she rng. ine of the only this time again commencgreat wrestling festas of the ing Mongus, come picked men prancings and antics, which, championa from every princi- as before, eventually land him paty, trine or family, coi- at the feet of the Ever-living lected here before the highest deity. It is fair to his holiness in the land to contest a bout or to add that he appeared quite to overthrow and defeat some sufficiently bored with the rival favourite. A victory in whole performance to entitle more exaggerated him to be credited with the manners of the latest civilisation. After a bout was ended and the obeisance made, the happy winner left the ring, to be welcomed by a whole crowd of proud and admiring friends, who proceeded to thrust him back into his clothes, carrying him off, no doubt to celebrate a glorious victory in many bowls of dirty tea and curds. Of the physique of the men there is little to remark. Unlike the more famous Japanese professors to be seen at Kioto or any of the great annual wrestling shows in that country, the Mongol is distinctly spare and sinewy. Nature and his own inclination have made him a born rider, though a horseman in our sense of the word he is not. And years spent in the saddle must tend after many generations to create a type. It was while engaged in watching the wrestling that a remark made to the writer on quite another occasion came back with some force. Whilst travelling in company with a Russian officer we discussed the Turcoman irregular cavalry, the merits of such troops, and numbers available at the call of their Russian masters. The statement was made that, in addition to 8000 or 10,000 Turcoman horsemen, on the face of it an exaggeration, swarms of mounted Kirghiz and Mongols would be available "when the day comes, as the Russian pithily expressed it. Whether the remark was made unconsciously, the speaker momentarily forgetful to whom he spoke, or whether with intentional arrière pensée, is not easy to say. Whether or no, the point is immaterial, the phrase alone was sufficient to fix it in one's mind, also serving to make all subsequent study of both Mongol and Kirghiz, as well as of all that appertained to their wild existence, of unusual interest. That either would make irregular cavalry of a high type is not the result of the writer's experience. Both are wanting in pluck and intelligence, nor has the proximity of Russian civilisation been in any sense to their advantage. To conquer, not civilise, might well be the motto adopted by the forward party in Asia. Of such ordinary attributes to civilisation as schools, education moral or physical, the conquered Asiatics know little. It is true some schools have been opened both in Russian Turkestan and other Central Asian territories; but that there is any serious intention to attempt to raise the moral nature or condition of the conquered Kirghiz or Mongols even a Russian would hardly consider worth arguing. In the present state of affairs in the Far East it is unsatisfactory, if not wellnigh impossible, to hold up particular causes as contributing to the general hopeless failure of Russia and of her methods. But among the many minor disappointments that the army has provided, few equal that modern war is the rule. If, caused by the total collapse then, the Cossack, with years of the much vaunted Cossack. of Russian training and, as In Europe a halo of romance has usually been considered by still clings round this pictur- those to whom he is unknown, esque fraud. Could, however, a natural aptitude for war, even a few of the wicked cannot be made of use, what atrocities perpetrated by him chance is there that the igupon defenceless Chinese dur- norant Kirghiz will surpass ing the period 1898-1902 in him? There is none. So let Manchuria under the cloak of us hope that the lessons of so-called war be exposed, he the present war may reach would soon find himself ex- even to far-away Urga, and ecrated for what he is-a blus- that this one at any rate tering, overbearing brigand may tend to confine the harmwhere defenceless women and less Mongol to his peaceful children are concerned, a fraud amusements. and a failure where cold-blooded PU-LU-SSU. A STUDY OF THE RUSSO - JAPANESE WAR. BY CHASSEUR. VII. THE OVERTHROW OF THE ARMADA. THE sanguinary encounter in the Straits of Tsushima which culminated in the practical annihilation of Rojdestvensky's armada by the 29th of May, complements to a very cona very considerable degree the forecast with which we closed the last article in this series. Although we expressed the belief that the success or failure of all battles lay on the knees of the gods, yet we committed ourselves to the assertion that Togo had "so many advantages in naval essentials that we cannot conceive any other issue except the one which, as allies, we desire." We also divined correctly the route which the Russian admiral took after entering Japan's colonial waters. Where we went astray-and of course we could only balance probabilities-v -was in the course of action which Rojdestvensky pursued after he sighted the island of Quelpart. Instead of reconnoitring the Tsushima Straits from some temporary anchorage, the Russian admiral selected to follow the almost puerile course of steaming at once into confined Japanese waters. There could only be two reasons for this course: either Rojdestvensky imagined that he had eluded a portion of the Japanese fleet and left it behind him in the Formosa Straits; or he was so confident in the main fighting strength of the battleship and the inferiority of the torpedo, that he was prepared to meet and fight Togo without taking into consideration strategical or geographical considerations. It cannot be that he had only sufficient coal to take him to Vladivostok, since it is definitely reported that Russian agents had made the coaling arrangements farther north along the Chinese coast, which we suggested as probable when writing before the event. These arrangements, however, may be now claimed as strategic counter-moves, made for the purpose of covering up the trail. Not that we believe that a false move like that would have deceived such an astute strategist as Admiral Togo. It is our impression, now that the action has been fought, that Rojdestvensky had abandoned as impracticable the only sound course which lay open to him, and had selected to hazard everything upon a fleet action. Possibly, while he was waiting on the coast of Annam, it may have been borne in upon him that the coal and supply question would take too long to perfect; or he may have received information which left him the sole choice to employ tactics which we cannot but condemn. |