In summer the men wear wide trousers and a shirt of calico, in most cases blue. Over this they place a long robe, which is buttoned upon the shoulder and side. This is of blue or brown cotton, but sometimes of red or dark green silk. The lamas, or church people— the religion being Buddhism —affcct yellow. This robe is gathered in at the waist by a cloth girdle whence, to the right, hangs a knife, and to the left a tobacco bag and tinder box.
Boots with pointed upturned toe and high heel, generally of red leather with a thick sole, complete the accoutrement. The fact that the Mongolian shoemakers make but one size of footgear explains why the son can wear the boots of his father, and why the Mongolian (who also is naturally lazy) does not like to take even the shortest walks afoot. He be strides his horse in order to travel a distance of a hundred paces, and it is only during the coldest weather that he decides to dismount from his steed in order to walk half a mile or more.
The Mongolians shave and wear a cue. The headgear or national hat consists of a small cone of figured silk or damask, which forms the skull-cap. The rim, which is of black velvet, is turned up so as to describe an acute angle with the central cone. Behind, float two long wide ribbons, which are invariably of red silk. The button or the tuft that crowns the cone is likewise always red. When it rains (a rare event in the Khalka country) the velvet rim is turned down, and the hat assumes the form of an extinguisher that protects the ears and neck. In winter, these hats are replaced by a head gear trimmed with fur, squirrel among the poor, and sable among the rich, the change of hat is accompanied with a change of costume. The long cotton or silk tunic is replaced by a mantle of sheep or deer skin, or among the rich, by a long boat of silk trimmed and lined with costly fur.
The majority of the Mongolians are thin and emaciated. Although they are not strong, they are wiry and capable of withstanding consider able fatigue on horseback. But they object to muscular work. It takes two or three to lift a weight that could be easily handled by one Cos sack. To the European eye, they are, with their broad, flat noses, their high cheek-bones, and their little, beady eyes, intensely ugly. They are generally of a low stature, and sometimes have a certain nobility of countenance. Almost all have a kind, benevolent expression to which one soon becomes habituated.
In their youth, the women are prepossessing. Their lineaments are refined, their eyes lan guishing and their faces plump and smiling like those of the Japanese. They wear the same style of underclothing that the men do; the same boots and the same hat. But the married women wear a long tunic with very narrow sleeves that are generally red from the middle of the arm to the wrist, which is covered by a small point of the sleeve, if the latter is not rolled up. The robe may be blue, brown, violet, or red, but the sleeve is always red. Above the shoulder the sleeve is padded to a consid erable height. A tucker of this same red color
covers the top of the throat.' Maidens, whose robes resemble those of men, wear their hair in a single braid hanging down the back. The children go nude during the summer season, and it is not till they have reached the age of 10 that they are clad in the long national tunic. The name of the Mongolians became sud denly known in the 13th century, and the world was soon filled with the narratives of the ex ploits of these nomad warriors. The celebrated chief known to history as Jenghis-Khan (or Genghis-Khan) was born probably in 1162. By his ardor, courage and successes he grouped around him a band of young warriors, took part in a number of wars between the Chinese and Mongolians, fighting now on one side and now on the other, subjugated all the tribes living between Irtish and the Khingan Mountains, and in 1206, at the diet of the Mongolian nobles that he had assembled, received the title of Jenghis-Khan, or "the most powerful prince,* under which he was to be known to posterity. Marching from conquest to conquest, he soon became master of the southern provinces of China, and in 1210 made himself master of Bok hara and Samarkand. Seven years later, he died, while his army divided into three parts, one of which marched against Afghanistan, an other against Russia and the third completed the conquest of China. In 1237 the whole of Russia, except Novgorod, was paying tribute to the Mongolians, who next invaded Poland and Silesia, and finally Moravia and Hungary. At this period the power of the Mongolians was at its apogee; but, at the end of the 13th cen tury, it declined, and in 1368 these people were driven from China, and the prince who had occupied the Chinese throne returned to the steppes of the north, with his vassals, where he reigned over his fellow countrymen only. A century later, the Mongolians were beaten and dispersed by the Russians, who had been their vassals for two centuries. Subsequently, the Khans of southern Mongolia acknowledged themselves vassals of the emperor, Son of Heaven, the Northern Mongo lia, that is to say, the country of the Khalkas, divided into four principalities, remained inde pendent for a longer time, but in 1691 placed Itself under the protection of the emperor of China. Soon after the Chinese Revolution in 1912, Outer Mongolia declared its independence which was recognized by the Russian Govern ment in a convention and protocol signed at Urga, 3 Nov. 1912. On 5 Nov. 1913 at Peking, Russia and China reached an agreement to recognize Outer Mongolia as territory under Chinese suzerainty, China recognizing its au tonomy. Frontier and other questions were settled Jnne 1915, at a tripartite conference be tween Mongolians. Chinese and Russians.
Consult Bulstrode, B., 'A Tour in Mongolia) (London 1916) ; Carruthers, D., 'Unknown Mongolia) (London 1913) ; Gilmour, J., 'Among the (London 1888; 1893) ; Podsnieff, A., 'Mongolia and the (7 vols., Saint Petersburg 1896).