The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1888-02-17
8. WHOLE NO. 971.
M0NG0LIAN TARTARS.
A MISSIONARIES RECITAL OF TIN
YEARS LABOR WITH THEM.

A Wild, Ungovernable Race Living i'm
Tents-The Great Temple of Thibet.
Mines of Coal, Copper and Silver
Hunting the Chamois.
A strangely stirred Belgian priest arrived
on the last steamer from China. He is Rev.
Father Gundy, president of the Roman Catho-
lie missions in Mongolia, where he has been
arduously laboring for ten years past He is
man Of about 10 years of age, with full
flowing beard and rich silken gown of an
Oriental design Other marks of dress be-
tokened him q resident of land most remote
from ou1s.@o-A reporter sought un interview
with him. He said:
my life work has been with the Tartars
who lnhabit Mongolia, and the scenes of my
work have been close by the great wall of
China. The commercial emporium of Mon
golia is kalgan, a town of 10, 600 inhabitants.
1t is here that the Russians come to buy
chamois skins and tea, which the Chinese
residents of Mongolia raise in immense guam
titles. The Mongolians themselves despise
tilling the ground, and as the land belongs to
the different tribes their chiefs have been
selling it off to the Chinese
'The Mongolians are descendants of the
old Tartars, and raise tens of thousands of
cattle and horses. Beyond this they do moth.
ing except hunt. They are a wild, ungovern-
able race, living in tents They are magnifi.
cent horsemen, something like your wild H.
dians. Their religion is Tartaric Buddhism.
One of their sacred temples is at Kunbun. In
Thibet is the great temple of U Lassa, con-
structed after the manner of all Indian
Buddhist temple. Only one or two Euro
peans have ever been admitted within its
sacred precincts. They think the mere all
mission of a foreigner within its portals
would forever iefilc it.
THE RUSSIAN INVASION
''The Russians, who tried to invade this
country three years ago, have relinquished
their effort. They got two collsulates estab-
lished OH the Mongolian coast, and they have
had to give way. They now have open ports
as far as Peking, but no farther. All the
talk you hear OF invasions from the Russians
now goes for nothing. Mongolia is under
the domain of China
"The country is largely desert, although
with water it is exceedingly productive.
There are very rich mines of copper and sill
yer as well as magnificent beds of coal. Mon
golia is colder than China, and consequently
~AAS A~AAAAo
like the Chinese, put on more clothes. They
are unlike the Chinese entirely otherwise,
being more aggressive and warlike. They
are not a tractable race by any means.
Hunting the chamois is great sport with
the Mongolians They are skilled horsemen
and dead shots with their weapons, variety
of which they use. They are also skillful
with the dart.
"In the ten years that have been there
we have succeeded in converting about Is 600
OF these wild Tartars. Though wild they are
open to civilizing and humanizing influences;
but there are so many of them, and their
country is so large, that it takes long while
to make much effect upon them as mass"
The reverend gentleman is going home to
Belgium. He is accompanied by wealthy
resident Of Brussels, Viscount de Benghem,
who, from March to July last, has been MAX
ing tour of certain parts of Mongolia and
studying up the habits of the natives.-San
Francisco Examiner Interview.