Evening star., 1920-02-08
K|AKHTA, SIBERIA,
/ is coming CITY
Geographic Society Points to
Importance of Place Re-
=.
ported Taken by Reds.

akhta. Siberia. has been taken by the
reds. The Immediate results of the
occupation may soon place kiakhta
on the front page. since the report.
Of true, means that boIshevik forces
have turned the right flank of the
anttabolshevists in eastern Siberia,
who: must control the Baikal tunnels
or lose their main strategic barrier
OF defense or offensive line of COM
Inunication. But the greatness of
.Kiakhta lies in the past and future
eather than in the present. according
to a bulletin issued by the National
Geographic Society.
On Highway Linking Continents.
Where the caravans have rested
railway stations soon will lie," the
bulletin says. Even the aeroplane
follows historic trade routes. Kiakhta
is an important way station on
famous commercial highway that
.links two continents. 1t is $50 miles
esouth of Lake Baikal. Although the
completion of the TranSs berian rail-
way to Fladivostok caused a tempo
rary detour. Kiakhta is sure to be on
The railway that is to connect the tea
bibbers of Moscow and the tea mer-
chants of Hankow.
One railhead has been pushed
south from the Siberian border and
another line connects Peking to Kali
aan, so that there remains only
thousand miles of easy railway build
ing to shorten the tea route from
Hankow to the TransSi berian at
Nerhne- -Udinsk by one-half and to
obviate entirely the need for trans
porting across salt water the tea to
which Kiakhta owes its very being.
other beverages may have made
cities famous. but tea made kiakhta
itself. Just across the boundary line.
only.a stones throw away, is the Chi
nese companion city, Maimachen.
Two Cities Differ Vastly.
'Kiakhta and Maimachen face each
other across neutral zone only few
feet wide, but they are as different as
Two such Siamese twins among border
: cities can well be. Maimachen is Chin
' ese, bare and gray, filled with oriental
figures in the blue gowns of China,
kiakhfa is Russian, with churches and
great white houses and its inhabitants
wear the familiar blouse and boots of
the Russian from the Dnieper to the
Amuf.
'In Maimachen the teapot is king.
The samovar rules Kiakhta. The twin
cities form a station in the long route
between the tea-packing establishments
of HAnkow and the fair at Mini Nov
.'u ith me completion of the Trans
siberian. it became very simple thing
Z to load tea ships at Hankow, in the
heart Of China. and unload them at
Fladivostok, outpost of the Cars
realm, whence a direct railway led to
the heart Of Russia. Then the caravan
tea trade, which had reached 81. .0O0, 900
pounds a year. began to decline. The
long camel trains across the Cobb desert
l through Yurga, where dwells the chief
lama Of the Mongols. became fewer.
!. Tho desert journey of a thousand miles,
which pl0dding camels finished in forty
days. was supplanted by water and
RAN route much longer in distance but
shoeter in time.
Breaks "Camers Back
Steamers and box cars formed the
last straw which broke the camers
back as a tea carrier. But the tea
tasters at the Mini fair on the Volga
declared; that they could detect the de-
teriofatfon in quality due to transport
over q water route. and the connois-
seurs of Russia have secured con-
siderable amount of Hankow tea, much
Of It compressed into brick form, over
1.-The Cobb route. Until the iron horse
lakes tAs place ,9 Of h,, camel caravan IRA ,,nne or
for the{ Mongol and Buriat camel
drivers y do along the great tea trail
RecentiY there have been about 100000
cAmels used in tea transit alone. but
with the breakdown of the Trans
siberian caravans have been changed
from anachronism to necessity, and
between one and two million camels
are being used in Mongolia, Trans
baikalia and Manchuria.
Tho Mongols along this age-old
trail between Kalgan and Kiakhta are
good-natured and hospitable. They
are expert horsemen, and they still
capture their wives in true Lochinvar
style, although q previous arrange
ment 10 usually made with the father
Of the bride. Their felt yurts, or tent
homes. are almost bare of furniture,
and wealth is reckoned by the mum .
beP Of heads of live stock which the
individual possesses. Although they
are devout Biddhists. the Mongols find
strict vegetarianism in the desert an
unattainable ideal. They are popular
ousring hordes Of former days and AZ
owners Of the picturesque camels
which enliven the usual pictures of
the Tataf wall at Peking."