The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1924-02-27

hci6iobo OSNi
prepared by the National Geographic Sc
ciety, Washington. d. CO.
Any list of world capitals should In
clude Urga. AS If claiming the p0
litical capitalship of Mongolia wer
not enough, Urga, on its high fla
tain, also requires recognition as re
ligious capital Of Lamaism, and as {
fur capital without peer not only II
Mongolia but probably In all Asia.
Like Gaul, Urga Is divided into
three parts, but its parts are Russian
Chinese and Monaghan. The Russian
quarter stands out sharply with Its
church towers shaped like Christmas
tree ornaments and quaint green anC
white cottages. Chinese merchants
and growers live in their native shacks
while the Mongolians cling to their
felt "yurt," a round tent adapted to
sold plains winds. The fur market
draws all classes into a colorful
market turmoil where furs of the
steppe land and furs of the forest
change hands and are hurried off to
other markets In other lands.
Were Skipper Jason of ancient
Greece to take up his famous fur
search in 1924 he would have to pilot
ship of the desert instead Of gal
ley because Mongolia, by the whim Of
the American lady of fashion, is now
the land of the golden fleece and Urga
its chief port on sea of plains.
For the last two years skins of
newly born Mongollan lambs have
brought a shower Of wealth to the as
tonished shepherds of the southern
Siberian steppes and the Chinese
merchants of the Asian fur mart be-
cause of a decree of STYLE AS the
lady of fashion trips her way down
Fifth avenue or Michigan boulevard
in her trim short jacket of sandy
hued, close-curled fur, she little real
ICES the life history Of that lambskin
coat which graces her shoulders, or
the vast power she yields In many
obscure places by following the latest
fads.
The style for curled lambskin fur
is one of the many witnesses that
the lady of fashion Is a person of
Importance, worthy, perhaps, of a seat
on the right of prime ministers or, fall
ing that, between the dignif1ed min
listers of commerce and foreign affairs.
In remote regions her influence some
times ranks with that of missionary
cohorts. She scatters her gifts more
extravagantly than any spendthrift
monarch the world has known. AS
lnconstant as the wind, she pours
wealth into some land beyond the seas |
one day and leaves 1t starving in dire |
poverty the next.
Two years ago she enriched primi-
tive black tribes of central Africa,
paying exorbitant prices for monkey
fur. Some years back she sent bull
lion to the tropics for dainty head
tufts Of species Of heron. The
aigret is now outlawed. Natives of
another part of Africa found gold in
ostrich feathers but that mine soon
vas worked out. Inscriptions
hunters once made fortunes killing
seals on North Pacific islands for this
same lady. but this year 10000 seal
skins owned by the United States gov
,rnment were drug on the market"
Distance, evidently, makes her heart
row fonder.
In a Remote Region.
Urga is so far from Picking, even,
hat 1t is considered good time If a let
err dispatched at Picking is received at
Jrga two months later. Although this
lily Is 300 miles from the narrow
auge Trans-Siberian railroad. 1t Is
more than 1000 miles by road from
he terminus of the nearest Chinese
abroad. The overland trail is not
n easy one. For centuries the camel
ED the transportation monopoly of :
he winding track across the Cobb
esert, but today the camel must com
etc with the automobile =,
In Urga the native Mongols sell their
urly-balred lambskins and from Urga !
he hides start on their long journey !
D the United States, England, and +.
rance. A number of great fur houses {
ow maintain resident buyers at Urga {
nd other firms send their agents to 7
he mart in fur sale seasons. To I
ay this inland, isolated mid-Asia state G
supplying American stores and show S
'indows not only with Monaghan c
imb, but also with sable, martens, /
thousands upon thousands of G
quirrel pelts and wolf, fox, and goat a
kins. In fact Mongolia stole some Of S
frica's thunder by sending out goat $
kins to be dyed and sold for monkey n
nr. C