CHAPTER X
MONGOLIA, IN ITS PRESENT ECONOMIC AND
POLITICAL RELATION TO THE RUSSIAN
AND CHINESE EMPIRES
IT is my object in the following chapter to indicate in a general way the economic and political condition of the great tract of North-West Outer China which immediately borders on Siberia, and to show the relationships and intercourse existing between the two countries at the present time. In 1910, in company with Mr Douglas Carruthers and Mr J. H. Miller, I crossed the part of the North-West Mongolian plateau bordering Southern Siberia. We were almost the last Europeans to see that part of Mongolia as it was before the revolution of 1911. Since then I have been able to collect information from Russian traders and officials in various parts of Siberia which throws further light on the economic problems. I have also had the privilege of consulting Professor Michael Soboleff, the Professor of Political Economy at Tomsk University, whose extended travels and studies in Mongolia have been of great assistance to me. Some of the statistical information contained in his book, "Russo-Mongolian Trade " (in Russian), I have set forth in the following chapter. The kindness and help of Professor Soboleff I herewith most gratefully acknowledge.
261
