them come smaller Ambans, generally Chinamen, but sometimes Mongol khans or princes, who are allowed to rise to this rank through influence. Thus a so-called Amban-Naion, who is a Mongol khan with suzerainty over most of the Urian Hai tribes north of the Tannu-Ola Mountains, resides on the Tess River south of those mountains in North-West Mongolia. Again at Urga, both a Mongol and a Chinese Amban reside, for the special purpose of watching the great ecclesiastical dignitary, or Hutuchtu Lama, who is the chief of the Buddhist religion in Mongolia, and who resides there. Although nominally a spiritual ruler, in January 1912, with the connivance of the Mongol khans and in defiance of Chinese authority, he declared himself the Great Khan of Mongolia, and has been duly crowned, after having expelled the Chinese Amban.
The Chinese administrative divisions of Mongolia follow in the main the old tribal divisions of the Mongols, and the two have been skilfully interwoven with one another. When Chinese authority became established in Mongolia after the fall of the Mongol dynasty at Peking, the independence of the khans was abolished, and the whole country was divided into administrative divisions called "Aeemaks." These were further subdivided into Hoshuns, or smaller administrative and military divisions, which roughly follow the old tribal boundaries of the Mongols. At the head of each Hoshun is a khan, generally hereditary, more rarely elected, and every year the khans of the Aeemak meet in conclave to consider matters affecting their common welfare. But the Hoshuns are still further subdivided into smaller military communes or banner corps with 150
