serfs amounting in silver to fourteen per cent. of the capital value of their stock per annum, and instances are given below by the writer where a ten-per-cent. tribute was levied in kind on the capital stock of the "Dorbot" Mongols by their hereditary khan. But, in addition to the levy of tribute, the khans compel their subjects to work for them whenever their service is required as personal attendants or as custodians of their numerous flocks and herds. Besides being thus bound down as serfs under the khans, a certain number of the Mongol kinsmen in each Hoshun are held under the feudal authority of the Buddhist Lamas, who co-operate with the khans. The Lamas, who are said by some to number one-third of the whole population of Mongolia, and by others five-eighths of the male population, have by ancient custom a right to acquire feudal power over one male member of every Mongol family, who thereby becomes bound to a monastery. Moreover, the Lamas can exact from each Mongol flock-owner tribute, which often amounts to fifteen per cent, of the capital value of their live stock per annum. They also receive large silver grants from the khans, as offerings to the deities. Grants formerly made voluntarily are now extracted forcibly by the Lamas from the tribesmen. Thus in Mongolia, as in Europe during past centuries, voluntary contributions to religious bodies have become under feudal social conditions legal exactions.
Moreover, the Mongols have been ear-marked by the Chinese for particularly oppressive treatment, and this is no doubt due to old standing jealousies and revenge for the former suzerainty of the Mongols over the Chinese. The authorities at Peking have
