the present position may be worse, for, unless the Republic is able to regain its prestige over the khans, the tribesmen will not receive the benefit of any financial and fiscal reforms which the new regime in China may introduce.
5. MONGOLIA AS AN ASIATIC MARKET
(1) Its External Trade.—Like all primitive countries Mongolia exports large quantities of raw material, which is exchanged for cheap manufactures from the industrial centres both of the East and of the West. Economic relations are thus maintained with Inner China on the south-east and Siberia on the north, and the main routes along which this commerce flows are three in number.
There is first the south-eastern caravan route from Eastern or Inner Mongolia into Inner China, which runs from Urga across the Gobi desert to Kalgan and Peking. Secondly, there are the north-eastern caravan routes running across Outer Mongolia from Uliassutai and Urga and converging on the Siberian frontier town of Khiakta, through which commerce passes into Eastern Siberia. Thirdly, there is the north-western caravan route which runs from Uliassutai and Kobdo across the north-west plateau of Mongolia to Biisk in Western Siberia.
The raw export trade in Mongolia is influenced by two factors—namely, the markets of Siberia and European Russia on the one hand, and those of Inner China on the other. The trade figures for 1908 are as follows:—
Imports from Mongolia to China, 35,000,000 roubles (£3,888,888).
