plateau both black and brown sable is found. In 1911, 1000 Mongolian sables were sold in Siberia, their average value at Irbit being from 40 to 60 roubles each.
Marmots inhabit the high plateaus between 5000 and 8000 feet. The plateaus of the Chinese in Altai in North-West Mongolia are the principal marmot grounds. The price of marmot in Urga and Uliassutai varied in 1910 from 1 rouble 50 kopeks to 2 roubles each.
Fox is also found all over North-West Mongolia on the plateaus, but the fur is rather coarse and of a light yellow colour. Squirrels are found chiefly in the sub-Arctic forests on the Siberian-Mongolian frontier, and in 1909 the Upper Yenisei plateau produced 200,000 squirrel-skins, some of which went as tribute to Uliassutai and some to the Siberian fur markets. The Russian traders barter these squirrel-skins on the basis of 30 kopeks (7½d.) a piece.
(5) The Future of Mongolia's Trade Relations.—We have seen above that the north-western portion of the Chinese Empire, between the Great Wall and the Siberian frontier, is becoming the battle-ground where the industrial centres of Europe contend with those of Central China for the raw materials of that great region. Formerly the Western influence through Russia and Siberia predominated both in import and export to and from Mongolia. Latterly, however, the Eastern influence has made itself felt through the greater economic and political activity of the Chinese, who have been drawing Mongolian raw material more and more toward Central China in exchange for their manufactured wares. Thus,
