cubic feet of masonry. The eastern section from the Ordos to the Yellow Sea was rebuilt in the fifth century, and the portion north of Peking has been restored twice during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Although useless now, it has doubtless served its purpose in the earlier ages of protecting the Chinese from Mongolian invasions. The present decadence of the warlike Mongols of mediæval history is astonishing.
South-Eastern Mongolia, or Inner Mongolia, is that part of Mongolia which lies on the eastern slopes of the Khingan mountains. Its characteristics are much the same as those of Mongolia elsewhere, only it is better watered and cultivated and of lower elevation. Its chief rivers are the tributaries of the Sungari on the north, and the Siramuren and Liao rivers on the south. The inhabitants of Inner Mongolia are divided into forty-nine families or clans called "Banners," as each clan has its own flag. Each Banner has its own chief, who is a descendant of Jenghis Khan and has hereditary dignity.
The Mongols of Inner Mongolia may be formed into two classes, the nomadic and the agricultural, the former being to the west and north, and the latter to the east and south. In addition to these, the Chinese from Shansi, Chihli, and Shantung have for long been emigrating into Mongolia, and pushing back the Mongols by their more vigorous policy. Although the Great Wall is the natural division of the two countries, the Chinese have burst through that division, and the whole region known to the Chinese by the name of Kow-wai or "Beyond the Gate" has been incorporated into the two provinces of Chihli and Shansi.
Sir F. Younghusband, in his book Through the Heart of a Continent, says: "I was astonished to see that, although we were now in Mongolia, the largest and best flocks were tended by and belonged to Chinese, who have completely ousted the Mongols in the very thing which above all others ought to be their speciality." The Rev. Alexander Williamson, in his book on Journeys in North China,
