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are all along the bank. It takes [[strikethrough]] 1 [[//strikethrough]] one hour and 20 minutes from Werche-Udinsk to Troiskosavsk by plane, there you stop for 20 minutes to fill in gazoline and oil.  From Troiskosavsk to Urga, the plane passes over very high mountains, green in summer time and thickly covered with snow in winter.  You can see the horse and ox caravans crawling along like ants, also small Mongolianand Russian settlements dotted amongst the mountains.  It takes 1 hour from Troiskosavsk to Urga by plane.  As the distance from Werche-Udinsk to Urga is about 340 miles, the old Junker aeroplanes are not doing so badly.

I once made the trip from Urga to Werche-Udinsk by Motor car and sledge.  I had been waiting for a few days at the end of September in Urga for the plane to arrive but it did not come.  Werchne-Udinsk telegraphed that owing to very heavy snowfalls on the flying field, the plane could not start and as my travelling visa was expiring, I made up my mind to go by car to Troiskosavsk in spite of the cold and to see how I could get from there to Werchne-Udinsk.  We started rather late in the evening in a big [[strikethrough]] t [[//strikethrough]] 5 tons Benz-Mercedes truck, 2 chauffeurs and myself in the enclosed driver seat and 42 Mongol travellers with their luggages at the back.  I thought that we would have to do quite a lot of pushing to get the car over the mountains with that load, but fortunately I was mistaken for the car took every mountain without stopping.  I knew the Russian chauffeur who was formerly driving for me on the Kalgan Urga route and as I knew him to be a [[strikethrough]] w [[//strikethrough]] reckless driver I told him to go it easy.  Besides he was slightly under the influence of Vodka as usual.  In reply to my warning he asked me to take his word for it that he never went more than 35 miles an hour with such a load and it turned out he did too, but only up hill, because the car would not go any faster.  When we reached the top of every mountain he turned off the engine and let her go.  His ambition was to get over 50 miles an hour, he always had one eye on the speedometer and the