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Page 72.

brickmakers and layers, in fact all workmen are still doing a good business in Mongolia. The Mongols simply cannot do without them and they are therefore fairly well treated. They are even allowed to remit part of their pay to China through the Official Mongolian Bank. An ordinary workman is earning very much higher wages in Mongolia than in China. The only trouble is that it is very difficult for a workman to get permission to leave Mongolia; they have to send in their application to the Government and it sometimes takes months before their petition is granted.

Gambling of any kind is prohibited in Mongolia. Of course it is done on the quiet, but anyone who is caught at it is put into jail. I had some Chinese along on one of my journeys and of course, in spite of my warnings, they got caught playing Mahjong and were marched off to jail. I went to the Authorities and told them that it was impossible for me to carry out my business without my Chinese, and as the Authorities from whom I was buying ponies were also interested in my business, we came to terms about the matter. I fetched my Chinese out of jail every morning at 9 a.m. and brought them back again at 5 p.m. but then I had to g^[[u]]arantee to deliver them back in jail. As soon as I had carried through my affairs, I was allowed to take my men back to Peking. Conditions in jails are not so bad unless you muddle up in Politics. If a Russian for instance gets a few months jail, he can send a petition to the Authorities and ask to come out for a few days for some celebration or festival or whatever he has to attend to. He is given a guard to watch the man and off they march together for their holiday. When the same is up, the guard trots him back to jail. I know of one man's hard luck story. He was a bookkeeper and looked after the jail's books while he was doing his time. When his sentence had been served, he expected that he could go home but was told that that could not be, for they did not have any prisoner who could do bookkeeping. He would have to stay a little longer, until some new prisoner arrived, who could take over the job. That's a fact.