his family. He was now taking his
revenge.

I put up with a Russian firm and was at once visited by my associates
from Uliassutai, who greeted me with great joy because they had been
much exercised about the events in Van Kure and Zain Shabi. When I had
bathed and spruced up, I went out with them on the street. We entered
the bazaar. The whole market was crowded. To the lively colored groups
of men buying, selling and shouting their wares, the bright streamers of
Chinese cloth, the strings of pearls, the earrings and bracelets gave an
air of endless festivity; while on another side buyers were feeling of
live sheep to see whether they were fat or not, the butcher was cutting
great pieces of mutton from the hanging carcasses and everywhere these
sons of the plain were joking and jesting. The Mongolian women in their
huge coiffures and heavy silver caps like saucers on their heads were
admiring the variegated silk ribbons and long chains of coral beads; an
imposing big Mongol attentively examined a small herd of splendid
horses and bargained with the Mongol zahachine or owner of the horses; a
skinny, quick, black Tibetan, who had come to Urga to pray to the Living
Buddha or, maybe, with a secret message from the other "God" in Lhasa,
squatted and bargained for an image of the Lotus Buddha carved in agate;
in another corner a big crowd of Mongols and Buriats had collected and
surrounded a Chinese merchant selling finely painted snuff-bottles of
glass, crystal, porcelain, amethyst, jade, agate and nephrite, for one
of which made of a greenish milky nephrite with regular brown veins
running through it and carved with a dragon winding itself around a bevy
of young damsels the merchant was demanding of his Mongol inquirers ten
young oxen; and everywhere Buriats in their long red coats and small
red caps embroidered with gold helped the Tartars in black overcoats
and black velvet caps on the back of their heads to weave the pattern of
this Oriental human tapestry. Lamas formed the common background for it
all, as they wandered about in their yellow and red robes, with capes
picturesquely thrown over their shoulders and caps of many forms, some
like yellow mushrooms, others like the red Phrygian bonnets or old
Greek helmets in red. They mingled with the crowd, chatting serenely and
counting their rosaries, telling fortunes for those who would hear but
chiefly searching out the rich Mongols whom they could cure or exploit
by for