On the opposite side of the road lay what appeared to be a Chinese fortress but which was in reality a trading compound or dugun, which the Chinese always build in the form of a fortress with double walls a few feet apart, within which they place their houses and shops and usually have twenty or thirty traders fully armed for any emergency.

In case of need these duguns can be used as blockhouses and are capable of withstanding long sieges.

Between the dugun and the monastery and nearer to the road I made out the camp of some nomads.

Their horses and cattle were nowhere to be seen.

Evidently the Mongols had stopped here for some time and had left their cattle in the mountains.