We hastened to the colonists who had not yet got away to bargain with them for camels, but they had previously, in anticipation of trouble, sent their herds to distant Mongols and so could do nothing to help us.

Then we betook ourselves to Dr.V.G.Gay, a veterinarian living in the town, famous throughout Mongolia for his battle against rinderpest.

He lived here with his family and after being forced to give up his government work became a cattle dealer.

He was a most interesting person, clever and energetic, and the one who had been appointed under the Czarist regime to purchase all the meat supplies from Mongolia for the Russian Army on the German Front.

He organized a huge enterprise in Mongolia but when the Bolsheviki seized power in 1917 he transferred his allegiance and began to work with them.