¹ BSOAS, XXXII, 1, 1969, 71–90.Google Scholar

² Original text in Manjiin tÖremgiilegchdiin Öe deh Mongolyn emegteichÖÖ darlagdal, 1764–1833 ‘The oppression of Mongol women in the period of Manchu domination, 1764–1833’, Ulan Bator, 1958, 30–57.

³ According to a footnote in the original, 26, this was the Daiching beis Banner which lay approximately where the collectives of Delgertsogt and Deren in present day Dundgov’ province are situated. For reference, see Haltod, M., in Walther Heissig (ed.), Mongolische Ortsnamen, I (Verzeichnis der Orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland, Supplementband 5,1), Wiesbaden, 1966, in which it occurs as map no.41. In the main catalogue of Mongol manuscripts in German libraries, Walther Heissig, Mongolische Handschriften, Landkarten (Verzeichnis, BD. I), Wiesbaden, 1961, it is item 712, library reference Hs.or.76 of the Staatsbibliothek, Marburg. At the time of mapping it was called after its then prince, Altangquyaγ.Google Scholar

⁴ ibid., 8–29. The somewhat complicated events dealt with in these documents go back several years before the origin of Dashjid’s case, which is probably why they precede the latter in the 1958 publication, although the case was not settled till 1791, the year after the conclusion of Dashjid’s. A minor point of interest is that it was through the investigation of Omboh’s misdoings that an earlier dereliction of duty on the part of Ürjinjav came to light. He had given an arbitrary judgment in a case of horse-stealing and had not passed it up to League Office level as he should have done. It was for this that he was degraded from his appointment as Banner Prince as mentioned in Iledkel shastir, for which see ‘ A cse of murder ’.p.73, n. 10. Iledkel shastir does not does not date either the offence or the year sentence, but our documents show the latter to have been 1791. As he was restored to his appointment in 1791, the fall was of very short duration.

⁵ For the origins, duties, complement, etc., of this office, see Sonomdagva, Ts., Manjiin zahirgaand baisan ueiin Ar MOngolyn zasag zahirgaany zohion baiguulalt (1691–1911) ‘The administration of Outer Mongolia under Manchu control’, (1691–1911) Ulan Bator, 1961, 33–8. The Mongol amban was the first to be appointed, in 1758, and in 1761 a Manchu amban was appointed in addition. Amongst their duties was the supervision of the two eastern aimaks, those of Tü qan, and of the shabi or subjects of the Jebtsundambs. Khutuktu, yeke šabi/ih shav’.Google Scholar

⁶ Sonomdagva, 37, states that both Manchu and Mongol were used in drawing up letters in the ambans' Office. Letters sent to aimaks, Banners, the shabi, the relay stations and the watchposts were written in Mongol, while those sent to the trade supervisors (zargach) at Urga and Khiakta and to the Li Fan Yüan, were written in Manchu. Letters coming into the office in Manchu were translated into Mongol.

⁷ The subject-matter is introduced by guin medüülehiin uchir ‘matter to be reported in request’ and ends with üünii tul guin ōrgöv ‘request submitted for this reason’.

⁸ geriin ar tuurga büreesend hevteh tus. For the terminology of the Mongol tent see Róna-Tas, A., Mongol geriig ugsaatny züi, ner tom’yoony talar sudlah mōriin h­t­lb­r (Studia Mongolica, 1, 4), Ulan Bator, 1959;Google ScholarRóna-Tas, A., ‘Preliminary report on a study of the dwellings of the altaic peoples’, in Sinor, D. (ed.), Aspects of Altaic civilization (Indiana University Publications. Uralic and Altaic Series, 23), Bloomington, The Hague, 1963, 47–56;Google Scholar and Vandui, E., Mongol helnii nutgiin ayalguu sudlah argazüin asuudald (Hel Zohiol, 4, 1–4), Ulan Bator, 1967, 233–60.Google Scholar

⁹ Gegeenii avrald ül bagtaah. The term gegeen probably refers to the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu. Cf. p. 585, n. 56 below.

¹⁰ Harchin ōrtōōnii tsagdaad suuhad. For the system of relay or post stations established in Mongolia during Manchu dynasty see Ts., Nasanbaljir, Ar Mongoloos Chin ulsad zalguulj baisan alba 1691–1911 on Taxes paid by Outer Mongolia to the Manchu, Ch‘ing, state, 1691–1911’, Ulan Bator, 1964, 51–87,Google Scholar and Sh., Natsagdorj, Halhyn tüüh ‘History of Khalkha’, Ulan Bator, 1963, 167–9Google Scholar. According to Natsagdorj, the Altai post-road was first established in 1728 and ran from Kalgan to Uliasutai. Of the 64 relay stations, 40 were inside Outer Mongolia, and of these 20 were known as the ‘Khalkha Twenty’ and 20 were the Kharchin posts, Harchin ōrt­­. Nasanbaljir shows that the Khalkha Twenty were those stations westwards from Harnüden/Qara nidün to Uliasutai. The remaining posts stretched from Muqur γašun, the 16th‘real’ post (chuham ōrtōō/ōuqum örtege) in the east to Qadatu, the 29th, in the west. There were also seven auxiliary posts (ȷaγurma ōrtege) interspersed along this road, thus making a total of 21 rather than 20. (For a list of names see the Regulations of the Li Fan Yöan, ch. xxxi, fol. 15rf.) These posts were controlled by an office in Sair usu: Sair usu-yin ōrtegen-i ȷakirqu keltes. Natsagdorj and Nasanbaljir state after the troubles during the Jungar wars and the rebellion of 1756 an officer and 10 police (tsagdaa) were stationed at each post to protect the real post-workers. From 1782 onwards, according to Nasanbaljir, ancillary post-workers were also appointed to deal with extra work, so that each Kharchin post came to consist of about 18 families (ōrh) of regular workers, 11 police, and 7 to 10 families of auxiliaries. The Altai post-road in not distinguished as such on the map of the Mongol People’s Republic published in Ulan Bator in 1959, though the line of it appears to be shown. It can clearly be traced on such older maps as Bartholomew’s map of China, 1:5,000,000 (printed before 1949). Sair usu, the head-quarters of the Kharchin posts, is not marked on the Ulan Bator map, but must have been at the road junction shown to the south-west of Buyant ovoo sumun, 45°N, 107°E. Kharchin people are still to be found in this area, mainly in the two sumuns of Luus and Öndörshil in Dundgov’ animak (see E., Vandui, ‘BNMAU-yn hün am, tedgeeriin hel ayalguu’ ‘The population of the MPR and their dialects’, shinjleh Uhaan Am’dral, 1967, 3, 50–7).Google Scholar

¹¹ tsavgants, an old woman who has taken certain religious vows but lives at home, or simply an old woman in general.

¹² bi herhevch shiitgen duusgaj ül chadahyn tul.

¹³ ene negen hergiig shiitgen zaaj tushaana uu. Here and subsequently I us ‘dispose of’ as a standard translation for shiitgeh.

¹⁴ tushaasnyg dagaj yavuul'ya.

¹⁵ gargai.

¹⁶ i.e. the officer in charge of a sumun and a subordinate officer.

¹⁷ uurga mod, the familiar pole, which, with a noose at the end, is used by Mongols to catch horses.

¹⁸ Tamgyn gazryn heleh n’. According to a footnote to the original, the tamgyn gazar, in this context, was the office administering the affairs of the Manchuamban of Urga (Hüreenii Manjsaidyn alban hergiig yavuulah gazar). In the case of other documents originating from the tamgyn gazar and reprinted in a collection entitled Manjiin daranguillyn üeiin Mongolyn surguul’ (1776–1911) ‘ Mongol schools during the period of Manchu oppression (1776–1911)’, Ulan Bator, 1965, we are led to believe, from headings apparently supplied by the editors, that the tamgyn gazar was identical with the ambans’ Office. However, Sonomdagva, 34, says that the Urga Office was called the yamen(ene saidyn gazryg yaam gej m⁍n nerlene), and adds later, 35, ‘There were no internal divisions of the type of independent sections or departments in this yamen, except that the main office, made up of the Manchu “Seal Judge” and the galdaas who were responsible for holding the seal of the Urga ambans, was known as the “Seal Office” (tamgyn gazar’).

There is, then, room to suppose that the tamgyn gazar was not necessaily the exact equivalent of the yamen of the ambans of Urga. This supposition is strengthened by a consideration of the following circumstances. A letter sent out to a League Office, that is, an office lower in status than the Urga Office, and originating in the tamgyn gazar, would open, according to examples available to me, with the formula tamgyn gazryn ōrgōsōn n' ‘submission by the tamgyn gazar’, that is, with a formula suitable for use by a lower office addressing a higher one. For the term ōrgōh see Čebele, Mongγol alban bičig-ün ulamȷilal ‘The tradition of Mongol official correspondence’ (Studia Mongolica, I, 22), Ulan Bator, 1959, II. However, in the statement of subject-matter which follows this the form customarily employed by the tamgyn gazar when addressing a League Office was tushaan yavuulah uchir ’matter for attention’, which was appropriate for use by an office addressing another of somewhat lower status.

The phrase tamgyn gazryn ōrgōsōn n’ occurs in the documents concerning Mongol schools in two patterns. These are:

1. Date, followed by the introductory formulae tamgyn gazryn ōrgōsōn n’ and tushaan yavuulah uchir. Document closes with the verb hemeemüi ‘it is said’ (e.g. item 54). Alternatively, the date may appear at the end (e.g. item 56).

2. The same formulae, though lacking the date, embedded in a further set of fixed phrases. The letter opens (e.g. item 53): Zarligaar zarsan Hüreend suuj hereg shiitgegch saiduudyn bichig. Herlenii bars hotyn hamaarsan chuulgany darga tuslagch janjin beis Pürevjavt tushaan ilgeev. Tushaan yavuulah uchir: Tamgyn gazryn ōrgōsōn n’ ‘Letter of the ambans appointed by imperial order to reside at Urga and settle affairs. Sent to the assistant general and beis Pürevjav, head of Herlen bars hot League. Matter for attention: Submission of the tamgyn gazar’. The letter ends with the formula: hemeemüi hemeen ōrgōjee. Üünii tul tushaan ilgeev ‘A submission was made (i.e. by the tamgyn gazar) to the effect that it had said … (here the substance of the letter would follow if given in English translation). Dispatched (i.e. by the Urga Office) for this reason’.

These are only samples of a number of occurrences of these two formulae in the collection referred to. Though the editors of the book suggest by the headings they supply that in each case the originators were the ambans of Urga, it seems reasonable to suppose that the tamgyn gazar was only a part of the Urga yamen, though it spoke for the ambans, and that when ‘submitting’(ōrgōsōn n’) a letter it was, if only as a matter of form, submitting it for the consideration of the ambans. Sample documents illustrating the use of these formulae are quoted more fully in an appendix, to avoid overloading the footnotes.

¹⁹ This name appears in more than one spelling in the Cyrillic transcription, e.g. Ovsh, Uvsh.

²⁰ unah ulaa. Translation uncertain. For cf.Mostaert, Dictionnaire ordos, 728b, ‘animal réquisitionné pour être monté ou pour transporter des charges’.

²¹ hudaldaany irgen.

²² orlon hōōgch. According to Sh., Natsagdorj, Ardyn zargyn bichig (Monumenta Historica, 4, 1), Ulan Bator, 1968, 203, an orlon hōōgch was the deputy of the zangi or commander of a sumun. There were also officers of this rank in the relay organization. The Regulations of the Li Fan Yüan, ch. xxxi, fol. 20v f., specify that for the Kharchin posts there were to be even orlon hōōgch/orulan kōgegči and 21 hōōgch/kōgegču, evidently one to each post. The former received a salary of 48 taels a year, the latter 36 taels. Thus the ‘deputy’ hōōgch was of higher rank than the hōōgch and the title of ‘deputy’ probably points, as in the sumun organization, to his position vis-à-vis the zangi, of whom there were a number on the Kharchin relays.Google Scholar

²³ What part the beil Demchigjav had in this case never become clear. The document submitted by the League Office simply tells us, a little later, that he belonged to Sain noyon han aimak and that he was already dead by the time the League’s investigations were made. In Iledkel shastir, ch. 1xxii, fol. 39b, he is recorded as having succeeded his father as Banner Prince and tōrü-yin beile/tōriin beil in 1756. His father Lobtsangčcerin had been an officer on the relays, reason, but was killed in battle in an attack on his post during the uprising of Amursana. For that reason, and because Demchigjav, then a taij, was also active in the relay service, the herditary rank of beis which he inherited from his father was raised to that of beil. In 1781 this rank was accorded in perpetuity. Demchigjav died in 1790. It is possible that he was involved in Navaan’s case, in which both Banner and relay men were implicated, in his capacity as an officer in the relay service, but this is not stated.

²⁴ tsaazny bichig. What code is referred to here is not clear, but it was certainly not the Regulations of the Li Fan Yüan which were not issued till 1789. For earlier codes see Bawden, C. R., ‘A joint petition of grievances submitted to the MInistry of Justice of autonomous Mongolia in 1919’, BSOAS, 30, 3, 1967, p. 561, n. 38.Google Scholar

²⁵ Each of the four aimaks of Khalkha had a general as well as a League Head. According to Sonomdagva, 57–8, the generals were responsible not only for the running of military affairs, but for matters concerning the personnel of the relay stations and watch-posts. Each general would serve a quarterly term of duty at Uliasutai, forming a jasaa there. I have no other reference at present to the ‘precedents’ or ‘rulings’ (togtooson huul’) made by the generals.

²⁶ It is only later, in the report rendered by the office at Urga, that we find it specifically stated that Navaan and Vandui were fined three ‘nines’ of cattle for this offence.

²⁷ avaal gergii, that is, his original wife. See Kowalewski, 42, abali‘couple fiancé dès I’enfance’, and several references in Mostaert, Dictionnaire ordos, 36ab.

²⁸ zaragchiin bie/ȷarγuči-yin beye ‘the judge’. As appears later, this reders to an official from Urga, and in all probability to a member of the office of the zargach/arγuči who was primarily responsible for dealing with the Chinese traders in Urga and disputes in which they were involved. A little later in this document the League Head states: ‘I sent a letter to the temdeglegch tüsimel Jalanpun resident in Urga about having the corpse examined’ and further on the Urga Office refers to an investigation having been made by the office of Zalban, the temdeglegch tüsimel in charge of the affairs of the Chinese traders at Urga, Hüreenii hudaldaany irgediin hergiig zahiran shiitgesen temdeglegch tüshmel Zalban naryn gazraas Chavgyn yasyg baitsaan üzeed. (The two versions of the name, Jalanpun and Zalban are presumably due to different, or mistaken, readings.) I have no direct statement that the trade supervisor or zargach of Urga was known as a temdeglech tüsimel or ‘recording official’. However, we know that one of his duties was to examine the licences to trade which had been issued to Chinese traders at offices in Köke qota, Kalgan, or Dolonnor in the Chinese language, and to give them in exchange documents in Mongol detailing where and for how long they were allowed to trade. These documents were also referred to as temdegt or temdegt bichig. After completing their round of trading the Chinese were supposed to hand back their local permits and recover the Chinese certificate. The zargach was supposed also to add a record of when the trader arrived at and departed from Urga, and this record would be handed back with the Chinese certificate to the office which had issued the latter. It is probable that the title temdeglegch used here derives from this recording (temdegleh) function of the Urga official. For references to the zargach and his duties see Sonomdagva, 42–4, Sanjdorj, M., Halhad Hyatadyn mōngō hüülegch hudaldaa nevterch hōljsōn n’ (xviii zuun) ‘The penetration and development of Chinese usury-trading in Khalkha in the eighteenth century’ (Studia Historica, 3, 5) Ulan Bator, 1963, 36–9 and 55Google Scholar, and, briefly, Navaannamjil, G., Öugōn bicheechiin üülel ‘Tales of an old secretary’, Ulan Bator, 1956, 87–8. The latter refers to the zargach of Urga in the same form of words as is used in our present document: Hüreenii hudaldaany irgediin hergiig zahiran shiitgüüleheer Beejin Zurgaanaas tomilon gargasan zangi zeregtei‘ (an official) with the rank of zangi appointed by the Li Fan Yüan at Peking to be in charge of the affairs of the Chinese traders at Urga’.Google Scholar Sonomdagva notes that on the staff of the zargach was an official with the title of sharhach, that is, someone dealing with wounds, whose duty was to examine people injured or killed by violence and to draw up a relevant report. Navaannamjil, who writes of a later epoch, the early years of this century, mentions a sharhach-shinjigch with the duties of coroner. The last document in our present collection, which deals with the case of a lama who was condemned in 1833 for murdering his maidservant, quotes a coroner’s report, which it states was made by a sharhach (who incidentally bears a Chinese name written in the Cyrillic script as Wang Hüwen-dan) who was sent out in charge of a hōōgch employed by the Li Fan Yüan to perform his examination. The report in this case appears to have been submitted by the coroner to the Urga yamen, and perhaps this was also so in the case of Chavga, since we find the League Head quoting the coroner’s report from a letter ‘sent back’ (hoish hürgen irsen bichig), apparently to him.

²⁹ geriin hün.

³⁰ Mongol tsaazny bichig. This can hardly refer to the Regulations of the Li Fan Yüan, which were not issued till 1789, whereas the case had occurred in 1784.

³¹ uchraa/učir-a.

³³ Chavgyn hamt ühseleer yavaldaad. For ühsel cf. Tsevel, Mongol helnii tovch tailbar tol’, Ulan Bator, 1966, 613, ügsel ‘an agreement come to by mutual discussion’. yavaldaad is probably to be taken as the reciprocal form of yavah ‘to go’, (Tsevel, 698), rather than in its now commoner sense of ‘to have illicit sexual intercourse with ’, though the context is confusing.

³³ Zasag Ürjinjavyn nōhōr gergiig horlosugai gej, literally ‘intending to murder husband and/or wife of the Banner Prince Ürjinjav’. This interesting form of words occurs more than once. In the Li Fan Yüan’s summing up of the evidence, which was sent to Urga, we have the sentence, chavga ohin Ombohyn züg yavaldsan hoino Chavga, ohin Ombohod surgasan n’ chi chōlōōg üzej zasag Ürjinjavyn nōhōr gergiin hamt albal bi avaal gergiig geej chamaig gergii bolgon avsugai gej heleltssend ‘In conversation Chavga, after sleeping with the girl Omboh, told her: “If you kill the Banner Prince Ürjinjav with his wife I’II get rid of my original wedded wife and marry you”’. Here it seems that a double murder is involved and that ‘and’ is the appropriate conjunction to use. However, in her evidence given at the beginning of this document Omboh definitely states that Chavga incited her to kill one of the couple, Chi zasag hatan hoyor hünii dotroo negiig semeer horlovol ‘If you murder one or other of the Banner Prince and his wife by stealth’, and she repeated this form later.

³⁴ Mongol tsaazny bichigt ogt togtooson züilgüi.

³⁵ Sü bi. The League Head uses an abbreviated form of his name, Sündevdorj/Sündübdorji.

³⁶ ayuumshiggüi togtoon shiitgevel bolohgüi.

³⁷ Thought it may be irrelevant here, we may observe that there was a system of commutation of penalties in existence in Mongolia under the Manchus. Seales of reduction of punishment are set out for instance in Daičing ulus-un sigükü čaγaȷin-u bičig tobči debter (MS, State Library, Ulan Bator, 345:D.196.11250) in a set of tables entitled ǰoliya abqu olan qauli ȷiruγ ‘Tables of regulations for accepting substitute (penalties)’.

³⁸ hergiig züi n’ helj zalruulan shiitgevel zohihyn tuld.

³⁹ tatan avaad V anduid hoish olgovol zohino.

⁴⁰ hōōn gargaad.

⁴¹ ül heleltsehees gadna.

⁴² tsōm heleltseh gazargüi bolgosugai.

⁴³ ed tsōm hamaagüi tul niit tav’sugai. The use of the term tav’sugai does not seem to denote any significant difference in procedure from the terms used in nn. 41 and 42 above. In document 3 the Li Fan Yüan recommends the non-prosecution of Bayar, Dulam, and Chimid in the following terms, Chavgyn em Bayar tüünii er Chavga hüühen Ombohtoi zōvshsōniig yōr medehgüin tuld hamaagüi, Dulam, Chimidiig tsōm heleltseh yavdalgüi bolgosugai ‘As Bayar, the wife of Chavga, did not know about the agreement between her husband Chavga and the girl Omboh, she is not involved, and we propose that she, Dulam, and Chimid be not proceeded against’.

⁴⁴ am niilüülen. The translation is provisional, based on the meaning ‘for utterances to be in agreement’ (üg yaria taarch tohiroh) given by Tsevel, 375, for am niileh, and on a phrase found later in this document, yalt hünees daraalan ōchig avch hariltsan niileltsen hoino ‘having extracted confessions from the accused in order, and collated them’.

⁴⁵ Yasyg üüleh uchir hüreend suusan temdeglegch Jalanpund bichig yavuulav. See p.580, n. 28, above. The name Jalanpun appears to be Chinese rather than Mongol.

⁴⁶ Sai yüven lüü bichigt niilüülen üzvel. The hsi yüan lu (English translation by Giles, H. A., The “Hsi yüan lu” or “Instructions to coroners”’, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, XVII, 1924, 59–107) is shown by this reference to have been in use in Mongolia as well as China. An edition published in 1777 was available to me. The reference given here is a conflation of two passages in the original. The armpits are listed (fol. 10v) amongst those points of the body which were not considered fatal, ogt amind hüreh gazar bish, while the section on the examination of the body (fol. 13v) contains the qualification quoted, dotruuraar shōrmōs yasand nevtrene. Sharh hünd bolühne.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Yavdlyn yaamnaas Sü namaig hamtaar yal heleltsüüleh ajaamuu.

⁴⁸ Provisional translation of bühiig mōn bolzvol ül bolno. A similar phrase occurs later, üünii dotor erhgüi ōōr uchir bii, esvel Chavgyn gōrlōhiig bolzvol bolohgüi ‘There is surely something else involved, or she may be slandering Chavga’.

⁴⁹ üünii dotor ōōr uchir züil bühiig, an echo of the phraseology used for example in Hsi yüan lu, fol. 13r f.,.

⁵⁰ oldvol, a term used, according to Čebele, 8, to introduce an expression of opinion made by an office of superior status.

⁵¹ haayaa ōchig surgah zereg uchir gem bühii bolov uu gej.

⁵² tamgyn gazar yavah bicheech meeren.

⁵³ i.e. the 21st ‘real’ post. Cf. p. 573, n. 10, above.

⁵⁴ odoo zasag ogt chamaig hoish nadad ōhgüi yaahav chi saihan suvilan yav.

⁵⁵ gurvan lamyn deej. The technical meaning of this is unknown to me.

⁵⁶ Javzandamba hutagtat avral erj.

⁵⁷ yosoor bolgoj.

⁵⁸ Mongol tsaazny bichigt yōr yalgan salgaj togtoosongüi. Cf. the discussion in ‘A case of murder’, p. 78, n. 33.

⁵⁹ bool shivegchin hōlsnii hün.

⁶⁰ lergüün ded horloson es horloson yaudlyg yalgahgüi.

⁶¹ har’yaat irgen. The term har’yaat appears to have following usages. It is the word generally translated in this article as ‘responsible’, i.e. ‘having jurisdiction’, for example: Omboh tüünii etseg Vandui har’yaat zasag Ürjinjavt guiv, ‘Her father Vandui asked for Omboh back from the responsible Banner Prince Ürjinijav’. Also, as here, it has the meaning ‘under the jurisdiction’ or ‘subject’, apparently in a general sense. In Dashjid’s case it seemed that the term har’yaat may have been used of the relationship of a hamjilga or serf to a master. Cf. ‘A case of murder’, p. 74, n. 18, and p. 76, n. 28. It is noticeable that in Omboh’s case, where no one of the status of hamjilga is involved, witnesses identify themselves with words suoh as hün ‘person’ or ohin ‘girl, daughter’, or by rank. Thus Sühiin ōchih n’, bi zasag Ürjinjavyn hushuuny zangi Vanchigiin sumyn hün. Dashjid identified herself, however, as follows: bi taij agsan Garviin har’yaat Nomon gegch hünii hüühen ‘I am the daughter of the man Nomon, subject of the late taij Garvi’.

⁶² zuun tsavchraga janchij.

⁶³ gazar, or Chinese li.

⁶⁴ albat, specifically an imperial subject, entered on the Banner register as such. Cf. n. 61, above.

⁶⁵ zardas, apparently a neutral term, as distinct from bool and shivegchin which imply a definite legal status as a male or female slave.

⁶⁶ Omboh hedii Ürjinjavyn gert dolon jil zaragdsan bolovch ogt ezen boolyn neriin tōdiigüi.

⁶⁷ engiin hünii yosoor.

⁶⁸ shogloyo gej yavsan n’. For shogloh/šoγlaqu see Tsevel, busdad bitüü dalduur hor hōnōōl hürgeh zovooh ’to cause harm to, to hurt, others by stealth’. Our text has a gloss, alah. Otherwise, standard dictionaries give only the meaning ‘to make fun of, to tease’.

⁶⁹ tergüülsen hün.

⁷⁰ oldvol.

⁷¹ hündiig üzej nemegdüülen. Dendev, Mongγol-un erte edüge-yin qauli čaγaȷin-u teüke-yin sedüb debter, Ulan Bator, 1936, lists, from the Ch‘ing Penal Code, Daičing ulus-un sigükü čaγaȷin-u bičig, in five grades of punishment: minor beating (tüibeng), beating with a heavy cane (čibčirγa), forced labour on the local provincial posts (üiledkekü), banishment (čōlekü), and death (ükükü). Banishment was at least nominally for life (beye ečüstetele) and was divided into three grades according to distance, 2,000 miles, 2,500 miles and 3,000 miles. There was provision for this punishment to be commuted to wearing a cangue for a certain number of days, applicable to Banner people (qosiγun-u kümün). The slaves of Banner people (qosiγun-u kümün-ü boγolčud) to Banner People (qosiγun-u kümün). The slaves of Banner people (qosiγun-u kümün-ü boγolčud) who committed crimes punishable by banishment were liable to be sent as slaves to the soldiers on guard duty (sergeyilen saγulγaγsan čerig-tür boγaȷu ilegemüi). This is the Phraseology used in sentencing Omboh (sergiilen suusan tseregt bool bolgon). The 100 blows were an integral part of the penalty of banishment.

⁷² sahilyg evdej.

⁷³ Written here erroneously as hugan. Previously we read that Homan was proposed, but Hunan seems more likely.

⁷⁴ ug züseer ‘in the original colour’.

⁷⁵ tataj avaad.

⁷⁶ hōōj gargaad.

⁷⁷ This is what the original says, but a mistake of some sort is involved. We know from Süh’s evidence in document 2 that it was in fact Vanchig who had died, while the fact that subsequently in this document a penalty is imposed upon Ayuush shows that he was still alive.

⁷⁸ Dashdendev is no doubt identical with Dashdondov. Dash, who was fined also in Dashjid’s case, is here mentioned for the first time.

⁷⁹ Added presumably by the Office at Urga, to whom this part of the document appears to have been addressed originally.

⁸⁰ gej ōrgōjee. This looks like a ‘submission’ on the part of the tamgyn gazar at Urga.

⁸¹ üünii tul tushaan ilgeev gej tushaan hürch irjee. The League here acknowledges receipt of instructions.

⁸² üünii tul tushaan ilgeev. The League’s statement concerning the dispatch of its letter.