ABSTRACT
In Southern Siberia and Northern Mongolia beside the river Orkhon and the upper reaches of the Yenisei, near the ruins of the ancient towns of Karakorum and Kara-Balghassun there are to be found a number of mysterious inscriptions which for some time have attracted the attention of scholars, though none has been able to unveil their meaning. In 1890 and 91 expeditions were sent there both from Finland and Russia, and the results of their investigations are now available in the form of magnificent volumes with detailed pictures of the stones and reproductions of the inscriptions. The two most important monuments were inscribed on three sides with mysterious signs; on the fourth side an inscription in Chinese told that the one stone was raised on January 28th, 733, in memory of a mighty Khan who had died two years previously, and that the other was in memory of his brother who died in 734; but that was all that was known. The Chinese texts, judging by their smaller dimensions and for other reasons, could not be assumed to be direct translations of the mysterious inscriptions and of these not a single sign could be read. It was not even known in which language they were written, and every ingenious method which was used to compare these rune-like signs with all the different alphabets in the world in order to discover similarities and clues seemed to be a waste of effort. It was a mystery, it remained a mystery, and it seemed as if it should be a mystery for ever.
