Mr St John on the Mongols. 271 



suit would perhaps arrive, were any portion of the Mongol 

 race deprived of its horses, its buffaloes, or its sheep. But, 

 in addition, some of the most striking of their physical charac- 

 teristics might become gradually obliterated. 



To convince ourselves of this, we have but to reflect on the 

 extent of the influence exerted by their peculiar mode of life 

 on the Mongols, and on the determining causes of this mode 

 of life. In the first place, their nomadic habits, and all the 

 modifications of their character and structure resulting there- 

 from, are attributable to the necessity they are under of 

 seeking support for their herds and their flocks. Their wan- 

 dering life, to which Lucian compares that of a gourmand 

 continually passing from one part of a table to another in 

 search of a variety of good things, is especially inimical to 

 steady industry, and must induce a certain tendency to vacil- 

 lation and inconstancy, combined with general indolence and 

 momentary displays of energy. One of the wisest of ancient 

 writers asserts this character to be distinctive of a nomadic 

 people. Should the Mongols ever be induced, by the acci- 

 dent I have supposed, or any other reason, to settle in their 

 fertile valleys and plains, the natural result would be, the dis- 

 appearance of this quality — ^this restlessness, I mean, and love 

 of change, and unsteadiness, and proneness to indulge in spe- 

 culative migrations, as well as aptitude to grow disgusted 

 with late acquisitions, — from which most of the splendid 

 achievements, and most of the misfortunes, of the race have 

 proceeded. That there is arable land in Mongolia sufiicient 

 to support an agricultural population of two millions (the 

 estimated number of the present inhabitants), I have no 

 doubt. 



1 have already made some observations on the milk-diet of 

 the Mongols ; but there are a few facts which I have pur- 

 posely withheld for this place. Even so far back as the time 

 of Homer, the habits of the Scythians or Tatars were so well 

 known, that they won for them the appellation of Milk- 

 Drinkers ; and all nomadic nations have exhibited the same 

 propensity. It is curious to remark, that Coxe, in describing 

 the wandering shepherds of the Alps, asserts that they live 



VOfc. XXXVII. NO. LXXIV. OCTOBER 1844. S 



