60 CHINESE TURKESTAN 



necessary, and their foot-gear enables them to do 

 so, whereas the others wear high-heeled riding- 

 boots, which would cripple anyone in a mile, and 

 are far from being brilliant pedestrians without 

 them. 



They are all nomads, living in felt-covered tents, 

 and owning immense herds of horses, sheep, and 

 goats ; they use mares' milk largely, chiefly in a 

 fermented state, and keep but few cattle, though 

 what there are are fine beasts. Their tents are 

 called aiils, a term used in other parts to denote a 

 village of tents, but here applied to the single 

 article as well. The Kalmak atils differ slightly in 

 construction from the others, and are said by their 

 owners to be less liable to fall down in wet weather 

 a considerable advantage, as the rainfall is heavy. 

 In summer they live on the plain, but in winter 

 they retire to the valleys, where they say that much 

 less snow falls, and so they are better able to 

 pasture their flocks. This statement about the 

 snow was a puzzle to us, as it does not seem likely 

 that the snowfall is less on the hills than on the 

 plain ; either some of the ground is too steep for it 

 to lie on, or the slopes which face south get too 

 much sun for any depth of it to accumulate. 

 Perhaps, however, the true reason is that the wind 

 which in these regions nearly always accompanies 

 heavy snowstorms piles up big drifts in places and 

 sweeps many of the hillsides bare. Be this as it 



