FOOD AND BEVERAGES. 53 



occasionally scrubbed with argols, i.e. dried horse or 

 cow dung. Salt water is generally used, but, if un- 

 obtainable, salt is added. The tea is then pared off 

 with a knife or pounded in a mortar, and a handful 

 of it thrown into the boiling water, to which a few 

 cups of milk are added. To soften the brick-tea, 

 which is sometimes as hard as a rock, it is placed 

 for a few minutes among hot argols, which impart a 

 flavour and aroma to the whole beveraee. This is 

 the first process, and in this form it answers the 

 same purpose as chocolate or coffee with us. For 

 a more substantial meal the Mongol mixes dry 

 roasted millet in his cup, and, as a final relish, adds 

 a lump of butter or raw sheep-tail fat (kurdiuk). 

 The reader may now imagine what a revolting com- 

 pound of nastiness is produced, and yet they con- 

 sume any quantity of it ! Ten to fifteen large cup- 

 fuls is the daily allowance for a girl, but full-grown 

 men take twice as much.^ It should be mentioned 

 that the cups, which are sometimes highly orna- 

 mented, are the exclusive property of each indi- 

 vidual ; they are never washed, but after every meal 

 licked out by the owner ; those belonging to the 

 more wealthy Mongols are of pure silver, of Chinese 

 manufacture ; the lamas make them of human skulls 

 cut in half, and mounted in silver. The food of the 

 Mongols also consists of milk prepared in various 

 ways, either as butter, curds, whey, or kumiss. The 

 curds are made from the unskimmed milk, which is 



' Mongols have no regular hours for meals : they eat and drink 

 whenever they feel disposed, or have the opportunity. 



