114 BLACK TENTS AND WOODEN HUTS. 



metal, although very expensive ; the price of the 

 cheapest being three or four lans (15^". to 21^.), and 

 the best costing as much as 15 lans (about 4/.). 



The dress of the women is precisely the same as 

 that of the men, with the sole difference that on 

 holidays they wear wide handkerchiefs thrown over 

 their shoulders, studded with shells, and those who 

 can afford it are particularly fond of red beads. 



The characteristic habitation of the Tangutan 

 is his black tent, made of coarse woollen cloth,^ sup- 

 ported at the corners on four poles, and fastened to 

 the ground at the sides with loops. In the middle 

 of the roof, which is nearly flat, there is an oblong 

 slit about a foot wide to allow of the escape of 

 smoke, closed during rain and for the night. In 

 the centre of the tent is placed an earthen hearth; 

 opposite the entrance are ranged the Lares and 

 Penates, and on either side the implements and 

 various domestic utensils of its inmates. 



In the richly- wooded districts of Kan-su, where 

 the Tangutans live with the Chinese and cultivate 

 the soil, the tents are replaced by wooden huts, 

 which are very similar, although even inferior, to 

 those of White Russia,-' having no wooden floors, 

 and having the interior walls of the rough round 

 timbers, the interstices being filled with clay ; the 

 roofs are flat, made of branches covered with earth, 



' The clotli is woven from y;ik-\vool. 



- I"'or those readers to whom the term ' White Russia ' may not be 

 familiar I may explain that at the present day it applies chiefly to the 

 two Governments of Vitebsk and Mohilev, lying to the south-west of 

 the Russian empire. — M. 



