AND PECULTARITIES OF TANGUTANS. 121 



But they are not so hospitable as the thoroughbred 

 Mongols, and they are very cunning and mercenar)% 

 particularly those who mix with the Chinese. 



A Tangutan will never do anyone a service for 

 nothing, but will alwa)s tr}- to get as much as he 

 can for it, even though it were from his own 

 brother. 



Their usual salutation is extending both hands 

 horizontally, with the words Aka teimt, i.e. ' How 

 do you do ?' Aka, like the Mongol nokhor, signify- 

 ing Jllaster, or Monsieur, frequently used in con- 

 versation. On making a new acquaintance, and in 

 general on visiting anyone, particularly if he be a 

 person of distinction, a silk scarfs is invariably pre- 

 sented, the quality of which depends on the mutual 

 good feeling subsisting between guest and host. 



The Tangutans do not admit plurality of wives, 

 but keep concubines. All the domestic work is 

 done by the women, whose rights in the household 

 are, as far as I could judge, equal to those of the 

 men. They have a curious custom of stealing their 

 neighbours' Avives, of course not without their secret 

 assent. In such case the stolen wife belongs to her 

 ravisher, who pays the husband a good sum as com- 

 pensation. They all count their age, not from the 

 day of their birth, but from that of their conception, 

 adding one to the years of their life for that passed 

 in the mother's луотЬ. 



They arc as zealous Buddhists as the Mongols, 



' This etiquette of the Khata, or ceremonial scarf of silk, is ex- 

 pounded at large b\ Hue (ii. 86), and is mentioned also by Turner.— Y. 



