A TARTAR BREAKFAST. 251 



round and round with a wooden ladle, another produced 

 some raw meat — a bit of the dong I had shot. This he 

 proceeded to tear up into small strips and tlirow them 

 on the fire, every now and then popping a raw lump into 

 his moutli and masticating it with the greatest apparent 

 gusto. Even the bits on the fire were quickly disposed of 

 after being merely singed. As soon as the pottage was 

 considered ready, it was ladled out into little wooden cups, 

 like the whisky " quaighs " of the Highlands, minus the 

 handles, which each man produced from inside the breast of 

 his dirty woollen coat, and gulped up from them with a 

 prodigious amount of noise. After being replenished again 

 and again until the pot was emptied, the cups were carefully 

 licked clean, and redeposited in the place whence they had 

 been taken. Another course of flesh was about to be 

 partaken of, after the manner of the first, but a regard for 

 my own appetite for breakfast prevented my waiting to see 

 it discussed. These hardy Tartars are quite independent of 

 any other dishes beyond their little wooden bowls. In these 

 they mix their " suttoo " (meal made from barley) with a 

 little water and salt, and make an expeditious repast of 

 it whenever they feel hungry. Indeed this kind of un- 

 cooked porridge seems to be their staple food. 



In the forenoon the sun broke forth, and some idea of 

 its power up here may be formed when I say that by 

 evening the ground about our camp was nearly free from 

 snow, and next morning we were able to proceed without 

 inconvenience over the almost bare earth, which was frozen 

 as hard as iron. This time I felt no uncomfortable sensa- 

 tions from the rarefied air on the pass, nor did I again suffer 

 from them on this trip, even when at considerably higher 

 elevations, beyond the usual feeling of extra weight and 

 lassitude about the legs, and tlie inclination — indeed I may 

 call it the necessity — for constantly drawing a deep inspira- 

 tion to fill the lungs, which I have already mentioned. 



