DRESS AND VILLAGES. 163 



most tempting price. The truth was, they 

 were afraid of their masters, the Chinese 

 authorities, who govern the province, and 

 issue the strictest edicts against the admis- 

 sion of strangers into the country. 



These Tartars were a good-humoured, 

 jolly -looking race, with broad flat faces, 

 florid complexions, and jet-black hair. Their 

 dress consisted of long coats of home-spun 

 wool ; with long cloth boots, made to pull 

 over the knee, and soled with leather, an 

 excellent guard against the winter's snow ; 

 red sashes around the waist, in which they 

 carry a knife, but no arms. The head 

 men, or chiefs of the villages, wore broad- 

 brimmed hats, made of either straw or 

 feathers. The common people sometimes 

 cut their hair close, but oftener wear it long 

 with, a pig-tail, and go uncovered. They 

 are excessively fond of tea, and smoke 

 incessantly, using iron pipes, with stems 

 about a foot long, and small bowls. 



Many of the villages are placed on 

 isolated eminences, and being built house 



