SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 



coral and turquoise beads, surmounted by a gold 

 embroidered cap, while their hair falls over their 

 shoulders in two thick strands. The rest of their 

 ordinary attire is similar to that of the men, 

 which is the usual Manchu dress — baggy trousers 

 and long coat or gown of blue surmounted by a 

 large sleeveless waistcoat of some bright colour. 

 Only in the absence of buskins does the women's 

 dress differ from that of the men. 



On gala days, which the women celebrate 

 equally freely with the men, the former sport 

 silk robes of the most gorgeous and vivid colours, 

 and even the latter manage to don clothes of 

 gayer hues. 



They are a light-hearted, cheery people, always 

 on the look-out for fun, and always playing j okes 

 upon one another. 



As already stated a large proportion of the men 

 are lamas, who have their heads shaved and wear 

 long robes of red or yellow, with sashes of the 

 same colours. These priests are supposed to be 

 celibate, but we saw several with large and flour- 

 ishing families. 



The food of these Mongols consists in winter of 

 mutton and beef, but in summer they live almost 

 entirely upon parched millet, which to render 

 palatable they steep in salted tea. The millet, 

 a poor and coarse variety, they grow themselves. 



For fuel they depend almost entirely upon the 

 droppings of their cattle, which when dried they 



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