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 jokes 
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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