SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 
temperatures. Indeed they must needs be so, 
for the plains are swept in summer by terrible 
storms, such as that described in the preceding 
chapter, while in winter the temperature falls 
below zero. A single low door in each tent affords 
ingress. The floors are of beaten cowdung, and 
are usually raised slightly in the centre, where an 
open iron stove holds the smouldering argols. 
In the tents of the wealthier Mongols there is a 
raised dais on the side away from the door, upon 
which the lord himself sleeps or the honoured 
guest is seated on elegant woollen rugs, while he 
sips salted and buttered tea. Round the sides 
of the tent are neatly placed small cupboards 
and red lacquer boxes, in which the household 
belongings are kept, while on the walls hang small 
mirrors, guns and powder-horns, whips, hobbles 
and other articles of daily use. The walls and 
roofs are always jet black from the smoke, which 
on fine days is allowed exit through holes in the 
roof. The inmates sleep round the fireplace on 
skins and felts. 
For a living these Mongols raise horses and 
cattle almost exclusively, never cultivating the 
soil like those we saw in the Southern Ordos. 
The district round Tabool is known as the Im- 
perial Pastures, and is well suited to stock-raising. 
Though included on the map in the province of 
Chihli this district comes under the Banner of the 
Chagars. 
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