CHINESE TARTARY. us. 



The various tribes of these Tartars in general form wandering 

 hordes and live in tents, which they remove from one place to ano- 

 ther, according as the temperature of the seasons, or the wants of their 

 flocks require. When pasturage begins to fail, the whole tribes 

 strike their tents, generally from ten to fifteen times in the year, pro- 

 ceeding in summer to the northern, and in winter to the southern 

 wilds : the latter season they generally pass at the bottom of some 

 mountain, or hill, which shelters them from the sharp and cutting 

 north wind. Each of these tribes has its respective limits, and it 

 would be an act of hostility towards their neighbours to go beyond 

 them ; but they are at full liberty to encamp wherever they choose? 

 within the circumference assigned them. They live in their tents 

 amid every kind of dirt and the dung of their flocks, which, when 

 dried, they burn on their hearths instead of wood. They axe natu- 

 rally enemies of labour, and will not take the trouble of cultivating 

 the earth ; it even appears that they neglect agriculture from pride. 

 When the missionaries asked them why they did not cultivate at 

 lee.st some gardens, they answered that " the grass was for beasts, 

 and beasts for man." During the summer, they live only on milk, 

 which they obtain from their flocks, using indiscriminately that of the 

 cow, mare, ewe, goat, and camel. Their ordinary drink is warm 

 water, in which a little coarse tea has been infused ; with it they 

 mix cream, milk, or butter, according to their circumstances : they 

 have also a method of making a kind of spirituous liquor of sour 

 milk, especially of that of the mare, which they distil after having al- 

 lowed it to ferment. Tartars of better condition, before they distil 

 this sour milk, mix with it some of the flesh of their sheep, which 

 has been also left to ferment. This liquor is strong and nourishing, 

 and one of their greatest pleasures is making themselves intoxicated 

 with it. 



The Moguls are extremely dexterous in handling the bow and arroWj 

 managing their horses, and hunting wild beasts. Polygamy is per- 

 mitted among them, but they generally have only one wife. They 

 burn the bodies of their princes and chief priests, with many solem- 

 nities, and bury the ashes on eminences where the tombs are some- 

 times walled round, and ornamented with a great number of small 

 standards. 



The whole nation of the Moguls, under the Chinese government, 

 may be divided into four principal tribes ; the Moguls, properly so 

 calk d, the Kalkas, the Ortous, and the Eluts, of which branch are 

 the Tartars of Kokonor; all of whom have a great resemblance in 

 then- character and manners. 



The Manchews are not very different in their habits and manners 

 from the Moguls. They have, however, towns and villages, and ap- 

 pear to be much more civilized, especially since their conquest of 

 China ; though the Chinese retain a great antipathy against their 

 conquerors, whom they despise as a filthy race of savages. 



Cities, chief towns. ...The capital of the whole country of the 

 Manchew Tartars is Chinyang, or as it is called by the Tartars, Mug- 

 den. It stands on an eminence, and is said to be nearly three leagues 

 in circumference. It contains a palace for the emperor, several pub' 

 lie edifices, magazines of arms, and storehouses. Kirin, the chief 

 town of the department of that name, is the residence of a Manchew 

 general, who is invested with all the powers of a viceroy : he has the 

 inspection of the troopsj and authority ever all the mandarins, Nin- 



