THE PEOPLE OF THE WILDERNESS 



549 



best he has. "Only ob- 

 serve etiquette, and every 

 tent is yours," as the say- 

 ing goes. 



For even among the 

 rough-and-ready People 

 of the Wilderness there 

 are a few essential rules 

 of politeness. From 

 whatever side a tent is 

 approached, for instance, 

 be sure to ride up to it 

 from the front. 



When within a short 

 distance stop and shout 

 "Nohoi" (dog). The 

 Mongol dogs are very 

 savage, and it would be 

 dangerous to attempt to 

 advance farther till the 

 people of the village have 

 come out to restrain 

 them, which by law all 

 Mongols are forced to 

 do. Until they receive 

 this protection, horse- 

 men remain in the sad- 

 dle, and those on foot 

 keep the animals at bay 

 as well as they can with 

 sticks. 



A Mongol dog has 

 many wolfish qualities, 

 and the disgusting Mon- 

 gol habit of leaving 

 corpses on the plains in- 

 stead of burying them 

 increases his savage in- 

 stincts. 



No white man can pass 

 the human skulls and 

 bones strewn over the 

 steppes without a shud- 

 der, and he turns sick with disgust at the 

 sight of the occasional wooden box in 

 which a condemned criminal is left to die 

 of hunger and finally be eaten by the 

 wolves and dogs (see illustration, page 



548). 



EXCHANGE OF SNUFF BOTTLES IS A TOKEN 

 OE HOSPITALITY 



Once a stranger enters a tent, however, 

 the savage creatures will no longer attack 

 him ; so that to bring a stick inside is 

 considered a lack of good manners. Hav- 

 ing left his stick outside, then, the 



Photograph by Eugene Lee Stewart 

 A MONGOLIAN COFFIN, PAINTED GREEN AND DECORATED IN 

 WHITE AND GOLD 



traveler on getting through the low door- 

 way, says "Mendu" (greeting) to the 

 people inside and proceeds to sit down 

 on the left side of the fireplace cross- 

 legged or, if he cannot do this, with his 

 legs stretched toward the door. 



The next thing is the interchange of 

 snuff bottles. A Mongol visitor offers 

 his first to the host and the people of the 

 tent, and receives theirs in return ; but. as 

 foreigners do not carry snuff generally, 

 the Mongol host offers his to the foreign 

 visitor. Meanwhile the women have been 



