any wood. Countries roamed over by herds of animals that gain their
living by pasturing on the grass and herbage are almost always
destitute of trees. Trees in such a case have no opportunity to grow.

The tents of the Monguls thus made were, of course, very comfortless
homes. They could not be kept warm, there was so much cold air coming
continually in through the crevices, notwithstanding all the people's
contrivances to make them tight. The smoke, too, did not all escape
through the hoop-hole above. Much of it remained in the tent and
mingled with the atmosphere. This evil was aggravated by the kind of
fuel which they used, which was of such a nature that it made only a
sort of smouldering fire instead of burning, like good dry wood, with
a bright and clear flame.

The discomforts of these huts and tents were increased by the custom
which prevailed among the people of allowing the animals to come into
them, especially those that were young and feeble, and to live there
with the family.

In process of time, as the people increased in riches and in
mechanical skill, some of the more wealthy chieftains began to build
houses so large and so handsome that they could not be conveniently
taken down to be removed, and then they contrived a way of mounting
them upon trucks placed at the four corners, and moving them bodily in
this way across the plains, as a table is moved across a floor upon
its castors. It was necessary, of course, that the houses should be
made very light in order to be managed in this way. They were, in
fact, still tents rather than houses, being made of the same
materials, only they were put together in a more substantial and
ornamental manner. The frame was made of very light poles, though
these poles were fitted together in permanent joinings. The covering
was, like that of the tents, made of felt, but the sheets were joined
together by close and strong seams, and the whole was coated with a
species of paint, which not only closed all the pores and interstices
and made the structure very tight, but also served to ornament it; for
they were accustomed, in painting these houses, to adorn the covering
with pictures of birds, beasts, and trees, represented in such a
manner as doubtless, in their eyes, produced a very beautiful effect.

These movable houses were sometimes very large. A certain traveler who
visited the country not far from the time of Genghis Khan says that he
saw one of these structure