manity. Yet, if it be true,
that the sentiment of compassion is imperceptibly weakened by the
sight and practice of domestic cruelty, we may observe, that the horrid
objects which are disguised by the arts of European refinement, are
exhibited in their naked and most disgusting simplicity in the tent of
a Tartarian shepherd. The ox, or the sheep, are slaughtered by the same
hand from which they were accustomed to receive their daily food; and
the bleeding limbs are served, with very little preparation, on the
table of their unfeeling murderer. In the military profession, and
especially in the conduct of a numerous army, the exclusive use of
animal food appears to be productive of the most solid advantages. Corn
is a bulky and perishable commodity; and the large magazines, which
are indispensably necessary for the subsistence of our troops, must be
slowly transported by the labor of men or horses. But the flocks and
herds, which accompany the march of the Tartars, afford a sure and
increasing supply of flesh and milk: in the far greater part of the
uncultivated waste, the vegetation of the grass is quick and luxuriant;
and there are few places so extremely barren, that the hardy cattle of
the North cannot find some tolerable pasture. The supply is multiplied
and prolonged by the undistinguishing appetite, and patient abstinence,
of the Tartars. They indifferently feed on the flesh of those
animals that have been killed for the table, or have died of disease.
Horseflesh, which in every age and country has been proscribed by
the civilized nations of Europe and Asia, they devour with peculiar
greediness; and this singular taste facilitates the success of their
military operations. The active cavalry of Scythia is always followed,
in their most distant and rapid incursions, by an adequate number of
spare horses, who may be occasionally used, either to redouble the
speed, or to satisfy the hunger, of the Barbarians. Many are the
resources of courage and poverty. When the forage round a camp of
Tartars is almost consumed, they slaughter the greatest part of their
cattle, and preserve the flesh, either smoked, or dried in the sun. On
the sudden emergency of a hasty march, they provide themselves with a
sufficient quantity of little balls of cheese, or rather of hard curd,
which they occasionally dissolve in water; and this unsubstantial diet
will support, for many days, the life, and even the spirits, of the
patient warrior. But