sort out from their fleeces; and of the coarser wool they make felts
for covering their houses and chests, and for sleeping upon. Their ropes
are likewise made of wool, mixed with a third part of horse hair. Of felt
they also make cloths to lay under their saddles, and caps to defend their
heads from rain. In all these things they use vast quantities of wool. Your
majesty has seen the habits of these people[4].

[1] Under the name of Kumyss, this liquor is much used by the Russian
gentry, as a restorative for constitutions weakened by disease or
debauchery: and for procuring it they travel to the Tartar districts
of the empire.--E.

[2] Whether the author here means the dissolved sour curd, mentioned at the
close of the former Section, or gruel made from meal and water, does
not appear.--E.

[3] Our falconers use the left hand for carrying their hawks. I leave the
inexplicable use of the thongs to be understood by professional
falconers.--Hakluyt, ad loc.

[4] Probably this concluding sentence means, that as the king of France had
seen some Tartars in Syria, the author did not deem it necessary to
describe their form and fashions.--E.

SECTION VIII.

_Of the Fashion of their Hair, and the Ornaments of their Women._

The men have a square tonsure on their crowns, from the two front corners
of which they shave two seams down to their temples. The temples also, and
hinder part of the head, to the nape of the neck, are shaved, and the
forehead, except one small lock which falls down to the eyes. On each angle
of the hind head, they leave a long lock of hair, which they braid and knot
together under each ear. The dress of unmarried women differs little from
that of the men, except in being somewhat longer. But on the day after
marriage, the head is shaved, from the middle down to the forehead, and the
woman puts on a wide gown, like that of a monk, but wider and longer. This
opens before, and is tied under the right side. In this the Tartars and
Turks differ, as the Turks tie their garments always on the left side. They
have an ornament for their heads which they call Botta, which is made of
the bark of a tree or any other very light substance, made in a round form,
so thick as may be grasped with both hands, becoming square at the upper
extremity, and in all about two feet long, somewhat resembling the capital
of a pillar. This cap is hollow within, and is covered over with ri