ttracted the attention of the
Mongols, who are acquainted only with bows and arrows." The Russian
writer should have known that fire-arms are not so foreign to the Tartars
as he imagined; since it is proved that already, as early as the
commencement of the 13th century, _Tcheng-Kis-Khan_ had artillery in his
armies.

The odour pervading the interior of the Mongol tents, is, to those not
accustomed to it, disgusting and almost insupportable. This smell, so
potent sometimes that it seems to make one's heart rise to one's throat,
is occasioned by the mutton grease and butter with which everything on or
about a Tartar is impregnated. It is on account of this habitual filth,
that they are called _Tsao-Ta-Dze_, (Stinking Tartars), by the Chinese,
themselves not altogether inodorous, or by any means particular about
cleanliness.

Among the Tartars, household and family cares rest entirely upon the
woman; it is she who milks the cows, and prepares the butter, cheese,
etc.; who goes, no matter how far, to draw water; who collects the argol
fuel, dries it, and piles it around the tent. The making of clothes, the
tanning of skins, the fulling of cloth, all appertains to her; the sole
assistance she obtains, in these various labours, being that of her sons,
and then only while they are quite young.

The occupations of the men are of very limited range; they consist wholly
in conducting the flocks and herds to pasture. This for men accustomed
from their infancy to horseback is rather an amusement than a labour. In
point of fact, the nearest approach to fatigue they ever incur, is when
some of their cattle escape; they then dash off at full gallop, in
pursuit, up hill and down dale, until they have found the missing
animals, and brought them back to the herd. The Tartars sometimes hunt;
but it is rather with a view to what they can catch than from any
amusement they derive from the exercise; the only occasions on which they
go out with their bows and matchlocks are when they desire to shoot
roebucks, deer, or pheasants, as presents for their chiefs. Foxes they
always course. To shoot them, or take them in traps, would, they
consider, injure the skin, which is held in high estimation among them.
They ridicule the Chinese immensely on account of their trapping these
animals at night. "We," said a famous hunter of the Red Banner to us,
"set about the thing in an honest straightforward way. When we see a
fox, we jump on hor