e feeding by day, and in putting them in
places of security by night, in taking care of and rearing the young,
in making butter and cheese from the milk, and clothing from the
skins, in driving the cattle to and fro in search of pasturage, and,
finally, in making war on the people of other tribes to settle
disputes arising out of conflicting claims to territory, or to
replenish their stock of sheep and oxen by seizing and driving off the
flocks of their neighbors.

The animals which the Monguls most prized were camels, oxen and cows,
sheep, goats, and horses. They were very proud of their horses, and
they rode them with great courage and spirit. They always went
mounted in going to war. Their arms were bows and arrows, pikes or
spears, and a sort of sword or sabre, which was manufactured in some
of the towns toward the west, and supplied to them in the course of
trade by great traveling caravans.

Although the mass of the people lived in the open country with their
flocks and herds, there were, notwithstanding, a great many towns and
villages, though such centres of population were much fewer and less
important among them than they are in countries the inhabitants of
which live by tilling the ground. Some of these towns were the
residences of the khans and of the heads of tribes. Others were places
of manufacture or centres of commerce, and many of them were fortified
with embankments of earth or walls of stone.

The habitations of the common people, even those built in the towns,
were rude huts made so as to be easily taken down and removed. The
tents were made by means of poles set in a circle in the ground, and
brought nearly together at the top, so as to form a frame similar to
that of an Indian wigwam. A hoop was placed near the top of these
poles, so as to preserve a round opening there for the smoke to go
out. The frame was then covered with sheets of a sort of thick gray
felt, so placed as to leave the opening within the hoop free. The
felt, too, was arranged below in such a manner that the corner of one
of the sheets could be raised and let down again to form a sort of
door. The edges of the sheets in other places were fastened together
very carefully, especially in winter, to keep out the cold air.

Within the tent, on the ground in the centre, the family built their
fire, which was made of sticks, leaves, grass, and dried droppings of
all sorts, gathered from the ground, for the country produced scarcely