behind his tent, so that
his establishment, when he was encamped, looked like quite a little
village.

The style of building adopted among the Monguls for tents and movable
houses seemed to set the fashion for all their houses, even for those
that were built in the towns, and were meant to stand permanently
where they were first set up. These permanent houses were little
better than tents. They consisted each of one single room without any
subdivisions whatever. They were made round, too, like the tents, only
the top, instead of running up to a point, was rounded like a dome.
There were no floors above that formed on the ground, and no windows.

Such was the general character of the dwellings of the Monguls in the
days of Genghis Khan. They took their character evidently from the
wandering and pastoral life that the people led. One would have
thought that very excellent roads would have been necessary to have
enabled them to draw the ponderous carts containing their dwellings
and household goods. But this was less necessary than might have been
supposed on account of the nature of the country, which consisted
chiefly of immense grassy plains and smooth river valleys, over which,
in many places, wheels would travel tolerably well in any direction
without much making of roadway. Then, again, in all such countries,
the people who journey from place to place, and the herds of cattle
that move to and fro, naturally fall into the same lines of travel,
and thus, in time, wear great trails, as cows make paths in a pasture.
These, with a little artificial improvement at certain points, make
very good summer roads, and in the winter it is not necessary to use
them at all.

The Monguls, like the ancient Jews, were divided into tribes, and
these were subdivided into families; a family meaning in this
connection not one household, but a large congeries of households,
including all those that were of known relationship to each other.
These groups of relatives had each its head, and the tribe to which
they pertained had also its general head. There were, it is said,
three sets of these tribes, forming three grand divisions of the
Mongul people, each of which was ruled by its own khan; and then, to
complete the system, there was the grand khan, who ruled over all.

A constitution of society like this almost always prevails in pastoral
countries, and we shall see, on a little reflection, that it is
natural that it should do so. In