t on, just the same as before, his reckless, independent character
having undergone no modification whatever. Our only mode of remedying
the evil, was to turn herdsmen ourselves.

Moreover, it was impossible to remain pertinaciously and exclusively men
of letters when all around seemed inviting us to make some concessions to
the habits of this pastoral people. The Si-Fan, or Eastern Thibetians,
are nomads, like the Tartar-Mongols, and pass their lives solely occupied
in the care of their flocks and herds. They do not live, however, like
the Mongol tribes, in huts covered with felt. The great tents they
construct with black linen, are ordinarily hexagonal in form; within you
see neither column nor woodwork supporting the edifice; the six angles
below are fastened to the ground with nails, and those above are
supported by cords which, at a certain distance from the tent, rest
horizontally on strong poles, and then slope to the ground, where they
are attached to large iron rings. With all this strange complication of
sticks and strings, the black tent of the Thibetian nomads bears no
slight resemblance to a great spider standing motionless on its long
lanky legs, but so that its great stomach is resting on the ground. The
black tents are by no means comparable with the tents of the Mongols;
they are not a whit warmer or more solid than ordinary travelling tents.
They are very cold, on the contrary, and a strong wind knocks them down
without the least difficulty.

[Picture: The Long-Haired Ox]

It may be said, however, that in one respect the Si-Fan seem more
advanced than the Mongols, and to have a tendency for approximating to
the manners of sedentary nations. When they have selected an encampment,
they are accustomed to erect around it, a wall of from four to five feet
high, and within their tents they construct furnaces, which are destitute
neither of taste nor of solidity. These arrangements, however, do not
create in them any attachment to the soil which they have thus occupied.
Upon the slightest caprice they decamp, pulling down their walls and
other masonry work, and carrying the principal stones with them to their
next settlement, as part of their furniture. The herds of the Eastern
Thibetians consist of sheep, goats, and long-haired cattle; they do not
breed as many horses as the Tartars, but those which they do breed are
stronger and better formed; the camels we find in their coun