here is plenty of milk--both cow's milk and sheep's milk. As there is
milk, there is butter and cheese. But it is very unwholesome to live on
meat and milk without bread and vegetables. The water, too, is very bad;
for it is taken from the muddy rivers, and not from clear springs. It is
a comfort for the Tartar that he can procure tea from China. Their tea is
indeed very unlike the tea brought to England; for it comes to Tartary in
hard lumps, shaped like bricks. It is boiled in a saucepan with water,
and then mixed with milk, butter, and salt. Thus you see the Tartar needs
neither tea-kettle, teapot, nor sugar basin.

It would be well if tea and milk were the only drinks in Tartary; but a
sort of spirit is distilled by the Tartars from mare's milk; and brandy
also is brought from Russia.

TENTS.--A Tartar tent is very unlike an Arab tent.

It is in the shape of a hut, for the sides are upright, and the roof only
is slanting, and there is a small hole at the top to let the smoke
escape. Neither is it made of skins, but of thick woollen stuff, called
felt, which keeps the cold out. At night the entrance is closed, and the
family sleep on mats around the fire in the midst.

APPEARANCE.--The Tartars are not handsome like the Turks and Circassians.
They are short and thick; their faces are broad and bony, their eyes very
small, and only half open; their noses flat, their lips thick, their
chins pointed, their ears large and flapping, and their skin dark and
yellow.

Their dress is warm, and well suited for riding in the desert. Different
tribes have different dresses: this is the dress of the Kalmuck Tartar.
He wears a yellow cloth cap trimmed with black lamb-skin; wide trowsers,
a tight jacket, and over all a loose tunic, fastened round the waist. His
boots are red, with high heels. The women dress like the men; but they
let their hair grow in two long tresses, while the men shave part of
their heads, and keep only _one_ lock of hair hanging on their shoulders.

[Illustration: TARTAR TENTS.]

You see that the Tartars are much like the Chinese in their persons and
dress; but they are a much stronger, bolder people, and much more
ignorant. No wonder, therefore, that many years ago the Tartars got over
the Chinese wall, and took possession of the Chinese throne. You must not
forget that the Emperor of China is a Tartar.

GOVERNMENT.--To whom does Tartary belong? Has it a king of its own? No.
Once it had many kings, ca