nt and
valuable, medals, red beads, and a variety of brilliant objects
harmoniously combined. Her heavy gold bracelets had been made to order
in Kazan after a pure Tatar model, and her soft-soled boots of rose-pink
leather, with conventional designs in many-colored moroccos, sewed
together with rainbow-hued silks, reached nearly to her knees. Her
complexion was fresh and not very sallow, her nose rather less like a
button than is usual; her high cheek-bones were well covered, and her
small dark eyes made up by their brilliancy for the slight upward slant
of their outer corners.

Tatar girls, who made no pretensions to beauty in dress or features, did
the milking, and were aided in that and the other real work connected
with kumys-making by Tatar men. According to the official programme, the
mares might be milked six or eight times a day, and the yield was from a
half to a whole bottle apiece each time. Milk is always reckoned by the
bottle in Russia. I presume the custom arose from the habit of sending
the _muzhik_ ("Boots") to the dairy-shop with an empty wine-bottle to
fetch the milk and cream for "tea," which sometimes means coffee in the
morning. The mare's milk has a sweetish, almond-like flavor, and is very
thin and bluish in hue.

At three o'clock in the morning, the mares are taken from the colts and
shut up in a long shed which is not especially weather-proof. In fact,
there is not much "weather" except wind to be guarded against on the
steppe. In about two hours, when the milk has collected, the colts
follow them voluntarily, and are admitted and allowed to suck for a few
seconds. Halters are then thrown about their necks, and they are led
forward where the mothers can nose them over and lick them. The
milkmaid's second assistant then puts a halter on the neck of a mare and
holds her, or ties up one leg if she be restive. In the mean time the
foolish creature continues to let down milk for her foal. The milkmaid
kneels on one knee and holds her pail on the other, after having washed
her hands carefully and wiped off the teats with a clean, damp cloth. If
the mare resists at first, the milk obtained must not be used for kumys,
as her agitation affects the milk unfavorably. Roan, gray, and chestnut
mares are preferred, and in order to obtain the best milk great care
must be exercised in the choice of pasture and the management of the
horses, as well as in all the minor details of preparation.

The milking-pai