two wheels, covered so closely with felt, that the rain
cannot penetrate, in which their wives and children and household goods are
conveyed from place to place. All these are drawn by oxen or camels.

The rich Tartars are clothed in sables and ermines, and other rich furs,
and in cloth of gold, and all their apparel and furniture is very costly.
Their arms are bows, swords, battle-axes, and some have lances; but they
are most expert in the use of the bow, in which they are trained from their
infancy. They are hardy, active, and brave, yet somewhat cruel; are
exceedingly patient and obedient to their lords, and will often remain two
days and nights armed on horseback without rest. They believe in one
supreme God of heaven, to whom they daily offer incense, praying to him for
health and prosperity. But every person has a little image covered with
felt, or something else, in his house, called _Natigay_; and to this
household god they make a wife, which is placed on his left hand, and
children, which are set before his face. This image or idol is considered
as the god of earthly things, to whom they recommend the protection of
their wives and children, their cattle, corn, and other valuables. This god
is held in great reverence, and before eating any thing themselves, they
anoint the mouth of the idol with the fat of their boiled meat, and they
cast some broth out of doors in honour of other spirits; after which they
eat and drink their fill, saying, that now their god and his family have
had their due portion.

If the son of one Tartar, and the daughter of another die unmarried, the
parents meet together and celebrate a marriage between their deceased
children. On this occasion they draw up a written contract, and paint
representations of men and women for servants, of horses, camels, cattle,
and sheep, of clothes of all kinds, and of paper money; and all these
things are burned along with the contract, conceiving that these will all
follow their children substantially to the other world to serve them, and
that they will be there united in affinity, as if they had been actually
married while living.

When the Tartars go to war, the prince usually leads an army of not less
than an hundred thousand men, all cavalry; each man having usually eight or
more horses or mares. Their troops are regularly distributed into bands of
tens, hundreds, thousands, and ten thousands; a troop of an hundred is
called a _Tuc_, and a body of t