is
point. Notwithstanding these advantages, they are not at all so rich as
the other Mongols."

This quotation, which we take from the Abbe Grosier, is in every point
conformable with what we ourselves were able to observe among the Ortous;
so that, since the time of the Emperor Khang-Hi, this people has not at
all changed in its manners.

The aspect of the country through which we travelled on the first day of
our journey seemed affected by the vicinity of the Chinese fishermen, who
reside on the banks of the Yellow River. We saw here and there
cultivated grounds, but there can be nothing more wretched and bare
looking than this cultivation, except, perhaps, the cultivator himself.
These miserable agriculturists are a mixed people, half Chinese, half
Tartars, but possessing neither the industry of the former, nor the frank
and simple manners of the latter. They live in houses, or rather in
dirty sheds built of branches intertwined, rudely covered with mud and
cow's excrement. Thirst obliging us to enter one of these habitations to
ask for some water, we were able to convince ourselves that the interior
did not in any way contradict the misery which appeared outside. Men and
animals live together higgledy-piggledy in these abodes, which are far
inferior to those of the Mongols, where, at least, the air is not
infected by the presence of cattle and sheep.

The sandy soil, which is cultivated by these poor people, beyond a little
buck-wheat and millet, produces only hemp, but this is very large and
abundant. Though, when we were there, the crop was already gathered in,
we could nevertheless judge of the beauty of its stem from what remained
in the fields. The farmers of Ortous do not pull up the hemp when it is
ripe, as is done in China; they cut it off above the ground, so high as
to leave a stump of about an inch in diameter. It was accordingly great
toil for our camels to traverse those vast fields of hemp; the stumps,
occurring at every step beneath their large feet, compelled them to
execute all sorts of fantastic movements, which would have excited our
mirth, had we not been fearful of seeing them wounded. However, that
which so impeded our camels proved of great use to ourselves. When we
had set up our tent, these stumps furnished us with a ready and abundant
fuel.

We soon entered once more the Land of Grass, if, indeed, one can give
this name to such a barren, arid country as that of the Ortous. Wh