the icy wind. Some naturalists say that the camel
cannot exist in cold countries; these writers must have wholly forgotten
the Tartarian camels, which, on the contrary, cannot endure the least
heat, and which certainly could not exist in Arabia.

The hair of an ordinary camel weighs about ten pounds. It is sometimes
finer than silk, and always longer than sheep's wool. The hair growing
below the neck and on the legs of the entire camels is rough, bushy, and
in colour black, whereas that of the ordinary camel is red, grey, and
white. The Tartars make no sort of use of it. In the places where the
animals pasture, you see great sheets of it, looking like dirty rags,
driven about by the wind, until they are collected in sheltered corners,
in the hill sides. The utmost use the Tartars make of it is to twist
some of it into cord, or into a sort of canvas, of which they construct
sacks and carpets.

The milk of the camel is excellent, and supplies large quantities of
butter and cheese. The flesh is hard, unsavoury, and little esteemed by
the Tartars. They use the hump, however, which, cut into slices, and
dissolved in tea, serves the purpose of butter. It is known that
Heliogabalus had camel's flesh served up at his banquets, and that he was
very fond of camel's feet. We cannot speak as to the latter dish, which
the Roman Emperor piqued himself upon having invented, but we can
distinctly affirm that camel's flesh is detestable.

[Picture: Chapter Tailpiece]

[Picture: Mongol Butcher]

CHAPTER X.

Purchase of a Sheep--A Mongol Butcher--Great Feast _a la Tartare_--Tartar
Veterinary Surgeons--Strange Cure of a Cow--Depth of the Wells of the
Ortous--Manner of Watering the Animals--Encampment at the Hundred
Wells--Meeting with the King of the Alechan--Annual Embassies of the
Tartar Sovereigns to Peking--Grand Ceremony in the Temple of the
Ancestors--The Emperor gives Counterfeit Money to the Mongol
Kings--Inspection of our Geographical Map--The Devil's
Cistern--Purification of the Water--A Lame Dog--Curious Aspect of the
Mountains--Passage of the Yellow River.

The environs of the Dabsoun-Noor abound in flocks of goats and sheep.
These animals like to browse on the furze and thorny bushes, the sole
vegetation of these barren steppes; they especially delight in those
nitrous efflorescences which are found here on all sides in the utmost
abundance. The soil, mi