  Among the Shera YÖgurs. In Kanchow I was obliged to remain a conple of days for the preparations necessary for my intended visit to the so-called "Yellow Tanguts" living to the south of the town. To secure myself a good reception, I applied to the highest military mandarin of the place for a letter of introduction to the Tangutan Prince. Ma-t'idu, the mandarin in question was one of that numerous class of Chinese Mussulmans who had betrayed their co-religionists and during the bloody Dungan revolt had made common cause with the Chinamen. He was kind enough not only to give me the letter I required but offered me a military escort. Not wishing to take so many people with me into the mountains I begged that the escort might not exceed one mounted soldier, and laughingly the mandarin agreed, promising to give the necessary orders that the man should meet me in the village Kanchenp'u near the town Li-yen, about 23-24 km WSW from Kanchow. Having very heartily thanked the mandarin, whose imposing soldierly figure and jovial face adorned by a fierce pair of moustaches, looked considerably more Turkish than Chinese, I left his spacious yamen (office) and early on the following morning, Dec. 24th 1907, made a start, with two packhorses and three followers, the interpreter, Cossack and cook. Our road led out of the western gate and westward through a prosperous densely populated low country, crossed by innumerable irrigation canals. After a rise of 8-9 km the stony bed of the river Heiho was reached and its seven-branched estuary forded. The largest of these forks was forty-four strides wide and 0,5 m in depth, and had a fairly strong current. The river bed here is about 2 km wide but it broadens to the south, where it spreads out into a perfect sea of stone and gravel, several miles in width, which at the rainy periods is completely covered by the water rushing from the mountains in the south, bringing with it ever more and more boulderstones. In Kanchenp'u we sought in vain for the promised escort with the letter of introduction, of the importance of which I had many opportunities of assuring myself during earlier visits paid to Kalmucks and Tangutans, Khirgis and other nomadic tribes. There was however nothing to be done but to await patiently his arrival from the thirty mile distant Li-yen. As he did not arrive by the following evening. I was forced to wait another whole day for the purpose of sending a messenger to the garrison there. My messenger returned with word that a soldier had been sent, not to Kanchenp'u, but to a small military post in a ravine halfway between the village and the Tangutan monastery K'ang-lung-ssu. On the morning of the 26th I was at last able to start, after having with great difficulty, almost by force, secured a guide for the first part of the day's march. It was a sunny though windy winter morning, and we soon passed the boundary of cultivated ground, and made our way towards a grassy slope stretching upwards to the mountains in the south. Following the dry bed of a river we reached a ravine opening to the east, along the bottom of which the river Hrar-gol or Ta-ho, now ice-bound, had worn itself a deep channel — about 200 fathoms wide — and along its high precipitous right bank we made our way. Above the steep strand plateau lie low hills of conglomerate which at a distance rise to some considerable height. The road leads very soon across the frozen strip of water to the opposite shore and then back again and this movement was repeated time after time during the day's march. The shore became more stony the farther one penetrated into the ravine, and the ice if possible more slippery. The few trees growing in the river-bed were being hewn down by Chinamen, who, binding them in pairs, lay them, with the loose ends dragging, over the backs of donkeys, and thus draw them out upon the plain. The further one rides, the more of these little donkey caravans one meets, and now it is one of our horses which slips and lies full length on the glassy ice, now it is one of the small donkeys which lies helpless. Fortunately the earth was bare: if it had been icy, it would have been impossible to get over such ground, stony and broken as the road was. Now the horses climbed a clift several fathoms high, now they crept like snakes between huge blocks of all dimensions. The hills around us were not very high and there were no grassy slopes, the naked walls of rock showing in many places a bright-red colour. The ravine soon narrowed and its sides rose steeply, often precipitously. About four km from the beginning of the pass, we rode past one of the small guardhouses which the Chinese government officers are so fond of building in any inaccessible place. They are spread over the whole width of the Empire and do good police service. In a little square tower built of granite, a guard consisting of three men from the Li-yen garrison was posted. A little further on, where the ravine broadened again, we saw a poverty-stricken little Chinese homestead, and a small temple. The ravine opened out now and again, soon to narrow once more, and the road grew worse and worse. About eleven km from the guardhouse, the hills around us rose to a considerable height and we crossed a sharply defined crest. Firtrees showed themselves on the slopes towards the north and west, which were less steep. About 17-18 km from the guard house we passed a fork of the ravine, which now broadened somewhat, and, turning sharply to the south, we rode towards the river Kiito-gol which we approached on the left. Now the mountains were lower, the shores and slopes covered with grass, and in the distance was seen one of those decorated white conical towers so characteristic of Buddhist countries. Another turn of the road and we were suddenly arrived at our destination, K'anglungssu, the chief monastery of the Shera YÖgurs, or Rtangu rgonba as it is called in their language. Built on the lower slopes of some small hills, the monastery appeared to be a mass of buildings out of which rose a large, massive temple in red and brown and grey and white, with the usual gilded Buddha roof-decorations. Around the temple walls some dozens of houses, were grouped the majority of them low and of the most unpretentious description. Together with another smaller temple, your eye was caught at once by a temple-like building, which is used by the monastery, and a couple of rather more capacious houses, one of them belonging to the t'umu (a sort of hereditary governor) the other being kindly placed at my disposal. Timber is chiefly used in building, only the crevices being filled with clay. Four-cornered beams are used as columns indoors as well as in the outer walls of the building. The rooms are almost completely dark, very small, and black with soot. A k'ang heated with coal and dry manure, which is lifted into the room by removing a board or two in the ceiling takes up nearly all the space. No Buddha altar or decorations were visible in the houses of the lamas I visited. Some blankets, a fur-coat, cups, basins, a jar for coal and a couple of chests, or cupboard-like boxes, is all that is to be seen in the way of household goods. By the door outside stands a wide deep bench, like a bed, without sides, the wall forming the back of it. It is used as a seat in winter, and in summer as a bed. The temple, the chief religious shrine of the Shera YÖgurs was large, and wealthy. In its size and architectural style it greatly resembled the monastery of KurÉ belonging to the Zurgan sumun Kalmucks in the valley of the TekÉs river, which I had visited some months previously, but the details showed signs of Tibetan influence. The front of the building faced east and opened upon a roomy courtyard. It was decorated with large, very rudely painted pictures of warriors, like those to be seen outside the houses and temples of the mandarins. A colonnade of narrow wooden columns led from the principal entrance to the altar, where the high and throne-like chair of state belonging to the gegen stood on the left. The four walls of the temple were formed by four narrow buildings with carved Chinese roofs, of which those at the entrance and at the altar wall rose somewhat above the two side buildings. The central square connecting these four buildings, which lack their inner walls, was raised two stories and crowned by a four-cornered roof with carved roof-trees, embellished at the highest point with a gilded cone. Round three sides of the second story ran small rooms under the same roof, which are used for storing various things. The fourth side, that towards the entrance door, was open allowing free passage for light but also for cold. The interior walls of this gallery were covered with Buddhist pictures, painted in bright colours and set into the walls like panels, and diverse banners with Buddhist ornamentation. In the lower, larger temple-court, the side walls were divided into open square cupboards and compartments, holding a great number of Buddhist books. The Tangut lettering was carefully inscribed on long narrow loose pages, often enclosed in an artistic frame, secured between two wooden boards bound together by a cord. Along the entrance side of the courts, on low benches, the lamas scarlet mantles, highcombed head dresses, staffs and other insignia were lying. The centre of the altar wall was occupied by Buddha figures with low tables placed before them, bearing small dishes of water, grain — a burning lamp and other ritualistic objects. On both sides of this, the wall was covered from floor to ceiling by hundreds of small compartments, in which, behind a hanging, the same image of Buddha was repeated. The place of honour, that is, the centre of the wall behind the altar, was occupied by a bronze statue of Tsunkoa (the same in both YÖgur and Tangut), half a metre high, wrapped in a piece of red cloth. Before him stood Stonba, also in bronze, but in miniature. On each side stand Shagdur (Shagiur?) in two different aspects and further away two highly-coloured banners representing Shtshanrygzyc on the left and Stongsko on the right. Lastly, on the far left was still another fine bronze Buddha, also some Buddhas of painted clay, and on the right, three bronze Buddhas forming three small separate groups round the wall. Along the cornice between the lower ceiling and the wall of the gallery numbers of banners were hanging, their century-old dim colouring and gilding being most effective. A narrow corridor-like room behind the altar was filled with the most extraordinary collection of Buddha idols seated in a row round the four walls. Opposite the entrance a richly gilded Stongsko, of immense size, was enthroned. The lamas living in this monastery do not number more than fifteen, all ages included. The younger men especially were extremely friendly and obliging, owing probably to Ma-t'idu's sending me an escort. The gegen of the monastery, their Shke lama (Great Lama) Buddha's reincarnation, was still a child, growing up in the mountains, a three day's ride further south, under the care of elderly YÖgur lamas. He had succeeded the last Shke lama, who died eight or nine years ago, but was only brought to K'anglungssu for the solemnizing of great ceremonies, occuring every sixth and twelfth Chinese moon. On the hill-side nearest the monastery some tombs were marked by high poles and heaps of stones, in memory of some respected lamas. When a YÖgur rides by, he dismounts and mumbles some prayers half aloud, but you never hear, as among the Zurgan sumun Khalmucks and Tanguts, the lama's solemn singing, with its deep, long drawn-out notes which spread a veil of mysticism and religious feeling over the hidden valleys and chasms of their high impenetrable mountains. Still, if you walk along the winding paths between the wooden huts of the monastery, the tinkling of small bells, and a monotonous voice tells you that here too, in the depths of their dark huts, prayers are being chanted with the same zeal as among the Tibetan hills. The lamas are supported by voluntary contributions in payment for their services as prayer-readers. The generosity evinced is great, and is proved by the fact that in the case of a death, from one-third to one-half of the property left is given to the lamas. Only a small percentage of the lamas are able to read the Tangutan language, they have nothing to do with medicine, and in cases of serious illness a fortune-teller is called upon — usually a lama — to foretell the future, and also another lama, to pray for the sick. The fortune-teller uses three dice and a Tangutan book in which all answers to the various combinations are to be found. Not even the presence of their t'umu, Rentshen Nurbo, who had been kind enough to come to meet me at K'anglungssu, conquered the terror which the lamas felt for my anthropological instruments. Many of those who had been most sociable disappeared, and not even the tempting knives, looking-glasses, snuff-boxes, etc, which I offered to the bravest, who dared face the danger of being measured, could persuade them to cross the threshold of their homes. Seeing that all efforts were vain and having no further hope of success, I determined to leave K'anglungssu on the 29th of December for the purpose of paying a return visit to the t'umu. He offered his services as guide and in the bright glory of the early morning, as we said farewell to the monastery, with its red-mantled, closely cropped lamas, the country round about appeared to me far pleasanter than on my arrival there. Kiito-gol winds southwards past the monastery between two mountain slopes. That to the left, is covered with grass, while a thick forest of fir-trees climbs to the crest of the other. Opposite the monastery from the east a narrow valley winds its way between grassy hills. Its northerly slope facing SE carries you by several terrace-like plateaux to the higher mountain range which we had crossed a few days ago, — its granite crest could be seen, forming three long peaks bordered with a fringe of fir-trees growing along its northern slope. The sunburnt grass had in the sunshine a warm sandstone colour against which the grey mountain ridge with its dark border of fir-trees stood out effectively. The white and greyish-blue ribbon of the icebound Kiito-gol disappeared among the hills to the north. I said goodbye to a group of lamas, who, no longer terrified at my craniometer, had assembled to see me off. The red mantles and togas in which the lamas sometimes drape themselves wearing their right arm and shoulder bare — their closely cropped heads, their wonderfully expressive faces, with bronze and earth-coloured skin hanging in deep wrinkles and folds, their kindly insinuating smiles, white teeth and outstretched hands, all made an ineffaceable impression. We rode south up the hilly ridge, rising between Kiito-gol and Hrar-gol, at the foot of which lies the monastery, and found a "place of prayer" on its crest, marked by a great clump of poles and young trees. Down a precipitous slope wre reached the bottom of the narrow valley of Hrar-gol. To the south forest-covered heights could be seen dominated by a great snow-topped giant, which the t'umu names Hanshozu. [A horse-path which is only open for part of the year leads south along the Hrar-gol valley. Hsining is reached after a 12-17 days' ride.] A narrow side ravine brought us to a slight pass; from which we turned westward. The upward climb was very steep and the road divided here, one path leading westward to Khungeitza-Hsuchow which was reached in four days. Still followed on the right by the same fir-bordered mountain crest, which we saw in K'anglungssu to the NW, we rode over a high, undulating plain, covered with snow. In the far distance to the left was seen a wide snowcovered mountain range, which the natives call Longshur. It is supposed to be a continuation of the above mentioned Hanshozu. Glittering in its white covering, Galdjan rose in the WNW high above the rest of the range, and here Neimen-gol, one of the great tributaries of the Hei-ho, has its source. After gathering all the waters from the rivers pouring down these mountains it flows past Li-yen. The ride down from the heights was if possible even steeper than our ride up, but we were soon at the bottom of a fork-like ravine, in the left branch of which lay the "residence" of the t'umu, on the shore of an insignificant little river called Kluadjek-gol. A somewhat larger wooden house and a couple of huts built of slender timbers with the roofs prolonged to form a small, half-open outhouse, is the simple dwelling during the winter months of the hereditary t'umu of the Shera YÖgurs, and one which, I am sure, his very unpretentious people consider to be the height of modern comfort. The larger building consisted of two spacious, barn-like rooms, absolutely unfurnished, with simply a hole in the ceiling, above the kettle placed on eight bricks in the centre of the floor. In a small partition in one of the gables of the house, a k'ang was covered with carpets and rugs, to give the t'umu an opportunity of indulging in his dearest passion, the opium pipe. On each side of the larger building were two enclosures fenced in, the one for cattle, the other for sheep. Near by, stood a couple of typical Shera YÖgur dwellings, low grey tents raised on a low foundation of slender timbers, caulked with manure and provided each with an enclosure for cattle. With the exception of the monastery of K'anglungssu and this house of the t'umu's, there are said to be no other wooden buildings owned by the YÖgurs. The Shera YÖgurs inhabit the mountains round the following rivers, all of which are tributaries of Hei-ho or of its tributaries: Neiman or Longsor (flows past Li-yen), Tshulung, Zdem, Sheirik, Hrar, Kiito, Tashtyng, Khsan, and Pazyng gol (Hei-ho's upper course) or Khara Murin, as it is called lower down. The t'umu, whose knowledge of his country seemed rather limited, said that his people inhabited an area of two or three days' ride westward, as much to the East, and three to four days' ride southward, from K'anglungssu, and he considered that there were not more thau about three hundred tents spread over a distance of from five to six versts. They are governed by some ten t'umus (5 t'umu's and 5 fu-fumu's) all subordinate to my host, who is called ta t'umu (the great t'umu). The dignity of t'umu which in YÖgur is called nujun is hereditary and carries with it the right of wearing a Chinese mandarin button. A t'umu acts as judge, adjusts taxes, and manages the tents which belong to his district. Important questions are referred to the eldest t'umu. None of them have any pay, but they receive small gifts when a complaint is brought before them. There are no written laws, neither are any of the people able to read. Tradition and common-sense are the guiding principles. Crimes do not occur, and when there is any question of an execution the case is referred to the Chinese authorities. Since the Dungan revolt, only twenty-three horses are levied yearly — formerly eighty-two were paid — and they are sent by the commander of the garrison in Li-yen to t'idu in Kanchow. Privately, the officer in question also receives fifty tiao copper coins, about fifty lan, 1 deer and from two to thirty hares in the year. The price of the horses is paid in money, at twenty-eight lan per horse, and the sum levied on the different tents depends upon their means. The t'umu complained of the arbitrariness and extortion of the Chinese officials. He was very anxious at the moment about some coal-shafts in the Liwenku ravine, for the use of which the Chinese had hitherto paid the YÖgurs a small yearly rental. Now the nearest local mandarin had admonished the Chinese to pay the rental to him and not to the YÖgurs, which after all, only came to some three or four taels per shaft. Neither the t'umu nor the lamas seemed to know much about the origin of the tribe. They had once lived in K'ouwai (outside the Great Wall), probably in the North, but possibly in the W or NW, which land in Chinese was called TangutÁ, in their language Seche-Hache — some of them calling it Shilagu. [Potanin in his book of travels says that some of the YÖgurs pronounced Shilagu as Sheragol.] They had left it very long ago and removed to their present surroundings. Where that land lay, whether it was mountainous or level they did not know; neither did they know if it had been governed by their own Princes, nor had they preserved the names of their more renowned ancestors, except that of a certain Khor Geser Rdjalu (Djavu, according to Potanin). [The foot prints of Gesers horse are said to be found on the walls of a cliff near the Tangut monastery Matissu, 120 li. S of Kanchow. There is also a hole with a stone in it where his dog was fed.] Documentary evidence in regard to their origin had existed, and had been left in the care of Li-yen's military mandarin, but it had probably been destroyed by fire when his government office was burnt during the Dungan revolt. According to one document they had removed hither during the reign of the Emperor K'ang-hsi and become Chinese subjects, but in another it was said they had come over and lived by robbery. The general impression was that they had come here during the Emperor K'ang-hsi's reign, though some of the lamas maintained that it had been during Shunchih's. The circumstances which speak for the former view are the following: The monastery of K'anglungssu, according to their statements, had been founded at the time of their settling here. Over the entrance to the temple its name is written in Chinese characters, which same characters occur in the name of the Emperor K'ang-hsi. The only document I was fortunate enough to secure is reproduced below. It was engrossed on white silk by the t'idu in Ganchow, during the thirty-fifth year of the reign of the Emperor K'ang-hsi. It gives official permission to graze on the pasture lands which the tribes use at present. There is reason to believe that the permission was given soon after their migration at the request of the Chinese officials. It is a strange fact that this little mountain tribe who not only consider themselves, but, without doubt, are, Mongolian, say that in spite of the difference of language they belong to the same tribe as the SarÖ YÖgurs, whom they, at the same time, consider to be Tshantu, that is to say Sarts, and whose name they say ought to be Kara (black) YÖgur not SarÖ Yogur. [Potanin also calls them Kara YÖgur in the statements he makes in his book regarding these people but I consider it altogether impossible that I should mistake K. for S. It is however possible that the SarÖ YÖgur themselves have replaced Kara with Sara — that is, the Chinese huang 'yellow' translated in to their own language.] They believe that in years gone by they had both lived in TangutÁ, which they left simultaneously. [Where lay this mysterious TangutÁ or Seche-Hache, and how have these so dissimilar tribes become one YÖgur race?] — According to a statement made by the Chinese mandarin in Li-yen, the country now inhabited by the YÖgurs had been earlier peopled by a tribe called Hung maotzu (the red-haired) or Huang fan (the red barbarians) who were in bad repute as robbers. [Ruins, which the YÖgurs consider as belonging to the Khumouza people, are to be found west of Longsor's left mountain range, about ten versts SW from Li-yen, at a place called Sar Oron and about fifteen km to the south of ta t'umu's home. There are only traces of dwellings left, in both places; in the latter case these have been numerous.] By the command of the emperors they had been quite exterminated. To this desolate country, where wild beasts began to thrive in startling numbers, were sent at the request of the t'idu in Kanchow, by Chiangch'un (a kind ol Governor General) in Ili six tshi Huang-fan from the district of Urumtchi. The Chinese Government provided them with cattle. This movement is supposed to have taken place during Yungch'eng's reign. The SarÖ and Shera YÖgurs are the remnant of these six tshi and the Chinese military authorities consider them even yet a kind of irregular troop, which can be called upon in case of need. They had been a numerous tribe and counted up to three thousand tents. They had driven out another race, whom the Chinese called Khu maotzu-si fan and the Tanguts Sjamar. Death, and also the amalgamation with the Chinese element, has greatly diminished the tribe, and it goes on diminishing rapidly. Women are considerably more numerous than men. Many of them are sterile, and there are seldom more than three children in a family, never more than five or six. Marriage with the Chinese does not occur any longer, neither with the Tanguts, though it did occur earlier. The percentage of lamas is as great as among the Mongolians. It is said that there are at least a hundred of them. In a family where there is more than one son, it is the custom that one of them should be a lama and the weaker boys are educated to the office. The Shera YÖgurs consist of the following so-called "bones". Tokshu 5; OrgÉ 20; Sultus 8-9; Turgush 2; Kargos 10-15; Arlat 2; Kong 2-3; Lantshak 30-35; SockÄ 1; Khongrott 3; Temyrt or Temurtshin 2; Jaglakyr 4; Tshungsa 6; Tshangban 20-25; Rkomdjuk 4; Glan 2; Kyrgys 7-8 families, and Andjan, out of which all the t'umus are chosen. Tuman and Uirot are bones which are common to both SarÖ (Kara) and Shera YÖgurs. There are however only two families of Shera YÖgurs in Tuman. The SarÖ YÖgurs have, besides, the Minack and Patan "bones", as well as the Pegeshi, from which they take their t'umus. This classification has no importance except as a system of relationship between the respective "bones". The people belonging to the same "bone" are not allowed to intermarry. The administrative division of the Shera YÖgurs is as follows: (The Chinese names indicate the number of horses which are paid in yearly tax.) Chinese YÖgur Chinese YÖgur o cha, PÄjat tavyn otÓck with the temple of Tingyaossu, Smaktsho The division of the SarÖ (Kara) YÖgurs is as follows: Jaglaky otÓk with the temple of Changkussu YÖg. PÁjran. This however does not include the temples in Machuangtzu and Tungheitzu. Ta t'umu is considered the head of the SarÖ YÖgurs as well as of the Shera YÖgurs, but his authority must be very nominal, when even the settlement of taxes is not in his hands. — As to the uses and customs of the Shera YÖgurs, this is what I have gathered: From three to seven days after a death occurs, the body is carried out into the mountains some little distance from the tent and left there to be eaten by birds of prey. The eyes are closed but the limbs in no way straightened. No importance is attached to the position in which the body lies. After three days some of the relatives of the dead go to see if the body has been eaten up by vultures — which is a sign that the dead has been a good man. If such is not the case, a lama is called upon to read more prayers. The bodies of richer people are burnt on a bier of faggots. No food is placed upon it and the body is naked, with its head turned to the west. The ashes are kneaded into a burkhan (an image of Buddha), which placed inside a wooden box, is buried. The lama only reads prayers in the tent directly after the death, and the earlier custom of entertaining guests on the occasion has gradually disappeared under the influence of the lamas. — Only male descendants inherit. — The widow remains with her son or sons, who very often do not divide the property. Daughters only inherit in cases where there are no sons. The marriages are arranged by the parents of both parties. A girl cannot get engaged before she is fifteen years old. Men marry between the ages of fifteen and thirty — women between seventeen and thirty — and the wives are often eight or ten years older than their husbands. A widow seldom remarries, unless her husband has left her destitute, while a widower usually marries again. The only daughter of a family does not marry. Marriages are not entered into among the members of the same "bone", as said above, neither can cousins marry, nor uncles or aunts with their nieces or nephews — neither is it allowed between step-parents and their children. The bride is bought, also in the Shera YÖgur tribe, and the agreement is made by two men sent to her father, who, while praising the high qualities of the bridegroom, discusses with them the price of the girl and her dowry. When an agreement is come to, tea, meat and spirits are offered. Before the engagement the young people had no difficulty in meeting as often as they wished, but after it they do not see each other till the wedding day. After some time the two spokesmen appear again bringing the promised amount of cows, sheep and horses, — the price being always paid in live stock — and with them comes the bridegroom. All three are entertained in the best possible way and a belt is presented to the bridegroom by his future father-in-law. A month or so later the bride's dowry is ready and the wedding takes place. Lamas are invited to hold services both homes, and accompanied by her mother and all the guests who have assembled at her home, the bride mounts her horse and starts upon the journey to her new home. Her hair has been combed and plaited and decorated with rings, clasps and buttons — the insignia of a married woman — and she is dressed in her finest array and takes all her dowry with her, which consists of clothes, hair decorations and cattle, according to the wealth of her parents, and, in some cases, a suit of clothes for the bridegroom. The wedding procession is met by all the guests, who have assembled at the bridegroom's home, both men and women. The bride is taken to a special tent, where she spends the night in company with one of the women, all the remaining guests being invited into the usual dwelling where (by special invitation) the father of the bride also later, makes his appearance. Here all sorts of food are offered; tea, with salt, milk, cream and butter, roasted flour, boiled meat, (beef or mutton), paste cut in narrow strips (eaten in soup) and gin, and the festivities are kept up all night. There is some singing, but no dancing, and on the following morning the bridegroom receives the dowry, in the bride's tent. The young people now proceed to the common tent where they kneel before the altar, after which the bridegroom alone kneels before his parents and the elder guests who give him small presents. On the third day the newly married couple visit the bride's parents when small gifts are again exchanged. No proof of virility is required of the bridegroom before entering upon marriage, the men have usually known women before and it is by no means rare that the bride also is well initiated in these mysteries and that she brings one or more children together with her dowry to the new home. Sometimes the children remain with her parents. Infidelity sometimes occurs after marriage, but not openly, and the consequence is generally that the wife gets a good beating with which the pangs of jealousy are appeased. There is no divorce, but bigamy is usual where the first marriage proves childless, in which case both wives live in the same tent. The women are often childless, but do not attempt to cure sterility by eating herbs, only by having prayers read. As with the SarÖ YÖgurs the women kneel in giving birth, and are assisted by women, one of whom acts as midwife. The navel-string is cut with a pair of scissors or a bit of pottery. In case of a laborious or delayed delivery a lama is called to lead prayers, and there seem to be no methods of hastening delivery. For seven days the newborn child is daily washed and rubbed with butter, and for seven days the mother keeps her bed — and sleeps separately for twenty days or so. She nurses the child for two years, and often part of the third year. A quilt is used as wrapper, though no board is used as among the Kalmucks. Twins are rare and there is no superstition connected with the birth of two children — and it is said that no deformed children are born. There are no festivities on the occasion of a birth. The child's hair is cut when it is two or three years old or at the birth of another child, and it is sometimes cut at once for the Chinese plait, sometimes the whole head is cropped close. The first teeth show themselves when the child is about eight months old, and milk-teeth are replaced at eleven years of age. At twelve years of age, the child is given a name which the lamas have chosen out of their books. The Shera YÖgurs are of medium height and not badly built. Those I had the opportunity of examining had, on the contrary, well-formed hands and feet and narrow wrists and ankles. There is nothing about them of the coarse and vulgar appearance which distinguishes the Kalmucks. Stout people are never seen — many of them are even remarkably thin. Their faces are neither exceptionally long and narrow nor short and broad, and though some have well developed cheekbones, wide cheekbones are rare, and in many individuals they are not at all protruding. The mouth is normal, with neither thin nor thick lips, the nose straight and of a good shape. Some however had wide turned-up noses, with very little bridge to them. The distance between the eyes was, among the majority, rather wide, though in some individuals normal. The corner of the eye is slightly overgrown by the eyelid in the case of children, but this peculiarity almost disappears as they grow older. The eyes are black or dark, with slight changes in them, but I saw no blue eyes. Their hair is black or quite dark, sometimes curly, the children often having brown hair. The men are never bald, but you often see them very grey, and judging by the women, the growth of hair is not particularly good. They have very scanty beards, and there is seldom any growth of hair on the body. The SarÖ YÖgurs gave me the impression of being much sharper than the generality of Mongolians, Kalmucks and Tanguts. It is easier to make them understand you — they are livelier, imagine they understand you before you say more than a few words and interrupt you with an answer before you have explained what you want. They not only examine any new object with the greatest interest but very quickly understand its uses. The Ta fumu had an exceptionally good ear for foreign languages, and when I asked the names of numbers of things, through my interpreter, he amused himself repeating the Russian words he had heard me use. The strange thing was that he had often rightly caught the sound and preserved it in his memory, in spite of the usual long Chinese phrases, which the interpreter used in speaking to him. He was greatly delighted with this and at my astonishment when he pronounced correctly some rather complicated words. Besides this, he attached the title, which the Chinese give Europeans, ta jen (your excellency or your greatness) before the YÖgur verbs I wanted to hear, and obtained in this way very ridiculous phrases, such as "ta jen nurses your child", etc, which amused him and the other YÖgurs immensely. In general they are very fond of jokes. The YÖgurs can multiply figures mentally, sometimes in more complicated cases finding help in the beads of their rosary. The practical way of multiplying with the help of their fingers as practised by the Mongolians is unknown. Weights, measures and money are Chinese. The costume worn consists of a sheepskin coat, short in itself, and made shorter by being bound round by a scarf in such a way as to form a big bag hanging over the waist, which is used as a pocket. It is furnished with a low collar usually covered with a bit of red or blue cloth, which often continues as a border edging the coat. Wealthier men cover the whole coat with blue cloth. To the home-woven scarf, which is wound two or three times round the waist, with its ends tucked in so that they hang down the back, is fastened, by a copper clasp, a metal case with a knife, chop-sticks, often a tinderbox and some other small articles. No shirt is worn but sometimes a summer costume, of which the collar, cut and decorated in the same way as the coat, shows through the open fur-collar. A pair of half-wide trousers made of Chinese cotton or skin, over which a pair of so-called Chinese trousers (two three-cornered shaped trouser legs, fastened by a cord round the waist) made of the same material as the inner pair and high Chinese boots, the leggings of which are made of cotton material and bound round with a band, completes the costume which is common to both sexes. The head-dresses and style of head-covering distinguishes the women. The former which is made of a kind of stiff canvas covered on the outside with white and under the brim with red cotton, is in the form of a somewhat curved cylinder, with quite a low, narrow crown and wide straight brim. It is tied loosely under the chin and is worn coquettishly very much on the side. The hair is plaited into three plaits, without any kutas (oxen hair) being added. One plait hangs down the back, and bears a white bone button in the nape of the neck; the other two are worn hanging over the breast, and are threaded through numbers of silver and enamel rings and various stone ornaments of Chinese production. Below these are fastened upon two wide straps, flat copper rings, and clasps, gaudily ornamented, the whole being finished off with enamel button-like decorations sewn upon wide pieces of leather, which nearly reach the ground. The men wear a Mongolian felt or fur cap of Chinese or Mongolian type. All domestic appliances and implements are Chinese with the exception of the loom, which was the same as that used by the SarÖ YÖgurs, Kalmucks and Khirgis. There is no home-industry except weaving and the making of coarse blankets of an inferior quality. I also saw in the monastery some good, if simple, joiner's work for which Chinese axes, planes and other implements had been used. The knitting of stockings and basketwork are unknown here. Weapons, knives and other metal articles are bought from Sinin. The people were dirty, but it is questionable if one would not also become so if one was forced as they are to spend the cold and stormy winter in their uncomfortable tents. The household goods were however washed far more carefully than the Kalmucks wash theirs and you even saw some of the people washing themselves, which I have never seen among the latter, not even in summer. I never saw a YÖgur spit, smoking is rare, but snuff was often used. Only some dozen of them were addicted to the opium passion. The food they ate was much the same as that eaten by other nomadic people. Tea with salt, butter, milk and cream, when it can be had, and roasted flour are the chief articles of nourishment. On great occasions a cow or sheep is killed and soup made. The meat is then taken out and cut up in thin slices together with strips of paste and put back into the soup. Meat was served on small four-cornered wooden platters, the soup in wooden cups. Chinese chop-sticks were used; if they were not handy, a couple of chips were broken from a faggot. In general the people did eat tidily though the dishes were very carefully licked after a meal. The Mongolian milk brandy is not made, but chÜn, the Chinese preparation, is highly prized by both men and women. The chief meal of the day was eaten in the evening, after the day's work of caring for the cattle was over. After tea had been drunk, and the cups all well licked, all the family remained seated round the fire, in the centre of the tent, mumbling prayers in low voices for some half-hour. It was an indescribably strange sight, to see them sitting in the half-dark tents, the women in their coquettish, rakish hats, the men in fur caps and enormous fur coats, the lama's cropped heads and shaven faces, all very solemn, yet madly gabbling, as it seemed, the same word over and over again. One day the t'umu had a sheep killed and arranged a feast in my honour, with Chinese brandy and singing. These songs were sung alternately by two women and two young men. The women sang best, and while singing they clung closely to each other, staring into each other's eyes, as if trying to guess what the next note would be. They sang beautiful melodies, usually finishing upon a long drawn-out sad note. Ever now and again the singers offered to one of the guests a small cup of hot brandy with a polite and pretty bow and with the gesture so characteristic of Mongolian and other nomadic tribes, — the hands being outstretched with palms turned upward. There seem to be no real YÖgur songs, but Mongolian songs, learned in their youth, are sung on these occasions. I was on the whole surprised to see how gracefully they moved about in their awkward furs and boots. The soup was served by three young men, relatives of the t'umu, and it was a pleasure to see how politely and gracefully they handed cups and dishes, and received them from the assembled guests. The winter sun is late in penetrating the mountain valleys, which is perhaps the reason the YÖgurs also are late in the mornings. As soon as they rise, tea is made in a big kettle, and is taken with roasted flour, and then the day's work begins. The cows are milked, snow is melted in a big kettle, cups and kettles are scrubbed with ashes, flour is ground, wood is chopped and the women busy themselves among the sheep. You see them, humming a scrap of song, making their way carefully through the tightly packed flock of sheep, carrying one or two lambs under their arms, kissing and caressing the bleating animals. The cattle are driven to the mountain slopes by the men, but all the small household duties go on unceasingly till the evening, when the sheep come home again and require attention. It is only when all the day's work is done, that dinner is first thought of. The YÖgurs are quick at their work, talkative and amusing. You never hear quarrelling nor do you see dissatisfied faces. Their movements are not quick but this must be ascribed to their clumsy boots and heavy fur-coats, for you often see a man or woman running quickly and lightly down a steep mountain side. After dinner or rather supper, prayers are said, as I described, for quite half an hour, when the cups are scrubbed with ashes again, and talk and laughter goes on round the fire till late at night. They sleep, quite naked, each on his own blanket spread on the floor of the tent. Their furs are used as coverlets, though sometimes coverlets are made of wool covered with some of their homewoven cloth. The tents they inhabit are considerably less comfortable than the Mongolian and Khirgis "yurts". They measure three to four strides in width but are so low that you cannot stand upright in them. Made of a coarse home-woven canvas-like material, of a greyish white colour with dark brown stripes, it is raised with the help of six poles, of which the two in the middle are joined by a crossbar. It is furnished on the outside with ropes, which fasten it to a low fence. During winter the tents are furnished with a low foundation of slender timbers, lying lengthwise and caulked with manure. This is not moved in their summer migrations. Along the top of the tent there is a long rectangular opening to allow the smoke to escape. In the centre of the tent stands the kettle on its bits of clay, opposite the door a couple of Buddhas, and some brass vessels on a low table and along the walls, the small collection of household utensils, blankets, saddles etc. |
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