Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 698

656

Travels of M. Huc.

DEC.

answer those present; "Come rather and sit at our table, it is we who invite you." After this ceremonious proceeding, one's honor has been shown, as they say in the country, and the traveler may take his repast as a man of quality. Everything is done in the Flowery Land with similar manifestations of politeness. We learn elsewhere that when robbers accost the wayfarer, they do so in the most modest and civil manner possible.

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My elder brother," they say, "I am tired of going on foot; do lend me your horse;" or,

“I am without money, do be so kind as to lend me your purse. It is very cold to-day, lend me your cloak." If the elder brother is sufficiently charitable to lend all these things, they say to hin, "Thank you, brother;" but if not, the humble request is backed by blows of a stick; and if that does not suffice, they have recourse to a sword.

Tolon-nor* is situated in the midst of a pathless country of moving sands, across which the travelers had some trouble in finding their way, and it was with great difficulty that they succeeded in finding a station with water even the first night of their departure. At every station at which the missionaries encamped to make their Tartar tea, they planted a little wooden cross in token of the spiritual claim to the country given to them by the Pope. Tartar tea is made by breaking off a little bit of the bricklike masses in which coarse tea is pressed, pulverizing it, and boiling it till the water becomes red; a handful of salt is then thrown into the kettle, and boiling is carried on till it be- comes black; a bowl of milk is then added, and the infusion, which is the delight of all Tartars, is decanted into an urn for use. The conversation between travelers, when they meet in the Desert, is characteristic:-

Lamas," the Tartar addressed the missionaries, "where is your country?"

"We are from beneath the westward heaven.'

"

"Over what countries have your happy shadows passed?"

"We come from the town of Tolon-nor.'

"Has peace accompanied you in your journey?"

多倫諾爾

[See Vol. XVIII., page 618. Tolon-nor lies on the southern declivity of the In shán, and is probably the entrepôt of trade of the Sounites and other tribes which come in from the Desert, as well as of the nu- merous tribes of Inner Mongolia. The region has been erected into a ting dis- trict, subordinate to the circuit of Kaupeh, but the whole is under an officer living at Siuenhwa. The country around it is inhabited chiefly by Tsakhar Mongols, and the shepherds of the imperial flocks. The ruins of cities found east of this town, mentioned above, are probably those of Chinese towr. 3 and not the remains of Corean cities. It is quite erroreous to designate the tribes here- abouts as kingdoms, merely because their chiefs are styled wing.]