Page:From Kulja, across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879).djvu/88

Rh that of the men, but unlike these, they always leave it unfastened; underneath is a shirt; the trousers are tucked into boots like men's. Their head-dress is also a fiir cap, beneath which is a white cloth flowing over the back, two ends being frequently tied under the chin. The men shave the entire head; the women braid their back hair into two tresses, allowing the front locks to fall half way down the cheeks, and keeping them cut to this length. Unmarried girls have only one tress behind. They obtain most of their wearing apparel and domestic utensils from the Korla merchants; some are of home make. The cloth is prepared from sheep's wool, or the fibre of the Asclepias plant, growing in abundance in the Tarim valley. In autumn and winter they collect the withered stalks of this plant, and after beating it with sticks, or with the hand, in order to separate the fibre, they boil it in water, cleanse and boil it a second time; after which it undergoes the final process of combing. The distaff used for spinning is of a peculiar kind, and the yarn thus obtained is woven, by means of a primitive loom and shuttle, into cloth of a very durable texture, not inelegantly decorated.

This cloth-manufacture and the preparation of wild beasts' skins are their only industry, although blacksmiths and bootmakers are occasionally found among them.

Their chief occupation is fishing, and fish