Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/123

 frightful squalor, who could relish carrion, shuddered when he saw us eat duck à l'Europénne.

Their only occupation and source of wealth is cattle-breeding, and their riches are counted by the number of their live stock, sheep, horses, camels, oxen, and a few goats—the proportion varying in different parts of Mongolia. Thus, the best camels are bred among the Khalkas; the Chakhar country is famous for its horses, Ala-shan for its goats; and in Koko-nor the yak is a substitute for the cow.

The Khalka country ranks first in the wealth of its inhabitants, who are mostly well off; even after the cattle-plague had destroyed countless oxen and sheep, large herds were still owned by individuals, and there is hardly a native but possesses some hundred of the fat-tailed sheep. In Southern Mongolia, i.e. in Ordos and Ala-shan, the sheep are of a different breed, and at Koko-nor they have yet another kind with horns eighteen inches long. As all the requirements of life: milk and meat for food, skins for clothing, wool for felt, and ropes, are supplied by his cattle, which also earn him large sums by their sale, or by the transport of merchandise, so the nomad lives entirely for them. His personal wants, and those of his family, are a secondary consideration. His movements from place to place depend on