Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/127

 winter, making upwards of 3,000 miles. As soon as you set him to do other work, apparently much lighter, but to which he is unaccustomed, the result is very different. Although as hard as nails, he cannot walk fifteen or twenty miles without suffering great fatigue; if he pass the night on the damp ground he will catch cold as easily as any fine gentleman, and, deprived of his brick-tea, he will never cease grumbling.

The Mongol is a slave to habit. He has no energy to meet and overcome difficulties; he will try and avoid, but never conquer them. He wants the elastic, manly spirit of the European, ready for any emergency, and willing to struggle against adversity and gain the victory in the end. His is the stolid conservatism of the Asiatic, passive, apathetic and lifeless.

Cowardice is another striking trait of their character. Leaving out of the question the Chinese Mongols, whose martial spirit and energy has been completely stamped out, the Khalka people are vastly inferior to their ancestors of the times of Chinghiz and Okkodai. Two centuries of Chinese sway, during which their warlike disposition has been systematically extinguished and suffered to stagnate in the dull round of nomad existence, have