Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/132

110 territory, although they are here mingled with Chinese and Mongols.

Externally they present a marked contrast to the two last-named races, and, as we have already said, somewhat resemble gipsies. In height they are above the average, with thickset figures and broad shoulders; their hair, whiskers, and beard invariably black; the eyes dark and rather large, never narrow like those of the Mongols; the nose in general straight, although sometimes aquiline, and also sometimes turned up; the lips thick and protruding; the cheekbones not so prominent as in the Mongol type; the face long, never flat; the skull round; the teeth white and regular; the skin tawny coloured; the women smaller and darker in complexion than the men.

Unlike Mongols or Chinese, the Tangutans have a strong growth of beard and whiskers, which they always shave as they do the head, leaving a pigtail; the lamas, however, like the Mongols, shave the head clean.

The women wear long hair, parted in the middle, and divided into a number of small plaits on either side, adorned with different articles of finery, such as beads, ribbons, &c. They tinge their cheeks with Chinese dyes, and in summer with the juice of the wild strawberry, which abounds in the forests. This custom only prevails in Kan-su, not in Koko-nor or Tsaidam, probably on account of the difficulty of obtaining the necessary colouring matter.