Page:The Annual Register 1758.djvu/285

 lids closed together so fast, that for some days they cannot open them. They are thickset, with broad shoulders, and extremely strong and vigorous. They have a short neck and large head, a flat face almost round, a large forehead well shaped, bright eyes, a short nose, a little mouth, white teeth, an olive complexion, rough black hair, and scarce any beard. They clip the hind part of their head, leaving only a tuft before. They never till the ground, and are strangers to all the arts of luxury and effeminacy. They know nothing of the sciences. Their laws are simple; and are derived from plain good senfe, as much as from custom. Gentle and affable among themselves, they are so likewise to those whom trade brings into their country. They have no law-suits nor quarrels among them. If any one has a claim upon another, he goes to one of the principal men, called Murzas, who determines it without long discussion, and without formality. Prejudiced in favour of the principles of Mahomet's law, which they profess, they abhor all Christians; and in their invasions, covering their avarice with a religious motive, they make a merit of causing Christians to feel all the ferocity of their character.

They are brought up very hardy. Destined to a life of toil, they are inured to it from their infancy. Mothers often wash their children in cold water, mixed with salt, to harden their skins; hence, in the depth of winter, they swim across rivers without suffering any inconvenience. To teach them to be marksmen, they receive no food after they are seven years old, but what they kill with their arrows.

Their cloathing is sheep-skins. In winter, they wear the wool next to them; but in summer, or when it rains, they wear the other side next them. The Kan and all his family are cloathed in silk, which they usually receive in presents from the neighbouring nations, particularly Poland; and the officers wear cloth. They wear no turban, but bonnets of the Polish fashion.

Their arms are a crooked sabre, lance, and a bow. They are afraid of fire-arms. They fight at a distance, and even in their flight they let fly their arrows; but if they cannot avoid a close fight, they use their sabres with such dexterity, that it is not easy to parry them. In their flight they are very swift, and their pursuers run a great risk, not so much from their arrows, as from their unexpected return. They all carry a knife and an awl to make leather straps to bind their prisoners. They often poison the points of their arrows.

Their horses are extremely brisk and nimble runners; and as indefatigable as their riders; but they make no shew: the Tartars often make them travel fifty or sixty miles without halting. They cut the cartilage which feparates their nostrils, that breathing more easily they may be less apt to give out, however violently they may be rode. They always lead several in their hands, and when one is tired, they spring on the back of another without stopping a moment.

The usual food of these Tartars and that of which they are most fond, is horse-flesh. Bread and mutton are reserved for the rich, and for the wealthy burghers, that live in their towns without ever taking the field. The poorer sort 