The Middle Kingdom, Volume 1 (of 2): A Survey of the Geography, Government, Literature, Social Life, Arts, and History of the Chinese Empire and its InhabitantsWilliams, S. Wells (Samuel Wells)
History
The Middle Kingdom, Volume 1 (of 2): A Survey of the Geography, Government, Literature, Social Life, Arts, and History of the Chinese Empire and its Inhabitants
Williams, S. Wells (Samuel Wells)
China
The productions of Koko-nor consist of grain and other vegetables
raised along the bottoms of the rivers and margins of the lakes;
sheep, cattle, horses, camels, and other animals. Alpine hares, wild
asses,[111] wild yaks, vultures, lammergeiers, pheasants, antelopes,
wolves, mountain sheep, and wild camels are among the denizens of the
wilds. The Chinese have settled among the tribes, and Mohammedans of
Turkish origin are found in the large towns. There are eight corps
between Koko-nor and Uliasutai, comprising all the tribes and banners,
and over which are placed as many supreme generals or commanders
appointed from Peking. The leading tribes in Koko-nor are Eleuths,
Tanguts, and Tourbeths, the former of whom are the remnants of one
of the most powerful tribes in Central Asia. Tangout submitted to
the Emperor in 1690, and its population since the incorporation has
greatly increased. They inhabit the hilly region of Kansuh, Koko-nor,
Eastern Tsaidam, and the basin of the Upper Yellow River. They resemble
gipsies, being above the average in height, with thick-set features,
broad shoulders, hair and whiskers, black, dark eyes, nose straight,
lips thick and protruding, face long and never flat, skin tawny.
Unlike the Mongols and Chinese they have a strong growth of beard and
whiskers which, however, they always shave. They wear no tail, but
shave their heads; their dress consists of furs and cloths made into
long coats that reach to the knees. Shirts or trowsers are not made
use of; their upper legs are generally left bare. Women dress like
the men. Their habitations are wooden huts or black cloth tents. The
Tangut is cunning, stingy, lazy, and shiftless. His sole occupation
that of tending cattle (yaks). He is even more zealous a Buddhist than
are the Mongols, and extremely superstitious.[112] The trade at Síning
is large, but not equal to that between Yunnan and Burmah at Talí and
Bhamo; dates, rhubarb, chowries, precious stones, felts, cloths, etc.,
are among the commodities seen in the bazaar. It lies about a hundred
miles from the sea, at an elevation of 7,800 feet, and near it is the
famous lamasary of Kumbum, where MM. Huc and Gabet lived in 1845. The
town is well situated upon the Síning ho, and though constructed for
the most part of wood, presents a fine appearance owing to the number
of official buildings therein. The population numbers some 60,000
souls.[113]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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