TENTS.—­A Tartar tent is very unlike an Arab tent.

It is in the shape of a hut, for the sides are upright, and the roof only is slanting, and there is a small hole at the top to let the smoke escape.  Neither is it made of skins, but of thick woollen stuff, called felt, which keeps the cold out.  At night the entrance is closed, and the family sleep on mats around the fire in the midst.

APPEARANCE.—­The Tartars are not handsome like the Turks and Circassians.  They are short and thick; their faces are broad and bony, their eyes very small, and only half open; their noses flat, their lips thick, their chins pointed, their ears large and flapping, and their skin dark and yellow.

Their dress is warm, and well suited for riding in the desert.  Different tribes have different dresses:  this is the dress of the Kalmuck Tartar.  He wears a yellow cloth cap trimmed with black lamb-skin; wide trowsers, a tight jacket, and over all a loose tunic, fastened round the waist.  His boots are red, with high heels.  The women dress like the men; but they let their hair grow in two long tresses, while the men shave part of their heads, and keep only one lock of hair hanging on their shoulders.

[Illustration:  TARTAR TENTS.]

You see that the Tartars are much like the Chinese in their persons and dress; but they are a much stronger, bolder people, and much more ignorant.  No wonder, therefore, that many years ago the Tartars got over the Chinese wall, and took possession of the Chinese throne.  You must not forget that the Emperor of China is a Tartar.

GOVERNMENT.—­To whom does Tartary belong?  Has it a king of its own?  No.  Once it had many kings, called khans; but now the khans have lost their power, and are only called khan to do them honor.  Now Tartary belongs to the great empires on each side of it,—­Russia and China.  Part of Tartary is called Russian Tartary, and part—­Chinese Tartary.  There is only a small part that is not conquered; and it is called Independent Tartary.

There are many different tribes, and each tribe keeps to a certain part of the land, and never ventures to wander beyond its own bounds.

RELIGION.—­The religion is the same as that which is so common in China,—­the religion of Buddha; but in some parts of Tartary there is the religion of Mahomet.  It is sad to think that far more people in the world worship Buddha, the deceiver, than Jesus, the Son of God.  The Tartars think to please their false god by making a loud noise.  It would astonish a stranger to hear their jingling bells, shrill horns, squeaking shells, bellowing trumpets, and deafening drums.  How unlike is their senseless noise to the sweet sound of a Christian hymn!

The Tartars think also to please their gods by glaring colors; so their priests dress in red and yellow, and bear flags, adorned with strips of gay silk.  A band of priests looks something like a regiment of soldiers.