Unknown Mongolia : a record of travel and exploration in north-west Mongolia and Dzungaria . hey have no other clothing than the hides of oxen,asses, and horses, and, up to the present time, they havehad no other armour than rough and ill-joined plates ofiron. But already—and we cannot utter it without agroan—they are beginning to equip themselves better,from the spoils of Christians ; and soon the wrath ofGod will perhaps permit us to be shamefully massacredwith our own weapons. The Tartars are mounted onthe finest horses, and they now feed on the most daintyviands, and dress richly and with
Unknown Mongolia : a record of travel and exploration in north-west Mongolia and Dzungaria . hey have no other clothing than the hides of oxen,asses, and horses, and, up to the present time, they havehad no other armour than rough and ill-joined plates ofiron. But already—and we cannot utter it without agroan—they are beginning to equip themselves better,from the spoils of Christians ; and soon the wrath ofGod will perhaps permit us to be shamefully massacredwith our own weapons. The Tartars are mounted onthe finest horses, and they now feed on the most daintyviands, and dress richly and with care. They are in-comparable archers. It is said that their horses, whenthey have no other forage, will feed on the leaves, bark,and roots of trees, and that they are, notwithstanding,full of spirit, strength, and agility/ The Mongols, at a distance of 4,000 miles from theirnative land, within thirty years after their first small,unambitious forays, had acquired this remarkable and,no doubt, deserving, reputation. They had stampedfear into the hearts of all men from China to Hungary,. A MONGOL GIRL. 302] MONGOLIA, PAST AND PRESENT 303 they were ruthless in their dealings, they were bornwarriors, peculiarly suited to campaigning in openplain-lands ; they were hardened to all privations, werein absolute obedience under their chiefs, and apparentlyno power could stop their advance or hinder the eventualsubjugation of Europe. The rough, simple nomads ofthe far eastern steppes had grown during these fewyears of wandering and campaigning into a warrior Mongols were in those days the finest troopsthat could possibly be produced for Asiatic birth they were wanderers, by nature the mostmobile horsemen; they wanted little and lived on little,and were inured to hardship and fatigue. Carpini re-marked : They are also very hardie, and when theyhave fasted a day or two without any manner of sub-sistence, they sing and are merrie as if they had eatentheir bellies full
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecthunting, bookyear1914
