Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1888-02-28

iOn'-A Private Wooden spoon-slabs
From Plank of Bread-Eating Camel's
Flesh-"Kumyss."
"Welcome under the shadow Of my
poor tent, Ak-beg' white chief, says the
khan, lifting the door curtain to let me
enter; 'tall that have is yours
As enter the tent unsling my revol-
yer and lay 1t on the ground, while the
khan puts down his gun beside it, thus
signifying that we are friends and
brothers. pledged to do each other no
harm. Then my hosts son, a tall active
young fellow, whose jet black eyes and
prominent features betray an admixture
OF Persian blood, rises and greets me with
cultural "Salaam aleikoumr' (peace be
with YOU, for the Mohammedan saluta.
tions are the same in ali the languages Of
the east, an additional bond of union be-
tween Mussulmans.
l reply with the customary formula,
'ssWith you be peace" and then the
worthy youth, by way of making me
specially comfortable, spreads out for me
newly tlayed sheepskin with the bloody
side uppermost, and kindly invites me to
seat myself on it in my white cotton
trousersl To refuse would be a mortal
insult; but / contriye to drag across the
raw hide corner of one of the sheets OF
felt that are scattered over the floor, on
which / squat myself cross legged to
await the coming of brealsfast
This is evidently not far off; but lest
my patience should fail before its appear
ance, the young chief offers to me (as
Jael did to the worn out Sisera thirty five
centuries ago) an earthen jar brimful of
fresh milk. The cool draught is deli
cously refreshing, though not to be en-
joyed without some difficulty, the milk
being so covered with flies as to look like
closely printed sheet of newspaper.
THE FAMOUS "BRIcK TEA"
Meanwhile the chief himself produces
an oblong block of some dark substance
not unlike strong tobacco, but which
recognize at glance as the famous
''brick tea' that is brought on camel back
across the whole breadth of Asia to Rus
sia's great annual fair at Nijni-Novgorod.
Knocking off one corner of the "brick, )"
he crumbles it into a small camp kettle
that is steaming on the top of one of those
brass Russian tea urns which are now be-
ginning to be known to the west by the
name of samovar literally ''self boiler'').
In trice the whole tent is filled with a
fragrance of strong, rich, aromatic tea;
and /, knowing by experience the reviv-
ing power of this national drink, reach out
my hand eagerly for the wooden bowl
into which it is poured But alasl tho old
khan, following the traditions of his race,
has made my tea in what is called tMogul
I fashion, i. G., with salt instead of sugar,
and mutton fat instead of milk, the result
being something so amazingly nasty that,
however invaluable as an emetic, it really
docs seem rather out of place as an article
of breakfast However, succeed thanks
to n digestion that has confronted every
outlandish native dish from Siam to
Panama) in getting it down without any
display of uncalled for emotion, although
the floating fat leaves so many long icicles
of half liquid grease hanging to my mus
tache as to make me look like a fancy
sketch of Father Christmas y
My bowl is promptly refilled, and the
khan, noticing that the tea is too hot for
me to drink at draught, pulls out of his
pouch a huge wooden spoon literally
caked with dirt, which he carefully cleans
with his tongue, and then offers it to me
as a special honor. Luckily l have the
presence of mind to evade this alarming
courtesy by saying that do not hold my
self worthy to use the private spoon Of so
great chief, compliment that evidently
pleases the worthy barbarian not little.
HUGE SLABS OF BREAD.
BY this time our breakfast is cooked,
and in default of any plates to eat it
withal, the young Tartar serves out to Us
by way of platters huge slabs of bread
from a plank Of wheaton cake nearly as
tall as himself in the farther corner Of the
tent. Tor in Central Asia bread is sold
not by the pound, but by the sheet, and
an ordinary lepeshka (cake), which may
be bought for few cents, is quite big
euough for ten-year-old boy to lie upon.
Whether the native bakers give their pc
culiar shape to these giant biscuits (as
have heard a waggish Russian officer asa
sert) by lying down and rolling upon them,
/ cannot say; but / can testify that
whether eaten fresh or crisped in the sun
they are extremely nourishing and good.
And now the contents of the caldron
are turned out, and one glance at the
mass Of blush stringy flesh tells me that
the meat is camel This is an ominous
discovery, for do not need to be told
that in these days of Russian desert
transport and field hospitals, a camel IS
far too valuable to be killed for food, and
that when you find him figuring in
Tartar bin of fare you may be pretty sure
that he has either died Of old age or of dis
ease. BUTT is all the breakfast that we are
likely to get within twenty-five or thirty
miles; so take lump of the flesh upon
my tablet OF Bread and set to work tooth
and nail
In truth, the dainty requires the full
exercise OF both, being as tender as the
Atlantic cable; and 1t Is quite an open
question Of whether the meat or my teeth
shall give way FIRST. But the old khan
kindly comes 10 the rescue by tearing of
one Of the softer portions Of his hump and
examining It into my mouth with fingers
as black and greasy as stoker's. The
meal concludes with brimming bowl of
some gray sub-acid liquor, which guess ut
once 70 be the famous Tartar sskumyss''
(Eermented mares milk, and inwardly
wonder what those who see it advertised
in the streets Of New York and London
would say If they could see in what places
and By what people it IS manufactured. -
David Ker In The Cosmopolitan.