Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-02-25
4 TARTAR TEA PARTY.
AN EXPERIENCE WHICH TRIES A
TRAVELLERS STOMACH.

How Brick Tea" Il Made "Mogul Fash
ion"-i Private Wooden Spoon-Siab-
Flesh-"Kumyss."
"Welcome under the shadow of my
poor tent, Ak-beg" white chief, says the
khan lifting the door curtain to let NE
enter: all that have is yours"
As enter the tent unsliSg my revol-
We and lay it on the grour9l, while the
khlu puts down his gun beside il, thus
siGnifyiuC that we are friends and
brothers. pledged to do each other mo-
ha m. rhen my hosts son, n tail active
youuC fellow, whose jet black eyes and
prominent features betray an adlniXture
of Persian blood. rises and greetS me with
a cultural ''Salaam aleikoumn peace he
with you. for the Mohamme,ian saiuta-
tons are the same i'll ~, the languages Of
the east. an additional bond of union be-
tween Mussulmans.
| reply with the customary formula
with you he peace" and then the
worthy youth, by way of making Inc
specially comfortable, spreads out for Inc
newly fiayed sheepskin with the bloody
side uppermost, and kindly invites me to
seat myself on it i'll my white cotton
trouSersl To refusei would be mortal
insult; but contrive 10 drag across the
raw hide II corner OF one of the sheets %
felt that are scattered over the floor, on
which ! squat myself cross legged 10
await the coming of breakfast.
This is evidently not far OFF; but lest
my patience should fail before its appear
ance, the young chief offers 10 me tas
Jael did TO the worn out Sisera thirty-tive
centuries ago an earthen jar brimful Of
fresh milk The cool draught is deli
c.ously refreshing. though not TO be en-
ioyed without some difficulty, the milk
being so covered with fixes as TO look like
a 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 ut Il glance rs the famous
''brick tea" that is brought on camel back
across the whole breadth Of Asia to Rus
sias great annual fair at Sijni-Novgorod.
Knocking of 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 samoyar diterally "selt boiier'l.
In n trice the whole tent is flied With
| fragrance of strong, rich, aromatic tea;
and !, knowing by experience the reyiv-
ing power of this national drink. reach out
my hand eagerly for the wooden bowl
| into which it is poured. But alas! the old
khan, following the traditions of his race.
has made my tea in what is called "MOgul
| fashion, j. e., with salt instead Of sugar,
and mutton fat instead of milk, the result
| being something so amazingly nasty that,
| however invaluable as an emetic, IL really
does seem rather out of place rs an article
of breakfast. However, | succeed thanks
to a digestion that has confronted every
outlandish native dish from Siam to
| Panama) in getting il down without any
display of uncallcd for emotion, although
the floating fat leaves so many long icicleS
of half liquid grease hanging TO my mus
tache Us to make me look like a fancy
sketch of Father Christmas.
My bowl is promptly retilled, and the
| khan, noticing that the tea is too hot for
me 10 drink at a draught, pulls out of his
pouch huge wooden spoon literally
caked with dirt, which he carefully cleans
with his tongue, and then offers it TO me
rs special honor. Luckily | 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 u 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 10 eat it
withal, the young Tartar serves out TO us
by way of platters hinge slabs of bread
| from a plank of wheaton cake nearly as
tall as himself i'll the farther corner Of the
tent For in Central Asia bread is sold
not by the pound, but by the sheet, and
| M ordinary lepeshka (cakel. which may
be bought for a few cents, is quite big
enough for q ten year-oll boy 10 lie upon.
| Whether the native bakers give their pc
| culiar shape 10 these giant biscuits tas |
have heard a waggish Russian officer as
sert by lying down and rolling upon them,
cannot say; but i can testify that
| whether eaten fresh or crispeu III 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 heed TO be told
that in these days of Russian desert
| transport anu Held hospitals, camel II
far too valuable TO be killed for food, and
that when You find him figuring in q
Tartar bill OF fare You may be pretty sure
that he has either died OF old age or of dis
ease. But il Is AN the breakfast that we are
likely to get within twenty-five or thirty
miles; So take Il lump Of the flesh upon
| nv 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 il 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 off
one OF the softer portions of his hump and
examining il into my mouth with fingers
rs blnck and greasy as a stoker's. The
meal concludes with IL brimming bowl of
some gray sub-acid liquor. which guess at
once 70 be the famous Tartar ''kumyss'
tfcrmented mares milk, and inwardly
wonder what those WHO see it advertised
in the streets OF New York and LOndOi
would say if they could see in what places
and by what people it is manufactured
DAVID ker in The Cosmopolitan.
oON Yaars Old