The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-01-03
A TARTAR TEA PARTY.
AN EXPERIENCE WHICH TRIES A
Jewellers STOMACH.

How Brick Ten' Is Made "OIoguI Fash
IONA Private Wooden spoon.-siabs
From Plank of Brcad-Eating Cancels
Tlesh-"Rumyss."
''Welcome under the shadow of my
poor tent, Ak-beg'' white chief, says the
khan, lifting the door curtain to let me
enter; "all that have is yours"
AS I enter the tent l unsling my revol-
yer and lay it on the ground, while the
khan puts down his gun beside it, thus
si2uifying that we are friends and
brothers pledged 20 do each other no
harm Then my hosts son, n tall active
young fellow, whose Jet black eyes and
prominent features betray an admixture
OF Persian blood, rises aud greets me with
a cultural "Salaam aleikoump peace be
with you), for the Mohammedan saluta-
tions are the same in all the languages Of
the east, an additional bond of union be-
tween Nussulmans.
/ reply with the customary formula,
'.With you be peace" and then the
worthy youth, by way Of making me
specially comfortable, spreads out for me
q newly flayed sheepskin with the bloody
side uppermost, and kindly invites me to
seat myself on it in my white cotton
trousers. To refuse would be a mortal
insult; but I cCntrive to drag across the
raw hide corner of one Of the sheets OF
felt that are scattered over the floor, on
which I squat myself cross legged to
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 TO me las
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 50 covered with flies as to look like
q closely printed sheet of newspaper.
TIE FAMOUS 'BRICK TEA"
Meanwhile the chief himself produces
an oblong block Of some dark substance
not unlike strong tobacco, but which 1
recognize at Il glance as the famous
''brick tea" that is brought on camel back
across the whole breadth of Asia to Rus
Bia's great annual fair at Nijni-Novgorod.
Knocking off one corner of the "brick, !"
he crumbles it into n 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 sdmovar literally "self boiler'O.
In 8 trice the whole tent is filed with q
fragrance Of strong, rich, aromatic tea;
and !, knowing by experience the reviv-
ing power of this national drink, reach ont
my hand eagerly for the wooden bowl
into which it is poured. But alasl the cid
khan, following the traditions of his race,
has made my tee in what is called ''Mogul
fashion, j. C., with salt instead of sugar,
and mutton fat instead of milk, the result
being something SO amazingly nasty that,
however invaluable Gs an emetic, it really
does seem rather out of place az an article
Of breakfast. However, / succeed thanks
to a digestion that has confronted every
outlandish native dish from Siam to
Panama. in getting it down without any
display of uncalIed 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.
My bowl is promptly reflled, and the
khan, noticing that the tea is too not for
me to 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
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 n compliment that evidently
pleases the worthy barbarian not little.
HUGE SLABS or 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 Us himself in the farsher corner of the
tent For in Central Asia bread is sold
not by the pound, but by the sheet, and
nm ordinary lepeshka (cakc), which may
be bought for q few cents, is quite big
enough for q ten-year-old boy to lie upon.
Whether the native bakers give their pc
culiar shape TO these giant biscuits las
have heard waggish Russian officer as
serO by lying down and rolling upon them
/ cannot say; but l can testify that
whether eaten fresh or crisped in the sur
they are extremely nourishing and good
And now the contents of the caldror
ere turned out, and one glance at the
mass Of blush stringy flesh tells me thai
the meat is camel. This is an ominou!
discovery, Tor I do not need TO be told
that il these days OF Russian desert
transport and field hospitals, n camel i!
far too valuable 10 be killed for food, anC
that when you find him figuring in {
Tartar bill of fare you may be pretty sure
that he has either died of old age or of dis
ease. BUTT is al the breakfast that we art
likely 10 get within twenty-five or thirt!
miles; so l take a lump of the flesh upor
my tablet of bread, and set TO work tootl
and nail.
In truth, the dainty requires the full
exercise Of both, being as tender as TIT
Atlantic cable; and it is quite an opeI
question of whether the meat or my teetl
shall give way first. But the old khaI
kindly comes TO the rescue by tearing of
one of the softer portions of his hump anC
examining it into my mouth with finger
as black and greasy as a stoker's. Th
meal concludes with trimming bowl o
some gray sub acid liquor, which guess n
once to be the famous Tartar ''kumyss'
fermented mares milk, and inwardl
wonder what those who see it advertise,
In the streets of New York and Londo
would say if they could see in what place
and by what people it is manufactured
David Ker in The Cosmopolitan.