The Nevada County picayune., 1918-06-13

| or in bad weather ny a tunduk oi ] large flap of felt. Inside there is nc i furniture but the ground which con stiutes the floor, is covered with the
 finest embroidered feltS and rugs from
 Samarkand. The sides are hung with ! gorgeous silks and large silk cushions
 are profusely distributed.
 When guests are expected, the fam 1 fly hangs their brightest clothes anG i richest furs on ropes which stretel i across the tent, and the whole effect
 is beautiful and extremely luxurious | Everyone sits on the ground or re
 clines on cushions and, when food is served (which is continuous per 1 formance). a small round table is ! brought in, about six inches high. | The only dscontented thing in the 1 tent is the hunting eagle, which sits
 in the background on his perch, sigh ing for the return of winter.
 The kirghiZ are Il short, thick-set
 race, with coarse black hair on their i heads but with little hair on their 1 faces Their complexion is q dark ol- 1 i've brown and the young people have
 q pleasant rosy glow in their cheeks; l their features have many of the Mon golian characteristics. The race is
 much mixed however, and individuals of Turkish and Semitic cast of fea
 lures are not lacking. They are
 neither ugly nor beautiful, but their 1 expression is kindly and gentle; their teeth are usually white and often en-
 dufe to old age unblemished. They ] never walk or perform any manual la bor, and their hands and feet are al most invariably small.
 They are perfect horsemen in their own peculiar style of riding; they sit on tiny saddles with very short stir rnps. No man could ride on such saddles if he were not encased as they are. in layer upon layer of thick cotton-wadded clothes and furs (usu- ally sheepskns). and none of our race would consent to present the picture which they do when they sit perehed high on their small ponies, stuffed out twice or thrice their natural girth.
 Winter Their Hard Time.
 The winter is q hard time for man and beast. It is seven months long, and the wind never tires of blowing, while the thermometer sinks to 70 and GO degrees below zero. When the bliZ- gard blows, the air Is full of binding snow, and when the sun shines. as 1t does sometimes, the snow becomes covered with q hard crust, and then the stock suffers cruelty. Not so much the horses for they are naturally tough and can paw through the crust, but the cattle are more helpless and the sheep and goats entirely SD, and they must be herded where the snow iS soft or where there is none, or they must be fed from the small supply of wild hay which has been saved dur ine the summer Only the camel is safe with his long hair protecting his unoouth body. and large soft eyes which can look straight intO the storm, and with his two humps of fat, on which he can live till the stormy time passes and spring comes again.
 The only relief which the people have from the tedium of winter is sport of which they are very fond. They have few firearms and only use them when they hunt the bighorn sheep. Then they shoulder a muzzle- loading Smooth-bore. single barrel rifle about four feet six inches long. whose barrel is so heavy that it must be supported by wooden crutch at its muZ2le end. The smaller animals they hunt with eagles in the training and handling of which they are skill ful, and good eagle will, in season, catch sufficient hares and foxes and wolves 10 furnish enough pelts for clothing all the dWellers in the Aool with the furs which are SD necessary to them.
 The Kirghiz practice few arts or trades on very small scale and ire Quently display a considerable sense ot artistic thoroushncsS. During the winter the women spin thread both of cameps hair and shcep's wool, not with wheel, but with little spindle. which can he compared to q ehilds top. In she summer they weave the thread in- to narrow strips. < stake is driven into the ground outside one of the tents and here the weaving commences and proceeds across the Steppe indefinitely until the diligence of the weaver or the supply of thread fails. Camefs hair is preferred for cloth and the result is a strip, about 10 inches wide, of dull brown cloth, rather heavy and eternal |