THE TARTAR HORSE. 135

pasturage for their flocks becomes exhausted. To
them the horse stands in the place of the ox to
other people. They feed on its flesh, and of the
milk of their mares they make cheese, as well as
consume it in a fresh state; from it also, they
possess the art of extracting a fermented liquor,
which possesses a strong power of intoxication.
It is only the feeble and ill-made animals, how-
ever, which they kill for food. When, on a
journey, a Tartar is attacked by the cravings of
hunger or thirst, he opens a vein of the horse
on which he rides, and solaces himself with a
draught of its blood.”

‘Ts not that very cruel, Uncle Thomas ?”

‘It is a practice which I cannot justify,
Harry; but you must not look for very refined
feelings among those rude sons of the desert.

“ Baron de Tott, in his Memoirs, gives a
curious account of the manner in which he was
entertained in one of their encampments :——

“<The man, says he, ‘ soon returned with
a vessel full of mare’s milk, a small bag of the