Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/220

208 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. single ox or camel are attached one to another, so that a single person is able to guide a long caravan of them. " When the Tartars stop to encamp in any place, they always turn the doors of their dwellings towards the south ; the master's bed is placed to the north, and the women occupy the eastern part ; and a man entering the tent, must take care never to hang up his bow and quiver on the women's side. Above the place of the head of the family, there is always a small image, a kind of doll made of felt, and called " the brother of the lord of the house," and another on the other side, denominated in like manner " the brother of the mistress." A little above, and between these two dolls, there is a third, a very small and meagre one, which is considered the guardian of the house in general. There is besides, on the women's side, a figure of a cow, because it is their business to milk cows ; and on the men's another image representing a mare, as the milking the mares falls to the men's share. " On festival days, when the Tartars assemble to drink kumys, they begin by sprinkling the image over the head of the master, and then all the others successively. A boy afterwards goes out of the tent with a cupfull, and pours out a portion three times towards the south, accompanying each libation with a genuflexion. " This rite is to do honour to fire ; he then repeats the ceremony towards the east, the west, and the north, in honour of the air, the water, and the deceased ancestors. " Before drinking, the master of the house dips his finger in the cup, and sprinkles the ground with