[In the Si yu ki, Travels to the West of Ch'ang ch'un, we find a drink
called tung lo. "The Chinese characters, tung lo," says Bretschneider
(Med. Res. I. 94), "denote according to the dictionaries preparations
from mare's or cow's milk, as Kumis, sour milk, etc. In the Yuan shi
(ch. cxxviii.) biography of the Kipchak prince Tu-tu-ha, it is stated
that 'black mare's milk' (evidently the cara cosmos of Rubruck), very
pleasant to the taste, used to be sent from Kipchak to the Mongol court in
China." (On the drinks of the Mongols, see Mr. Rockhill's note, Rubruck,
p. 62.) - The Mongols indulge in sour milk (tarak) and distilled mare's
milk (arreki), but Mr. Rockhill (Land of the Lamas, 130) says he never
saw them drink kumiz. - H. C.]
The mare's-milk drink of Scythian nomads is alluded to by many ancient
authors. But the manufacture of Kumiz is particularly spoken of by
Herodotus. "The (mare's) milk is poured into deep wooden casks, about
which the blind slaves are placed, and then the milk is stirred round.
That which rises to the top is drawn off, and considered the best part;
the under portion is of less account." Strabo also speaks of the nomads
beyond the Cimmerian Chersonesus, who feed on horse-flesh and other flesh,
mare's-milk cheese, mare's milk, and sour milk ([Greek: oxygalakta])
"which they have a particular way of preparing." Perhaps Herodotus was
mistaken about the wooden tubs. At least all modern attempts to use
anything but the orthodox skins have failed. Priscus, in his narrative of
the mission of himself and Maximin to Attila, says the Huns brought them a
drink made from barley which they called [Greek: Kamos]. The barley was,
no doubt, a misapprehension of his. (Herod. Bk. iv. p. 2, in Rawl.;
Strabo, VII. 4, 6; Excerpta de Legationibus, in Corp. Hist. Byzant.
I. 55.)
CHAPTER LIV.
CONCERNING THE TARTAR CUSTOMS OF WAR.
All their harness of war is excellent and costly. Their arms are bows and
arrows, sword and mace; but above all the bow, for they are capital
archers, indeed the best that are known. On their backs they wear armour
of cuirbouly, prepared from buffalo and other hides, which is very
strong.[NOTE 1] They are excellent soldiers, and passing valiant in
battle. They are also more capable of hardships than other nations; for
many a time, if need be, they will go for a month without any supply of
food, living only on the milk of their mares and on such game as their
bows may win them. Their horses also will subsist entirely on the grass of
the plains, so that there is no need to carry store of barley or straw or
oats; and they are very docile to their riders. These, in case of need,
will abide on horseback the livelong night, armed at all points, while the
horse will be continually grazing.
Of all troops in the world these are they which endure the greatest
hardship and fatigue, and which cost the least; and they are the best of
all for making wide conquests of country. And this you will perceive from
what you have heard and shall hear in this book; and (as a fact) there can
be no manner of doubt that now they are the masters of the biggest half of
the world. Their troops are admirably ordered in the manner that I shall
now relate.
You see, when a Tartar prince goes forth to war, he takes with him, say,
100,000 horse. Well, he appoints an officer to every ten men, one to every
hundred, one to every thousand, and one to every ten thousand, so that his
own orders have to be given to ten persons only, and each of these ten
persons has to pass the orders only to other ten, and so on; no one having
to give orders to more than ten. And every one in turn is responsible only
to the officer immediately over him; and the discipline and order that
comes of this method is marvellous, for they are a people very obedient to
their chiefs. Further, they call the corps of 100,000 men a Tuc; that of
10,000 they call a Toman; the thousand they call...; the hundred Guz;
the ten....[NOTE 2] And when the army is on the march they have always 200
horsemen, very well mounted, who are sent a distance of two marches in
advance to reconnoitre, and these always keep ahead. They have a similar
party detached in the rear, and on either flank, so that there is a good
look-out kept on all sides against a surprise. When they are going on a
distant expedition they take no gear with them except two leather bottles
for milk; a little earthenware pot to cook their meat in, and a little
tent to shelter them from rain.[NOTE 3] And in case of great urgency they
will ride ten days on end without lighting a fire or taking a meal. On
such an occasion they will sustain themselves on the blood of their
horses, opening a vein and letting the blood jet into their mouths,
drinking till they have had enough, and then staunching it.[NOTE 4]
They also have milk dried into a kind of paste to carry with them; and
when they need food they put this in water, and beat it up till it
dissolves, and then drink it. [It is prepared in this way; they boil the
milk, and when the rich part floats on the top they skim it into another
vessel, and of that they make butter; for the milk will not become solid
till this is removed. Then they put the milk in the sun to dry. And when
they go on an expedition, every man takes some ten pounds of this dried
milk with him.
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