Page:The Six Voyages of John Baptista Tavernier.djvu/170
them, they fetch out their dri'd Cheese, which they call Kourout, and breaking it into little Bits, eat it with fresh Butter. At their Feasts they sometimes kill old Sheep, sometimes old Goats. But for their Horses they never kill them but at the Funerals of their Kindred, at the Birth of a Child, or at their Marriage-Feasts, or lastly, when their Friends return laden with Spoil from any incursion, and are stor'd with Slaves. They never drink any thing but Mares-Milk or Cows-Milk, and when they can get neither, they will endure thirst for three or four days together before they will drink Water, being always grip'd with a terrible Colick when they drink it. They never eat any Salt, being of an opinion that it is naught for the Eyes. They live long, and are very strong, and seldom sick; nor do they refuse any Diet but Swines-flesh.
Their Countrey is very level; only for some few Hills in some places. They have great store of Pasture-grounds, and every Tribe has their peculiar Wells to water their Cattel. In the Winter they lodge upon the banks of great Rivers, near to Woods and Marishes, suffering their Herds to feed at liberty. When the Snow is very deep, the Cattel scrape it away with their feet to come at the Grass, though they meet with very little else but Reeds and Bushes. In the mean while the men cut down the Woods, make great Fires, and employ themselves in Fishing. There are some parts of these Rivers where the least Fish they take is about four or five foot long; and some there are above ten or twelve foot in length. Some they dry in the wind, and preserve against Summer; some they smoke in holes which they make in the Earth: As for the smaller sort, they boil them, and eat them without Salt or any other seasoning. When they have eat'n their Fish, they scoop up a large wooden Ladle full of the Fish-water and gulp it down. As for Bread, there is no talk of it in their Countrey.
When they are not at Wars, or are but newly return'd from any Incursion, they spend their time in Hunting; but cannot endure any other Hounds except Greyhounds: So that he must be a very poor Tartar indeed that do's not keep a Greyhound. Take notice however by the by, that these petty Tartars, concerning whom I have last discours'd, are certain people adjoyning to Comania, which the Turks, Persians and Mengrelians call Nogaïes; who may be well reckon'd among the number of the petty Tartars, in regard they are all under one Prince, whom the Grand Signor appoints King over all Petty Tartary, and who receives his investiture at Constantinople.
These Tartars are all Mahumetans. Nor have they any Physitian among them; making use only of certain Simples of which they have a traditional knowledge. When the sick person lies in any extremity, they send for a Moullah, who comes with the Alcoran, which he opens and shuts three times, saying certain Prayers, and laying it upon the sick person's face. If by chance the sick person recover, they attribute his recovery to the Sanctity of the Alcoran, and present the Moullah with a Sheep or a Goat: If he die, all his Kindred meet and carry him to the Grave with great Testimonies of Sadness, crying continually Alla, Alla. When he is interr'd, the Moullah mutters certain Prayers ov'r the Grave, and is paid for his pains according to the wealth of the Heirs. For the poor he generally spends three days and three nights in that exercise; for the rich he as usually spends a Month, never stirring all the while from the Grave; and sometimes sev'n or eight.
When any one of them is wounded, they use no other Salve but only boil'd Flesh, which they apply hot to the wound. If the wound be deep, they thrust in a piece of Fat as hot as the wound can endure it and if the person be able to kill a Horse, the wound is cur'd so much the sooner for the Flesh and Fat of a Horse are much more medicinable than the Flesh of any other Creature.
Were it not the Custom of the Tartars to buy their Wives when they marry, there would be fewer Whores. But in regard there are an abundance of poor young men that have not wherewithal to buy Wives, they never marry at all. This is that which makes so many Souldiers among them, and emboldens 'em to invade their Neighbors, and to get something whereby they may be enabl'd to buy them a Wife. For the Virgins they are nev'r to be defil'd, being always shut up in their Waggons: But for the Women they are oft'n debauch'd, appointing their private Meetings, when they go to fetch water for their Cattel, when their Husbands are a-hunting, or looking after their Herds. Nor is it a hard thing to conceal it from their Husbands, in regard the Tartars are not in the least prone to Jealousie.By