CHAPTER VIII.

Glance at the Country of the Ortous--Cultivated 165 Lands--Sterile, sandy steppes of the Ortous--Form of the Tartar-Mongol Government--Nobility--Slavery--A small Lamasery--Election and Enthronization of a Living Buddha--Discipline of the Lamaseries--Lama Studies--Violent Storm--Shelter in some Artificial Grottoes--Tartar concealed in a Cavern--Tartaro-Chinese Anecdote--Ceremonies of Tartar Marriages--Polygamy--Divorce--Character and Costume of the Mongol Women