We were taken from the bazaar through an oil-shop
to one of the industries of Kuldja, which are at as low
an ebb as the general trade. In this oil factory pressure
was brought to bear upon the linseed and mustard
seed softened by heat, by means of a long trunk o f
timber employed in a most clumsy fashion. The oil
is used for eating, lubrication, and lamps, whilst the
cake, out of which the oil has been pressed, is given
as food to oxen. The soap they make is of the
coarsest quality, and smells horribly. There are no
large silk or carpet factories in Kuldja, though silk-
spinning is prosecuted on a small scale. Cast-iron
foundries exist, out of which the goods come for the
most part blistered ; also a large room where paper is
made of hemp, very coarse and dark, but which the
Chinese use for waiting. The natives are fond o f
vermicelli, and manufacture it for id. per lb. They
have also a factory for sweetmeats made of rice, boiled,
and then allowed to ferment, the comfit being luscious,
but sticky to the last degree. In the vinegar disfactured
goods, khalats, dried apricots and raisins, tea, leather and
wooden articles, chintz, nankin, calico, plush,'cloth called mata, and
felt, together with horses and sheep, to the value of £44,020, the merchandise
coming from 15 localities, all Russian, except Kashgar and
Bokhara. There should also be mentioned among imports from the
East, gold, silver yambs, and nephrite, or jad e, which the Chinese call
‘ ‘ Zischi. ’ ’ This stone is used for mouthpieces of pipes, rings, and
amulets, as well as for ornaments for the hats of the Kalmuks and Sibos.
I was glad to secure from a man, on my visit to the Sibo encampment,
an arch fir’ s ring, worn on the thumb, of exceedingly pretty
jad e. The stone costs from one shilling to eight guineas per lb. On
the other hand, there were exported from Kuldja merchandise to-
the value of £24,016 to 8 localities, 6 of which were R u ss ian :
the articles consisting of brick tea, oil, flour, raw hides, grain,
fruit, sheep’ s fat, tobacco, Chinese honey and vermicelli, salt, paper,
dressed lambskins, horses, sheep, camels, homed cattle?; small wares,
iron goods, fox skins, and deer horns. These last are bought up
by the Chinese at Kiakhta, and are said to be used by them as a
tillery they allow wheat to ferment, which, after boiling,
produces a sour, green essence, very disagreeable to
European taste, but appreciated by the Chinese.*
On leaving the bazaars, we were anxious, if possible,
to get a peep at the Kalmuks. On our way to the
suburbs, we saw a Chinaman in the street, surrounded
by a crowd. He had a drum and iron clappers, and
was entertaining his auditory by telling stories. On
the previous day we had seen a street acrobat, one of
whose standing or walking feats was to raise one foot
to his breast and strike the sole with his palm; a second
man meanwhile beating a gong. On reaching the
Kalmuk tent we found the owner absent, though his
wife was at home with some small, but by no means
bashful, children. We looked round for ethnological
objects. There was a leather kumiss bottle, but this
the woman,. in the absence of her lord and master,
would not sell. She had in her ears, however, silver
rings, with stones; and as she confided to us that she
medicine in cases of exhaustion o f strength. A t Kiakhta, in 1877, the
Chinese merchants realized a profit on maral horns of £6,000. One
Russian firm purchased 200 pairs for £1,200, and Messrs. Tokmakoff,
of whom I know something, bought 40 pairs for £350. These prices,
however, were unusually high.
* There were throughout the town, according to my statistics for
X878, 3 ,301 houses, 25 caravanserais, 1 school, 23 medresses, 1 Russian
church, 57 mosques, 22 windmills, and 4 stamping mills or presses.
The total number of industrial buildings in 1873 numbered 38, producing
manufactures to the value of £3 ,00 0 , and employing 131
workmen. The number of handicraftsmen in the town at the same
date numbered 238 Taranchis, 5 Dungans, and 66 Chinese, concerning
which last it may be observed that they knew all the trades, but
neither silversmiths nor tailors were found among the other natives.
Carpenters and masons earn wages at the rate of is. a d a y ; labourers
2^d., but with a horse is. ¡d., or with a pair of horses 2s. ; a man with
a bullock is. a day, or with a yoke of oxen is. 8d. Cattle breeding is
not much prosecuted by the inhabitants of the town, who, in 1878,
owned 300 camels, 6,000 horses and asses, 2,000 homed c a ttle ,'27,000
sheep, and 3,600 goats.