Every kind of grain is grown in the few tracts whose soil is fit for cultivation, and rice is raised where irrigation is practicable. The nomadic nations have numerous herds of camels, horses, and cattle, and large docks of sheep and goats. In the mountain region is found the yak, whose tail gives the chowry. It is need for riding. In the desert are will hogs, deer, argali, and hares. Wild horses and cattle are found, it is said, in some of the mountain forests. In the desert some extensive tracts are covered with agates, coruolituie, and other precious stones.
The inhabitants of Tangut are a very mixed race. Mongol tribes inhabit the Gold, and occupy also the mountain ranges north of Lake Khookoo-aor. but the mountaineers south of that hike derive their origin from Tibet. The agricultural population is mostly composed of Chinese and their descendants. In the towos the number of Turkish settlers seems to be considerable. They are Mohammedans, and there are mosques In the larger towns of Tangut. All the other inhabitants are Buddhists. In the time of Marco Polo there were also Nestorian Christians in the towns, but these have disappeared.
The Chine?e emperors subjected the country of Tangut shortly before the birth of Christ. In the 8th century Tangut was occupied by a nation of Tibetan origin, called Taug, which founded in these parts the empire of Thufan. This was overthrown by the Chinese in the 9th century ; but the Tibetans erected In the following century the empire of Tangut, or Ilia, which maintained its power till it was destroyed by Genghis Khau in 1227. With the downfal of the dynasty of the Mongols (1341), the best part of Tangut remained under the sway of the emperors of the dynasty of !ding. though the Mongols after their retreat from China hsd occupied the northern and more desert portion of it, where they maintained their Independence to the end of the 17th century. In the wars of the Galdan of the Offith (Sow/Ante], a tribe of the Oloth Mongols expelled the Kbalkas from the country west of the Hoang-ho, and took possession of it; but after the defeat of the Galdan they submitted to the Chinese emperor in 1690, and since that time the whole of Tangut has been annexed to China. (Du Halde, History of China ; Ritter, Erdkunde.)