How Man Responds to Grasslands.—In such an environment what mode of life should we expect? In other words, how is man to get a living? Since grass is the chief resource the best way is to keep domestic animals such as sheep, cows, horses, or camels. Since each family needs many animals the grass in any one place is eaten up in a month or two. Moreover, the most nutritious grass grows in the high plateau where it is deeply buried in snow except for three or four months in summer. Hence the most practicable mode of life is pastoral nomadism. That is, the Khirghiz must keep animals, and drive them from pasture to pasture. In summer he is on the high plateaus among the mountains with his flocks and herds, but as winter approaches the animals must gradually be driven downward to the lowest valleys, and out upon the plains where hay has been stored and where relatively permanent camps are occupied for three or four months in mid-winter.
Why Animals Furnish Most of the Food.—Such being their mode of life, let us see how the Khirghiz respond to the environment in other respects. Why is their diet so largely limited to milk, cheese, and meat? Since the summers are too cold for gardens, vegetables are almost unknown. Meat, too, is by no means eaten regularly, as one might suppose. Some of the young animals that grow up each year must be kept to increase the flock, and replace those lost in storms or eaten by wolves." Most of the rest must be exchanged for flour, cloth, knives, or other necessities. Hence only a few can be eaten. Milk is the staple food. Part of it is made into butter or hard sour cheese, and kept for weeks or months. The rest is used at once, but not till it has become sour. The Khirghiz have learned that if milk is used in large quantities, it is much more healthful sour than fresh.
To many a Khirghiz boy or girl bread is as much a luxury as is cake to a child in America. The flour must be brought long distances on horses or camels. The supply may be exhausted long before the summer stay in the mountains is over. A Khirghiz mother often takes great pains to stow her little store of bread where the children will not find it and be tempted to eat it without permission. As there is no fuel except dry grass or the dried dung of animals, and as stoves are too heavy to be easily transported, the bread is baked in thin sheets over open fires, or perhaps the dough is cut into cubes and boiled in fat like doughnuts.
The. Relation of Clothing to Environment.—The clothing of the Khirghiz is fitted for life in the cool damp mountains in summer and in the cold lowlands in winter. At all seasons both men and
women wear thick padded gowns that shed the rain, and high boots for walking in the wet grass and among the cattle. Much of their clothing is made from the wool of their sheep and the skins of their animals. The men wear great caps of sheepskin with the wool on the outside, and everyone has a sheepskin coat made so that it can be worn with the wool in or out according to the weather. The women wear head coverings of cotton cloth from Russia. They 'vind long embroidered strips into head-dresses a foot high. Both ,nen and women keep their hands warm and dry by means of sleeves that extend down a foot or so below the hands. It is amusing to watch them throw back their sleeves when they eat, or begin to work. The necessity of selling animals to obtain cloth for clothing is one of the chief reasons for what little commerce there is among the Khirghiz.
The Movable Homes of the Nomads.—People who frequently migrate must use a shelter that can readily be taken down, packed on animals, and set up in a new site. A tent is admirably adapted to such purposes. The tent of the Khirghiz is round and covered with a thick felt made from the wool of their sheep. A folding lattice fence of willow forms a circle twelve to fifteen feet in diameter. From the top of this, light poles converge upward toward a large circular opening. Over the frame-work thus formed, the felts are smoothly stretched, and are most effective in keeping out cold, rain_ and wind.
The Tools of Pastoral Nomads.—Under the heading tools we include not only ordinary tools, but all kinds of implements, utensils, and even machines—in fact everything that people make in order to help themselves in some occupation. Since all of a family's goods are carried on the backs of animals every few weeks, especial kinds of utensils are needed. China dishes are too breakable and metal bowls too heavy. Therefore, milk, cheese; and butter are kept in whole sheepskins partially tanned. When the family sits down to a meal a great wooden bowl holds the sour milk, soup, or meat. As forks and spoons cannot easily be made and are a luxury beyond the reach of the Khirghiz, everyone eats with his fingers from the same dish. Since furniture is too awkward and heavy to be transported on the backs of animals, rugs from the wool of the sheep take the place of chairs, tables, and beds.