S of Kanchow, but they speak a language similar to that of the Kalmuks. In Janga (Livenku in Chinese) in the mountains S of Kanchow there is said to be a third temple and a Huang Fanzy wang. Their language is greatly reminiscent of the language of the Kirghiz. They say that they can make themselves understood by Kirghiz whom they meet at times in Suchow. There are no old songs or legends current among them.
The temple is small and poor. Large, crude paintings on the principal wall, brought from Sining, depict Shykshatoa enthroned in the middle with Tchulma and Shtsha-ryzyk on either side. A large number of old, smoky and dirty Buddha-figures on banners cover part of the side walls. A couple of these were said to have been brought from the north and were supposed to be of Mongolian origin.
The local administration is in the hands of a »pykh» (»thama» in Chinese) and his assistant, a »yarkhatche» (»tsungtyentu» in Chinese). The villages of Ma-chuang-tzu, Tunhei-tzu and Yumashan pay an annual tax of 13 horses to the Chinese government. The horses are delivered to a Chinese officer at Khungeoza (about too li to the S), who forwards them to the Djentai at Suchow.
A few of the houses I visited were poor, but they were clean and were built in Chinese style. Some of them flew a white flag with prayers inscribed on it to protect the house from sickness. The houses were built either with two rooms at right angles to each other or else in groups of 3 or 4 small houses of room each, enclosing a small courtyard. Some of the windows had Chinese wooden grills, but most had large wooden shutters. The doors were either Chinese double doors or single ones. Inside, there were Chinese pictures on the walls. In one room there was a »kang» covered with straw matting, which was heated from outside. Opposite the door was the traditional altar with Buddha figures on banners, blackened by smoke and dirt. I only saw one Buddha image of bronze in the house of a lama and in a hut a carved wooden cylinder with a ball attached to it. Its revolutions round the shaft in the middle serve as a substitute for the saying of prayers. In another room there were one or two kettles let into a clay fireplace. When tea was made in the Kalmuk way with salt and butter, the kettle was placed in the middle of the room on 3 large unbaked clay bricks standing on end, while everyone sat round the kettle on the floor. All the household utensils I saw were Chinese excepting some turned, flattish, wooden Kalmuk cups. The clothes here were cut in Chinese fashion, but were often made of homespun cloth. The men wear a Chinese cap with a button or a Mongolian felt cap, a long coat sometimes of fur, with a long, narrow home-woven scarf in grey, reddish-lilac or blue bound round the waist, a pair of half-loose trousers of coarse homespun cloth or skin, bound at the ankles with a broad home-spun bandage. They wear coarse stockings knitted in Chinese style and Chinese shoes, often with a loose legging of blue cloth. Neither shirts nor drawers are worn. The women's dress is like the men's. Their summer dress is shorter than that of the Chinese, but of a similar cut. The fur coats worn by both men and women are often bordered with padding like the Kirghiz and Mongols, but are often of better quality than the furs that are for sale in bazaars in the towns. The women's headdress is very peculiar. To each of the plaits hanging over their breasts they fasten a long, narrow strip of cloth with a couple of silver ornaments and thickly embroidered with small pieces
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