Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 184 (Color Image)

0184	Among the Celestials : vol.1

148 AMONG THE CELESTIALS. [CHAP. VII.

tember, with the whole of the Himalayas to

cross before winter.

However, I left all such matters in the hands

of Liu-san, and while he was making inquiries

I took a stroll through the town, and I had

here an opportunity of examining at my leisure

the new people in whose country I should be

travelling for many hundreds of miles. They

formed a strong contrast to the Chinese,. and

even the Mongols, to whose characteristics I

had by this time become accustomed. Less

acute, industrious or pushing than the Chinese,

and at the same time more intelligent and

cultivated than the Mongols, the Turkis struck

me as an intelligent though lethargic race.

They evidently had no intention of taking life

so seriously as their Chinese conquerors, but

they possessed sufficiently refined ideas to seek

for more material comfort than the easy-going

Mongols were disposed to bestir themselves to

gain. The Turkis had not energy or virility

enough to shake off the Chinese yoke and govern

their own country, but they were sufficiently

far advanced to build themselves comfortable

houses, and to improve their position by trade.

One favourable trait in their character, which

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