226     IN RUSSIAN TURKESTAN
barren ground. In the centre we found a crowd of
camels, most of them kneeling, on a kind of dung-
heap. There seemed to be more camels than any-
thing else. I counted twenty tents, about three
cows, and several groups of dirty-looking children.
We entered most of the tents, or yurta as they
are called, and what struck me more than anything
else was the absolute bareness of these nomad
dwellings. Besides the clothes they wore, the occu-
pants seemed to possess hardly a rag. The whole
furniture of one inhabited by a large family would
consist of nothing but a samovar, one small trunk
containing the household plate, a rug or two on the
floor, and a roll of wadded quilts on which to sleep
at night. Even this amount of furniture is more
than they can take about with them on their summer
wanderings, so they often bury part of it for a few
months every year. That crowd of camels to which
I have alluded appeared to represent the whole of
their worldly goods. How large were the herds
of horses and sheep which the men-folk were at
that moment guarding on the neighbouring plains
I am, of course, unable to say. The friend who
had lent us his carriage for the drive, had also lent
us his head coachman, who was himself a Kir-
giz, and therefore felt quite at home among the
camels and the yurta. He was dressed neatly
in blue cloth, and wore a pair of bright yellow kid
gloves. It was evident by his manner among his