Note 31 — Chapter III · PASTORAL TRIBES.

The same first-rate ethnographer informs us that among the Altaians “rich and poor eat the same kind of food; the difference is only in the size of the kettle and the quantity of food. The poor man eats what he has got, which most frequently is very little; and he would starve but that the rich have such an abundance of food, that in summer they readily entertain whoever comes to their jurts (tents).” When a beast is being killed, the poor neighbours in large numbers throng towards the place and try to secure those portions of the bowels that the rich disdain; they have to fight for them with the dogs, who are equally fond of the delicacies. When all guests have been served, pieces of meat are thrown towards the door, where poor men and dogs try to secure them. The picked bones are also thrown to the poor, who clean them so thoroughly that nothing but the bare bone is left to the dogs. The cattle of the rich are generally tended by poor neighbours, who live in the vicinity of the rich, partake of their food, and receive their worn clothes. Young girls often seek employment as servants; orphans of poor men also serve the rich31.