Note 587 — APPENDICES.

Kerr’s Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. i. p. 128. See also p. 167, where the same facts are related by William de Rubruquis.

The account which Herodotus gives (iv. 23) of the habitations of the Argippæi evidently alludes to customs similar to those of the modern Tartars. He says, “They live under trees, covering the tree in winter with strong and thick undyed felt (πίλῳ στεγνῷ λευκῷ), and removing the felt in summer.” Among the ceremonies observed by the Scythians in burying the dead, Herodotus also mentions the erection of three stakes of wood, which were surrounded with a close covering of woollen felt (iv. 73). Also, in the next section but one (iv. 75.) there is an evident allusion to the practice of living under tents made of felt (ὑποδύνουσι ὑπὸ τοὺς πίλους).