Show BARTER WIVES BUT MAKE HORSES PALS parents arrange marriages among the burcats Buri ats washington the burials who recently joined the mongols in destroy ing a portion of the chinese eastern railway came into the spotlight two years ago when the russian govern banned wife stealing among members of the race in siberia 1 I heft of wives Is not a traditional custom among the burials harriace Marri ace among them usually Is effected through an exchange of children arranged bv their parents says a bulletin from the washington headquarters of the national geographic society how wives ae A e exchanged when the parents of a young burial swain decide he have a alfe they consult the uns of an eligible maiden and offer a daughter in exchange fur her hand if there Is no daughter to exchange the sons wife Is in effect bought by a gift ot cattle frequently among the well to do burcats the bride s dowry of furs which would be valued at thou of dollars on an american fur market offset the price paid for her buddhist temples with their pray er wheels which say thousands of payers p ayers per revolution and christian are found in barlat villages but both buddhists and christians at tend rites at some of the mountain top shrines shamanism Is nature worship adherents of sha believe that rain the riven the wind and the mountains are peo pled by gods the higher into the mountain the goes to wor ship the greater favor he receives from the t worship ers climb to the mountain top shrine where amid chanting and weird con tort lons of priests the burcats make their sacrifices on a sa cred ire the and his horse are in separable companions A horse often is tied to his owners grave to starve to death in order that it may follow him in death good horses are scarce so the heirs sometimes manage to ap pease the gods by substituting a useless hack or they tie the good saddle horse by such a flimsy thong that it soon frees itself and wanders back to the village few automobiles have penetrated the land of the burcats Buri ats which lies in regions adjacent to the shore of lake baikal the burcats spread their villages all over the land without regard to streets the nomads near the mongolian border live in burts yurts dome shaped tents built of interlaced flexible sticks covered with skins or felt expensive rugs in crude huts when a barlat settles down he frequently builds a hut but no matter how elaborate the new abode may be it usually bears some resemblance to the jurt some leave a smoke hole in the roof and build their fires in the center of the floor as in the yurt though house furnishings are few rugs adorning the floors and walls of the well todo to do indicate that the barlat likes display and it the tribesmen can afford it he will be seen strutting about alie in silken robes tea drinking and smoking are common habits of the duriat both among adults and children some of the tribesmen wear broad silk girdles in which they carry their pipes and tea cups when the Ilus first met the burcats in the sixteenth century he lattur were true of nature many of them made their living by fishing and hunting while a few were stock the russians taught them agriculture and succeeding gen orations of burcats surpassed the av russian firmer in farming |