Traffic is carried on by means of caravans, the most common pack animal being the yak. Almost all the commerce is controlled by Chinese merchants, and the chief article of trade is tea, which is received in exchange for wool, hides, musk, amber, and gold. The tea is an inferior kind known as "brick tea," being composed of the refuse, stems, and leaves of the plants cemented with rice water and pressed into hard bricks. This kind of tea is preferred by the Tibetans, who brew it with butter and other ingredients and consume the entire concoction. The tea trade amounts to several million pounds annually.
CHAPTER IX
THE PRIMAL HOME OF THE SARACEN
Who has not had the youthful imagination fired by the "Arabian Nights"? The simplicity and lifelike reality of these interesting stories, made even more fascinating by their Oriental color, appeal both to young and old.
So great has been their popularity that few works have been translated into so many different languages, while their influence on the literature of the present day is felt in a marked degree. They are more than the luxurious fancies of the Arab's mind, for they vividly set forth the love and hate, the craft and hypocrisy, the courage and revenge of his race. Moreover, they portray in a truly dramatic manner the innermost life and thought of the Moslem, while they captivate the senses by a magnificent panorama of exquisite banquets, lovely characters, charming gardens, and beautiful palaces.
The country and the descendants of the race that created these masterly storiettes are surely worthy of careful consideration. A region that is the birthplace of a religion claiming nearly two hundred million converts scattered all over the world must possess a special interest.
We are apt to look askance at everything Arabic as bordering on ignorance and savagery; but if we study the past of this alert race we shall find a profusion of historical side lights that are valuable; we shall also find in Arabic literature much to admire. The Arab is poetic and delights in imagery. There are Arabic poems dating back one thousand years before the Christian era that for beauty of thought, vigor, and polish are equal to those produced by any nation and in any age.
In the Middle Ages the Arabs led the world in commerce, exploration, art, science, and literature. The secret of their successful conquests was not in the number of their soldiers but in the courage inspired by the Muhammadan religion. Death has no terrors for the fanatical Moslem, for to him it is the vestibule of paradise where the pleasures of earth await those who fight in the holy cause.