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The Princess Ka-la-chin, the fifth sister of Prince Su, is
married to the Mongolian Prince Ka-la. It is a rule among the
Manchus that no prince can marry a princess of their own people,
but like the Emperor himself, must seek their wives from among
the untitled. These ladies after their marriage are raised to the
rank of their husbands. It is the same with the daughters of a
prince. Their husbands must come from among the people, but
unlike the princes they cannot raise them to their own rank, and
so their children have no place in the imperial clan. Many of the
princesses therefore prefer to marry Mongolian princes, by which
they retain their rank as well as that of their children.
Naturally a marriage of this kind brings changes into the life of
the princess. She has been brought up in a palace in the capital,
lives on Chinese food, and is not inured to hardships. When she
marries a Mongol prince, she is taken to the Mongolian plains, is
not infrequently compelled to live in a tent, and her food
consists largely of milk, butter, cheese and meat, most of which
are an abomination to the Chinese. They especially loathe butter
and cheese, and not infrequently speak of the foreigner smelling
like the Mongol--an odour which they say is the result of these
two articles of diet.
Prince Su's fifth sister was fortunate in being married to a
Mongol prince who was not a nomad. He had established a sort of
village capital of his possessions, the chief feature of which
was his own palace
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