They had some social institutions particularly shocking to Europeans even in that age of uncertain morality. It was said that when the father of a family died his sons married his youngest wives. A Mussulman author furnishes us the information that they worshiped the sun and practiced polygamy and community of wives. The most important interest with them was the growing of grass, and they named their months according to the different aspects of the prairie. In war they used no infantry and were ignorant of the art of sieges.
A Chinese writer says: "When they wished to take a town they fell on the suburban villages. Each leader seizes ten men, and every prisoner is forced to carry a certain quantity of wood, stones, and other materials. They use these for filling up moats or digging trenches. In the capture of a town the loss of ten thousand men was though nothing. No place could resist them.
After a siege all of the population was massacred without distinction of old or young, rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, those who resisted or who yielded; no distinguished person escaped death if a defense was attempted.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
