a tribe of Tartars, called also Eluths, inhabiting the larger half of what the Europeans call Western Tartary. Their territory extends from the Caspian sea, and the river Yaik or Ural, in 72 degrees of longitude from Ferro, to mount Altay, in 110 degrees, and from the 40th to the 52nd degree of north latitude; whence it may be computed about 1930 miles in length from west to east, and in breadth from north to south about 650 miles where broadest. It is bounded on the north by Russia and Siberia, from which it is separated by a chain of mountains; on the east by mount Altay; on the south by the countries of Karazim and the two Bukharas, from which it is also separated partly by a chain of mountains and partly by some rivers. See Tartary.

Of the Kalmuc Tartars the following curious account is given by professor Pallas. They are in general, says he, of a middle size, and it is even rare to see among them a person that is tall; the women especially are of low stature, and have very agreeable features. Their limbs are neatly turned, and very few have any defects contracted in infancy. Their education being left solely to nature, procures for them a well-formed body and sound constitution. The only defect which is common among them is their having the thighs and legs somewhat bent. A fat person is hardly ever to be met with; the richest and most distinguished, though they lead a life sufficiently indolent, and enjoy abundance... dance of every thing they desire, are never excessively corpulent. Their skin is pretty fair, especially when young; but it is the custom of the lower sort to allow their male children to go quite naked both in the heat of the sun and in the smoky atmosphere of their felt huts; the men too sleep naked, covered only with their drawers; and from these circumstances they acquire that yellowish brown colour which characterizes them. The women, on the contrary, have a very delicate complexion; among those of a certain rank are found some with the most beautiful faces, the whiteness of which is set off by the fine black of their hair; and in this as well as in their features they perfectly resemble the figures in Chinese paintings.

The phycognomy which distinguishes the Kalmucs is pretty generally known. Strangers are made to believe that it is frightfully deformed; and though indeed there are very ugly men to be found, yet in general their countenance has an openness in it that be-speaks a mild, a frank, and social disposition. In many it is of a roundish shape, and exceedingly agreeable; among the women some would be thought beauties even in those European cities where the taste is most capricious. The characteristic features of a Kalmuc or Mongul countenance are the following: The interior angle of the eye is placed obliquely downwards towards the nose, and is acute and fleety; the eye-brows are black, narrow, and much arched; the nose is of a structure quite singular, being generally flat and broken towards the forehead; the cheek bone is high, the head and face very round; the eye is dark, the lips thick and fleety, the chin short, and the teeth exceeding white, continuing to old age; the ears are of an enormous size, standing out from the head. These characters are more or less visible in each individual; but the person that possesses them all in the highest degree is considered as the most beautifully formed.

Among all the Mongul nations, the men have much less beard than in our European countries, and among the Tartars it appears much later. The Kalmucs have most of it; and yet even with them the beard is very scanty and thin, and few have much hair on any other part of the body.

People that lead a pastoral life enjoy the bodily senses in the greatest perfection. The Kalmucs find the subtlety of their sense of smell very useful in their military expeditions, for by it they perceive at a distance the smoke of a fire or the smell of a camp. There are many of them who can tell by applying the nose to the hole of a fox or any other quadruped if the animal be within or not. They hear at a great distance the trampling of horses, the noise of an enemy, of a flock of sheep, or even of stray cattle; they have only to stretch themselves on the ground, and to apply their ear close to the turf. But nothing is more astonishing than the acuteness of sight in most of the Kalmucs, and the extraordinary distance at which they often perceive very minute objects, such as the dust raised by cattle or horses, and this from places very little elevated; in immense level deserts, though the particular inequalities of the surface and the vapours which in fine weather are seen to undulate over the soil in great heats, considerably increase the difficulty. They are also accustomed to trace the print of a foot in these deserts by the sight alone.

These people possess many good qualities, which give them a great superiority over the wandering Tartars. A certain natural sagacity, a social disposition, hospitality, eagerness to oblige, fidelity to their chiefs, much curiosity, and a certain vivacity accompanied with good humour, which hardly ever forsakes even the most wretched among them, form the fair side of their character. On the other hand, they are careless, superficial, and want true courage; besides, they are remarkable for credulity, distrust, and a natural inclination authorized by custom for drunkenness and debauchery, but especially for a great degree of cunning, which they too often practise. The disposition to indolence is common and natural, especially among the men, to all Asiatic nations, who lead a kind of life exempt from subjection and devoid of activity; but this is less to be perceived among the Kalmucs, on account of their natural vivacity, and does not prevent their endeavours to oblige. Those among them who exercise any little trade, or who are reduced by poverty to hire themselves to the Russians either for labour or for fishing, are very assiduous and indefatigable. They sleep but little, going to rest late and rising with the sun. To sleep through the day, unless a person is drunk, is considered by them as dishonourable. But their extreme dirtiness can neither be disguised nor justified, and proceeds much more from their education, from the slovenliness attached to the profession of a herdman, and from levity, than from laziness; for the Kalmuc women are indefatigable in whatever concerns domestic matters; and it is for this reason, as well as on the score of sensuality, that the Kirghisens are eager to seize and carry them off whenever an opportunity presents itself.

With regard to the intellectual faculties of the Kalmucs, notwithstanding their want of instruction and information, they possess good natural parts, an excellent memory, and a strong desire to learn. They acquire the Russian language with great facility, and pronounce it well; in which last article they very much surpass the Chinese. It would be very easy to civilize them, if their petulance and manner of life did not render it impracticable.

Although the Kalmucs are generally of a sanguine and choleric temperament, they live more amicably together than one could expect in a people that lead so independent a life. They seldom come to blows even over their cups, and their quarrels are hardly ever bloody. A murder very rarely happens, though their anger has something in it exceedingly fierce. It would seem that the morality of their religion, though extremely idolatrous, has been able to moderate their natural disposition in this respect; for in consequence of their dogmas, with regard to the transmigration of souls, every wanton murder either of men or beasts is thought a deadly sin.

The Kalmucs are exceedingly affable; and of so social a disposition, that it is rare for a traveller to perceive another even at the distance of several miles without going to salute him, and to inquire into the object of his journey. When a troop of Kalmucs perceive any person at a distance, it is customary for them to detach one of their number to the next eminence, from whence he makes a signal with his cap for the person to draw near. If this signal is not obeyed, the person is considered as an enemy or a robber, and is often pursued as such. They enter willingly into friend-ships: Kalmucs ships; but these connections are not quite disinterested; for to give and to receive presents are with them essential articles. A mere trifle, however, is sufficient to induce them to do you all manner of service; and they are never ungrateful as far as they are able. Adversity cannot deprive them of courage nor alter their good humour. A Kalmuc will never beg if he were in the extremest misery, but rather endeavour to acquire a subsistence by cheating; and when no other way remains, he will hire himself to some rich individual of his nation, or to some Russian, either as a herdman, a fisherman, or for any other sort of labour. Very few of the rich value themselves much upon their wealth: but those who do, show no contempt for the poor of their own nation; though the meaner sort pay their court very obsequiously to the rich, who are always surrounded with a swarm of idle dependants.

Nothing can be more prudent than that exercise of hospitality practised by wandering nations; it is of the greatest advantage to those among them who travel across their deserts; and each individual who practises it, may rely on reaping the benefit of it wherever he goes. A Kalmuc provided with a horse, with arms and equipage, may ramble from one place to another for three months together, without taking with him either money or provisions. Wherever he comes he finds either distant relations or friends, to whom he is attached by the ties of hospitality, from whom he meets with the kindest reception, and is entertained in the best manner their circumstances afford. Perhaps he lodges in the first unknown cottage he finds upon his road; and scarcely has he entered it, but his wants are supplied with the most affectionate cordiality. Every stranger, of whatsoever nation, never fails to be well received by a Kalmuc; and he may depend upon having his effects in the greatest security the moment he has put himself under the protection of his host: for to rob a guest is considered by the Kalmucs as the most abominable of all crimes.

When the master of the house sits down to meat in company with others of inferior rank, he begins indeed by serving himself and his family, but whatever remains is distributed among the assistants. When they smoke tobacco, the pipe circulates incessantly from one to another. When any one receives a present either of meat or drink, he divides it faithfully with his companions, even though of inferior rank. But they are much more niggardly of their other effects, and especially of their cattle, and do not willingly give these away except when they hope to receive a suitable return: or if any relation has accidentally suffered the loss of his flocks, he is sure to be most willingly assisted. Perhaps too it may be related as an article of their hospitality, that they abandon their wives to their friends with the greatest facility, and in general they are very little inclined to jealousy.

Their robberies are never committed upon their equals, and even the greater part of the rapine exercised on other tribes is founded on hatred or national quarrels; neither do they willingly attempt this by open force, but prefer the machinations of cunning, which are so natural to them. It must also be confessed, that it is only those that live with princes, and in camps where these hold their courts, or their priests, that are most addicted to these practices; while the Kalmucs common people, satisfied with the pleasures of the pastoral life, spend their days in innocent simplicity, and never attack the property of another till forced by necessity, or led by their superiors who show them the example.

The Kalmucs are very faithful to their lawful prince; they endure every sort of oppression, and yet are with difficulty induced to revolt; but if they belong to a prince who has not become so by right of succession, they very easily rebel. They honour old age. When young men travel with such as are older than themselves, they take upon them the whole care of the cattle as well as of the flocks. They are exceedingly prudent in matters that relate to their sovereign or their nation, or which are recommended to their direction by the priests, to whom they yield an unreveled obedience.

The moveable habitations of the Kalmucs are those felt huts with a conical roof in use among all the roaming Asiatics. The truly ingenious invention of these tents was undoubtedly conceived in the eastern parts of Asia, and most probably by the Mongul nations. As they can be entirely taken to pieces and folded in a small compass, they are very useful, and perfectly agree with the migratory life of these people, who are still ignorant of the use of carriages. The frame of these huts, and the felt they are covered with, though made as light as possible, yet are a sufficient load for a camel or two oxen. But the capacity of these huts, their warmth in winter, their strength in resisting tempests and excluding rain, abundantly compensate for this inconvenience. The wood endures many years; and though the felt begins to break into holes in the second year, the common people, who do not consider it as dishonourable to have them mended and patched, make them serve a good deal longer. The huts are in general use from the prince down to the meanest Kalmuc, differing only in size and in the embellishments within. In winter, they are warm even when heated with the dried excrements of their cattle, to which they are often obliged to have recourse for want of other combustibles in many places of the deserts which are destitute of wood. In summer they remove the felt to enjoy the fresh air.

The master of the tent has his bed placed opposite to the door behind the fire-place. The bedsteads are low and made of wood. The rich adorn their beds with curtains, and spread carpets of felt upon the ground. When a Kalmuc possesses an idol, he places it near the head of his bed, and sets before it several small consecrated cups full of water, milk, or other food. Before this sort of altar he fixes in the ground the trunk of a tree, on which he places a large iron basin destined to receive the libations of all the drink he makes use of in a day. On festivals the idol is decorated, the lamps are lighted, and perfumes burnt before it.

The riches of the Kalmucs, and their whole means of subsistence, depend on their flocks, which many of them reckon by hundreds and even by thousands. A man is thought capable of living on his possessions when he is master of ten cows with a bull, eight mares with a stallion. The animals they have in greatest abundance are horses, horned cattle, and sheep. Camels, which require time and pains to rear, cannot multiply much with them; they are besides too delicate; and it is only the rich or the priests who possess any of them. Their horses are but small, too weak for the draught, and too wild; but they do not yield to any in swiftness, and support with ease the weight of a man. They may be made to gallop for several hours successively without injury; and when necessity requires it, they can pass twice 24 hours without drinking. They have a little hoof, but very hard; and they may be used at all times without being shod. In this country the horses live and perpetuate themselves without any assistance from man. The Kalmucs castrate the greater part of their male foals, and at the same time slit their nostrils, that they may breathe more freely when they run. The stallions are never separated from the mares, that there may always be plenty of milk. The stallions are leaders of the herd, and often wander at a distance into the deserts at the head of their females, defending them from the wolves with the greatest intrepidity. The Kalmucs have the art of breaking a young horse without using a bridle. They seize him before he is two years old by means of a noose fixed to the end of a long pole; an instrument they use in taking their riding horses which feed in the midst of the herd. They put no saddle at first on the colt they mean to break, but tie a stout girth round his body; by the help of which the horseman can keep himself firm. When he is mounted, the horse is abandoned to his fury; they allow him to run and agitate himself as much as he pleases on the open plain till he is fatigued. The horseman is solicitous only to keep himself fast; and when the horse begins to abate of his impetuosity, he urges him again with the whip till his strength is almost gone; he is then saddled and bridled, and made to go for some time at a moderate pace; after which he is entirely tamed.

The horned cattle of the Kalmucs are of a beautiful shape. They keep more bulls than are necessary for the cows, and employ a great number of them as beasts of burden for carrying their houses and their other furniture from place to place. They think a bull equal to 50 cows. These and the mares give milk only while they suckle their calves or their foals, which are accordingly kept close to the tents during the day, and only suffered to suck freely during the night; a practice which the Kalmucs pretend makes their cattle stronger and more durable. They generally milk their mares three or four times a day, and sometimes every two hours when the herbage is abundant. The cows are milked but twice a day.

The Kalmuc sheep are of the same species with those found in all Great Tartary, having large tails like a bag, exceedingly fat, and which furnish a fuel as soft as butter. They have also large pendant ears, and their head is much arched. Their wool is coarse, and the ewes seldom have horns. One ram is sufficient for a hundred ewes. Little use is made of the milk. The wool is fit for nothing but to make felt for the tents. A great many sheep die during winter, and a greater number still of the early lambs; the skins of which are wrought into those fine furs so much esteemed in Russia and foreign parts.

Camels belong only to the rich; for they are very dear, multiply very slowly, and are subject to many diseases. The deserts of the Wolga, and almost all Kalmucs, those of the southern parts of Great Tartary, furnish excellent pasture for these animals; but they require not only much attention in winter, but they must be continually under the eye of the herdsmen; for notwithstanding the advantage of their stature, they are of all animals least able to defend themselves against the wolf. They are guarded with much care against the violence of the cold and the winds of winter; nevertheless many of them die of a consumption accompanied with a diarrhoea, occasioned most probably by the moisture of their pasture and of the season. This disease, for which no remedy has been found, makes them languish for six months or more. They are in general so delicate, that a slight wound or blow often prove fatal to them. Besides, no animal is so much tormented with insects; and they often die in summer of those they swallow in eating the leaves of the oak and of the birch. The melva praefarabens, which covers all the plants in many of those places where they feed, is generally fatal to them. In spring, when they cast their hair, and which falls at once from every part of their body, they are exposed to the bite of the spider-scorpion, an animal very common in southern countries. The wound inflicted by this insect on the skin thus naked is so venomous, that the camel dies of it in less than eight days, sometimes in three. In winter, and especially after rutting time, which happens at the end of March, the camels become lean and weak; the bunch upon their back grows flabby, and hangs down upon the side, nor does it recover its plumpness till summer.

Camels milk is thick, unctuous, and of a saltish taste, especially when the animals frequent pastures abounding with saline plants; and this last property makes the Kalmucs fond of it to tea. They make use of the hair for stuffing cushions, and for making ropes, packthread, and felt. It may be wrought into the most beautiful camlets, or into the finest and softest cloths. The camels with two bunches are a very uneasy seat to the person who mounts them; their trot is so heavy, and even their walk so rude, that he receives the most violent shocks at every step.

When a Kalmuc Horde intends to remove in search of fresh pasture, which in summer necessarily happens every four, five, or eight days, people are in the first place dispatched to reconnoitre the best place for the khan or prince, for the lama, and for the huts containing the idols. These begin the march, and are followed by the whole troop, each choosing for himself the place he thinks most convenient. The camel that is loaded with the most precious furniture is decorated with little bells, the rest march in a string one behind another, and the bulls with burdens are driven on before. On these days the women and girls dress themselves in their best clothes, and lay on abundance of paint. They have the charge, together with the boys, of leading the flocks and the beasts of burden; and on the road they beguile the tediousness of the journey with their songs.

The Kalmucs are supplied by their flocks with milk, cheese, butter, and flesh, which are the principal articles of their food. With regard to the last, they are so little squeamish, that they not only eat the flesh of their own diseased cattle, but that of almost every fort. of wild beasts, and the poor will even feed upon carrion. They eat, however, the roots and stalks of many plants; such as the bulbous-rooted chervil and dandelion, &c., which they use both boiled and raw.

Their ordinary drink is the milk of mares or cows; but the former is for several reasons preferred. This, when fresh, has indeed a very disagreeable taste of garlic; but besides that it is much thinner than cow-milk, it takes as it grows four a very agreeable vinous flavour; it yields neither cream nor curd, but furnishes a very wholesome refreshing beverage, which sensibly inebriates when taken to excess. They never make use of new milk, and still less of milk or of water that have not been boiled. Their milk is boiled as soon as it is taken from the animal; when it is cold it is poured into a large leathern bag, in which there remains as much of the old milk as is sufficient to turn the new quantity sour, for they never think of cleansing those bags; and as the inside is lined with a crust deposited by the caseous part of the milk and other impurities, it is easy to imagine that a nauseous smell exhale from them. But this is precisely the circumstance in which the secret consists of communicating to the milk a vinous fermentation.

In summer, and as often as the Kalmucs procure much milk from their flocks, they never fail to intoxicate themselves continually with the spirituous liquor which they know how to distil from it. Mares milk is the most spirituous; and the quantity meant to be distilled remains twenty-four hours in summer, and three or four days in winter, in those corrupted bags we mentioned, to prepare it for the operation. The cream is left, but the butter which forms at top is taken off and reserved for other purposes. Cow's milk yields one-thirtieth part, and mares milk one-fifteenth part, of spirit. This liquor is limpid and very watery, and consequently does not take fire, but is capable of being long kept in glass-bottles. The rich Kalmucs increase its strength by a second distillation.

These people are exceedingly fond of tea and tobacco. The former is so dear, as it comes to them from China by the way of Russia, that the poor people supply its place with various wild plants; such as a species of liquorice, the seed of the sharp-leaved dock, the roots of wild angelica, and the seed of the Tartarian maple.

The Kalmucs are excellent horsemen. Their arms are lances, bows, and arrows, poignards, and crooked sabres, though the rich have firearms. They wear, when at war, coats of mail, which cost 50 horses, and their helmets are gilded at top. They are fond of falconry, and hunting of all sorts is their principal amusement. Their passion for play, especially with those who play cards, is carried to as great excess among them as in any other nation.

The greater part of their time is spent in diversions; and however miserable their manner of life may seem to us, they are perfectly happy with it. They cannot endure for any time the air of a close room; and think our custom of living in houses infupportable. The greatest part of them, notwithstanding the apparent unhealthiness of their way of life, arrive at a vigorous old age; their diseases are neither frequent nor dangerous. Men of 80 or 100 years old are not uncommon, and at that age they can still very well endure the exercise of riding. Simple food, the free air which they constantly breathe, a hardy vigorous constitution, continual exercise without severe labour, and a mind free from care, are the natural causes of their health and longevity.

It is very remarkable, that a migratory people, whose manner of life seems so congruous to the natural liberty of mankind, should have been subjected from time immemorial to the unlimited authority of an absolute sovereign. The Monguls of Asia afford the only instance of it; for neither written records nor ancient tradition have preserved the smallest trace of their ever having enjoyed a state of independence. On the contrary, they acknowledge that they have at all times been subject to khans and princes, whose authority has been transmitted to them by succession, and is considered as a right perfectly established, sacred, and divine.