a sort of wine made in Tartary, where it is used by the natives as their common beverage during the season of it, and often serves them instead of all other food. It is said to be so nourishing and salutary, that the Bashkir Tartars, who towards the end of winter are much emaciated, no sooner return in summer to the use of kouniss, than they become strong and fat. The author of "A historical description of all the nations which compose the Ruffian empire," says, speaking of kouniss, Elle est fort nourrissante, et peut tenir lieu de tout autre aliment. Les Bashkirs s'en trouvent très bien, elle les rend bienportans et gaïs; elle leur donne de l'embourbon, et de bonnes couleurs. From the Tartars it has been borrowed by the Ruffians, who use it medicinally. It is made with fermented mare's milk. Koumis milk, according to the following recipe, communicated by Dr Grieve, in the Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions*, as he obtained it from a Russian nobleman, who went into that part of Tartary where it is made, for the sake of using it medicinally.
"Take of fresh mares milk, of one day, any quantity; add to it a sixth part of water, and pour the mixture into a wooden vessel; use then, as a ferment, an eighth part of the fourest cows milk that can be got; but at any future preparation, a small portion of old koumis will better answer the purpose of souring; cover the vessel with a thick cloth, and set in a place of moderate warmth; leave it at rest 24 hours, at the end of which time the milk will have become sour, and a thick substance will be gathered on the top; then with a stick made at the lower end in the manner of a churn staff, beat it till the thick substance above mentioned be blended intimately with the subjacent fluid. In this situation, leave it again at rest for 24 hours more; after which pour it into a higher and narrower vessel, resembling a churn, where the agitation must be repeated as before, till the liquor appear to be perfectly homogeneous; and in this state it is called koumis, of which the taste ought to be a pleasant mixture of sweet and sour. Agitation must be employed every time before it is used."—To this detail of the process the nobleman subjoined, that in order to obtain milk in sufficient quantity, the Tartars have a custom of separating the foal from the mare during the day, and allowing it to suck during the night; and when the milk is to be taken from the mare, which is generally about five times a-day, they always produce the foal, on the supposition that the yields her milk more copiously when it is present.
To the above method of making koumis, our author has added some particulars taken from other communications with which he was favoured by Tartars themselves. According to the account of a Tartar who lived to the south-east of Orenbourg, the proportion of milk and souring ought to be the same as above; only, to prevent changing the vessel, the milk may be put at once into a pretty high and narrow vessel; and in order to accelerate the fermentation, some warm milk may be added to it, and, if necessary, more souring.—From a Tartar whom the doctor met with at the fair of Macariéff upon the Volga, and from whom he purchased one of the leatheren bags (a) which are used by the Kalmyks for the preparation and carriage of their koumis, he learned that the process may be much shortened by heating the milk before the souring be added to it, and as soon as the parts begin to separate, and a thick substance to rise to the top, by agitating it every hour or oftener. In this way he made some in the doctor's presence in the space of 12 hours. Our author learned also, that it was common among some Tartars to prepare it in one day during summer, and that with only two or three agitations; but that in winter, when, from a deficiency of mares milk, they are obliged to add a great proportion of that of cows, more agitation and more time are necessary. And though it is commonly used within a few days after the preparation, yet when well secured in close vessels, and kept in a cold place, that it may be preserved for three months, or even more, without any injury to its qualities. He was told farther, that the acid fermentation might be produced by four milk as above, by a four pate of rye flour, by the remnet of a lamb's stomach, or what is more common, by a portion of old koumis, and that in some places they saved much time, by adding the new milk to a quantity of that already fermented; on being mixed with which, it very soon undergoes the vinous change.
It was according to the process first mentioned, however, that all koumis which the doctor employed in medicine was prepared.—It has been found serviceable in fevers and nervous complaints; and our author relates some very striking cases which the use of it had completely cured. All those who drank it, our author informs us, agreed in saying, that during its use, they had little appetite for food; that they drank it in very large quantities, not only without disgust, but with pleasure; that it rendered their veins turgid, without producing languor; that, on the contrary, they soon acquired from it an uncommon degree of sprightliness and vivacity; that even in cases of some excels it was not followed by indigestion, headache, or any of the symptoms which usually attend the abuse of other fermented liquors.
The utility, however, of this preparation as a medicine, supposing it completely ascertained, would among us, as our author observes, be greatly circumscribed by the scarcity of mares milk in this country. "Hence (says he) inquiries will naturally be made, whether other species of milk admit of a similar vinous fermentation, and what proportion of spirit they contain. As these have never been the object, however, of my attention, I will here give the substance of what I have been able to learn from others respecting that which is the most common, the milk of cows.
Dr Pallas, in the work above quoted, says, that cows milk is also susceptible of the vinous fermentation, and that the Tartars prepare a wine from it in winter, when mares milk fails them; that the wine prepared from cows milk, they call airén; but that they always prefer koumis when it can be got, as it is more agreeable, and contains a greater quantity of spirit; that koumis on distillation yields of a weak spirit one third, but that airén yields only two ninth parts of its whole quantity, which spirit they call arica.
This account is confirmed by Ofaretzowsky, a Russian, who accompanied Lepechin and other academicians, in their travels through Siberia and Tartary.
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(a) This bag was made of a horse's hide undressed, and by having been smoked had acquired a great degree of hardness. Its shape was conical, but was at the same time somewhat triangular, from being composed of three different pieces, set in a circular case of the same hide. The futures, which were made with tendons, were secured by a covering on the outside, with a doubling of the same skin, very closely secured. It had a dirty appearance, and a very disagreeable smell. On being asked the reason of this, he said, "The remains of the old koumis were left, in order to supply a ferment to the new milk." He published lately a dissertation on the ardent spirit to be obtained from cows milk.
"From his experiments it appears, that cows milk may be fermented with, or even without, souring, provided sufficient time and agitation be employed; that no spirit could be produced from any of its constituent parts taken separately, nor from any two of them, unless inasmuch as they are mixed with some part of the third; that the milk with all its parts in their natural proportion was the most productive of it; that the closer it was kept, or, which is the same thing, the more difficulty the fixed air is allowed to escape during the fermentation (care being taken, however, that we do not endanger the bursting of the vessel), the more spirit is obtained. He also informs us, that it had a slower smell before than after agitation; that the quantity of spirit was increased, by allowing the fermented liquor to repose for some time before distillation; that from six pints of milk fermented in a close vessel, and thus let to repose, he obtained three ounces of ardent spirit, of which one was consumed in burning; but that from the same quantity of the same milk fermented in an open vessel, he could scarcely obtain an ounce.