CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CAL MUCKS. 433 



backward, in order not to turn the back upon the cbiet. If he permits 

 his subordinate to sit in his presence, this person thanks bim by carry- 

 ing his hand to his forehead; afterward he places himself upon his 

 knees, and, resting his two hands there, seats himself lastly upon the 

 soles of his feet. 



The clergy enjoy among the Calmucks a respect equal, if not su- 

 perior, to that which they manifest to their chiefs. The supreme chief 

 of their clergy is a lama. Up to the year 1800 he was always insti- 

 tuted by the Dalai-Lama of Thibet, but now it is the Russian Govern- 

 ment which names him. The fixed residence of the lama is at the 

 distance of a league from Astrakhan, at Bazar Kalmouke, by the shore 

 of the Volga. Every summer the lama quits his residence to make 

 the tour of the steppes. 



All the priests are exempt from taxes, and subsist upon offerings, 

 which consist of cattle, different objects, and money. They exercise 

 medicine among the Calmucks, and, notwithstanding their ignorance 

 in this science, they nevertheless enjoy a much greater confidence 

 among the population than any physician appointed by government. 



A priest being called to a sick person, begins by giving him soup 

 to drink, pure water, or he prepares the most ordinary medicaments 

 for him ; and for nothing but this he frequently deprives the poor Cal- 

 muck of all that he has, under the pretext of the offerings demanded 

 for the idols, the intervention of which is indispensable to procure the 

 cure of the sick. If it is a rich man who becomes ill, then there are 

 many who take charge of his treatment. They do not fail to take 

 away all that their client possesses his treasures, flocks, and, last of 

 all, his tent and all this under the pretext of offerings for the deities. 

 Notwithstanding all these sacrifices, it ordinarily happens that the 

 sick man dies, leaving all his family in complete poverty. 



The principal duty of the priests is limited to the religious prac- 

 tices of their idolatry. Their divine service, held in the tents, consists 

 in the united priests reciting to the sounds of little bells, metallic 

 plates, tambours, and gigantic trumpets fragments of prayers, which 

 they read from their sacred books, for the most part incomprehensible 

 to themselves. A priest never voluntarily speaks upon matters relat- 

 ing to his religion, and, if any one of his people questions him upon 

 this subject, he never replies, giving for his reason that it is a sin to 

 speak about religion. 



The chronology of the Calmucks does not consist in reckoning the 

 years setting out from a certain memorable date ; but they count by 

 cycles each of twelve years, to which they give a particular name of 

 such and such an animal. The year is composed of 13 months, each 

 of which also bears the name of an animal. Thus the first month 

 in the year, which corresponds to our December, is called the tiger 

 month ; the months which follow are those of the hare, the dragon, the 

 serpent, the horse, the goat, the ape, the fowl, the dog, the pig, the 

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