80 HISTORY OF 



while yet in their youth. Their noses are short 

 and flat, their eyes little and sunk in their heads ; 

 and, in some of them, they are seen five or six 

 inches asunder. Their cheek-bones are high, the 

 lower part of their visage narrow, the chin long 

 and advanced forward, their teeth of an enor- 

 mous size and growing separate from each other, 

 their eye-brows thick, large, and covering their 

 eyes, their eye-lids thick, the face broad and flat, 

 the complexion olive-coloured, and the hair 

 black. They are of a middle size, extremely 

 strong, and very robust. They have but little 

 beard, which grows stragglingly on the chin. 

 They have large thighs, and short legs. The 

 ugliest of all are the Calmucks, in whose appear- 

 ance there seems to be something frightful. 

 They all lead an erratic life, remaining under 

 tents of hair or skins. They live upon horse- 

 flesh and that of camels, either raw or a little 

 sodden between the horse and the saddle. They 

 eat also fish diied in the sun. Their most usual 

 drink is mares' milk fermented with millet ground 

 into meal. They all have the head shaven, ex- 

 cept a lock of hair on the top, which they let 

 grow sufficiently long to form into tresses, on 

 each side of the face. The women, who are as 

 ugly as the men, wear their hair, which they 

 bind up with bits of copper and other ornaments 

 of a like nature. The majority of these nations 

 have no religion, no settled notions of morality, 

 no decency of behaviour. They are chiefly rob- 

 bers ; and the natives of Dagestan, who live near 

 their more polished neighbours, make a traffic of 



