100 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



than a Calmuck. High, prominent, broad cheek 

 bones, widely separated from each other ; a flat and 

 broad nose; coarse, greasy, jet black hair; scarcely any 

 eyebrows ; and enormous prominent ears, constitute 

 no very inviting portrait. Their persons are inde- 

 scribably filthy, and their habits loathsome. They eat 

 raw horseflesh, and may be seen tearing it like wild 

 beasts from large bones which they hold in their hands. 

 Sometimes they cook their meat, but not in a manner 

 that would make it much more inviting to an English 

 stomach. They cut the muscular parts into steaks, 

 which they place under their saddles, and after they 

 have galloped thirty or forty miles, they find the 

 meat tender and palatable. This is a common practice 

 with them on their journeys. The author of Hudibras 

 alludes to this culinary process in terms more pointed 

 than decorous. 



Everybody has heard of the fermented liquor 

 called koumiss, which the Calmucks, the Tartars, &c., 

 manufacture from the milk of the mare. It is pro- 

 duced by combining with six of warm milk, one part 

 of warm water, and a little very sour milk or old 

 koumiss. The vessel is then covered with a thick 

 cloth and left in a moderately warm place for twenty- 

 four hours, until the whole mass becomes sour. After 

 this it is twice beaten with a stick in the shape of a 

 churn staff, so as perfectly to mix together the thick 



