THE NOMADIC KALMUKS. 



83 



into the saddle and to gallop wherever their presence may be 

 required. 



In the Steppes of the Caspian Sea the Cossacks give place to the 

 Kalmiiks, or Olots, a people of the Mongolic race, who originally 

 inhabited Turkistan, but abandoned that country, in 1778, for the 



banks of the Volga. Their life is wholly nomadic. They encamp 

 under tents called kibitkas, formed of a trellis-work of wood covered 

 with thick felt. In stature they do not often exceed the middle 

 height ; they are thin and ugly, with a swarthy skin, a large flat 

 countenance, little eyes, broad nose, thick lips, and frizzled beard. 

 They are inoffensive, hospitable like all Eastern people, but idle and 

 cunning. Their costume differs but little from that of the Tartars- 



