312 
CALMUCKS. 
C xn P ’ ant ^ mats> domestic utensils, and many instru- 
> ments of art and science, painting and writing 1 2 . 
The Calmuck is a giant, the Laplander a dwarf: 
both are filthy in their persons; but the Calmuck 
more so, perhaps, than the inhabitant of any 
other nation. W e are not otherwise authorized 
in comparing together tribes so remote from 
all connection with each other, than by asserting, 
from our own observation, that both are Ori- 
ental, and that both are characterized by some 
habits and appearances in common; deferring, 
at the same time, all further illustration of the 
subject until a more appropriate opportunity. 
We shall have occasion to speak at large of the 
Laplanders, in another part of our Travels". 
Of Brandy Every one has heard of the koumiss, and 
distilled 
from the the brandy, which the Calmuchs are said to 
Mares. distil from the milk of mares. The manner 
of preparing these liquors has been differently 
related, and perhaps is not always the same. 
(1) Those tents are of a circular form, with a hole at the top : they 
are constructed of canes, and covered with a thick felt made of 
camel’s hair. In the Calmuck language they are called Khalitka: 
and being placed upon waggons during their migrations, have given 
their name to the summer vehicles of Russia. 
(2) The Esquimaux Indians of America, the Greenlanders, and the 
Laplanders, speak the same language, and have the same swarthy 
complexion. When the Moravians effected their settlement in La- 
brador, the Greenland language was used, by their interpreter, with 
the natives. 
