318 
CALMUCKS. 
CHAP. 
XII. 
' y ' 
Armour, & 
Weapons. 
artificers in copper, brass, and iron ; sometimes 
goldsmiths, who make trinkets for their women, 
idols of gold and silver, and vessels for their 
altars ; also persons expert at inlaid work, 
enamelling, and many arts vainly believed pe- 
culiar to nations in a state of refinement. One 
very remarkable fact, confirming the observa- 
tions of other travellers may bear repetition ; 
namely, that, from time immemorial, the more 
Oriental tribes of Calmucks have possessed the 
art of making gunpowder. They boil the efflores- 
cence of nitrate of potass in a strong lye of poplar 
and birch ashes, and leave it to crystallize; 
after this they pound the crystals with two 
parts of sulphur, and as much charcoal ; then, 
wetting the mixture, they place it in a caldron 
over a charcoal fire, until the powder begins to 
granulate. The generality of Calmucks, when 
equipped for war, protect the head by a helmet 
of steel with a gilded crest : to this is fixed a 
net-work of iron rings, falling over the neck 
and shoulders, and hanging as low as the eye- 
brows in front. They wear upon their body, 
after the Eastern manner, a tissue of similar 
work, formed of iron or steel rings matted 
together: this adapts itself to the shape, and 
yields readily to all positions of the body ; and 
(l) Journal ties Savaus Voyageurs, p. 434. 
