It A L M U C S. 
502 
They have a fmall hoof, but very hard $ and they may be 
ufed at all times without being liiod. In this country the 
horfes live and perpetuate themfelves without any affift- 
ance from man. The KalmucS caftrate the greater part 
of their male foals, and at the fame time flit their uoftrils, 
that they may breathe more freely when they run. The 
fta'ilionsare never feparated from the mares, that there may 
be always plenty of milk. The ftallions are leaders of the 
herd, and often wander at a diftance into the deferts at the 
head of their females, defending them from the wolves 
with' the greateft intrepidity. The Kalmucs have the 
art of breaking a young horfe without ufing a bridle. 
They feize him before he is two years old by means of a 
noofe fixed to the end of a long pole ; an inlirument they 
iife in taking their riding-horfes, which feed in the midft 
of the herd. They put no laddie at firft on the colt they 
mean to break, but tie a ftrait girth round his body; by 
the help of which the horleman can keep himfelf firm; 
and, when the horie is thus mounted for the firft time, 
they allow him to run and agitate himfelf as much as he 
pleafes on the open plain, till he is fatigued; the horfe- 
man is foiicitous only to keep himfelf fait; and, when the 
horfe begins to abate of his impetuoiity, he urges him 
again with the whip till his ilrength isalmoft gone; he is 
then faddled and bridled, and made to go for fome time 
at a moderate pace; after which he is entirely tamed. 
The horned cattle of the Kalmucs are of a beautiful 
fliape. They keep more bulls than are necelTary for the 
Cows, and employ a great number of them as beafts of bur¬ 
den for carrying their houfes and their other furniture from 
place to place. They think a bull equal to fifty cows. 
Thefe and the mares give milk only while they fuckle 
their calves or their foals, which are accordingly kept clofe 
t'o the tents during the day, and only fullered to fuck freely 
during the night; a practice which the Kalmucs pretend 
makes their cattle ftronger and more durable. They ge¬ 
nerally milk their mares three or four times a-day, and 
fometimes every two hours when the herbage is abundant. 
The cows are milked but twice a-day. The Kalmuc fheep 
are of the fame fpecies with thofe found in all Great Tar¬ 
tary, having large tails like a bag, exceedingly fat, and 
which furnilh a fuetas foft as butter. They have alfo large 
pendant ears, and their head is much arched. Their wool 
is coarfe, and the ewes feldom have horns. One ram is 
fufficient for a hundred ewes. Little ufe is made of the 
milk. The wool is fit for nothing but to make felt for the 
tents. A great many ilieep die during winter, and a 
greater number ftill of the early lambs ; the ikins of which 
are wrought into thofe fine furs fo much efteemed in Ruf- 
fia and foreign parts. 
Camels belong only to the rich : for they are very dear, 
multiply very fiowly, and are fubjeift to many difeafes. 
The deferts of the Wolga, and almoft all thofe of the 
Jbuthern parts of Great Tartary, furnilh excellent palture 
for thefe animals ; but they require not only much atten¬ 
tion in winter, but they muft be continually under the eye 
of the herdfmen ; for, notwithftanding the advantage of their 
ftature, they are of all animals leaft able to defend thein- 
i'elves againft the wolf. They are guarded with much care 
againft the violence of the cold and the winds of winter; 
neverthelefs many of them die of a confumption accom- 
• panied with a diarrhoea, occafioned moft probably by the 
moifture of their pafture and of the feafon. This difeafe, 
for which no remedy has been found, makes them languifli 
for fix months or more. They are in general fo delicate, 
that a flight wound or blow often proves fatal to them. 
Befides, no animal is fo much tormented with infedls ; and 
they often die in fummer of thofe they fwallow in eating 
the leaves of the oak and of the birch. The Meloe pro- 
fcarabceus, which covers all the plants in many of thofe 
places where they feed, is generally fatal to them. In 
fpring, when they caft their hair, and which falls at once 
from every part of their body, they are expoiedto the bite 
of the fpider-fcorpion, an animal very common in fouth- 
e$£i countries. The wound inflified by this infect on the 
flein thus naked is fo venomous, that the camel dies of it 
in lefs than eight days, fometimes in three. In winter, and 
efpecially after rutting-time, which happens at the end of 
March, the camels become lean and weak ; the bunch upon 
their back grows flabby, and hangs down upon the fide, 
nor does it recover its plumpnefs till fummer. Camels’ 
milk is thick, undtuous, and of a laltilh tafte, efpecially 
when the animals frequent paftures abounding with faline 
plants. They make ufe of the hair for fluffing cuffiions, 
and for making ropes, packthread, and felt. It may be 
wrought into the molt beautiful camlets, or into the fineft 
and lofteft cloths. The camels with two bunches are a 
very uneafy feat to the perfon who mounts them ; their 
trot is fo heavy, and even their walk fo rough, that he re¬ 
ceives the molt violent (hocks at every ftep. 
When a Kalmuc horde intends to remove in fearch of 
frefh pafture, which in fummer neceflarily happens every 
four, fix, or eight, days, people are in the firft place dif- 
patched to reconnoitre the belt place for the khan or prince, 
for the lama, and for the huts containing the idols. Thefe 
begin the inarch, and are followed by the whole troop, 
each choofing for himfelf the place he thinks moft conve¬ 
nient. The camel that is loaded with the moft precious 
furniture is decorated with little bells; the reft march in 
a ltring one behind another, and the bulls with burdens 
are driven on before. On thefe days the women and girls 
drefs themfelves in their beft clothes, and lay on abun¬ 
dance of paint. They have the charge, together with the 
boys, of leading the flocks and the beafts of burden ; and 
on the road they beguile the tediouihefs of the journey 
with fongs. 
The Kalmucs are fupplied by their flocks with milk, 
cheefe, butter, and flefli, which are the principal articles 
of their food. With regard to the laft, they are fo little 
fqueamifh, that they not only eat the flefli of their own 
difeafed cattle, but that of almoft every fort of wild beaft; 
and the poor will even feed upon carrion. They eat, how¬ 
ever, the roots and ftalks of many plants ; fucli as the bul¬ 
bous-rooted chervil and dandelion, &c. which they ule 
both boiled and raw. Their ordinary drink is the milk of 
mares or cows ; but the former is for feveral reafons pre¬ 
ferred : this, when frefli, has indeed a very difagreeable 
tafte of garlic ; but, befides that it is much thinner than 
cows’ milk, it takes as it grows four a very agreeable vi¬ 
nous flavour ; it yields neither cream nor curd, but fur- 
nilhes a very wholefome refrefliing beverage, which fenfi- 
bly inebriates when taken to excefs. They never make 
ufe of new milk, and ftill lefs of milk or of water that has 
not been boiled. Their milk is boiled as loon as it is 
taken from the animal; when cold, it is poured into a 
large leathern bag, in which there remains as much of 
the old milk as is fufficient to turn the new quantity four, 
for they never think of cleanfing thefe bags; and, as the 
inlide is lined with a cruft depofited by the cafeous part of 
the milk and other impurities, it is eafy to imagine that a 
naufeous fmell muft exhale from them. But this is pre- 
cilely the circumftance in which the fecret confifts of com¬ 
municating to the milk a vinous fermentation. In fum¬ 
mer, and as often as the Kalmucs procure much fnilk 
from their flocks, they never fail to intoxicate themfelves 
continually with the fpirituous liquor which they know 
how to diltil from it. Mares’ milk is the moft ipirituous ; 
and the quantity meant to be diftilled remains twenty-four 
hours in fummer, and three or four days in winter, in thofe 
corrupted bags we mentioned, to prepare it for the opera¬ 
tion. The-cream is left, but the butter which forms at 
top is taken off and referved for other purpofes. Cows’ 
milk yields one-thirtieth part, and mares’ milk one-fif¬ 
teenth part, of fpirit. This liquor is limpid and very wa¬ 
tery, and confequently does not take fire, but is capable 
of being long kept in glafs bottles. The rich Kalmucs in- 
creafe its ftrength by a fecond diftillation. Thefe people 
are exceedingly fond of tea and tobacco. The former is 
fo dear, as it comes to them from China by the way of 
Ruffia, that the poor people fupply its place with various 
i - wild 
