After wild sheep in the Altai and Mongolia; . ssistanceas regards shooting. They had accordingly prepareda programme for the day : Roe-deer drives in themorning, and fishing in the Tenga lake in the after-noon. I thanked them, through our Ispravnik, forthe trouble they had taken ; but being anxious toreach Ongudai, told them I would probably takeadvantage of their proposals on my return Kalmuks are a very hospitable race. Theirnumbers, as I was told, are gradually decreasing inthe Altai, where, according to statistics, only six orseven thousand remain. They are at a very low ebbof
After wild sheep in the Altai and Mongolia; . ssistanceas regards shooting. They had accordingly prepareda programme for the day : Roe-deer drives in themorning, and fishing in the Tenga lake in the after-noon. I thanked them, through our Ispravnik, forthe trouble they had taken ; but being anxious toreach Ongudai, told them I would probably takeadvantage of their proposals on my return Kalmuks are a very hospitable race. Theirnumbers, as I was told, are gradually decreasing inthe Altai, where, according to statistics, only six orseven thousand remain. They are at a very low ebbof civilisation, and worship spirits. Like Mongolsand Chinese, they shave their heads and wear pig-tails. Those that have been christened by Russianmissionaries carry the usual head-dress. On thewhole, they are very indifferent to religion, and inmany cases some members of a family are converts KALMUKS 57 to the Greek Church, while the others remainheathen, such division creating no misunderstandingswhatever amongst them. They are mostly nomads. and live in yourts, or felt-covered tents, with wickerframes, which they shift from place to place accord-ing to the time of year and the abundance of grassavailable for their cattle. As regards their intelli- AFTER WILD SHEEP IN THE ALTAI gence, I can only say that I found them a good dealinferior to the Kirghiz, who are usually clever andcunning. The Kirghiz being Mohammedans, thisdifference of religion may have contributed to thisresult. The Kalmuks are governed by Zaissans, orelected native chiefs (formerly hereditary chiefs oftribes), who are responsible before the Governmentfor the periodical collection of taxes. Each Zaissanrules over several dutchinas, or communes, eachof whom in turn has a demitcha at the head ofaffairs. The dutchinas, or communes, have tokeep at their own expense a Russian official, orclerk, who acts as secretary, and writes in Russianall the necessary papers for the dutchina. Thisclerk gradually takes the whole
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