Calmucks

or Kalmucks, a nomadic people of Mongolian stock, inhabiting parts of Russia, Siberia, and China. They are active and well proportioned, with short chin, high cheekbones, upturned nose, oblique eyes, and scanty beard. They raise cattle, sheep, and horses. They move from place to place with change of season. Their homes are conical felt houses, which they set up in rows when they encamp. The Calmucks appeared on the Volga in 1630. They plundered for a time, but succumbed to Russian authority. A century later, 1771, to be more exact, one of their chieftains became dissatisfied and organized an exodus at a given date. They were off,--120,000 men, women, and children,--with their horses and herds for China. The Cossacks hung on their rear and other tribes harassed them on the march. A wretched horde reached the banks of a Chinese river and were settled by the Chinese emperor. The story is told graphically in De Quincey's Flight of a Tartar Tribe. A considerable section of the Kalmucks was unable to cross the Volga in time to join the flight. Their descendants still dwell on the Volga. The Russian and Chinese Calmucks are estimated variously at from 70,000 to 200,000.