Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus, &c.

by Xavier Hommaire de Hell; Adèle Hommaire de Hell

The hordes of the crown come under more direct Russian surveillance. They paid no tax at first, and were bound to military service in the same way as the Cossacks; but they have been exempted from it since 1836, and now pay merely a tax of twenty-five rubles for each family. The princely hordes, likewise, used to supply troops for the frontier service; but this was changed in 1825, and since then the Kalmucks have been free from all military service, and pay only twenty-five rubles per tent to their princes, and 2.50 to the crown.

Besides the two great divisions we have just mentioned, the Kalmucks are also distinguished into various oulousses, or hordes, belonging to sundry princes. Each oulousse has its own camping-ground for summer and winter.

The Kalmuck territory has been considerably reduced since the departure of Oubacha; it now comprises but a small extent of country on the left bank of the Volga, and the Khirghis of the inner horde now occupy the steppes between the Ural and the Volga. The present limits of European Kalmuckia are to the north and east, the Volga as far as latitude 48 deg.; a line drawn from that point to the mouths of the Volga, parallel with the course of the river, and at a distance from it of about forty miles; and, lastly, the Caspian Sea as far as the Kouma. On the south, the boundary is the Kouma and a line drawn from that river, below Vladimirofka, to the upper part of the course of the Kougoultcha. The Egorlik, and a line passing through the sources of the different rivers that fall into the Don, form the frontiers on the west.

The whole portion of the steppes included between the Volga, the frontiers of the government of Saratof and the country of the Don Cossacks, and the 46th degree of north latitude, forms the summer camping-ground of the following oulousses: Karakousofsky, Iandikofsky, Great Derbet, belonging to Prince Otshir Kapshukof; Little Derbet, belonging to Prince Tondoudof, and Ikytsokourofsky, which is now without a proprietor; its prince having died childless, it is not known who is to have his inheritance.

The whole territory comprises about 4,105,424 hectares of land; 40,000 were detached from it in 1838 by Prince Tondoudof, and presented to the Cossacks, in return for which act of generosity the crown conferred on him the rank of captain. He gave a splendid ball on the occasion at Astrakhan, which cost upwards of 15,000 rubles. We saw him in that town at the governor's soirées, where he made a very poor figure; yet he is the richest of all the Kalmuck princes, for he possesses 4500 tents, and his income amounts, it is said, to more than 200,000 rubles.

The Kalmucks occupy in all 10,297,587 hectares of land, of which 8,599,415 are in the government of Astrakhan, and 1,598,172 in that of the Caucasus. These figures which cannot be expected to be mathematically exact, are the result of my own observations, and of the assertions of the Kalmucks, compared with some surveys made by order of the administrative committee.

Besides the Kalmucks, the only legitimate proprietors of the soil, other nomades also intrude upon these steppes. Such are the Turcomans, called Troushmens by the Russians. They have their own lands in the government of the Caucasus, between the Kouma and the Terek; but as the countless swarms of gnats infesting those regions in summer render them almost uninhabitable for camels and other cattle, the Turcomans pass the Kouma of their own authority, with some Nogaï hordes, who are in the same predicament, encamp amidst the Kalmucks, and occupy during all the fine weather a great part of the steppes between the Kouma and the Manitch. This intrusion has often been strongly resented by the Kalmucks, and the authorities have been obliged to interfere to appease the strife. But as it is absolutely requisite to allot a summer camping-ground to the Turcomans, the government is not a little perplexed how to cut the gordian knot. An expedient, however, was adopted during our stay in Astrakhan. It was determined to take from the Kalmucks a portion of the territory they possess along the Kalaous, and of which they make no use, and bestow it upon the Turcomans. This ground being completely isolated, it was furthermore decided that there should be allowed a road six kilometres wide (three miles six furlongs) for the passage of their flocks. Nothing can convey a more striking picture of these arid regions than this scheme of a road nearly four miles wide, extending for more than sixty leagues.

The Turcomans entered Russia in the train of the Kalmucks, whose slaves they appear to have been. They are now much mixed up with the Nogaïs, like whom they profess Mohammedanism. They reckon 3838 tents. The only obligation imposed on them is to convey the corn destined for the army of the Caucasus. They receive their loads at Koumskaia, where the vessels from Astrakhan discharge their cargoes, and thence they repair to the Terek and often to Tiflis in Georgia. This service is regarded by them as very onerous, and they have long requested permission to pay their taxes in money. They use in this business carts with two wheels of large diameter, drawn by oxen, for camels and horses are scarcely ever employed. The Turcomans have preserved the good old customs of their native country; they are the greatest plunderers in the steppes, and the only people whom there is any real cause to regard with distrust. Before the end of summer, in the latter part of August, the Turcomans begin to retire behind the Kouma, into the government of the Caucasus.

A Tatar horde called Sirtof likewise encamps on the lands of the Kalmucks, within sixty miles of Astrakhan, on the road to Kisliar. It reckons but 112 tents, and as the lands it occupies are of little importance, no one thinks of troubling it.

Lastly are to be enumerated 500 families of Kalmucks, improperly called Christians, who occupy the two banks of the Kouma, between Vladimirofka and the Caspian. Some Russian missionaries attempted their conversion towards the close of the last century, but their proselytising efforts, based on force, were fruitless, and produced nothing but revolts. Since then these Kalmucks, some of whom had suffered themselves to be baptised, were called Christians, chiefly for the purpose of distinguishing them from those who are not bound like themselves to military service. They are chiefly employed in guarding the salt pools, and belong, under the denomination of Cossacks, to the regiment of Mosdok. The government feeds them and their horses when they are on actual service, but they still pay a tax for every head of cattle, the amount of which goes into the regimental chest. These Kalmucks having no camping-ground of their own, have long been soliciting to have one assigned them. The government offered them ground in the environs of Stavropol, the capital of the Caucasian government, but they refused it for fear of the incursions of the Circassians. These nominal Christians are with the Turcomans the most dangerous people in the steppes. Their attacks are not at all to be feared by day; but at night it is necessary to keep a sharp look out after one's camels and horses; for in these deserts to rob a traveller of his means of transport is almost to take his life.