CALMUCKS, Kalmucks, or Kalmuiks, a people of Mongolian race who inhabit various parts of the Russian and Chinese empires, as well as other portions of Central Asia. They are of the middle height, fairly proportioned, and of considerable strength; their cheek-bones are prominent, the chin short, the nose turned up, the beard thin, and the hair scrubby. For the most part still in the nomadic stage, they inhabit conical felt tents, which they set up in regular lines like the streets of a town. Their wealth consists entirely in small but high-spirited horses, excellent cattle, and broad-tailed, rough-fleeced sheep. They are so much addicted to gaming that they not unfrequently stake everything they possess. In religion they are adherents of Lamaism, and their conduct is greatly under the control of their priests. Their language is closely connected with Mongolian proper, and is written with a similar alphabet; its grammar and vocabulary have been made known to Europeans more especially by A. H. Zwick about 1853. Of their literature the great proportion is religious, and is derived from Indian originals. The Siddhi Kiir, a collection of stories, which is one of their most famous productions, was published with a German translation, a glossary, and notes, by B. Jülg, at Leipsic in 1866. As early as the 16th century the Calmucks possessed an extensive district of Central Asia between the Altai mountains and the Thian Shan, and between the desert of Gobi and the Balkash or Tengis Lake; and they were also settled in what is now the southern part of the Yeniseisk government, where indeed they were first met by Russian emigrants. At that time they bore the name of Derben Oirat, or Four Confederates, being divided into the four tribes of Jungars, Turguts, Khoshots, and Durbots. In ...