Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 1.djvu/447

 Rh backward, in order not to turn the back upon the chief. If he permits his subordinate to sit in his presence, this person thanks him by carrying his hand to his forehead; afterward he places himself upon his knees, and, resting his two hands there, seats himself lastly upon the soles of his feet.

The clergy enjoy among the Calmucks a respect equal, if not superior, to that which they manifest to their chiefs. The supreme chief of their clergy is a lama. Up to the year 1800 he was always instituted by the Dalai-Lama of Thibet, but now it is the Russian Government which names him. The fixed residence of the lama is at the distance of a league from Astrakhan, at Bazar Kalmouke, by the shore of the Volga. Every summer the lama quits his residence to make the tour of the steppes.

All the priests are exempt from taxes, and subsist upon offerings, which consist of cattle, different objects, and money. They exercise medicine among the Calmucks, and, notwithstanding their ignorance in this science, they nevertheless enjoy a much greater confidence among the population than any physician appointed by government.

A priest being called to a sick person, begins by giving him soup to drink, pure water, or he prepares the most ordinary medicaments for him; and for nothing but this he frequently deprives the poor Calmuck of all that he has, under the pretext of the offerings demanded for the idols, the intervention of which is indispensable to procure the cure of the sick. If it is a rich man who becomes ill, then there are many who take charge of his treatment. They do not fail to take away all that their client possesses—his treasures, flocks, and, last of all, his tent—and all this under the pretext of offerings for the deities. Notwithstanding all these sacrifices, it ordinarily happens that the sick man dies, leaving all his family in complete poverty.

The principal duty of the priests is limited to the religious practices of their idolatry. Their divine service, held in the tents, consists in the united priests reciting—to the sounds of little bells, metallic plates, tambours, and gigantic trumpets—fragments of prayers, which they read from their sacred books, for the most part incomprehensible to themselves. A priest never voluntarily speaks upon matters relating to his religion, and, if any one of his people questions him upon this subject, he never replies, giving for his reason that it is a sin to speak about religion.

The chronology of the Calmucks does not consist in reckoning the years setting out from a certain memorable date; but they count by cycles each of twelve years, to which they give a particular name of such and such an animal. The year is composed of 13 months, each of which also bears the name of an animal. Thus the first month in the year, which corresponds to our December, is called the tiger month; the months which follow are those of the hare, the dragon, the serpent, the horse, the goat, the ape, the fowl, the dog, the pig, the 28