name of Tchigan.
The drinks prepared from pure mare's milk (the Koumys of the Tartars),
are named Gunna Tchigan, or Horse Tchigan; those into which mares' milk
and cow's milk enter are called Besrek;--sour cows' milk is named Airek;
and all kinds of fresh milk, Ussoun.

In summer, and in general whenever their flocks yield them much milk,
the Kalmucks do not fail to inebriate themselves with the strong drink
which they derive from it. Mares' milk affords most spirit, and the milk
of the cow affords much less, especially in winter, when the fodder is
dry. Sheep's milk is never employed, as it does not contain spirit.

The milk intended for distillation is only allowed to remain twenty-four
hours, in summer, in the skin-bottles to sour; but in winter, and in
cold weather, it may be left two or three days to be rendered fit for
distillation. The cream is not taken off; on the contrary, the milk is
agitated very strongly, from time to time, with the stick, and the
butter which forms of itself on the milk, or even on the common Tchigan,
is removed and employed for other uses.

Notwithstanding the numerous testimonies on the subject, and the daily
experience, not of the nomadic tribes alone, but also of all the
Russians, many people in Europe cannot conceive how a spirituous and
inebriating liquor could be obtained from milk. But it cannot be
supposed that those travellers who have repeatedly seen these tribes
distil their brandy from milk, without adding the least vegetable matter
to the original liquid, and then, in their unbridled passion for
debauch, drink until they stagger and fall, have said so merely to
impose upon the public. Nor can it be objected that the weakness of
their head renders them liable to be easily inebriated by the vapours of
the milk, for the Kalmucks can take very large quantities of grain
brandy without losing the use of their legs; and there are Russians,
who, although professedly great drinkers, are sooner inebriated than the
Kalmucks by milk-brandy, and often even by the sour milk of mares, and
yet are extremely fond of this kind of drink. I am aware that strangers
have in vain tried to make milk-brandy. I shall even confess that I had
a trial made under my own eyes, at Selenginsk, by Kalmucks, and was so
unsuccessful, that I only obtained a watery fluid which had the smell of
sour milk; but the reason of this was, that two clean vessels had been
used. On the contrary, whenever I allowed these