od of the wandering tribes of Khirgiz,
Bashkirs, Kalmucks, and Tartars, who inhabit the steppes of European
Russia and the plains of South, Western, and Central Asia. According to
Carrick, who has written an interesting volume on the subject,[16] the
nomads who inhabit these vast territories are shut up under the most
miserable circumstances during the winter time and at the advent of
spring they roam over the steppes from morning to night, usually in the
saddle. The milk yielded at such time by the mares is carefully
collected, and these nomads consume enormous quantities of it in the
fermented state, this habit having been in existence amongst them from
time immemorial. It is said that the Scythians, long before the
Christian era, used fermented mares' milk; and there are ornaments in
existence in Russia, of Scythian origin, which exhibit in detail the
preparation of koumiss from mares' milk. In historical times, the first
mention of koumiss was in the twelfth century, when it is referred to in
the Ipatof Chronicles. During the thirteenth century William de
Rubruquis, a French missionary, wrote about his travels in Tartary, and
he described how he had first become acquainted with koumiss, and how he
found it savoury to the palate. Subsequent to this, however, there is
very little mention of koumiss in Russian history, or, for that matter,
in any other, and the first really scientific contribution on the
subject was by Dr. John Grieve, who was a surgeon in the Russian army,
and who in the year 1784 sent a description of koumiss to the Royal
Society of Edinburgh,[17] of which he was a member, and the title of it
was, "An Account of the Method of Making Wine called by the Tartars
Koumiss, with Observations on its Use as a Medicine." Dr. Grieve
strongly advocated the use of koumiss as beneficial in cases of wasting
diseases, and subsequently it was adopted by the medical profession,
with the result that sanatoria for the treatment of pulmonary
consumption were established at Samara and other places in Russia, and
met with very great success; and at the present day such sanatoria are
carried on, but the bacteriology of the subject now being thoroughly
understood, the methods of preparation have been somewhat modified.

An interesting account of koumiss is given by Clarke,[18] who says:

"Everybody has heard of koumiss, and the brandy which the Kalmucks are
said to distil from the milk of mares. The manner of preparing thes