1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Kalkas
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
KALKAS, or Khalkas, a Mongoloid people mainly concentrated in the northern steppes of Mongolia near their kinsmen, the Buriats. According to Sir H. Howorth they derive their name from the river Kalka, which runs into the Buir lake. Of all Mongolians they physically differ most from the true Mongol type (see Mongols). Their colour is a brown rather than a yellow, and their eyes are open and not oblique. They have, however, the broad flat face, high cheekbones and lank black hair of their race. They number some 250,000, and their territory is divided into the four khanates of Tushetu (Tushiyetu), Tsetien (Setzen), Sai’noi’m (Sain Noyan) and Jesaktu (Jassaktu).