A. F. Voeykov and "Description of the Kalmyk people"

Dordzhieva Elena Valerievna ORCID: 0009-0007-3399-9024 Doctor of History Professor, Department of Social and Human Sciences, MIREA - Russian Technological University 119435, Russia, Moscow, Malaya Pirogovskaya str., 1 p.5, room B-302 evdord@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Researchers of the literary process of the XIX century are well aware of the personality of the poet, translator, publisher, journalist Alexander Fedorovich Voeikov.  There is no mention of him in Kalmyk studies. Meanwhile, the writer is the author of the "Description of the Kalmyk people", published in 1822 in the magazine "Son of the Fatherland" ^[1]. The need for a purposeful study of this historical and ethnographic work by Voeikov determined the relevance of this article. Its purpose is to highlight one of the little-known aspects of A. F. Voeikov's activity as a researcher of the history of the Kalmyk people. Our tasks were to make a historiographical analysis of the work, to identify the biographical circumstances of the writer's "acquaintance" with the Kalmyks, the context of referring to their history, the image of the Kalmyks created in the "Description".

The historical and biographical method made it possible to identify how Voeikov's personality manifested itself in his work. To establish the originality, we compared the "Description" with the works of other authors who wrote about the Kalmyks. The use of the historical and systematic method allowed us to show the influence of political and ideological factors on the study of the writer. Due to the unexplored issue of Voeikov's contribution to Kalmyk studies, only the works of researchers of his biography and literary work are involved as a theoretical basis ^[2-5]. The opportunity to use the results presented in the article both for further study of the heritage of A. F. Voeikov and for the study of the history of the Kalmyk people determine the practical significance of the work.

Alexander Fedorovich Voeykov (1779-1839) came from an ancient noble family, was a graduate of the Moscow University Noble Boarding School, and served in the Horse Guards in 1796-1801. After his retirement in 1801, he settled in Moscow on Devichy Pole. In his "dilapidated poddevichy house", praised by A. I. Turgenev ^{[6, p. 238]}, meetings of a Friendly literary Society took place every Saturday, which combined "three leading trends in literature of the pre-Pushkin period: the direction of dreamy romanticism associated with the name of Zhukovsky; the direction represented by Merzlyakov, alien to noble culture and developing traditions of democratic literature XVIII century, and finally, the direction of Andrei Turgenev and Andrei Kaisarov ... in whose activities the features that prepare the literary program of Decembrism clearly appear" ^{[2, p. 25]}.

Here Voeikov's literary path began, his position was formed, which is eloquently evidenced, according to Yu. M. Lotman, by his tyrannoclastic speeches at meetings of the Society. In one of them, dedicated to Emperor Peter III, he glorifies the emperor for the destruction of the Secret Chancellery, the granting of freedom to the nobility and the secularization of church lands, speaks of the readiness of "young Russians gathered here, animated by a fervent love for the Fatherland" to ascend to the scaffold for the sake of the motherland. In the speech "On Heroism" he declares that the main civic virtue lies in heroism and contempt for death. In a speech delivered two months after the assassination of Emperor Paul I, he says that "enterprise overthrows tyrants from the throne, frees peoples from slavery, exposes the tricks of deceivers, reveals to blinded peoples their insidious parasites in priests, idols in gods" ^{[2, pp. 30-32]}. If Lotman believed that Voeikov attracted attention with his intelligence and boldness of language, then V. M. Istrin saw in him only "a good conversationalist who knew how to treat his comrades" ^{[7, p. 51]}.

During this period, the free-thinking writer actively collaborated with the journal "Bulletin of Europe", where in 1806 his poem dedicated to the reformer M. M. Speransky appeared. He translated Voltaire's "History of the Reign of Louis XIV and Louis XV", "Gardens, or the art of decorating rural views" by J. Delille. The writer managed to achieve the greatest fame thanks to the satire "Madhouse" with sharp criticism of his contemporaries. According to M. A. Dmitriev, after the end of the Patriotic War, his name among young writers "was pronounced with honor, along with the names of Zhukovsky and Batyushkov, with whom he formed an inseparable triumvirate" ^{[8, p. 129]}. In 1816, Voeykov became a member of the literary society "Arzamas", where he had the nickname "Smoky Stove"or "Two Huge Hands", in 1820 – a member of the Free Society of lovers of Russian Literature.

The question of the writer's involvement in the Decembrist movement requires further research. General I. G. Burtsev, one of the leaders of the Union of Prosperity, admitted during the investigation that Voeykov was a member of this organization. However, this information was not confirmed by other founding members of the Union, who are members of the "Root Duma", so the writer avoided sanctions.

The other side of Voeikov is revealed by his difficult relationship with V. A. Zhukovsky and his marriage to his niece Alexandra Andreevna Protasova, the addressee of the ballad "Svetlana". Voeykov did not support a friend who was in love with Maria Andreevna Protasov, Alexandra's sister. During the matchmaking, he concealed the embezzlement of part of his father's inheritance. In marriage, the writer proved himself to be a domestic tyrant, his wife suffered from his unbalanced character, drunkenness, private scandals and gambling debts ^{[9, p. 53]}. N. I. Grech in his memoirs was sad that the beautiful, kind, intelligent Alexandra Andreevna was a martyr and victim of "this vile monster" who "owes her he was the whole existence" ^[10].

The third side of Voeikov's nature was revealed at the University of Dorpat, where in 1814 he found himself thanks to Zhukovsky's patronage. However, teaching at the Faculty of History and Philology did not work out, although in 1818 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy honoris causa ^{[11, p. 352]}. Voeykov quarreled with colleagues, wrote denunciations of them to the St. Petersburg authorities. When he decided to move to St. Petersburg, Dorpat creditors prevented him from leaving the city.  Brother Ivan Fedorovich came to the rescue, who paid off the debt and vouched for his brother ^{[12, p. 5]}.

In St. Petersburg in 1820, V. Zhukovsky and A. Turgenev helped Voeikov get a job as a teacher of Russian literature and co-publisher of The Son of the Fatherland. Zhukovsky, in order to support his goddaughter Alexandra Andreevna, settled in the Voeykovs' apartment in 1822. In the salon of the intelligent, attractive, artistically gifted Alexandra Andreevna, who was admired by many contemporaries, the literary color of St. Petersburg gathered on Nevsky Prospekt opposite the Anichkov Palace. In 1822, with the help of Zhukovsky, the writer managed to rent the military newspaper "Russian Invalid". Following the example of Grech, he decided to publish appendices to the newspaper: "Literary News", "Slavyanin" and "Literary additions to the Russian Invalid". Voeikov's popularity grew due to his position as the publisher of The Son of the Fatherland and the Russian Invalid, criticism of the reactionary M. L. Magnitsky, who "defeated" Kazan University, sharp denunciations of A. S. Shishkov, S. N. Glinka, and fierce polemics with N. I. Grech and F. V. Bulgarin. Researchers of the history of Russian journalism in the first half of the 19th century called the writer an experienced polemicist, while noting the negative features in his work: "he was a literary businessman and put the commercial interests of his publications in the foreground. He often unceremoniously, without any knowledge of the authors, reprinted their works in his magazines. In the 20s, even the special term "fighting", "fighting", which had a certain reprehensible meaning, came into use" ^{[13, p. 584]}. Such was the contradictory nature of A. F. Voeikov, whom Lotman did not accidentally call a hoaxer with many "faces" ^{[2, p. 430]}.

In 1822, in 5-7 issues of the Son of the Fatherland magazine, Voeykov published a Description of the Kalmyk People.  It should be noted that the role of magazines in the first half of the XIX century was significant. They served as sources of enlightenment, conveyed a variety of information, generated a tradition of continuous reading, and developed artistic tastes. At the suggestion of the director of the Imperial Public Library, A. N. Olenin, and the trustee of the St. Petersburg Educational District, S. S. Uvarov, in the autumn of 1812, at the height of the people's war against the Napoleonic invasion, Nikolai Ivanovich Grech founded the Son of the Fatherland with the noble goal of awakening patriotic feelings in the hearts of readers.  It provoked a response from Emperor Alexander I, who allocated a thousand rubles for the organization of the magazine. Initially, it covered the course of the military campaign, published essays about the defenders of the Fatherland. Russian Russian Epistle by A. P. Kunitsyn, fragments of Letters of a Russian Officer by F. N. Glinka, Introduction to the History of the Liberation of the United Netherlands by F. Schiller, patriotic fables by I. A. Krylov "The Crow and the Hen", "The Wolf in the Kennel", "Wagon Train", "Pike and the Cat" appeared on the pages of the magazine" dedicated to M. I. Kutuzov, anti-French cartoons by A. G. Venetsianov and I. I. Terebenev. Unlike A. Shishkov and S. Glinka, whose publications were dominated by official patriotism and government nationality, Grech solved issues of patriotism and nationality in the spirit of civil libertarianism.

After the end of hostilities, "Son of the Fatherland" gradually turned from socio-political to literary. In 1815-1825, its issues included works by the best representatives of Russian literature: A. S. Pushkin, K. N. Batyushkov, V. A. Zhukovsky, E. A. Baratynsky, D. V. Davydov, A.A. Delvig, N. I. Gnedich, D. V. Venevitinov, A. S. Griboyedov, P. A. Vyazemsky. Cooperation with the Greek participants of the Decembrist societies F. Glinka, A. Odoevsky, A. Bestuzhev, A. Kornilovich, N. Muravyov, K. Ryleev, N. Turgenev, V. Kuchelbecker, who defended the principles of civil romanticism, gave the magazine an advanced character.

Having become a co-publisher of Grech, Voeikov, who was responsible for the criticism section, set out to diversify the material. The specifics of the magazine as a periodical made it possible to post fascinating and accessible information about the nature of Russia and its peoples, famous people, customs and traditions, which corresponded to public demands in the context of the rise of national consciousness caused by the Patriotic War of 1812. The interest in "internal" travel explains the ethnographic boom that began at the end of the XVIII century, the "discovery" of the province, which was facilitated by academic expeditions. In the 1820s, in The Son of the Fatherland, Voyeykov published a number of reviews of Russian provinces, based on his travel notes compiled during his travels around the country. As the writer admitted, "since 1802, every summer has been devoted by me to the review of some national area: then Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod, then Kiev and Chernihiv, then Voronezh, Kharkov and Yekaterinoslavl. I was then in the bloom of youth and traveled freely. In 1813, he had to go to the Caucasus in captivity" ^{[14, p. 2]}. According to O. B. Lebedeva, he undertook a trip to the southern provinces of Russia due to the fact that "the ruined estates of the ancient noble family of the Voeykovs were located in the south of Saratov province near Sarepta, a colony of German evangelicals founded in 1765 near Tsaritsyn" ^{[15, p. 100]}.  The writer himself wrote that he suffered "from a severe cold in my head and back, I felt a slow crumpet and could not sleep or take a step without pain" and "live in Sarepta, I was expecting a comrade and colleague and friend of I. V. S., who together with me wanted to resort to healing waters for the recovery of health, upset by the service" ^{[14, p. 4]}. From Sarepta in 1813, he went by ship along the Akhtuba to the Tsarevskoye settlement, then further to the Caucasus.

Turning to the history of the Kalmyks, Voeikov studied historical, geographical and statistical works ("Geographical Dictionary of the Russian State" by A. Shchekatov, "Topography of the Orenburg province" by P. Rychkov, "Description of the peoples living in Russia" by I. Georgi, "The current state of the Kalmyk people" by N. Strakhov, "Day Notes" by I. Lepekhin, "Nomadic wanderings among the Kalmyks in 1802-1803" by B. Bergman et al.), received oral descriptions from people who had lived among the nomads for a long time, which gave his work a historical and ethnographic character.

The "Description" begins with an excursion into the history of the Kalmyks. Voeykov connects the origin of the ethnonym "Kalmyk" with the Tatar "Halimek, the separated people" or with the Mongolian words: "gol fire and aimak kind, generation; Golai-mak, or Holi-mike means a fiery breed, a fiery people." Kalmyks or "derben-oret" (derben-oiratov – E. D.) are called by the writer "the tribe of the Mongolian people", distinguishing among them "Hoshouts", "Zoongorians", "Derbets" and "Torgouts" ^{[1, pp. 207-208]}. On the one hand, it shows the administrative and territorial nature of the Oirat associations: the "Zoongorians" roamed along the Chinese and Siberian borders at the Ili River flowing into Lake Balkhash-Nur, and the Derbets migrated from Eastern Dzungaria to Western Dzungaria to the peaks of the Ishim and Tobol rivers. On the other hand, he mentions that the Torgouts were "descendants of the bodyguards" of Genghis Khan, and the Hoshouts were knights or heroes, so named for their bravery. His knowledge, of course, was not enough to explain how the transformation of military units into ethnopolitical ones took place.

In a brief description of the early history of the Kalmyks in Russia, he cites quarrels with the Khoshout and Zyungarian owners as the reasons for the migration of the Kho-Urlyuk Torgouts to Russia. Calling Kho-Urlyuk a wise owner, Voeykov lists among his achievements the conquest of the Hatay-Kapchit, Malibash, Jetakan and Jembuluk Tatars and the writing of the 1640 Code of Conduct. He believes that the early history of the Kalmyks in Russia was a time of self-will. Mentioning that the sherti (oaths of allegiance – E. D.) of Ayuki burned down in the fire of the Kazan order, Voeikov writes that the khan and his heirs, "having received a high opinion of their power, together with the Crimeans, Cubans and Nagais, plundered and burned villages in the Penza, Simbirsk, Ufa and Astrakhan provinces." It was only through the efforts of Astrakhan governors V. N. Tatishchev, V. V. Neronov and N. A. Beketov that the Kalmyks were introduced into the established military line from Tsaritsyn to Saratov and from Tsaritsyn to Astrakhan and pacified. 

Realizing that religion is a real socio—cultural component of identity, Voeikov pays considerable attention to it in his treatise. He divides Kalmyks into Christians, Muslims and idolaters. Referring to the reports of I. Georgi and P. Rychkov, the writer writes that the Stavropol Kalmyks retain their clothes, food, customs, and traditional way of managing, and only winter and deep snow force them to make hay and arrange stalls for livestock.

A small group of Muslim Kalmyks living in a designated village in the Orenburg province in the Chelyabinsk district on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains, according to him, is engaged in cattle breeding, lives in felt tents, observes Muslim rituals, performs Cossack service along with Bashkirs and, despite mixed marriages, retains a typical appearance ("wide faces, narrow eyes and the long drooping ears of their fathers").

The author dwells in detail on the study of traditional religion, which is followed by the majority of Kalmyks. He informs the reader that their traditional views of the Kalmyks include ideas about the origin of the world from chaos, divide the world into four epochs: "in the first century, human life decreased from eighty thousand years to a hundred years. People ascended alive to heaven." In the second epoch, the growth of people and their life expectancy have now decreased, virtue has disappeared, agriculture has arisen, incessant hostility has led to the formation of monarchies. And only the Burkhans sometimes tried to restore morality. With the advent of the third epoch, "everything on earth will decrease: an elephant will become a ram, and a horse a hare; people will marry in the fifth year of age, grow old in the tenth. It will end with a sea of blood flooding the universe" ^{[1, p. 225]}. The renewal of peace, and with it the restoration of virtue and an increase in life expectancy, will take place in the fourth epoch. The author clarifies that the transmigration of souls is the lot of exclusively virtuous people, notes the diversity of burkhans, as well as the multiplicity of paradises and hells.  He reproduces verbatim the ten rules of the Kalmyk faith and the text of the prayer, borrowed from the work of the chief bailiff of the Kalmyk people N. I. Strakhov "The current state of the Kalmyk people", tells about worship on Kalmyk holidays.

Assessing the degree of influence of the Buddhist clergy, he writes that after the cessation of contacts with the Dalai Lama, each lama in his ulus, due to the specifics of nomadic life, became practically independent. Its functions include ordination to the priesthood, absolution, blessing, burial of the dead, and reciting prayers. In addition to lamas, he refers to clerics as gelyungs, getsuls, mandzhiks, and mentions hermits.  The writer describes the idolatrous caravans: "in them there are burkhans on an elevated place, and in front of him Saracen millet, nuts, milk in silver sacrificial bowls; candles are burning in candlesticks, oil in lamps, and various aromas in incense burners. Banners, books, tambourines, trumpets, oboes, mugs with rattles, bells, bells are placed around" ^{[1, p. 244]}.

The issue of the number of Kalmyk clergy raised by Strakhov worries Voeikov. He attributes the increase in the number of clerics, who make up a tenth of the population, not only to the violation of an ancient law, according to which only one boy was ordained a monk, but also to the wills of superstitious Kalmyk noyons (owners of uluses – E. D.), who give whole families into the possession of monasteries. The author writes with condemnation about the parasitism of young clergymen and the patronage of lamas who charge money for admission to the clergy, records the differences between the generations of young and older clergymen. The latter, according to him, "being more enlightened than the nobility and even their sovereign princes, take the places of people's rulers, judges, doctors, police officers; they start, solve and terminate lawsuits" ^{[1, p. 246]}. Voeykov critically evaluates the sources of enrichment of the Buddhist clergy.

Voeykov explains the Kalmyks' superstition with ignorance and prejudice and notes that important things are done on the advice of an astrologer.  He writes about special priests who, according to ancient books, determine happy days, duties, dangers and illnesses, the year of marriage and death. The writer lists the folk signs of the Kalmyks: prohibitions to kill cranes, sit on the threshold, walk on ashes, keep your feet close to the fire, light a pipe with a piece of paper, given earlier in the work of Lutheran pastor B. Bergman, who spent fifteen months among the Kalmyks in 1802-1803.

Voeykov, following N. Strakhov, calls the exodus of the Kalmyks to China in 1771 the most significant modern event for the Kalmyk people. He condemns the decision of the governor of Ubashi, noting that almost all the participants of the campaign died on the road from cold, deprivation and "predatory" peoples.  The writer calls the restoration of the Zargo court by Paul I, the institution of viceroyalty, the definition of land rights of the Kalmyks happy and memorable changes in their lives. He writes that there are 100 thousand Kalmyks left in Russia, divided into three hordes: derbets (10 thousand caravans), torgouts and hoshouts. Derbetevsky Kalmyks roam from Tsaritsyn to Kuma, torgouts from Cherny Yar and Enotaevsk to Kuma, hoshouts near Astrakhan on both sides of the Volga. A small number of Dzungars were divided among the hordes remaining in Russia after the escape of 1771. The social structure of Kalmyk society, according to Voeikov, includes a white bone (higher clergy and owners) and a black bone (lower clergy and commoners). In Bergman's words, the writer criticizes social differences: "A nobleman will not agree to drink from the same vessel with a commoner in any way; nor will he enter his caravan, unless absolutely necessary. A simple Kalmyk cannot sit on a mattress belonging to a nobleman; the very dignity of a priest does not smooth out the stains of the breed on it" ^{[1, p. 254]}.

When describing the legal relations of the Kalmyks, he again refers to the book by N. Strakhov, quotes ancient laws on punishments for crimes against life, against health, sexual crimes, insults, theft, flight to the battlefield and leaving the owner in danger, harboring fugitive people, abandoning the clergy, fixes the presence of kalym and the rule annually "out of forty caravans, four unmarried people should be married; ten families should help each in payment for the bride, and if any of these four people, due to non-receipt of help, remain single; for that, 2 camels, 5 horses and 10 sheep should be collected from 10 caravans." The writer introduces readers to the procedure of legal proceedings: "Without the plaintiff and the defendant, it is forbidden to conduct a trial, and without witnesses, complaints should not be believed. Anyone who fails to appear in court after three summonses should be charged. Those judges who have decided three cases unfairly are forever deprived of dignity" ^{[1, p. 257]}. Voeykov notes the lack and archaism of the Kalmyks' laws, the negligence of judges, by virtue of which the oath was introduced into court proceedings, the special status of the clergy ("crimes against him are considered more important than against father and mother; it is easier to kill a slave than to dishonor a priest with a word"). In the words of B. Bergman, he explains that serious crimes are rare among the Kalmyks, because "their morals are harsh, but not evil." Single murders are committed in the "first heat of anger, for they are of a very ardent build."

The writer informs readers that Kalmyks have excellent physical characteristics, first of all, a fine sense of smell, acute hearing and vision. He cites Bergman's remark that the Ural Cossacks, fishing, "are looking for Kalmyk fishermen, and on their advice they boldly throw the seine, being firmly convinced of a happy tone. For Kalmyk shepherds, the eye remembers the signs for so long that, looking at the herd, they immediately find out how many and what kind of cattle are missing" ^{[1, p. 259]}. Voeikov was also struck by the extraordinary memory of the nomads, generated by the habit of navigating the steppe space," thanks to which they easily keep in mind a lot of folk legends, extensive excerpts from religious texts.

He writes about the vivid fertile imagination, great wit and insight of the Kalmyks.  The Warriors have a high opinion of the Kalmyks' ability to learn. He notes the accuracy and speed with which they perceive new information, the ease of learning languages "even of those peoples with whom they happen to live for a very short time," eloquence. The writer writes that in every ulus baksha (teacher - E. D.) teaches children reading, writing, theology, arithmetic, history, geography, astronomy, astrology, medicine. However, the level of knowledge leaves much to be desired, since teaching is conducted "according to their own concepts about them, which are very false." Among the disadvantages of the steppe people, the writer calls a tendency to drunkenness and card games, untidiness ("their children go completely naked in summer; Kalmyks eat everything: carrion, mice, gophers, guts, grass"), the craving of men and women for smoking ("the Sarepta colonists sell it to them annually for more than 50,000 rubles").

In describing the appearance of Kalmyks, Voeykov avoids stereotypes and value judgments. He states the average height, thinness, stateliness of the steppe people and visual signs: "Their face is so flat that the Kalmyk skull can be distinguished from any other. The eyes are narrow and their corners are flatter than those of Europeans; the lips are thick, the nose is flattened and small, the nostrils are wide, the chin is short, the hair on the beard is sparse and shows late; the teeth are even and white like pearls; the complexion of men is red-brown, women are ruddy-brown, the skin is very delicate, the ears they are bulging and very long; their hair is black; their legs are crooked, not from nature, but from a squat seat and from the usual riding" ^{[1, p. 261]}.

Researchers of the history of everyday life of nomads will benefit from Voeykov's remarks about the migration of the Kalmyks, made on the basis of travel notes by academician I. Lepekhin: "For several versts along the desert, you can see the wandering of an entire people! The rich pack all their belongings, dishes and wagons on camels, and the poor on oxen and cows. Women, girls, and small boys on horseback drive herds and herds. In the baggage train of the rich Noyon il Zaisang, camels are decorated with mohras and tassels, horses with bells and rattles; the luggage is covered with rich carpets and blankets. A gentleman with his household men rides in front proudly and with a hat on his back; behind him is his steward or equerry with a badge in his hand; on both sides of camel saddles are attached, like boxes, baby cradles; they are stuffed with down and put there Kalmykat, who look out from there like marmots from a hole" ^{[1, p. 295]}.

He describes for readers the felt caravans of the steppe people with red-painted wooden posts, stakes and bindings, a smoke hole at the top and a place for a fire in the middle of the caravan. He notes that the interior of the caravans of the Noyons and Zaisangs (rulers of the aimaks – E. D.) is richer, they are covered with white felt, "the walls are upholstered with silk fabrics, the floors are covered with Persian carpets, beds with rich curtains, fringes and a mirror; rich clothes and weapons are hung on the sides; on a box upholstered in iron and painted blue, and enclosing money and jewelry, there is a household idol, and in front of it an incense burner, sacrificial bowls with Saracen millet and raisins, wax candles, etc. However, it must be confessed that even in the magnificent princely caravans there is not the slightest neatness, and a disgusting smell torments the sense of smell" ^{[1, pp. 262-263]}.

According to the "Description", bread is a luxury for the steppe people, "their ordinary drink consists of sour milk, whey, mare's milk wine and plain water. They are great hunters of tea; it, as well as other goods, is brought to them by Armenians trading in the villages, who for Kalmyks are also what the French are for Europeans," "for the most part they eat rye flour, of which handfuls thrown into a boiling pot and salted are enough for a whole Kalmyk family for a day". The writer notes the subtleties of the dining etiquette of Noyons and Zaisangs: "they do not eat on tables, but on carpets spread on the ground, and with their hands. They have porcelain, tin and silver dishes" ^{[1, p. 263]}.

He describes the nomads' clothes: "The men's clothes are Tatar, Chinese headdress: black or colored morocco half-boots, trousers, a half-caftan made of light fabric with narrow sleeves and a Longs, to which a saber, a knife, a pipe, a bag of tobacco, flint, and flint are hung; a cloth caftan with wide sleeves. The head is shaved, leaving a crest on the theme, which is braided into three braids. On his head is a yellow scarf with a tassel. The poor go shirtless and barefoot, and in the greatest summer heats they wear a sheepskin coat on their naked bodies. If the heat is unbearable, then they lower it from their shoulders to their waist and ride naked." Women's clothing differs from men's in that "instead of a caftan, they have an upper dress without sleeves and a special cut." Women do not cut their hair: "girls braid them into thin braids that hang near the back of their heads; women wear only two braids. Huge earrings hang in her ears, and her fingers are decorated with rings and rings. Girls blush and whiten" ^{[1, p. 264]}.

Kalmyk women arouse the writer's sympathy.  He believes that they work harder than men: "they make furs, sew clothes and shoes, roll felt, make butter, cheese, and wine, spin camel and sheep wool, weave braid, saddle girths and armyaks." He considers the care of cattle, the manufacture of caravans to be the concerns of the steppe people, and notes the presence of artisans (silversmiths, locksmiths and blacksmiths) in the villages. The laziness of the Voyeikov men explains their conviction that it is "not noble for a Kalmyk to engage in work."

Voeykov calls their herds the main wealth of the Kalmyks and at the same time the subject of their special care. He notes the difficulties that nomads have to face, whose cattle are on foot food all year round, so long and snowy winters cause a lot of deaths. In 1813, according to the writer, the Kalmyks had 75,000 camels, 300,000 horses, 200,000 cows, up to 1,000,000 goats and sheep. However, due to superstition, the steppe people do not give accurate data on the number of cattle, therefore, the observer assumes, the true number may reach 3000000 heads in general.

Describing the state of the Kalmyk people, entangled in superstitions and under the rule of their owners and clergy, the writer calls the Kalmyks' way of life primitive. In creating the image of the Kalmyks, he uses Bergman's narrative: "there is a striking similarity in characters between the rider and the horse, and that the same can be said about many peoples. For example: Turkish horses are strong, fast and harsh, but soon get tired and need long—term rest; Russian horses are brave, strong, patient, after running a long distance, rest a little and are ready to go again; German horses are strong, carry heavy burdens on a flat road, but they are unable to run fast and large teams. Kalmyk horses are short, hot and strong. They jump like a whirlwind in the unbearable heat and quickly run an incredible distance" ^{[1, p. 294]}.

Voeykov notes both the success of cattle breeders in treating animals, especially fractures and dislocations, and the low level of medical development in the villages, the limitations of local doctors who only feel the pulse and recommend abstinence from food. Positively assessing the activity of the Sarepta doctor Karl Jan, who inoculates smallpox to Kalmyks, he compares it with the absurd methods of treatment among the steppe people: "Bergman assures that he saw one Kalmyk who took 11 grains of vitriol in the morning and evening, and was completely cured in 4 days"; Kalmyks treat sejikte (hypochondria – E. D.) by erecting "there is no need for a patient to be accused of theft, murder, etc. In addition, the patient is mercilessly beaten and flogged, and with such a sensitive remedy, the hypochondriac is returned from dreamy fear to bodily pain" ^{[1, p. 266]}.

Voeykov briefly describes the rituals of the life cycle. He notes that childbirth of immature Kalmyks is easy because of their proximity to nature and hard work. Men pay for brides with kalym, the wedding is held in a new caravan and consists of a priest reading a prayer, fumigating a woman's scarf (headdress – E. D.) and blessing the bride, whose hair is braided into two braids and they begin to feast. The funeral rites of the Kalmyks, according to him, are simple: the deceased commoners "are thrown into ravines, forests or water, and the noble ones, especially lamas, are burned with solemn rites" ^{[1, p. 267]}.

He calls horse racing and wrestling folk amusements, hunting is the fun of the owners. The writer notes the originality of Kalmyk dances: "Kalmyks dance, one might say, not with their feet, but with their hands, from which they make different figures, move and act with them according to the tones of the music, turn on their sides to the ground, bend their heads back to their feet, and consider this the height of art, perfection and pleasantness" ^{[1, p. 296]}. In the evenings, he notes, Kalmyks like to listen to long fairy tales with a balalaika.

Wishing to expand readers' ideas about the culture of the Kalmyks, Voeykov places in the "Description" the folk dance "Savardin", the only cheerful among the "sad and lingering" Kalmyk songs, the story "Waterfall and Stone", the fairy tale "Left Eye", 22 proverbs recorded by N. Strakhov. Such a lyrical digression is characteristic of the travelogue of the early 19th century, which was distinguished by the "paradoxes of literature" ^{[16, p. 59]}.

In conclusion, reflecting on the current state of the Kalmyks in the Russian Empire, he notes the changes associated with a decrease in their military activity: "These are no longer the Kalmyks warriors who fought so bravely at Amursanan, Ayuk Khan and Dunduk Ambo!", they are unreliable for protecting borders from the raids of predatory neighbors and at the moment They are involved only for the protection of the border chain on the meadow side of the Volga. The crisis of Kalmyk society, associated with a decrease in the number of Kalmyks after the exodus of 1771, led to a decline in the "spirit" of the Kalmyks, turning them into "peaceful pastors," as evidenced, according to Voeikov, by the cases "in the war against the rebel Pugachev, on the Caucasian line and in Persia." At the same time, a writer who took part in the Patriotic War of 1812 writes that in the fight against Napoleon, the Kalmyks "fought bravely, and many are decorated with insignia." He notes the importance of military history for the identity of the Kalmyks, writes that they proudly recall, for example, participation in the Seven Years' War.

Voeikov joins the opinion expressed earlier by academicians Pallas and Lepekhin, the chief bailiff of Insurance, about the benefits of Kalmyk cattle breeding for Russia. Discussing the natural and climatic conditionality of nomadism, he writes that "If all European Academies and Universities were asked about the means to turn the uselessly disappearing immeasurable deserts into populated places and bringing great wealth to the State, then without a doubt they would not have come up with better means than those used by the Kalmyks" ^{[1, pp. 307-308]}. The writer believes that in the conditions of the Eurasian steppes and semi-deserts, nomadic cattle breeding of the Kalmyks, which, with minimal labor costs, allowed them to get the maximum return in the form of milk, meat, and hides, turned out to be the best adaptation of the economy to the scarce resources of the environment. He writes that annual sales of livestock and wool reach 1,500,000 rubles, which "proves that no European power has colonies in Asia or America in which cattle breeding would flourish to such an extent" ^{[1, p. 308]}.

A comparative analysis of Voeykov's "Description" showed that the author used in the composition of his work the works published at the end of the XVIII – beginning of the XIX century by participants of academic expeditions P. Pallas, I. Georgi, travelers B. Bergman and I. Lepekhin, Russian administrators P. Rychkov and N. Strakhov. A detailed comparison of the text of the "Description" with the texts of the above-mentioned authors reveals open and hidden (without specifying the author) citations. These borrowings create the effect of a duality between the traveler and the author-narrator. Voeikov has to, on the one hand, follow certain patterns, on the other hand, reflect on his own narrative strategy in an individual "travel word".

Voeikov's informants were Christian Hamel and Konrad Neitz, who were well acquainted with the Kalmyks.  The first arrived in Russia after the invitation of Empress Catherine II and became one of the founders of the German colony of Sarepta near Tsaritsyn, where he served as a police chief. The basis of this settlement was, as is known, the followers of one of the movements in Protestantism, the Gernguters. Their goal was to convert Kalmyks, Kyrgyz and Tatars to the Christian faith. The members of this brotherhood compiled German-Kalmyk and Kalmyk-German dictionaries, grammar of the Kalmyk people. Voeikov met Hamel and Neitz during a trip in 1813. He admired the journey undertaken by missionaries Neitz and Hamel to the Caucasus to preach the Gospel to Lezgins and Ossetians ^{[17, pp. 66-67]}.

Dr. Konrad Neitz, a member of the Gernguter brotherhood, became famous as the organizer of the production of mustard and oil in Sarepta. He founded a manual mustard and butter factory here, which has been operating since 1810 on horse traction. Researchers believe that while engaged in missionary activities among the Kalmyks, he learned the recipe for cooking mustard ^{[18, p. 160]}. It is known that Neitz brought mustard seeds from St. Petersburg and began breeding by crossing black French with yellow English mustard, to which he added tasteless wild Volga from the Ilmen and depressions of the Kalmyk steppes and the Volga region. He managed to grow the blue-gray Sarepta mustard, known nowadays as Russian mustard. Voeikov writes that the missionary received from the emperor "a gold watch for the successful cultivation of mustard, which completely replaces the English one and gives an aromatic oil that is not inferior in taste or purity to delicious olive oil" ^{[17, pp. 65-66]}.

Neitz was an expert in the Kalmyk language and taught Lutheran pastor B. Bergman in Sarepta in 1799 before traveling to uluses. Bergman recalled: "In this settlement of Evangelical brothers, I got to know the Kalmyks, to some extent myself, and partially he learned them from the information of local Protestant brothers. The contrast of the Mongolian way of life with ours, the originality that I saw in the character and way of thinking of the Kalmyks: all this prompted me to get to know these interesting people even more closely. The efforts of Mr. Neitz from Sarepta, who, thanks to his deep knowledge of the Mongolian language and careful study of several Mongolian books, was able to provide the best information about the mythology of the Mongols, allowed me to write several notes on this issue" ^{[19, pp. 19-20]}.

Voeikov also refers to the German cartographer and astronomer G. M. Lovitz, who together with P. Inokhodtsev made an expedition to the Lower Volga region in 1769-1774 in order to observe the passage of Venus across the disk of the Sun in Guryev. Scientists compiled historical and geographical descriptions, maps, plans, diaries and travel notes, but most of them were destroyed when Lovitz was executed by the Yaik Cossacks during the uprising of E. I. Pugachev in 1774. Inokhodtsev, Lovitz's wife and son managed to escape and withdraw some of the materials. Currently, they are stored in the St. Petersburg branch of the Archive of the Academy of Sciences (SPF ARAN) and in the department of handwritten books of the Library of the Academy of Sciences (OR BAN), awaiting translation into Russian and further research ^{[20, p. 6]}.

Voeykov's interest in the history of the Kalmyks did not end with the publication of the "Description". He will mention the nomads in the "Description of Sarepta", published in 1822 in the magazine F. Bulgarin's "Northern Archive", travelogues "Journey from Sarepta to the ruins of Sheri-Sarai, the former capital of the Khans of the Golden Horde", "Astrakhan", published in the July and August books of the "News of Literature".  Thus, describing the public places of Sarepta, he will mention a shop for the sale of goods necessary "for a Kalmyk, a German, a Russian peasant, a Don Cossack, a Tatar, a Little Russian, a traveler, an artist, a merchant and a scientist", he will write that the income of the tobacco factory of the colony is provided primarily by Kalmyks addicted to tobacco smoking ^{[17, p. 56-57]}. In the unfinished travelogue "Astrakhan", he will recall the historical meeting of Peter I in Saratov with the Kalmyk Khan Ayuka, whom the tsar "invited him and his family to the dining table and out of respect for his venerable old age, he met him on the shore and led him by the hand to his plough", the solemn divine service at the Kalmyks, the burkha-urgu (liturgical kibitka – E. D.), Lamaist clergy ^{[21, p. 63,70]}. Creating a poetic image of Astrakhan, he will name Kalmyks among its inhabitants:

"I saw Astrakhan, this monument is great.

There Ross is a baby, half wild,

He gave a glorious example to Europe

Tolerance of all faiths.

There is a Brahmin pagoda and an Armenian temple nearby;

And the Lutheran Church

With a Mohammedan mosque there;

There's a Greek-Russian church there

In the neighborhood of the Catholic church

From the gernguterskaya stand

Chapel of the Old Believers in a row

With a caravan of Kalmyk idols" ^{[21, p. 55]}.

Thus, we were convinced that the representation of Kalmyks on the pages of one of the most influential and popular magazines of its time pursued several goals. The practical purpose of the publisher was the need to fill the editorial portfolio, the educational one was to familiarize Russian readers with the culture of nomads, to know another world, to realize oneself through comprehension of another, the imperial one was to "mentally attach" a region inhabited by bearers of a different cultural tradition. Unlike other Voyeikov travelogues, which, like all "literary travels" of the early 19th century, are characterized by copious quoting, the introduction of lyrical digressions, a number of permanent plot motifs, the "Description", which became the result of the writer's journey through the southern provinces of Russia in 1813, has a historical and ethnographic character. To an outside reader, the author informs about the history, lifestyle, economy, everyday life, religion, culture of nomads, to an informed person who wants to better understand the character and customs of the people, addresses fairy tales, stories, proverbs, prayer, fragments of Kalmyks' legal norms and a description of legal proceedings. Literary talent and erudition allowed Voeikov to interpret the observed features of the Kalmyks' lifestyle and farming, skillfully use the works of his predecessors and oral reliable information. In this regard, the use of this work by Kalmyk scholars seems appropriate.

Despite the fact that many contemporaries, who suffered from the sharp language of the journalist, noted Voeykov's unscrupulousness as a publisher, in the "Description" he tried to avoid looking at the Kalmyks "from above" and came to the conclusion that they deserve "all the attention of the government." The ideology of the publisher manifests itself in the intentional orientation of his work, mainly due to the tasks of educating the reader. The writer shows him the problems of Kalmyk society: the instability of the nomadic economy, the huge influence of the owners and Lamaist clergy on the Kalmyks, the low level of medicine and education, archaic judicial proceedings, which speak of the need for further integration of the Kalmyks and improvement of the management system. The main negative characteristics are associated with the superstitions and prejudices of the Kalmyks. His loyalty is evidenced by the noted positive qualities of the nomads, respect for their military past, and a high assessment of the importance of Kalmyk cattle breeding for the empire. The ascetic style of the "Description" is completely different from the usual style of the writer's critical articles, the sharp and sarcastic polemicist has given way to an attentive observer.

To create an image of the "Other", the text uses a number of lexical means, which include the use of evaluative words and expressions ("superstitious Kalmyks"), comparisons ("the Kalmyk way of life resembles primitive human societies", intelligent gernguters /ignorant Kalmyks), metaphors ("peaceful shepherds"). In Voeykov's perception, Kalmyks are peaceful pastoralists useful to the fatherland, rationally using the steppe expanses, on which the government's attention should be directed to overcome backwardness, superstitions and prejudices.

Thus, to the numerous, not always attractive, "faces" of A. F. Voeikov, one can add the image of a researcher and popularizer of the history of the Kalmyks. In the second half of the 1820s, when his reputation fell, his wife Alexandra Andreevna died, ties with the former literary circle ceased, and Voeikov's publishing activity faded away. "In the eyes of the younger generation," Balakin accurately noted, "he no longer appears to be a friend and colleague of Zhukovsky and Batyushkov, but a quarrelsome magazine pedant, capable of swearing because of any critical glance thrown at him" ^{[22, p. 159]}. Not only Voeykov's "Description", almost forgotten by Kalmyk scholars, but also his literary legacy has an unusual fate. Some of Voeikov's poems are included in most courses on the history of Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century, however, most of his poetic and journalistic heritage has never been collected in books or studied.