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TRAYELS

STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA,

THE CRDIEA, THE CAUCASUS, &c.

XAYIER HOMMAIRE DE HELL,
,. .,v;'| CXVTL ENOrNEER,
MEMBER -OF-TnE-SOCrETE-bEOLOGIQCE OF FRANCE, AND KNIOHT OF THE ORDEK
OF ST. VLADUHR OF RUSSIA.

WITH ADDITIONS FROM VABIOUS SOURCES.

LONDON:
CHAPMAN AND HALL, 186, STRAND.

MDCCCXLVn.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

When I left Constantinople for Odessa my principal object was
to investigate the geology of the Crimea and of New Russia, and to
arrive by positive observations at the solution of the great question
of the rupture of the Bosphorus. Having once entered on this pur
suit, I was soon led beyond the limits of the plan I had marked out
for myself, and found it incumbent on me to examine all the vast
regions that extend between the Danube and the Caspian Sea to
the foot of the northern slope of the Caucasus. I spent, therefore,
nearly five years in Southern Russia, traversing the country in all
directions, exploring the course of rivers and streams on foot or
on horseback, and visiting all the Russian coasts of the Black Sea,
the Sea of Azof and the Caspian. T-wice I was intrusted by the
Russian government with important scientific and industrial mis
sions; I enjoyed special protection and assistance during all my
travels, and I am happy to be able to testify in this place my gra
titude to Count Voronzof, and to aU those who so amply seconded
me in my laborious investigations.
Thus protected by the local authorities, I was enabled to collect
the most authentic information respecting the state of men and
things. Hence I was naturally led to superadd to my scientific
pursuits considerations of all kinds connected with the history,
statistics, and actual condition of the various races inhabiting
Southern Russia. I was, moreover, strongly encouraged in my
new task by the desire to make known in their true light all those
southern regions of the empire wliich have played so important a
part in the history of Russia since the clays olPeter the Great.
My wife, who braved all hardships to accompany me in most of
my journeys, has also been the partner of my literary laboura in
France. To her belongs all the descriptive part of this book of
travels. Out work is pubhshed under no man's patronage; we have kept
ourselves independent of aU extraneous influence; and in frankly
pointing out what struck us as faulty in the social institutions of the
Muscovite empire, we think we evince our gratitude fbr the hos
pitable treatment we received in Russia, better than some travellers
of our day, whose pages are only fiUed with exaggerated and ridi
culous flatteries.
XAVIER HOMMAIRE DE HELL.

DEFINITIONS.

Geographic miles are of 1 5 to a degree of the equator.
A Russian Verst (104 -f^y to a degree), is -f of a geographical mile, | of a
French league of 25 to a degree. It is equal to 3484-9 English feet,
or nearly 4 of a statute mUe. It is divided into 500 sazhenes, and
each of these into 3 arshines.
A deciatine (superficial measure) is equivalent to 2 acres, 2 roods, 32
perches, English. '
Apood is equal to 40 Russian or 36 English pounds^
100 tchetverts (com measure) are equal to about 74 i English quarters^
A vedro (liquid measure) contains SiEnglish gallons, or 12^ Litre3.^1
Since 1839 the paper ruble has been suppressed, and has given place to
the silver ruble. But the former is ahvays to be understood wherever the
word ruble occurs in the following pages. Tbe paper ruble is worth frx)m
1 fr. 10c. to 1 fr. 18c. according to the course of exchange ; the silver
ruble is equal to o\ paper rubles.^^^

A French Jiectare is equal to 2 acres^ 1 rood, 33 perches, English.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
CHAPTER I.
Departure from Constantinople — Arrival in Odessa — Quarantine  1
CHAPTER II.
Streets of Odessa — .Je-ws — Hotels — ^Partiality of the Russians for Odessa-
Hurricane, Dust, ilud, Climate, &c. — Public Buildings  5
CHAPTER III.
The Imperial Pamily in Odessa — Church Music — Society of the Place, Count
and Countess "Voronzof — Anecdote of the Countess Braniska — The Theatre —
Theatrical EoTV  „  10
^- CHAPTER IV.
Commerce of the Black Sea — Prohibitive System and its Pernicious Kesults-rr
Depressed State of Agriculture — Trade of Odessa.. .Its Bank  H
CHAPTER V.
Na-vigation, Charge &r Freight, &c. in the Black Sea  26
CHAPTER VI,
Agriculture and Manufactures of Southern Eussia— Mineral Productions —
Russian Workmen  28
CHAPTER VII.
Departure from Odessa — Travelling in Eussia — Nikolaief, Olvia, Otshafcof —
Kherson — The Dniepr — General Potier — Ancient Tumuli— Steppes of tha
Black Sea — A Russian Village — Snow Storm — Narrow Escape fron Suffoca
tion — A Russian Family — Appendix.  32
CHAPTER VIII.
An EarthcLuake— Ludicrous Anecdote — Sledging — Sporting — Dangerous Pas
sage of the Dniepr — Tha-w- ; Spring-Time — Manners and Customs of the
Little Russians — ^Easter Holidays— The Clergy  45
CHAPTER IX.
Excursion on the Banks of the Dniepr— Doutchina — Election of the Marshals
and Judges of the Nobility at lihersoQ— Horse-Racing — Strange Story in the
" Journal des Debats" — A Country House and its Visiters — Traits of Eus-
. ^. BianJSdanners — The Wife of Two Husbands — Servants — Murder of a Courier.
— Appendix  55
' CHAPTER X.
Departure for the Caspian — lekateriuoslav — Potemkin's Euined Palace— Pas-
kevitch's Caucasian Guard — Sham Fight— Intolerable Heat— Cataracts of
the Dniepr — German Colonies — The Setcha of the Zaporogues — A French
Steward — Night Adventure— Colonies of the Moloshnia Vodi — Mr. Cornios —
TheDoukoboren,a Religious Sect  69

VI CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XI. PACE
Marioupol — Berdiansk — Knavish Jew Postmaster — Taganrok — Memorials of
Peter the Great and Alexander— Great Fair— The General with Two Wives
— Jlorality in Russia — Adventures of a PliUhellene— A French Doctor — The
English Consul — ITorseRaces — A Firit Sightof theKalmucks  82
CHAPTER XII.
Departure from Taganrok— Simset in the Steppes — A Gipsy Camp — Rostof ;
a; Town unparalleled in the Empire — Navigation of the Don — Azof ; St.
Dimitri — Aspect of the Don — Nakitchevane, and its Armenian Colony  89
CHAPTER XIII.
General Remarks on New Eussia — Antipathy between the Muscovites and
Malorossians — Foreign Colonies — General aspect of the Country, Cattle, &c.
— Want of Means of Communication— Eiver Navigation; Bridges — Charac
ter of the Minister of Finance— History of the Steam-boat on the Dniestr —
The Board of Eoads and Ways — Anecdote — Appendix  96
CHAPTER XIV.
The different Conditions of Menin Eossia — ^The Nobles — Discontent of the Old
Aristocracy — The Merchant Class— Serfdom — Constitution of the Empire ;
Governments — Consequences of Centralisation ; Dissimulation of Public
Functionaries — Tribunals — The Colonel of the Gendarmerie — Corruption —
Pedantry of Forms — Contempt of the Decrees of the Emperor and the Senate
— Singular Anecdote ; Interpretation of a WiU — Eadical Evils in the Judicial
Organisation — History and present State of EussianLaw..  102
CHAPTER XV.
Public Instruction — Corps of Cadets — Universities and Elementary Schools ;
Anecdote — Plan of Education — Motives for attending the Universities — Sta
tistics — Professors; their Ignorance — Exclusion of Foreign Professors^-En-
gineering — Obstacles to Intellectual Improvement — Characteristics of the
Sciavonio -Eace  127
CHAPTER XVI.
Entry into the Country of the Don Cossacks — ^Female Pilgrims of Kiev ; EeU-
gious Fervour of the Cossacks— Novo Tcherkask, Capital of the Don —
Street-lamp.s guarded by Sentinels — The Streets on Sunday — Cossack Hos-
, pitality and Good Nature — Their Veneration for Napoleon's Memory  134
CHAPTER XVII.
Origin of the Don Cossacks — Meaning of the Name — The Kliirghis Cossacks —
Races anterior to the Cossacks— Sclavonic Emigrations towards the East... 137
CHAPTER XVIII.
Joiuney from Novo Tcherkask along tbe Don — Another EJiavish Postmaster
— Muscovite Merchants — Cossack Stanitzas  154
- "--CHAPTER XIX.
First Kalmuck Encampments — The Volga— Astrakhan— Visit to a Kalmuck
Princess — Music, Dancing, Costume, &a — ^Equestrian Feats — Religious Cere
mony — ^Poetry  ._.  ,  162
CHAPTER XX.
Historical Notice of Astrakhan— itixed Population ; Armenians, Tatars 
Singular Result of a Mixture of Races— Description of the Town— Hinda
Religious Ceremonies— Society  „  175
CHAPTER XXI.
Commercial Position of Astraklian — Its Importance in the Middle A^es  ^Its
Loss of the Overland Trade from India— Commercial Statistics— Fisheries
of the Caspian— Change of the Monetary System in Russia— Bad State of
the Finances— Russian Political Econoray  jg^
CHAPTER XXII.
Departure from Astrakhan— Coast of the Caspian— Hawking— Houidouk—
Three Stormy Days passed in a Post-house— Armenian Merchants  Rob-

CONTENTS. vii
PACE
bery committed by Kalmucks — Camels— Kouskaia — ^Another Tempest —
Tarakans — A reported Gold Mine  ,  202
CHAPTER XXin.
Another Eobbery at Houidouk — Our Nomade Life -Camels — Kalmuck Camp
— Quarrel with a Turcoman Convoy, and Eeconcili.ation — Love of the Kal
mucks for their Steppes ; Anecdote— A Satza— Selenoi Sastava — Fleeced
by a Lieutenant-Colonel — Camel-drivers beaten by the Kalmucks — Alarm
of a Circassian Incursion — Sources of the ilanitch — The Journey arrested-
Visit to a Kalmuck Lady — ^HospitaUty of a Eussian Oificer  ."  203
CHAPTER XXIV.
Review of the History ofthe Kalmucks  229
CHAPTER XXV.
The Kalmucks after the Departure of Oubacha — Di-vision of the Hordes, Limits
of their Territory — The Turcoman and Tatar Tribes in the Govemmeats of
Astrakhan and the Caucasus — Christian Kalmucks— Agricultural Atten:pt3
— Physical, Social, and Moral Characteristics of thj Kalmucks  235
CHAPTER XXVL
Buddhism — Kalmuck Cosmogony— Kalmuck Clergy — Eites aud Ceremonies —
Polygamy — The Kirghis  247
CHAPTER XXVIL
The Tatars and Mongols — The Kaptshak —History and Traditions of the
Nogais  264
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Banks ofthe Kouma ; Vladimirofka— M. Eebrof's Eepulse of a Circassian
Foray — Bourgon MaJdjar— Journey along the Kouma — View ofthe Caucasian
Mountains — Critical Situation— Georgief — Adventure with a Eussian Colonet
•"—Story of a Circassian Chief.  -.. 2r6
J, CHAPTER XXIX.
'^oad from Georgief to the Waters ofthe Caucasus — A Polish Lady carried off
by Circassians — ^Piatigorsk— Kislovodsk — History of the Mineral Waters of
the Caucasus  235
CHAPTER XXX.
.V SITCiTION OF THE KCSSIAXS AS TO THE CAUCASUS.
History of their Acquisition of the Trans-Caucasian Provinces — General Topo
graphy ofthe Caucasus — Armed Line of the Kouban and the Terek — Block
ade of the Coasts — Character and Usages of the Mountaineers — Anecdote —
Visit to a Circassian Prince  293
A CHAPTER XXXI.
Retrospective View of the War in the Caucasus — Vital Importance of the Cau
casus to Eussia— Designs on India, Central Asia, Bokhara, Khiva, &c. —
Eussian and English Commerce in Persia  ,  309
CHAPTER XXXII.
A Storm in the Caucasus — Night Journey ; Dangers and Difficulties — Stavropol
Historical Sketch of the Government of the Caucasus and the Black Sea
..Cossacks  .^  334
: -;:A i CHAPTER XXXIII. =-
Eapid Journey from Sta-vropol- Eussian Wedding — Perilous Passage of the
Don ; all sorts of Disasters by Night — ^Taganrok ; Commencement of the
Cold Season — The German Colonies revisited  343
,,i CHAPTER XXXIV.
Departure for the Crimea — ^Balaclava — Visit to the Monastery of St. George —
Sevastopol— The Imperial Fleet  349
'; CHAPTER XXXV.
Eagtche Serai — Historical Eevolutions ofthe Crimea— The Palace ofthe Khans
I — Countess Potocki  3-5S

VUI CONTENTS. PAGE
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Simpheropol—Karolez- Visit to Princess Adel Bey— Excursion to Mangoup
Kaleh  ^^^
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Eoad to Baidar-The Southern Coast; Grand Scenery— Miskhor and Aloupka
— Predilection of the Great Eussian Nobles for the Crimea  >-'l
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Three Celebrated Women  ^'^
CHAPTER XXXIX.
lalta— Koutchouk Lampat— Parthenit-The Prince de Ligne's Hazel— Oulou
Ouzen ; a Garden converted into an Aviary— Tatar Young Women— Excur
sion to Soudagh — Mademoiselle Jacquemart  387
CHAPTER XL.
Ruins of Soldaya— Road to Theodosia—Caffa— Muscovite Vandalism— Pe
ninsula of Kertch — ^Panticapea audits Tombs  391
CHAPTEE XLI.
POIITICAI. AND COMMBKCIAI. EEVOLUTIONS OF TEE CKTltEA.
Extent and Character of Surface — Milesian and Heraclean Colonies— Kingdom
of the Bosphorus — Export and Import Trade in the Times of the Greek Re
publics — Mithridates — The Kingdom of the Bosphorus under the Eomans —
The Alans and Goths— Situation of the Republic of Klierson- The Huns ;
Destruction of the Kingdom of the Bosphorus — The Khersonites put them
selves under the Protection of the Byzantine Empire — ^Dominion of the
Khazars — The Petchenegues and Komans— The Kingdom of Little Tatary
—-Rise and FaU of the Genoese Colonies— The Crimea under the Tatars —
Its Conquest by the Russians....  402
¦ CHAPTER XLIL
Commercial Polity of Eussia in the Crimea — Caffa sacrificed in Favour of
Kertch — These two Ports compared — The Quarantine at the Entrance of the
Sea of Azof, and its Consequences — Commerce of Kertch — Vineyards ofthe
Crimea ; the Valley of Soudak — Agriculture — Cattle— Horticulture — Ma
nufactures; Morocco Leather — ^Destruction of the Goats — Decay of the
Forests— Salt Works— General Table of the Commerce of the Crimea —
Prospects of the Tatar Population  410
CHAPTER XLIII.
HISTOBICAL SKETCH OF BESSABABIA.
Topology — Ancient Fortresses— The Russian Policy in Bessarabia— Emanci-
patioa of the Serfs — Colonies — Cattle — Exports and Imports — Mixed Po
pulation ofthe Province  1  424
Note  ;..  435

THE

STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &c.

CHAPTER I.

DEPABTtTEE PROM CONSTAKTETOPLE — ^ABEIVAL IN ODESSA— QDAEANTHTE.
On the 15th of May, 1838, we bade adieu to Constantinople, and
standing on the deck of the Odessa steamer, aa it entered the Bos
phorus, -we could not -withdraw our eyes from the magnificent pano
rama -w-e were lea-ving behind us.
Constantinople then appeared to us in all its grandeur and beauty.
Seated like Rome on its seven hills, exercising its sovereigutv like
Corinth over two seas, the vast city presented to our eyes a superb
amphitheatre of palaces, mosques, white minarets and green plane-
trees glistening in an Asiatic sunshine. What description could
adequately depict this marvellous spectacle, or even give an idea of
it ? "Would it not be wronging creation^ as Lamartine has said, to
compare Constantinople -with any thing else in this world ?
Meanwhile, we were advancing up the Bosphorus/ and the two
shores, fringed all along to the Black Sea with cypress groves, and
half hidden beneath their sombre shade, invited a share of that atten
tive gaze we had hitherto bestowed only on the great city that was
vanishing in our wake. The Bosphorus itself presented a very
animated scene. A thousand white-sailed caiques glided lightly
over the waves, coming and going incessantly from shore to shore.
As we advanced, the Bosphorus "widened more and more, and we
soon entered that Black Sea, whose ominous name so well accords
with the storms that perpetually convulse it. A multitude of vessels
of all kinds and dimensions, were anchored at the entrance of the
channel, waiting for a favourable wind to take them out of the
straits, which alone present more dangers than the whole na-dgation
of the Black Sea. The difficulties of this passage- are further aug
mented in the beginning of spring and the end of autumn by
dense fogs, which have caused an incalculable number of vessels to
be wrecked on the steep rocks of these iron-bound coasts.

2 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
The passage from Constantinople to Odessa is effected in fifty'
hours in the Russian steamers, which ply twice a month from each
of these ports. ' Those who are accustomed to the comfort, elegance,
and scrupulous cleanHness of the Mediterranean and Atlantic
¦ steamers, must be bonified at finding themselves on board a Russian
vessel. I, It is impossible' to express the filth and dispjriler of that in
which we were embarked. The deck, which was alreacly heaped from
end to end with goods and provisions, was crowded besides with a dis
gusting mob of pilo-rims, mendicant monks, Jews, and Russian or
Cossack women, all squatting and lying about at their ease without
regard. to the convenience .of the other passengers. Most of them
¦were returning from Jerusalem. The Russian people are possessed
in the highest degree with the mania for pilgrimages. All these
beggars set off barefooted, with their wallets on their backs, and
their rosaries in their hands, to seek Heaven's pardon for their sins;
appealing on their way to the charity of men, to enable them to con
tinue that vagabond and miserable life which they prefer to the ful-
£ln-ient of homely duties.
It was a sorry specimen of the people we were going to visit that
we had thus before our eyes, and our repugnance to these Muscovites
was all the stronger from our recollections of the.Turksj whose
noble presence and beauty had so lately engaged our admiration.
On the morning of the. second day, we sa,w on our left a little
island called by the sailors the Island of .Serpents. .The Russians
have retained its Greek, name of Fidonisi. .It was anciently called
Leucaia, or Makaron .Nesos (Island of the Blest), was sacred to
Achilles^ and contained a temple^ in which mariners used, to deposit
offerings. It is a calcareous rock, about thirty yards high and not '
more than 600 in its greatest diameter,, and has long been uninha
bited. Some ruins still visible upon it would probably be worth ex
ploring, if we may judge from an inscription already discovered.
f Soon afterwards we were made aware of our approach to Odessa,
our place of destination, by the appeai-ance of the Russian coast
with its cliffs striated horizontally in red and white. Nothing can
be more dreary than these low, deserted, and monotonous coasts,
stretching away as far as the eye can reach, untd they are lost in the
hazy horizon. There is no- vegetation, no variety in the scene, no
"trace of human habitatieai ; but everywhere a calcareous and aro-il-
laceous wall thirty or forty yards high, with an arid sandy beach at its
foot, continuaUy sweptbare by the waves. But as we approached nearer
to Odessa, the shore assumed a more varied appearance. Huge masses
of limestone and earth, separated ages ago from the line ofthe clifis,
form a range of hills all along the sea border, planted -with, trees and
studded -with charming country-houses.;,'
,, A lighthouse, at some distance from the -walls of Odessa, is the
fii-st landmark noted by mariners. An hour after it came in sicht,
¦we were in front of the town. Europe was once more before^our ¦
eyes, and the aspect of the straight lines of street, the -wide fronted

FIRST APPEARANCE OF ODESSA. , 3
houses, and the sober aspect of the buildings awoke many dear re
collections, in our minds. Every object appeared to ua in old fami
liar hues and forms, which time and absence had for a while effaced
from our memories. Even Constantinople, which so lately had
filled our imaginations, was now thought of but as a brilHant mirage
which had met our "view by chance, and soon vaiiished with aU its
illusive splendours.
Odessa looks to great advantage from the quarantine harbour,
where the steamer moored. The eye takes in at one "view the bou
levard, the Exchange, Count Voronzof 's palace, the ^raftg-weharbour,
and the Custom-house ; and, in the background, some churches with
green roofs and gilded domes, the theatre, Count de Witt's pretty
Gothic house, and some large barracks, which from their Grecian
architectru-e, one would be disposed to take for ancient monuments.
.Behind the Custom-house, on some steep calcareous rocks, sixty or
seventy feet high, stands the quarantine estabhshment, looking
proudly do-wn on all Odessa. A fortress and bastions crowning the
height, protect the town. All the remarkable buildings are thus
-within view of the port, and give the town at first siglitan:appearance
of grandeur that is very stfilflng.
The day of our arrival was a Simday ; and when we entered
theharbouT; it was about four in the afternoon, the hour ofthe pro
menade, and all that portion of the town adjoining the port presented
the most picturesque appearance imaginable. We had no difficulty
in distinguishing the numerous promenaders that filled the aUeya of
ihe boulevard, ,ari:d we heard the noise of the droshkys and four-
horse equipages that rolled, in every direction." .The music, too, of.a
military band stationed in the middle of the promenade, distinctly
reached our ears, and Jieightened the charms of thescene. It was,
indeed, a European town we beheld, fuU of affluence, movement, and
gaiety. But, alas 1 - our curiosity and our longings, thus strongly ex
cited, were not- for a long while to be satisfied. The dreaded
quarantine looked down on us, as if to notify that its rights were
paramount, and assuredly it was not disposed to, abrogate them in our
favotir. One ofthe officers belonging to it had already come do"wn
to receive the letters,, journals, and passports, and to order us into
a large-wooden house, placed like a watchful sentinel on the verge of
.the sea. So we were, forced to qtiit the brilhant spectacle on whicli
we had been gazing, and go and pass throngh certain preliminary
formahties in .a smoky room, filled with sailors: and passengers,
waiting their turn, with the xisual apathy of Russians.
We- had no sooner : entered the quarantine, ihanwe were sepa
rated- from each, other ,_and every one made as anuchihaste to avoid
us, as" if we were .unfortunate pariahs whose touch waa.nnclearaiess.
All pur baggage was put .aside . for four-and-twenty hours, . and -we
wera.accomraodated in the meantime -with the loan of garments, so
grotesque andTidieiulaus,:that after we had^got into them,, we could
not look, at each other ¦without bursting into .laughter. We made
B 2

4 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
haste to inspect our chambers, which we found miraculously fur
nished with the most indispensable things. But what rejoiced us
above all, was a court-yard adorned -with two beautiful acacias, the-
flowery branches of which threw their shade upon our windo-ws.
Our guardian, who had been unable to preserve the usual gravity
of a Russian soldier at the sight of our ludicrous travestissemeiit , sur
prised us oreatly by a few words of French which he addressed to
us. By (£nt of mangling our mother tongue, he managed to inform'
us that he had made the campaign of 1815, and that he was never
so happy as when he met Frenchmen. On our part we had every
reason to be satisfied with his attentive services.
The first hours we passed in quarantine, were extremely tedious
and unpleasant, in consequence of the want of our baggage. Our
books, our papers, and every tiling we had most urgent need of,
were carried off to undergo two whole days' fumigation. But
afterwards the time passed away glibly enough, and I should never
have supposed it possible to be so contented in prison. But for the
iron bars and the treble locks which had to be opened every time we
had occasion to leave our rooms, we might have fancied we were rusti
cating for our pleasure. A hatndsome garden, a capital cook, books,
a -view of the sea — what more covdd any one desire? We were
allowed to -walk about the whole establishment, on condition only
that we kept at a respectful distance from aU who came in our way,
and that we were constantly accompanied by our guardian. On
one ofthe angles of the reck there is a little platform, -with seats and
trees, looking down on the sea, the harbour, and part of the town.
In this delightfiil loungihg-place we often passed hours together, in
contemplating the beautiful spectacle before us.
What a lively source of endless enjoyment does the imagination
find in a broad extent of sea animated by numerous vessels 1 The
bustle of the harbour, the boats plying -with provisions and passen
gers; the various flags flying from the mast-heads; the brig pre
paring to sail, with canvass unfurled, and the crew singing out as
¦they tramp round the capstan ; a sail suddenly appearing on - the
-the horizon, like a bird on the -wing,, gleaming m the sun, and
gradually enlarging on the sight; the zones of light and shade,
that scud athwart the sea's surface, and give it a thousand varying
aspects; the coast, -with its headlands, its lighthouse, its sinuous and
indented lines, its broad beach and belt of rocks; all these things
form a panorama, that completely absorbs the faculties. You envy
the good fortune of those who are outward bound, and whose course
lies over yon smooth expanse of water, limited only by the sky, in
search of other shores and -other scenes. You bid them farewell
¦with voice and gesture as familiar friends, and wish them fair winds
andgood speed, as though they coidd hear you,
"We were then in the beautiful month of June; the placid sea
was as limpid and bright as the sky; the acacia was coming into
full bloom, and embalmed the air far over sea and shore with its

LAZARET OF ODESSA. 5
delicious perfume. Odessa is full of these trees, and when they are
covered with their odorous blossoms, the streets, the squares, and
even the meanest quarters, put on a charming gala aspect; the whole
town is metamorphosed into a smlHng garden.
We feel bound to testify to the excellent arrangements of the
quarantine estabhshment, and to the ready, obHging disposition of
its officers. Though placed in such propinquity to Constantinople,
the Odessa lazaret may serve as a model of its kind, and the excel
lence of the system observed iu it is proved by the happy results
obtained. Travellers are subjected to a quarantine of a fortnight
only, and merchandise, after undergoing forty -eight hours' fu
migation with preparations of chlorine, is imraediately set free ;
yet since the existence of this estabhshment, there has not occurred
in Odessa a single case of plague -which could be ascribed to any
defect in the sanatory regulations of the place. There is. no denying
the fact that in matters of quarantine, France remains in the ex
treme background. . The lazaret of jMarsellles, is at this day exactly
what it was at the beginning of the last century. All our dis
coveries in chemistry and medicine have been of no avail against
the inveterate force of old habits; and up to the present time,
notwithstanding all the remonstrances of commercial men, it has
been impossible to modify the sanatory regulations enforced in our
Mediterranean ports. Marseilles is 600 leagues away from the coun
tries ravaged by the plague, and yet vessels are- subjected there,
after five-and-twenty days' navigation, to a quarantine of forty-five
days, and their cargoes are exposed in the open air- for the same
period. It has been frequently proposed to establish a new system,
more in accordance -with the advanced state of our knowledge; but
it seems that the efforts of the government have always been de
feated by the prejudices ofthe inhabitants ofthe south. ,

CHAPTER II.

STREETS OF ODESSA — JE-WS— HOTELS — PARTIAI.ITT O? THE RUSSIANS TOR ODESSA —
HUBBICAXE, DUST, MUD, CI.I3IATE, &C. — PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
• The day of our release from quarantine, was as full of hustle
and annoyances as that of our arrival, the spolio alone excepted.
How we regretted the freedom of the East ! There the traveller's
movements are shackled by no formalities, but he is free, from
the moment he quits his vessel, to roam about the town ashe pleases,
without being pestered -with the custom-house and poHce officers,
and the employes of all sorts that assail him in lands calHng them
selves ci-dllsed.. But it Is in Russia especially that he hasmost reason
to pour out his wrathful imprecations on that army of birds of prey

6 THE steppes OS". THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
that pounce on him with an avidity truly intolerable. I can't teU
how many formalities we had to go through from the hour appointed
for our leaving the lazaret, until we finally got out of the clutches
of the Custom-house, and could breathe freely: But our feehngs
of vexation, strong as they were, gave way to do-wnn^ht stupefac
tion, when, we entered the town. Was this really that Odessa which
had seemed so brilliant when we saw it from the lazaret, and which
now presented itself to our eyes under so mean and wretched an
aspect? Could we e-i^en grace with the name of town the place
where we then were and the streets we beheld ? It was a great open-
space without houses, filled ¦with carts, and oxen rolling in the dust,-
in company with a mob of Russian and Polish peasants, all sleeping
together in the sun, in a temperature of more than 90^.
Whirlwinds of dust exactly like waterspouts in aU but the mate
rial composing them, darkened the air every moment, and swept the
groimd with incredible fury. Further on, we entered a street wider
than our highways in France, and flanked with little houses, one
story liigh, and separated from each other by uncultivated gardens;
The population consisting of Jews, whose filth is become proverbial
in Russia, completed our disgust, and we knew not which way to
tum our eyes to- escape the sight of such loathsome objects. How^
ever, as wc approached the heart of the town the streets began to
show shops and houses, and the appearance of the inhabitants- grew
more diversified. But notwithstanding the carriages and droshkys
that passed us rapidly, notwithstanding the footways of cut stone,
and the Grecian architecture of the corn stores, we reached the
Hotel de la Nouvelle Russie without havings been able to reconcile
ourselves to the aspect of the town; and there again we encountered
fresh disappointments. ^Ve had been told by many of our acquaint
ances in Constantinople that the hotels of Odessa were among the
best in Europe ; great, therefore, was our surprise at not finding any
one of the commonest requisites for travellers in the one at which we
: stopped. No linen, no bells, no servants to wait on us; it was with
difficulty we cotild get a carafe of water after waiting for it half
an hour. Our single apartment looked due south, and all the fur:
niture in it consisted of a bedstead,-a. chest of drawers, and a few
chairs, without a scrap of curtain to mitigate the blazino- sunsliine
that scorched our eyes. And for such- accomodation as this we had
to pay eight rubles a day. But our amazement reached the highest
pitch, when,- after giving orders to fit up the bedstead which-inade
so piteous a figiu-e in this agreeable lodging, we were iiiformedby
'the hotel keeper that- every article was charged, for. separately.
"-What!" I exclaimed,.in great indignation, " do we not pay eight
rubles a day?" " Certainly, madame, but accessories are never ia-
cluded in. the charge for the room. But if madame don't likcj .there
is no need to have a. bed furnished completely. We have- crenerals
and countesses that are satisfied wida a plain mattress." We'had no
desire to follow the example of their Excellencies, so we were obliged

PARTIALITY OF THE PvUSSIANS FOK ODESSA. 7
to submit to our host's terms. It is fair to add, however, that cir
cumstances to a certain extent justified some exorbitance of charge,
for the Emperor Nicholas and his family were hourly expected, and
the hotels were of course thronged with military men and strangers.
¦L Odessa now lays claim to a respectable rank among the towns of
Europe. Its position on the Black Sea, the rapid increase of its
population, its commercial -wealth, and its brilHant society, all
concur to place it ne'xt in Russia after the two capitals of the empire.
Though but forty years have elapsed since its foundation, it has far
outstripped- those half-Sclavonic, half-Tartar" 'cities, Kiev the holy,
the great NovgOTod, and 'Vladimir, all celebrated in the bloody
annals of the tzars, and already old before .Moscow and St. Peters
burg, were yet in existence.
Odessa is not at aU Uke any ofthe other towns in- the empire. In
it-you hear every language and see all kinds of usages except those
of the country. Nevertheless, the Russians prefer it even to St.
Petersburg, for they enjoy greater hberty in it, and are reheved
from the rigorous etiquette that engrosses three-fourths of their time
in the capital. Besides this, Odessa possesses one grand attraction
for the Russian and Polish ladies in the freedom of its port, ¦\vhich
enables them to indulge their taste for dress and other luxuries with-
out the ruinous expense these entail on them m St. Petersburg.
Odessa is their Paris, which they are'all bent. on ¦visiting at least
once in their Kves, whatever be the distance they have to traveh
The reputation ofthe town has even passed the Russian frontiers,
and people have -been so obUging as to bestow on it the flattering
name of the Russian Florence; but for what reason I really cannot
telL Odessa: possesses neither, arts nor artists; even the dilettiinte
class is scarcely kno^wn there; the predominant spirit of trade leaves
'little room for a love of the. beautiful, and the commercial men
care very little about art. It is true that M. Vital, a distinguished
French painter, has endeavoured to estabUsh a drawing-academy
under the patronage: of Count Voronzof, but the success ofhis efforts
may be doubted.
"The infatuated admiration of the Russians for Odessa is carried to
the utmost extreme, ancl they cannot understand how a stranger can
fail to share in it.. How indeedcan any one refuse to be enraptured
"with a toAvn that possesses an Italian opera,- fashionable shops, wide
foot-ways, an English- club, a boulevard, a statue, .two or three paved
streets, &c.? Barbarian taste or envy could alone behold all this
-without admiration. After all, this enthusiasmof the Russians maybe
easily accounted for: accustomed as they are to their -wildernesses of
snow and mud,: Odessa is for them a real Eldorado comprising all
the seductions and pleasures of the world. _ ^
If you will beHeve the Russians, snow is a thing of rare occurrence
there,, and every -winter" they wonder in aU sincerity at the reap
pearance of sledges in the streets. But this does not hinder the
thermometer from - remaining steadily for several months at 25° or

8 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SE.\, (KG.
26° R. below zero, and the whole sea from becoming one poHshed
sheet of ice; nor does it dispense with the_ necessity of having
double windows, stoves, and pelisses, just as in St. Petersburg and
Moscow. Great, therefore, is the surprise of the traveller, who, on
the strength of its flattering sobriquet, expects to find an Itahan sun
in Odessa, and who meets at every step nothing but frost-bitten
faces and sledges. Besides these -wintry rigours, there _ are the
hurricanes that continually desolate the whole region, during what
is elsewhere called the fine season. And these -vicissitudes of the
atmosphere are aggravated by another evil still more distressing,
the dust, namely, which makes the to-wn almost uninhabitable
during a part of the year. Dust is here a real calamity, a fiend-
Hke persecutor, that allows you not a moment's rest. It spreads
out in seas and billows that rise -with the least breath of wind, and
envelop you with increasing fury, until you are stifled and bhnded,
and incapable of a single movement. The gusts of -wind are so
¦violent and sudden as to baffle every precaution. It is only at sun
set that one can venture out at last to breathe the sea air on the boule
vard, or to walk in the Rue Richeheu, the wide footways of which
are then thronged by all the fashion of the place. '
' "Many natural causes combine to keep up this terrible plague.
First, the argillaceous soil, the dryness of the air, the force of the
-wind, and tlie width of the streets ; then the bad paving, the great
extent of uncultivated ground still -within the town, and the pro
digious number of carriages. The local administration has tried
all imaginable systems, -with the hope of getting rid of the dust,
and has even had stones brought from Italy to pave certain streets,
but all its efforts have been ineflectual. At last, in a fit of despair,
it fell upon the notable device of macadamising the weU-paved
Rue Italienne and Rue Richelieu. The only result of this opera
tion was, of course, prodigiously to increase the evil. A wood
paving, to be laid down by a Frenchman, is now talked of, and it
appears that his first attempts have been quite successful^
In order to give some idea of the violence of the hurricanes to
which the country is subject, I will mention a phenomenon of
which I was myself a -witness. After a very hot dav in 1840, the
air of Odessa gradually darkened about four in the afternoon, imtil
it was impossible to see twenty paces before one. The oppressive
feel of the atmosphere, the dead calm, 'and the portentous colour of
•the sky, filled every one ¦with deep consternation, and seemed to
betoken some fearful catastrophe. For an hour and a half the
spectator could watch the progress of this novel ecliase, which as
yet was vwthout a precedent in those parts. The thermometer
attained the enormous' height of 104° F. The obscurity was
then complete ; presently the most furious tempest imagination
can conceive, burst forth, and when the darkness cleared off, there
was seen over the sea, what looked hke a water-spout of prodigious
depth and breadth, suspended at a height of several. feet above the

DUST AND MUD — PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 9
water, and mo-ving slowly away until it dispersed at last at a distance
of many miles from the shore. The eclipse and the waterspout
¦were nothing else than dust, and that day Odessa was swept cleaner
than it will probably ever be again.
During the winter the dust is changed into Hquid mud, in
¦which the pedestrian sinks up to mid-leg, and in which he might
soon drown himself, if his humour so disposed him. A long pole
to take soundings with, would not come amiss to one who had to
steer his course between the slimy abysses with which some streets
are filled. '.Formerly, that is to say some fifteen years ago, ladies
used to repair to the ball-room in carts, drawn each by a numerous team
of oxen. At present the principal streets are paved and Hghted,
and one'may proceed to an evening party in a rather more elegant
equipage; but the poor pedestrian, nevertheless, finds it a most
difficult task to drag his feet out of the adhesive mud that meets
him whichever .way he turns; those, therefore, who have no car
riages in Odessa, are obliged to live in absolute sohtude. The
distances are as great as in Paris, and the only vehicle for hire is
¦what is called in Rtissia a droshky ; that is to say, a sort of saddle
mounted on four wheels, on which men sit astride, and ladies find
it very difficidt to seat themselves "with decorum. The droshky
affords you no protection from either mud, dust, or rain, and at
most is only suitable to men of business and Russians, who never go
out of doors ¦without their cloaks, even in the height of summer._~
¦ Odessa contains no remarkable building. In many private houses
and in most of the corn warehouses, a lavish use has been made of
the Greek style of architecture, which accords neither with the
climate, nor above all with the materials employed. All those
. columns, pediments, and regular fa9ades, with which the eye is so
soon satiated, are in plaster, and they begin to spoil even before the
building is finished. The mouldings must be renewed every year,
and notwithstanding this care, most of the houses and churches
.have an air of dilapidation, that makes them resemble ruins rather
-than palaces and temples. The cathedral itself has nothing to dis
tinguish it but its bulk. One must not look for the rules of archi
tecture, or for elegance of form, or pleasing details in the religious
edifices. They are monotonous in character, and shabby in struc
ture and fittings. Their interiors are glaring .with pictures and
gilding, but aU in the spurious taste of the Lower Empire. The
oddly-accoutred saints, the bibUcal scenes so grotesquely tra-vestied,
the profusion of tinsel, and the reds, greens, and blues, laid one
upon the other, in the coarsest discordance, far too cUsagreeably shock
the sight to inspire any serious and pious thoughts.
Odessa, has also some synagogues, a Catholic church, and one or
two Protestant places of worship, which from their humble appear
ance might rather be taken for private houses. It has but one
promenade, the Boulevard, which overlooks the whole harbour, and
is exposed, from its situation,' to frequent landsUps. The vicinity of

10 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIASSEA, &C.
thia promenade is the-: most fashionable quarter. The theatre,
the exchange, the mansions of Count Voronzof and the Prin
cess Narishkin; a Une of very elegant houses, and the. throng ot.
carriages, aU bespeak the presence of the aristocracy.- Workmen
have.been employed-for the- last two or three years an. constructmg
a gigantic staircase, to lead by a very gentle descent from the Bou
levard; to the sea-beach. This expensive and useless toy, is hkely
to cost nearly forty-thousand pounds. It is- intended to be orna
mented. -with- -vases and statues; but some considerable . fissures al
ready give reason to fear the speedy destruction of this great stair
case, which after all- can never, be of any use, except to the- prome
naders. on-the Boulevard. -

.... CHAPTER -IIL
TBE EEPERIAI. OeAaiBL-e ET ODESSA— CHCECH MUSIC — SOCIETT OF THE PLACEfCOUSX.
AlTD COIWTESS VOEONZOE — ^AXECDOTE OF THB ' COUSTESS BKANISKA. — THE
THEATRE — THEATRICAL ROW.'
The briUiant fetes that took place, on the arrival of. the imperial
family, happened., most , opportunely for us, and enabled na to see
many celebrated, personages. All theforeigners. of distinction who
had.beenpresent at the famous re-view of -Vosnecensk,. foUowed the
emperor to Odessa, and prolonged their stay there after his departure.
The whole- to-wn. was in-revolution. The houses of dubious colour
¦were most carefully re-coated, and even. oldtumbling.waUs were
plastered.and coloured.-. Te Deum was chanted in the catiiedral the
day their: majesties arrived; the emperor and his eldest son attended,
and were, met at. the great doors by the whole Russian. clergy, dressed
in their richest. robes,. and headed. by the archbishop^- The emperor
"waa accompanied, by a long.-train of courtiers and officers, whose
golden . embroideries and glittering decorations vied in splendour
with the magoificent costumes of the popes and choristers. The Te
Deum; appeared to me incomparably beautiful. "Whoever. wotdd
kno-w the fuU. power of harmony, should hear the religious music of
the Russians. The notes are so fuU,. so grave, of such thrilling
sweetness, and such extraordinary volume,-and all the voices, seeming
aathough they issued.from.. the. depths ofthe buildino-, accord, so ad^
mirably -with each other, that no language can express the eSect of that
mighty music and the profound, emotion it excites.. I had often
heard enthusiastic accotmts of the Russian church-singing, but all
felL far: short of what- I then, heard. ^ After the Te Deum. the
archbishop presented, hia- episcopal ring to the tzar and. the grand
duke;, who-kissed it respectfuUy, - The imperial party then leSi. the
cathedral,, whick was filled with clouds of incense. The vast throng,
assembled in front of the building, dispersed, in silence, -without preS'

SOCIETT IN ODESSA— COUNT VORONZOF. H
sure or confusion; and the interference of the Cossacks,- appointed
to- maintain order, was not for a moment requisite:
Inthe evening there was a grand illumination, the empress held a
dra-wing-room, and there was an extraordinary representation at the
theatre, at which the whole imperial family was present. It was
noticed that during the whole evening, the emperor sat behind the
empress and did not once advance to the front of the box. There was
therefore not a single hurrah, but every one seemed to affect ignor
ance ofhis majesty's presence. Next day the merchants gave a m-and
baU to the imperial family. It was a very briUiant assemblage: the
exchange-rooms were aU full of Highnesses and ExceUencies,°and the
poor merchants cut but a soriy figure among-st aU the embroidered
uniforms, the" wearers of which elbowed and pushed them aside
contemptuously. With an excessive devotion to etiquette, they
had adopted knee-breeches, cocked-hats, and a soi-iUsant uniform,
¦with swords at their sides ; but this costume was far less becoming
than the black dresswhich they would certainly have done better ire
retaining. A boudoir aU Uned -with vines had been constructed for
the empress, and the fine clusters of grapes hung- from the branches '
as if to invite her royal hand to pluck them.
The imperial family remained but five or six days-in Odessa,' and
then proceeded in a steamer to the Crimea. Their presence in the
to-wn produced on the whole a very favourable impression.
. It remains for us to say a few words respecting the- society .to be
met -with in Odessa. It consists of so many heterogeneous elements,
that it possesses- no distinctive character of its own; Fre,nch,
Germans, Rusgians^ English, Greeks, and ItaUans, aU bring to it
their respective opinions, habits, language, interests, and prejudices!
The Countess -Voronzofs drawing-rooms are the general rendez-VTius
of that aristocratic, commercial, and travelhng world, wliich is to
be found in similar admixture only in some of the- towns of Italy,
The same confusion prevails among the women; the noble and
proud Narishkin may 'be seen there side by side -with a broker's wife :
pure blood, mixed blood, aU shades, aU tones, aU possible physioD--
nomies are there assembled together.
.Count Voronzof isa yentakAe grand seigneur, and spends more
than- £6000 , a year in pomps and entertainments. His name, his
immense fortune, and his influence at court give him the predomi
nance over inost of the emperor's favourites. Brojight up in
England, where his father was ambassador for more than iorty
years, he seems more an EngUshitean than a Russian-, and "Has
retained nothing of his nationality except his devoted loyalty to- the
emperor, and the exquisite poUteness that distinguishes the Russian
nobles. His talentSj his affabiUty, and great facihty of character,
secure- lum numerous admirers amongst the Odessians-and foreign
ers;' Nicholas could not have made a better choice- than in selecting
him for governor of NewRussia. His smnptuous tastes • and vast
wealth give great eclat to the rank he fills, and put him on a par

12 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
¦with the most magnificent lords of Europe. His -wife is the daughter
ofthe celebrated Countess Braniska, whose gigantic fortune '^p-s ^o^g
an object of astonishment to the Russians themselves. She died but
recently at the age of ninety-five, leaving her immense fortune, to
. her only son, with the exception only of a fourteenth part, which
¦was all that devolved, according to the laws of Russia, on her two
daughters. Her avarice was as notorious as her wealth, and stories
are told of her, that far out-do aU that is related of the most
famous misers. I wiU mention but one of thera, the authenticity
of wliich was warranted to me by an eye--witness.
Mr. Dantz, one of our fiiends, having had occasion to caU on the
countess, on matters of business, left liis britchka in a court-yard of
her house, in which there was some cattle. A large bundle of hay,
intended for his horses, was hung behind the carriage, according
to the usual custom in Russia. Being shown into a room that
looked out into the court-yard, he became engaged in a brisk discus
sion -with the countess, who would not yield to any of liis arguments,
and soon losing patience rose, as if to put an end to the interview,
and walked to a -window. But no sooner had she l<?oked down into
the court-yard than she again took up all the points of the dis
cussion, one after the other, seeming half-disposed to yield, and
keeping Mr. Dantz in suspense for more than a half an hour.
Exceedingly puzzled by this sudden change in the lady's temper,
-which he Imew not how to account for, he narrowly watched aU
her movements, and observed that from time to time she cast a rapid
glance into the court-yard; whereupon he went -with affected care
lessness to the -window, and what did he see? Two or three horribly
lean cows busily devouring the hay behind his carriage. The coun
tess had prolonged the interview in order to gain time for her cows
to feed at her visiter's expense; and, accordingly, as soon as the last
blade of hay was eaten up, she resumed aU her stateliness, cut short
the discussion -with a word, and gave -Mr. Dantz his conge.
^- Odessa is a town of pleasure and luxury, where the ladies, it is
said, ruin their husbands by their profusion and extravagant love of
dress. In addition to the balls, concerts, and soirees of all sorts, per
formances ,for the benefit of the poor are given every year in the
great theatre, by the court, as the Countess 'v oronzof s estabhshment
IS called. All the elite of Odessa, take part in these amusements,
¦which bring in considerable sums. The countess at first set the ex
ample, by herself performing a part ; but an order from the emperor
forbade her thus exhibiting in public, and since that time she con
fines herself to the busin'ess of managing behind the curtain. The
house is always weU filled, and each performance brings in four or
five thousand rubles. ^ The skill displayed by these noble actors
is not to be surpassed by any professional company ; but this ia not
surprising, for every one knows in how hi^h a degree the Russians
possess the talent for imitation ; whatever they see they mimic -with
ease, and without preparation.^ It is needless to add that the per-

UNPBECEDENTED EVENT, A THEATRICAL EOW ! 13
formances are in French, and that the pieces are taken fi"om our
stock. M. Scribe Is almost the sole contributor. Nowhere, perhaps,
is our -witty vaude-rillist so much prized as in Russia.
. Odessa possesses the only Italian theatre in Russia. The company
is generaUy weU composed, and gives, during the whole year, per
formances, which are but scantily attended, notwithstanding the
fassionate admiration which the Odessians affect for Italian music.
t is only in the bathing season, when the Poles fill the town, that
the house presents a somewhat more animated appearance, AU the
rest of the year the boxes are almost deserted, and the Jews alone fre
quent the pit. In 1840, MademoIseUe Georges entered into a six months*
engagement -with the manager of the Odessa theatre, and arrived -with
a numerous company, including some really superior actors. Yet,
notwithstanding her European celebrity and her ample repertoire,
she wordd scarcely have covered her expenses, but for the strenuous
exertions of her quondam admirer, General N., who welcomed her
as though fifteen years had not interrupted their liaison, and placed
his mansion, his equipages, Ms purse, and his credit, at her disposal,
with aU the chivalric gallantry of a Russi-an magnifico.
But all his efforts were unable to reverse the very unfavourable
sentence which public opinion had, from the first, pronounced upon
his protege. Not-withstanding the superior talent -with which she
StiU plays certain parts, she was appreciated but by a very smaU
number of persons ; ancl she left Odessa -with sentiments of deep dis
dain for a pubhc that so much preferred the paltriest vaudeviUe to all
her bursts of passion as to rriake almost open war upon her. . A thing
tiU then almost unheard-of in Russia took place at the last per
formance of the French company : a regular cabal was formed, at
tended with an explosion of very stormy passions. The whole town
was di-vided into two factions, the one for MademoIseUe Georges, the
other for M. Montdidier, one of her best actors. Our tragedy queen, it
is said, was exceedingly jealous of this preference, and lost no opportu-
tunity of mortitying her rival. Accordingly, 'she purposely selected
for the last performance, two pieces in which he had no part. The
pubhc, greatly dissatisfied at not seeing the name of their fa-vourite
actor in the bills, repaired to the theatre in an iU-humour, of which
they soon gave very intelligible symptoms. Things passed off, however,
tolerably weU until the end of the last piece ; but then there was a
call for Montdidier, which was taken up, and vehemently sustained
by the whole pit, not-withstanding all the efforts of the poUce, Ge
neral N's coterie, and the presence ofthe governor-general. This in
cident which had been altogether unforeseen by the managers, caused
them extreme perplexity ; no one knew where Montdidier was to be
found. At last, seeing the row increase, Count Voronzof himself
ordered the commissioner of pohce to go to Montdidier's hotel, and
fetch him aUve or dead. The commissioner found hira fast asleep,
and quite unconscious of aU the agitation he was causing in the-
theatre. He hurried thither, and was proceeding to show himself on

14 , -THE STEPPES- OF THE CASPIAN SEA, j&C. ¦
the stage, butwasstoppedby the whole company with Mademoiselle
Georges at their head, under pretext that such a coui-se would be an
infraction of all the rules of the theatre. In short, there- was, for a
•while, an indescribable tumult. .The- whole - pit stood up and _ never
ceased shouting until they saw Montdidier rush on the stage, with his
dress in a state of disorder that showed what a hard battle he had
sustained behind the scenes. The angry shouts were now succeeded
by an explosion of applause ; the- boxes rang -with prolonged bravos,
and even Count Voronzof himself was- seen clapping his hands and
laughing with all his might. The whole audience seemed to have
lost their wits. General N., quite disconcerted, slunk back into the
rear of his box, and said to one of iis friends as he pointed ta the
stage, ".Look at those Frenchmen; they Jiave only to show them
selves to upset. aU estabUshed usages and principles. JThey bring
-with them disorder, rebeUion, and the spirit of revolution ; and the
contagion soon spreads even among the most sensible people." In
truth nothing of the kind had ever before been seen in- Odessa ; and
all the jealousies of the primissime donne had never caused the
twentieth part of the confusion that marked that memorable night.

': ' - ' , ..CHAPTER, TV.
COJIMBECE OP THE BLACK SBA — PROHIBrrm; SrSTEM ASB ITS PEltKICIOUS RE-
SOLTS— DEPRESSED STATE OF AGRICULTURE — TRABE OP ODESSA— ITS BASK.
-From, the destruction of the Genoese colonies in the Crimea, in
1476., down to the treaty of.Eainardji, aperiod of SGO years, the
Black Sea .remained closed .against theaiations of the West, and
¦was the pri^yileged domain of Turkey. , Its whole coast belonged
to the -sultans of Constantinople, and the khans of the Crimea.
The Turks, . and the Greeks of the Archipelago, subjects of the
Ottoman Porte, had the sole .right of navigating those waters,
and all the commerce^ ©r iEurope -with that -portion of die East
was exclusively in the. hands of the latter: people. The conquests
of Peter the Great, andrEubseqaently those of the celebrated Ca
therine H., changed this state of things. The Russians advanced
towards, the south, and soon raade themselves masters of the Sea
of Azof, the Crimea, and all the northern coasts of the Black Sea.
Nevertheless, it was not until'July^l, 1774, after six consecutive
campaigns, and many victories achieved ,by-the Russians, by sea and
land, thatthe treaty of Kainardji wassigned, which by throwing open
the Bosphorus and, the DardaneUes, effected a real, revolution in the
commercial relations of:Europe, and definitively secured to Russia
that immense influence which.it exercises to this day over the des
tinies of the East. The treaty of .Kainardji ere Ion"- received a

COMMERCE OF ;THE BLACK SEA. 15
more ample extension. Austria, France, and successivelyaU the other
powers, partook in the advantages of : the Black Sea navigation.
Russia was, therefore, justly entitled to the gratitude of Europe,
for the new channels she had opened to its commerce.
Once mistress of the Black Sea, and free to communicate with the
Mediterranean, Catherine earnestly applied herself to the foundation
of a port, which should be at once mihtary and commercial. The
mouth of the Dniepr, one of the largest rivers of Russia, at first at
tracted her attention. General Hannibal founded the ¦ to-wn of
Kherson upon it, in 1788, by her orders; and in 1783, a French
man, afterwards ennobled by Louis XVI., established the fii^t fo
reign commercial house there, and contracted to supply the arsenals
of Toulon with the hemp and timber conveyed down the Dniepr.
Kherson, however, did not prosper as might have been expected.
The empress's intentions were defeated by the exigencies of the
system of customs prevaiUng in the empire, .and it was impossible
to obtain for the port of Kherson the franchises, so necessary for
a new to-wn, and for.the extension of its commerce.
The dismemberment of Poland gave a new tum to Catherine's
commercial ideas.. J^'he port of Kherson was. abandoned, or nearly
so, in 1796, and the -preference was. given to Odessa, which, by
its more western .position, .considerably faciUtated the exporta
tion of agricultural: produce, -wherein consisted i the chief wealth
of the palatinates of ;PodoUa, Volhynia, and the other pro-vinces
newly incorporated -with the rRussian possessions. No change,
however, was made in; the. system, of customs, and: it was not until
1803, in the reign of Alexander, ¦ that a reduction of one-fourth
was made in the duties imposed by the general tariff on all exports
and imports in:the,Jiarbours of the 31ack Sea. In 1804, Odessa
was . made an entrepot for sea-borne goods, the entrance of which
was permitted into Russia. They might remain there. in bond for
eighteen niondi3;:a:favour -which was the more important at that
period, because, as the import duties were considerable, the mer
chants would, have been o'bUged to draw hea^vily on their capital,
had they been obUged to defray them at once. An ukase of the
5th of March, in the same year, allowed transit, free of duty, to-aU
foreign goods which- were not prohibited in Odessa, or which ar
rived there from other -towns of Russia; such goods if destined for
Moldavia, and Wallachia, were to pass through the custom-houses
of Mohelef and.Dubassar; for Austria, through those of Radzivilof;
for i Prussia, through, those of .Kezinsky; and foreign goods sent
through -these four estabhshments to Odessa, were allowed fi-ee
transit there by sea. These Uberal and very enUghtened arrange
ments vastly augmented the prosperity of Odessa, and soon at
tracted the.attentioik.of aU speculators to that port. _
f' About the year:1817 .an increased duty was daid , on .aU foreign
«-oods in the Black:Sea ; but at the same period- Odessa was defini-
Svely declared to .be a free port, without restriction. Things con-

16 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
tinned thus until 1822 ,' and it was durinw this interval thataU those
great foreign houses were established in Odessa, some of which exist
to this day. The commerce of Southern Russia had then reached its
apogee. After the long wars of the French empire the agriculture
of Europe was in a very depressed condition, and ij; was .necessary
to have recourse to Russia fbr the com which other countries could
not raise in sufficient quantity for their ovra subsistence. _ Odessa
thus became, under the wise administration of the Due de Richeheu,
one of the most active commercial cities of eastern Europe; its popu
lation increased prodigiously; the habits induced by prosperity
gave a new stimulus to its import trade, and every year hundreds of
vesseb entered its port to take in agricultural freights of all kindsJ
Dazzled by this commercial prosperity, tiU then unexampled
in Russia,- and, doubtless believing it unalterably established, the
government then chose to return to its prohibitive system, and,
whether through ignorance or incapacity, the ministry deUberately
ruined -with their o-wn hands the commercial wealth of Southern Russia,
In 1822, at the moment when it was least expected, an ukase sup
pressed the freedom of the port of Odessa, and made it obUgatory on
the merchants to pay the duties on aU goods then in the warehouses.
This excited intense alarm, and as it was totaUy impossible to pay
immediately such eiiormous duties as those imposed by the general
tariff of the empire, the merchants remonstrated earnestly and
threatened, aU of them, to comrtiit bankruptcy. The governor of
the town, dismayed at the disasters which the enforcement ofthe law
would occasion, took it on his own responsibiUty to delay; and com
missioners were sent to St. Petersburg to acquaint the emperor -with
the stateof commerce in Odessa. Alexander, whose intentions were
always exceUent, and who ¦ had no doubt been deceived by false
reports, promptly annuUed the ukase. The freedom of the port of
Odessa was therefore re-estabUshed, but not to the same extent as be
fore. Concessions were made to the board of customs, a fifth of the
duties exacted in other Russian ports was imposed on goods entering
Odessa, and the other four-fifths were to be paid on their departure
for the interior. The_ Umits of the free port were also considerably -
reduced, and two lines of custom-houses were formed, the one round
the port, the other round the town. These lines stUl subsist.
The victories of the board of customs did not stop here, and new-
measures, suggested and supportedno doubt by fraud, were putinforce.
Wehavo spoken ofthe free transit traffic through the towns of Doubas-
sar, Radzivilov, and Odessa. .This traffic was increasing rapidly; aUthe
merchants of western Asia were beginning to take me Odessa route
to make their purchases in the great faira of Germany. There was
every probabiUty that Odessa would be one of the principal points
of arrival and exchange for -aU the produce of Europe and Asia.
The Transcaucasian provinces enjoyed very extensive commercial
freedom at this period by -virtue of an ukase promulgated, October ,
20, 1821. Redoutkale, at the mouth of the Phasis, on the shores

COMMERCE OF THE BLACK SEA. 17
of MingreUa, was then the port to which aU the goods from Leipsic
were conveyed by sea; from thence they passed to Tiflis and Erivan,
and were then distributed over all the adjacent countries, through
Turkey, Armenia, and even as far as Persia. The Armenians
had secured this traffic almost exclusively to themselves. They ap
peared for the first time in Odessa in 1823. The next year they
advanced as far as Leipsic, where they bought European manufac
tures to the amount of more than 600,000 francs; in 1825 their
purchases rose to 1,200,000 francs, and in 1826 to 2,800,000. AU
these goods were conveyed by land to Odessa, and there embarked
on the Black Sea for Redoutkaleh. It may easily be conceived what
a happy influence such a traffic -n'ould have exercised over the aroi-
cultureand cattle rearing of Southern Russia, and eventuaUy on the
prosperity of the population engaged in this cairjing trade. But aU
these promising elements of prosperity were to be annihilated by the
narrow views of the minister of finance. The commercial franchise
of the Caucasian provinces, after hailing lasted for ten years, was
suddenly suppressed on the first of January, 1832. The most rigorous
prohibitive system was put in force ; Tiflis, the capital of Georgia,
more than 220 miles from the Black Sea, was made the centre of the
customs administration, and aU goods destined for that part of Asia
had to pass through that town to be" examined there and pay duty.
-By these arbitrary and exclusive measures, the government
thought to encourage native manufactures; and by prohibiting the
goods of Germany, France, and England, it hoped to force the
productions of Russia on the trans-Caucasian proiinces. The transit
trade was, of course, proscribed at the same period. By a first
ukase, the merchants were forced to deposit at the fi-ontier in
Radzi-vilof^ double the value of their goods, and the money was only
to be returned to them at Odessa, upon verification of their bales.
It is obviously not to be thought of that merchants, however wealthy,
shoidd carry -with them, in addition to the capital to be expended on
their purchases, double the value of their goods in transitu. This new
measure, therefore, was sufficient of itself alone to put an entire stop
to the transit trade. The Persians and Armenians forsook this
route, and chose another, to the great detriment of Russia. At
present the value of the transit is from 180,000 to 200,000 francs,
the goods being chiefly yeUow amber, sent from Prussia to Turkey.
For a charge of fifteen francs per twenty kilogrammes, the Jews
undertake to give security to the customs in title-deeds, -which they.
hire at^the rate of five or six per cent., and they despatch the goods
directly to Odessa.
England, always so prompt to seize opportunities, took advantage
of the blunders of Russia. She secured a position in Trebizond,
and her merchants, recoiUng from no sacrifice, formed there an im
mense entrepot, from which they soon sent out the manufactures
of their country into all the provinces of Asia. Business to the
amoimt of more than 2,000,000/. sterling, is now carried on in Trebi
zond, and two sets of steamboats ply between it and Constantinople.
C

18 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
Thus Russia lost one of the most important commercial lines in the-
world, and by her extravagant increase of duties she completely exr,-
tinguished- the lawful import trade of the Caucasian, provinces..
But EngUsh and other foreign goods stiU find their way there by
contraband, and the government officers are themselves the first to-
profit by this system; for they are stiU more desirous than the:
native- inliabitants to procure manufactured goods, and, above all,.
at a moderate price. The prohibitive measures of Russia have,
therefore, reaUy recoiled on the government itself, and the treasury
loses considerably by them, not only in the Caucasus, but also on
the European frontiers. Owing to the freedom of its port, the
town of Odessa, of course, suffers less from the disastrous effects
of this prohibitive system, and finds some commercial resources in
its own consumption, and in that of its en-virons. Nevertheless,.
as this consumption,, (which not-withstanding the contraband trade:
is. kept in full -vigour by the Jews, and even by the highest classes,)
is out of aU proportion, to the exportation, and as there is very httle-
exchange traffic, foreign vessels are graduaUy deserting , the Black
Sea; and, besides this, their charges for freight are necessarily toO'
high, in consequence of their being obUged in almost every instance^,
to repair in -ballast to the harbours of South- Russia-. Then we-
must take into account the remoteness of the- Black. Sea; the dread,..
not yet quite effaced, with which it is regarded; the impossibUity
of finding freights anywhere except in- Odessa; the excessive se
verity of the winter, and the^ usual obstructions of the- harbours by
ice during three or four months every year;- All these things com
bine to repel mariners; so that nothing, except extraordinary cheap
ness and great profits, could induce merchants to send their, vessds.
for freight to^the ports of Southern Russia;.-. ¦
Tlius- driven away by the -prohibitive system of Russia, many
nations are seeking to estabUsh markets for their productions elser-
where. - It is also to be- remarked that agriculture: has made very
great progress in Europe since the re-estabUshment of peace; and
coasequently the exportation, of com" from- Russia has considerably
diminished. Nevertheless, we are of opinion that Southern Russia. '
would have lost littie of its agricultural importance, notwithstanding:
its system' of customs, if -the government,, instead, of remaining -
stationary, had sincerely entered on a course of improvement..
, AU circumstances seem- to combine-, in New Russia to- make the^
productions-of the soil as- economical as possible,, and to enable them-
to compete, successfully* with: those of all other countries^ ' The sod.
is -virgin and very abundant; labou^ is cheap and the price of cattle.
extraordinarily low ; whilst serfdom, by obUging-thousands of men to
employ at least half their time for the benefit of thdr lords,, ought
naturaUy to- tend to diminish the price of bread stuffi.> Unfortu.--
nately the means of communication have- been totaUy neglected, and:
the government has taken: no" steps to fiiciUtate- transport ;:ia conse- •
quence of this the-price- of grain instead of falling, is constantly in
creasing,, and merchants are-no longer ¦wiUing: to purchase: except ins

COMMEP.CE OP THE BLACK SEA. 19.
seasons of scarcity. The wheat sent to Odessa from Khivia, Voir
hyma, PodoUa, and Bessarabia, arrives in carts drawn by oxen„
The-joumeys are tedious, the extreme rate of travelling being not
more than fifteen miles a day; and they are costly, for the carriage
of a tchetvert or seven bushels of corn varies from four to six rubles;
moreover, the transport can only be effected between May and Sep
tember in consequence of the deplorable state of the roads during the
other seven months of the year. The result of all this is that wheat,
though very, cheap in the provinces ^we have mentioned, is quoted
at very high prices comparatively at .Odessa, so as not to leave
foreign speculators a sufficient profit to compensate for the leng^th. of
the voyage to the Black Sea, the outlay of capital,, and the enormous.
expenses caused by the quarantines to which many goods are subject-
Besides this, Odessa is the only port that offers any faciUties for com^
merce; Kherson, situated in the midst of a fertile and productive
region, is only a harbour of export, and its commerce cannot possibly
extend.; forthe ships, destined to take in freight at that port must pre
viously perform quarantine in Odessa.. AU. the lando-wners are there-r
fore forced to send their prod-ace to Odessa, if they would have any-
chance of sale.. But, as we have already observed,, the means of
commimication are, everywhere wanting. It must,. indeed, be owned
that, the construction; of stone-faced roads is attended with, great
difficulty, for throughout all the plains of Southern- Russia the mat&-
rials, are scarce and for the most part of bad quality, .being limestone
of a friable character. But might not the produce of a great partof
Poland, and of aU new Russia, be conveyed to Odessa by the Pnith,.
the Dniestr,, and the. Dniepr? -
The only goods conveyed down the Dniestr consist at present of
some rafts of timber and. firewood, from the mountains: of Austiian.
GaUicia. The Russian government has repeatedly been desirous of
impro^ving the navigation of the river in compUance with the desire
ofthe. inhabitants of its banks. A survey was_ made in 1827, and,
again, in 1840. Unfortunately all these investigations being made
by men of no capacity led to nothing. An engineer was commis
sioned in 1829 to make a report on the works necessary for render
ing the river practicable at Jampol, where it is obstmcted by a small.
chain of granite. . He estimated the expense at 185,000 francs,.
whereas it was secretly ascertained that 10,000 would, be more than.
enouo-h. The project was then, abandoned. Thus .with the best
and most laudable.-'iatentions, the government is constantiy crippled.
in its plans of ameUoration whether by the incapacity or by the bad-
faith and cupidity of its functionaries. Last year the subject of the
navigation ofthe Dniestr was again taken up, and.it is even aUeged
that the Russian govemmenthas given orders fort-wo steam-vessels-
destined to ply on that river;
The works on the Dniepr are scarcely iii a more forward state
than those of the Dniestr. It is known that _ below lekaterinoslaf
the coiirse of the river is traversed by a granite chain, which ex-
C 2

20 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
tends between that town and Alexandrof, a distance of raore than
fifteen leagues. At the time of the conquest of the Crimea and the
shores of the Black Sea, it -was proposed to render na-vigable the
thirteen rapids that form what has been improperly denominated
the cataracts of the Dniepr. Works were begim at various times,
but always abandoned. They were resumed vmder Nicholas with
new ardour, but the governmetit was soon discouraged by the enor
mous cost, and, above all, by the peculations of its servants. The
whole amount of work done up to the present time is a -wretched
canal 300 yards long, more dangerous for barges to pass through
than the rapids themselves. This canal was finished in 1838. The
works had not yet been resumed when we left Russia in 1841.
The rapids of the Dniepr are therefore stiU as impracticable as ever,
and it is only during the spring floods, a period of a month or six
weeks, that barges venture to pass them ; and even then it rarely
liappens that they escape -without accident. More than eighty men
were lost in them in 1839, and a multitude of barges and rafts were
knocked to pieces on. the rocks. The goods that thus descend the
Dniepr consist almost exclusively of timber and firewood, and Si
berian iron.- Corn never makes any part of the cargo, because in case
of accident it would be lost beyond recovery. But what -will reaUy
seem incredible is, that the German colonists settied below the rapids,
are obUged to convey their produce to the Sea of Azov in order tb
find any market for it ; hence the greater part of the govern- -
ment of lekaterinoslaf^ . and those of Poltava and Tchernikof, wa
tered by tiie Dniepr, are in a perpetual state of distress, though they
have wheat in abtmdance ; and , the peasants sunk into the deepest
wretchedness, are compeUed every year to make journeys of 300
miles, and often more, to earn from six to seven francs a month in
the service of , the landowners- on the borders of the Black Sea.
The eastern part of the goveriiment of lekaterinoslaf profits by the
-vicinity of the Sea of Azov, and tries to dispose of its com in Ta-
.ganrok, Marioupol, and Berdiansk, a port newly etsabUshed by
Count Voronzof. '--^
This general survey ofthe means of transport possessed by Russia,
"is enough to show that the corn-trade of these regions owes its vast
-development in a great measure to fortuitous circurnstances ; and
that the absence of easy communication, and the prohibitive system,
both tend to bring it down lower and lower every year. Here
follows a statement of the price of com at Tulzin, one of the least
remote points of Volhynia, and the cost of carriage to Odessa, during
the years 1828-30, and 1839, 40, 41'.-^ , '
' 1828-30. ' Eubles. 1839-40^1. '
Prioeof 100 kilogrammes of wheat oa the spot 15.30 63.70
Cost of carriage to Odessa....;.  1.56 2.50
Export Duties...  0.39 . 0.39
Total  , 17J>5 66,S9
Or  15s grf. 61s.3<i

COMMERCE OF THE BLACK SEA. 21
From this table we see that prices rose remarkably during 'the
latter years. We must remark, however, that the years 1828-29-30,
were luiusuaUy productive, and the prices prevaiUng in them are by
no means an average. But it is altogether obvious that ¦with such
prices, and an absolute blank in importation, the commerce of
Southern Russia must necessarily perish. In 1841, the merchants
could only offer the masters of merchant vessels two-and-a-half francs
per sack for freight to Marseilles, -while the latter can hardly realise
any profit even at the rate of four fi-ancs. For Trieste they offered
only twenty, and even eighteen kreutzers, whereas not less than sixty
¦wiU yield any remuneration. Ship o-wners -vvill not henceforth be
tempted to visit Odessa In quest of gain. The EngUsh alone have
obtained tolerable freights.
To all these causes of ruin are to be added the enormous charges
to. which merchants are subject ; those of the first class pay 300
rubles for their Ucence, always in advance ; the postage charges for
letters are exorbitant ; there are pei-sons whose yearly co-irespondence
costs 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 rubles. An ordinary letter to London
pays seven and even eight rubles. Again, the great merchants not
choosing to sit idle, keep up the high prices by their purchases :
they raay no doubt gain occasionaUy by these specidations, but they
generaUy lose. Witness the disasters and failures ofthe year 1841.
What chance of prosperity caii there be for' a trade that at the
moment of the departure of the goods, hardly ever promises any profit
at the current prices in the place of destination, and which conse
quently Uves only pn the hope of au eventual rise ? Ho-w; -wiU it be
with it in a few years, when the canals and railroads projected in ,
Germany, shall have been finished ? At this day the wheat of Nu
remberg and Bamberg, reaches England by way of Amsterdam.
But without going so far, Southern Russia now sees growingiip
against it in the Black Sea a competition, -which is daily becoming
more formidable. ,The princIpaUties of the Danube, have made im
mense progress in ten years, in consequence .of the franchises and
pri^vileges bestowed on them by the treaty of Adrianople. Gaktz and
Ibra'ila, now furnish a considerablequantity of com to the foreigner;
and in spite ofthe disadvantages of having to ascend the Danube,
masters of vessels now prefer repairing to those ports on account of
their administrative faciUties, and above aU by reason of the com
mercial resoiurces which importation offers there. In 1839,. Mar-
seiUes bought more than 4000 hectohtres of wheat in the markets of
Galatz and Ibra'ila, whilst the port of Odessa harcUy suppUed it with
t^wice that quantity. We wUl return by and by to the question of
the Danube, when we come to speak of Bessarabia. _ _
•Another measure fatal to the corn-trade, was the decision of the
govemment -with respect to the confiscated lands of the Poles.
After the revolution of 1831, more than 423,000 peasants were
sequestrated to the crown. These peasants occupied extremely
fertile re-^ions lying veiy near Odessa: Ouman, the property of
Alexancle°r Potocki, made part, of them. The govemment com-

22 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
mitted the management of these lands to pubUc servants, selected
chiefly from among the retired veteran officers, or those who had
been incapacitated for service by their wounds.. Under such ma
nagement, piUage and the most utter neglect were the order of
the day, and the consequence was, that the lands producedUteraUy
nothing to the cro-wn, and served only to enrich their administrators.
Weary of this disorder, the govemment determined in 1836 to
detach nearly 93,000 peasants from these lands, and incorporate
them -with the military colonies. Nor did it stop there, but under
pretext of removing , aU opportunity for extortion on the part of
its ser rants, it issued an, order in 1840, confining the new colonists
to the cultivation of oats and barley, and forbiclding them to sow
wheat for exportation. These regulations, occasioned by the general
corruption of the pubUc servants, which the imperial wIU is power
less to check, produced melancholy results for the trade of Odessa,
and that town was suddenly deprived of the agricultural produce it
used to draw from the fertile soil of Ouman.
^We must now enter into some considerations, bearing more
immediately on Odessa itself. The credit that town enjoys abroad
is' extremely Umited by the inordinate- pri^vileges of the imperial
bank. (.In cases of bankruptcy, that estabhshment"- is entitled
to disregard aU, competing claims, and to pay itself immediately
by the sale of the real and personal property^ of its debtor, without
reference to his other creditors; it is entitled to pay itself: 1st. the
capital lent; 2nd. A surcharge of eight per cent., called re-exchange,
arising out of the cost of brokerage and renewal of bUls every
three months; and, 3rd. Interest on the capital and surcharge, at the
, rate of H per cent, per month, until the whole debt is Uquidated:
The fatal effects of such a system may easUy be conceived; the
merchants of Odessa can seldom estabUsh a credit -with foreign
houses. ','¦
As for the uses of the bank, they consist: 1st. In discount
ing town biUs that have not more than four months to run; 2nd.
In making advances on goods; 3rd. In serving as a bank of deposit
'for the mercantile houses; 4th. In gi-ving drafts on the other banks
of the empire, and paying their drafts on itself; 5th. In receiving
deposits on interest. , - " ,
' The drafts were of great ' use in commerce, particularly for the
payments between St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Odessa : the charge
upon them -was a quarter per cent., whilst the conveyance of money
throngh the post costs one per cent., besides postao-e. This convenient
'System was unfortunately put an end to in 1841. "f he charge on drafts
now amoimting to five percent., operations of this kind have conse
quently become impossible. It was, probably, with a view to the
revenues of the post-office, that this sage measure was adopted by the
minister of finance.
Every one knows, that in order that a bank of discount' should
carry on buslne.ss profitably for itself and for the commerce it Is
intended to assfst, it must deal only in genuine commercial bills.

COMMERCE OF THE ELACK SEA. 23
Merchants recognise as genuine and discountable bills, only those
drawn by other places for banking operations, and home bills dra^ivn.
m consideration of goods sold for payment at a' determinate future
date. Now the Odessa bank not being a bank of issue, does not prac
tise acceptance properly so called ; Constantinople is almost the only
town that dra^ws on Odessa, and tliat but for small amounts, and as
these acceptances are at twenty-one days' date, they are rarely dis-
coimted. Sales of goods for biUs are also seldom practised, and
fi-om all we co-aid learn, we beUeve they make but a very small part
of the business of the Odessa bank. Goods are generally bou':'ht
in that to-wn on trust and without biUs.
On what bases then have the operations of the Odessa bank
hitherto rested? Rather, we are disposed to think, on fictitious than
on real commerce. From its first estabhshment, the bank, stron" in
its privileges, thought to serve trade by encouraging discounts;
and the faciUties it afforded, induced many persons to avaU them
selves of this means of- credit. Every one in Odessa knows how
many disasters have been the consequence. Suppose a merchant
wished to make a speculation, to buy for instance, a ship-load of
-wheat,, amounting, to 12,000/.; if he had only 80,000 or 100,000
rubles capital, he obtained the indorsement of one or more of his
friends, and the bank immediately advanced him the whole sum
.necessary, at three months. The merchant was, therefore, forced to
dispose of his goods as fast as possible, in order to meet his engage
ments -with the bank : clogged and disturbed in his operations, and
fearing lest he should involve his friends, he must often have in
curred great losses, and after a few similar speculations, his ruin, and
-that of his friends were inevitable. Such has been the fate of many
"^ merchant, in consequence of the unfortunate faciUty they found
in obtaining money. The bank ought to have been aware, that
instead of crenuine commercial biUs, it was discounting mere accom
modation paper, and that there is an immense difference between
-discount for -the reaUsation of business actually done, and discount
for the reaUsation of business yet to be done.. Unquestionably, the
bank ouo-ht to have modified its system, after seeing the mischiefs
it led to ; but it has persisted in its original course, and were it to
desist from it -without a radical change of institutions, the operations
of an establishment constructed on so vast a scale would become
¦quite insignificant.
Hitherto, then, the bank of Odessa has completely failed to answer
the purpose for which it was founded; it has done infinitely more
harm than good to trade, and its enormous pri-vUeges have, more
over discredited Odessa abroad. The aboUtion of these privileges
could repjiir the errors and mischiefs of the first -.establishment.
The bank would thereby be compelled to discount only genuine com
mercial paper, and to do business on a much smaUer scale; but its
operations, though restricted, would be but the more advantageous
for if;self and for commerce ; every one would then conduct his bu-

24

THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.

siness -with reasonable regard to the extent of his means; faUures
would no longer be so ruinous to creditors; and this new bank,
in correspondence xfith. those of St. Petersburg and Moscow, by
continuing to make transfers as in the beginning, and by accepting
deposits at four per cent., would suffice for all the wants of the
place. Unfortunately, judging from the last measure adopted with
respect to transfers, there is no hope whatever that a new bank
will be estabUshed, or that the existing one -wiU undergo the re
quisite reforms. Yet if the Russian govemment, which persists in
its prohibitive system, wishes to avoid the complete destruction of
the commerce of Southern Russia, it must absolutely change its
line of conduct, it must devote its strenuous attention to the means
of internal communication, and render the commercial transactions of
Odessa as easy and economical as possible. What is most deplorable
in Russia is^ that the truth never finds its way to the head of the
state, and that a pubhc functionary would think himself undone
if he disclosed the real state of things; hence in the memoirs, re
ports, and tables laid before the emperor, the good only is acknow
ledged, and the evil is always disguised. Once committed to this
course of dissimulation and lying, the pubhc fimctionaries render
aU improvements impossible; ancl by always sacrificing the future
to the present, do incalculable mischief to the country. The ques
tion is now entertained, of depriving Odessa of its last franchises,
and putting its port on the same footing with the other commer-
, cial places of the empire. If Count Canciine has not yet succeeded
in doing this, the town has to thank the protection and the in
fluence of Count Voronzof.
The following table shows the exports and imports at the diffe
rent ports and custom-houses of Southern Russia, during the years
1838 and 1839, the value being set do-wn in paper rubles.
EXPORTS.

POETS.

Odessa 
Ismael (ou the Danube) 
Eeny (on the Danube) 
- ("Novoselitza
In Bessarabia < Skouliany ..
LLeovo  ,
Taganrok  ,
' Marioupol 
.Berdiansk 
Kertsch  ., 
Theodosia 
Eupatoria  - 
Balouulava  Total ...

1838.

Goods.
33,300,872 3,913,494 718,040
1,978,172 829,602 96,832
7,666,943
4,1.52,710
2,971,426 226,999
1,281,244
9,299,363

Specie. 3,7309,915
50,773
163,868
525,633 60,537

64,435,699 814,461

1839.

Goods.
48,551,077 2,793,244 609,541
3,277,660 737,462 59,906
8,219.6486,808,526
4,107,638 123,082
955,108
2,394,867

78,637,759

Specie. 56,40677,745
81,865
540,618. 36,709

793,346

COMMERCE OF THE BLACK SEA.
IMPORTS.

25

POETS.

Odessa 
Ismael (pn the Danube) 
Keny (on the Danube) 
C Novoselitza .
In Bes3arabia< Skouliany . .
tLeovo 
Taganrok 
Marioupol 
Berdiansk 
Kertsch 
Theodosia 
Eupatoria 
Balouclava 

Total 
Total of Duties

1833.

GooiTs.
17,4S.';,635 253,697 50,193
221,324222,507 52.336
5,887,901 300

6,605

25,212,834

Specie.*
3,825,258 1,632,996 797,497
1,939,604 497,200 29,932
1,415,596 640,660
768,722
1,678,658

13,228,132 8,492,074

1839.

Goods.
19,207,201 238,996 85,429
245,193 19.'),0S8 55,664
5,334,369- 987
2.50,837 695,130 131,222

26,520,171

Specie.
3,994,799 820,035553,174
3,048,064 721,015 26,291
2,883,279 1,515,525 825,113
1,891,947

16,281,242 8,215,426

The foreign goods that entered the interior of the empire in'1839,
by way of Odessa, amounted in value to 9,130,148 paper rubles,'
which, curiously enough, was not even half the total importation
of that port. From tliis we may judge of the consumption of
Odessa, and at the same time of the extent of the contraband trade.
.From these tables we see that there is no equiUbrium in the
.trade of Odessa. Southern Russia absorbs every year more than,
15,000,000 of foreign specie, and its exports are treble its imports.
It is evident that such a trade rests on no soUd basis; that its pros
perity is due only to accidental circumstances, and that ships wiU
graduaUy abandon the Black Sea, and seek some other destination,
wherever agriculture flourishes, and is accompanied^ by a less ex
clusive system of customs. In the present state of things, the cul
tivation of com in Egypt would be enough to ruin immediately all
the ports of Southern Russia. With such contingencies before it,
the govemment of Russia ought to ponder weU before obstinately
persevering in its present system. Mariners do not Uke the northern
parts of the Black Sea, and once they shaU have left them, they
¦wiU return to them no more. • i -. • c-
' The year 1839 was most memorable in the commercial history ot
Odessa. The exports, consisting ahnost entirely of com, amounted
to 48,000,000 paper mbles. The harvests in the country had been
very abundant, and as those of the rest of Europe were very
nnpromisinc, the demand was at first so encouraging that the mer
chants launched out into the boldest speculations. These were suc
cessful for a while, but disasters soon foUowed, and the houseswhich
were supposed to have reaUsed profits tathe amount otmiUions,
failed a year or eighteen months afterwards. Since that time trade
has always been in a perilous state. In 1840, under the stiU sub
sisting influence of the movement of the precedmg year, there -was a
diminution of 7,184,021 rubles; and in 1841 the first quarter alone.

26 THE STEPPES GP THE CASPIAJS'.SEA, &.C.
presented a decrease of 6,891,332 rabies in comparison -with the cor
responding quarter in 1840.
On examining a general table of the exportation of Odessa, we see
that during Napoleon's wars its commerce, completely stationary, did
not exceed five or six miUions of rubles. After the events of 1815,
during the horrible dearth that afflicted aU western Europe, the
exports rose in 1817 to more than 38,000,000. In 1818 they
fell -without any transition, to 20,000,000. During the war of
1828-29 they sank to 1,673,000. After t^e treaty of Adrianople,
Southern Russia, being encumbered -with an excess of produce,
the exports again rose to 27,00.0,000. After this they varied
from twenty to thirty, until 1839 when they reached the highest
point they ever attained, namely, 48,000,000. We have already
explained the causes of this factitious augmentation. From these
data we see that the activity of the trade of Odessa has always
arisen out of fortuitous circumstances, which, are becoming more
and more rare, and that it is by no means the residt of the progres-
,sive development of agricultural resources : the country is, therefore,
completely stationary. --
f It is also easy to convince ourselves, by simple comparison, that
the commerce of Southern Russia is far from prosperous. In 1839,
the most productive year, the custom-houses yield but 8,215,426
¦rubles ; and ten sea-ports distributed over more than 400 leagues of
coast, together with three land custom-houses, show on an average
but from forty-five to fifty-five milUons of exports, and hardly a third
of that amount of imports ; whilst Trebizond alone annually sends
out more than 50,000,000 worth of English goods into the various
adjoining countries^ - . • -

¦ CHAPTER V.
SATtdATlOy, CKABGE FOE XKEIGHT, &C. CJ THE BI.ACS..SEA.
Of aU the sea-bord of the East, the coasts of the Black Sea are
those from which the e^ense of freight are the greatest. Different
circumstances combine in producing this effect. 1. The amoimt of
importation being inconsiderable, most of the -vessels must arrive in
ballast, or with a very 'scanty cargo. 2. "The vessels are exposed to
long delays in the Archipelago, and stiU more So in the Dardandles
and the Bosphorus. Fifty days may be taken as the average duration
of the voya^ irom MarseiUes, Genoa, Leghorn, or Trieste, to
Odessa. .It does not take longer to reach America from the same
Sorts, by a voyage at once less difficult and more lucrative. 3. The
llackSea is situated at the extremity of the inland seas of Europe,

COM3IEECE OF THE BLACK SEA. .27
and its coasts, which have Uttie traffic, especially with each other,
offer few resoiu'ces to merchant vessels; so that if there is nothing
profitable to be done at Odessa or Taganrok, a ship has no alter-
¦native but to take freight at ruinously low. prices, or to return in
.ballast, and retrace some hundred miles of a route on which it
has already incurred such delays. Certain merchants often take
advantage of the distressing position of the masters, and for many
-years past, a part of the profits on some goods sent to tho Mediter
ranean, has regularly consisted in the sacrifices to which the ship
owner has been compeUed. 4. The passage through the Straits of
Constantinople subjecis vessels freighted in the Russian ports for
those of the Mediterranean, to a quarantine which, besides con
suming from thirty-five to forty d-ays, always entails considerable
expense. It is generaUy reckoned that it takes a vessel fuUy six
months to accftmpUsh the voyage both ways between a Mediter-
;ranean port and Odessa, and to get pratique again, even supposing
i.t to have tolerably favourable winds, and to obtain cargo almost
immediately in the Black Sea, a thing which unhappily occurs very
seldom. Now a Mediterranean brig of 275 tons, or 200,000 tchetverts'
"'iburden, has a crew that costs at least 800 rubles a month for wages
.and keep. If we add to this, for wear of rigging, insurance, and
jharbour-dues 400. lubles, we shaU have more that 1200 rubles a
month for ordinary expenses, ¦without reckoning what storms and
'Other casualties may. occasion. Thus the cost of a six months' voyage
wUl amount to 7200 rubles.
Before 1838, the average price of freight in paper rubles was as
foUows : Per Fer 2000 Tchetverts,
Tchetvert. or 275 Tons.
Por Constantinople  1.40  2,800
Trieste-  2.33  4,666
Xeghom  2.66  !  5,-332
Genoa  4.25  8,500
Marseilles  2.40  4,800
HoUand  5.75  11,500
England  7.00  .14,000
From this table it appears that the freights did not pay the ordi
nary expenses of the vessels, -with the exception of those bo-and for
JEngland, HoUand, and Genoa, under the Sardiuian flag.
Odessa has hardly any intercourse with the portion of the Black
.Sea coast subject to the SuUan, but it often furnishes cargoes for
.-the banks of the Danube, to vessels of not more than: twelve feet
.draught. These vessels usuaUy proceed to Galatz and Ibraila.
Those which have no return cargo, touch at Toultcha and Isacktcha,
to take in firewood ; others ship a cargo at Galatz and Ibraila, for
..Constantinople and the Mediterranean. Good prices for freight are
-Generally procured in the Danube, particularly of late years. The
^progress of agriculture Lu the principaUties, and .tiie faciUties met
-with in then: ports, attract foreign captains,-. and .many of, them
have entirely forsaken Odessa for Galatz.

28 THE STEPPE3 OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
Tlie government supplies', the war in the Caucasus, and private
speculations likewise afford employment to a certain number of
vessels between Odessa and the Russian provinces of the Black Sea,
and the Sea of Azov. The prices of freight in these cases depend on
the greater or less demand, but they are always kept very low by
the competition of Kherson /ofttas (large coasting vessels). These
lodkas ply at a very cheap rate, but they are exposed to risks which
ought to make them less sought after than better built and better
commanded vessels. The passage, from Odessa to Taganrok, is
tedious and expensive, aboVe all for v^sels which are obUged td be
accompanied -with lighters, in order to pass the Straits of Kertch
where the waters are low, and must then anchor in the Taganrok-
roads, at a distance of ten from the shore. We may confidently
estimate the voyage between Taganrok and Odessa both ways, as of
. two months' duration. ,
Thus navigation is hardly more prosperous than trade itself. If it
has hitherto maintained a part of its acti-vity, this must be attributed
to the great number of vessels belonging to the Mediterranean, to the
influence of a past period, fertile in profit, and to commercial routine.
Nevertheless, a revolution is graduaUy taking place, and already
many vessels that formerly, frequented the Russian ports, have found
means to employ themselves advantageously on the (Dcean. We
find their names mentioned in foreign journals, in the shipping in-
telUgence. from America and India, and it is probable they are quite
as successful there as others that have not yet chosen to visit the
coasts of Southern Russia. ^ .- .

CHAPTER VI.

AQKICTTLTtTRl; Ai<I> SliNCTACTlTESS OF SOUTHERN EtTSSIA — ^ilZSEEAL PEODUCTI05S—
BUSSIAN -WORKMEN. -
' In justification of its prohibitive system, the government aUeges
the protection and encouragement it owes to native industry. Now
it is e-ndent that absolute exclusion cannot favour industry. The
high tariff, it is true,_ seems to secure a certain market for Russian
manufactures ; but it results from it that those manufactures, being
kept clear of aU competition, are worse than stationary; for the ma
nufacturers, whose number Is very Umited^ agree among themselves.
to turn out exactly the same sort of workmanship, and in the same
proportion. ,;' Moscow is now the centre of all tiie manufactures of
silk, cotton, and wooUen stuffi, shawls, &c. ; yet, in spite of all the
• privileges secured to those establishments by the tariff, a great num
ber of them have failed of late years. Their goods have become so

EUSSIAN MANUFACTURES. 29
bad that they could no longer compete in sale with smucrrled
articles. In 1840, or 1841 , the emperor made a joui-ney to Moscow,
on -purpose to preside over the meeting of manufacturers ; but unfortu
nately ukases and proclamations are inefficient to create a body of ma-
, jiufacturers ; the imperial desires In no-wise altered the face of thlnc^s.
There are at this day, in Russia, two great branches of manu
facturing industry, one of which, emplojing the raw materials
furnished by the sod, such as iron, copper, and other metals, belongs
properly to Russia, and has no need to fear foreign competition. It
13 true we cannot speak very highly of the Russian hardware and
cutlery, but they find a sure sale, the inhabitants carin"- more for
cheapness than quaUty. The most important manufactures of this
sort are established at Toula, and in the government of Nijni Nov
gorod ; the materials are furnished by Siberia.
The Ural is one of the most remarkable raountain chains on fhe
globe, for the extent and variety of its mineral wealth. I say nothing
of its gold, sUver, and platina ores ; they add too little to the real
prosperity of the country to caU for mention here. The iron ores of
Siberia are generaUy of superior qu-aUty ; but as the processes to
which they are subjected, are somewhat injudicious, the iron produced
from them is seldom as good as it might be. The working of the
iron mines has been a good deal neglected of late yeais, lando-wners
having tumed their attention chiefly to the precious metals; hence the
prices of -wrought and cast iron have risen -considerably in Southern
Russia, which employs those of Siberia exclusively. The carriage is
effected for this part of the empire by land; in one direction by the
Volga, the Don, and the Sea of Azov, in another by the Dniepr.
The journeys are long and expensive, and often they cannot be
effected at aU in consequence of irregularities either in the arri
vals, or in the river floods. CThe present price of pig-iron is from
eighteen to twenty francs for the 100 kilogrammes, and of bar-
iron from forty-four to forty-five francs, in Kherson and Odessa. I do
not know the prices at the places where the iron is produced, but
whatever they may be, these figures show how much Russia has yet
to do towards faciUtatIng the means of internal communication.
Of copper, lead, &c., notwithstanding the cost of carriage, Russia
exports a considerable quantity to foreign countries -
Not content with these valuable sources of wealth, which alone
would suffice for the support of a vast and truly national industry, .
Russia has thought it desirable to create for herself a manufacturing
industry such as exists in other countries of Europe, and to arrive at
this end she has de-vised a system of the most absolute prohibition. -
How far has she been successful? Of aU European countries Russia
is unquestionably placed in the most unfavourable circumstances
for contending with foreign manufactures. Situated as she Is at the
extremity of Europe, she can only be reached by long, difficult, and
expensive routes; and as her manufactures of stuffs, silks, &c., are
aU concentrated in Moscow, the expenses of carriage are enormous.

30 ' THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAtf SEA, &C.
Thus the cottons landed in Odessa are first carried to Moscow, and
then return, after being -wrought, to the governments- of the Black
Sea. The want of capable and inteUigent workmen is also one of
the most serious obstacles to the estabhshment of manufactures ; the
Russian peasant is essentially agricultural, and knows nothing of
handicraft trades, except so far as they are of service to him in his
daily labours ; and then, by constitution and by the effects of that long
slavery that has weighed and stiU weighs upon him, his ideas are
naturally contracted and can never apply themselves to more than
a- single object. The sole talent he possesses in a reaUy remarkable
degree is ¦ that of imitation. The black' enameUed work of the-
Caucasus is admirably imitated at Toula ; and at Lughan, in the
government of lekaterinoslaf, they make very pretty things in
BerUn iron, copied from Pinissian models. This talent for imitation
is no doubt valuable in the- workshops where they are constantly
making the 'same set of things, and in the same way; but it becomes
completely- inefficient in the manufactories for piece-goods, in which
there must be incessant innovation and improvement: hence we-
find aU the, great manufactories, after being at first managed by
foreign- superintendents and. workmen, fall graduaUy into decay from
the moment they are transferred to native hands. The Russians
are - essen tiaUy destitute of imagination and the spirit of invention;
and then the proneness of the workmen- tcv laziness and drunkenness-
cannot but be fatal to industry/) The workman is always seeking-
some pretext- to escape- frora labour; he- has his- o-wn calendar, in
which the- number of holidays ia doubled; these he employs in
getting drunk; and the days -foUo-wing them in sleeping off his
Equor.- The result is, that he passes- half the year in doingnothing,
that he- strives toseU his- da;y'9 work at the dearest possible rate, and
that the working time being-thus indefinite, it is impossible to fix-
punctuaUy the time of production. This unhappy moral condition
of the labouring classes- is the same throughout all Russia, and may
be regarded' as one of the worst evils incidental to the- native in
dustry. To these obstacles, proceeding from the very nature of the-
people, are superadded physical difficulties no less imperious. In
France, England, and Germany, when any new manufacture is es-
tabUshed,_it always- rests on other branches already in existence, and
about whidr it has no- need to employ itseE In Russia, on the
contrary, in. order to succeed in any branch- of manufactures, it is
necessary at the- same time -to create aU the accessories connected
with it; Everyone kn-&ws what a vast quantity of merino and other
wools Southern Russia-supplies; and it'. would seem- at first sight'
that- of aU manufactures^ that of woollen cloths ought to offer the-
fairest chances of success in that covmtry.- But it is not so: I. have
visited two or three cloth factories on the banks of the- Dniepr be
longing tO'foreigners, andmanaged bythem -with an abUity beyond
aU praise;- yet it was with the utmost difficultyr and through the
personal labour of their- proprietora- that they were able to subsist.'

PvUSSIAN MAJTDPACTUEES. 31
The government itself, some years ago, erected at lekaterinoslaf
one of the largest cloth manufactories I am acquainted with ; the
looms were set in motion by two steam-engines, and several hun
dred workmen were employed. The estabhshment, nevertheless,
was closed after three years" existence, and I myself saw aU the
materials sold at a great depreciation.
The number of manufactuiing estabhshments of aU sorts in Russia
amounted in 1839 to 6855, and that of the workmen employed to
412,931, not including those engaged in the mines and in the-
smelting-houses, forges, &c., belonging to them. We ¦will enume
rate as the most important branches of Russian industry: —
Establishmcatd.
Slanttfactories of Clotli and WooUen Stuffs  606
Silks  227
Cottons  467
Canvass and other Linen Good* .._! 216
Tan Yards  191S
TaUow-melting-Houses  554
Man-ufactories of Candles  444
Soap  270
Metal "Ware  486
In this table the manufactories of wooUen cloths, silks, and cottons,
together figure but as 1300 ; and yet it is in a great measure to the
. supposed encouragement, which the govemment. desires to afford
these branches of industry,' that Russia owes her system of customs ;-
for setting aside a few objects of luxury, Russia has no need to fear.
foreign competition. -with regard, to any other articles. Certainly, if
the silk and cotton, manufactures could exercise a beneficial influence-
upon the prosperity of the country, if they v?-ere necessary to supply
the wants of the whole population, in that case we could to a certain.
extent iinderstand the sentence of exclusion pronounced on foreign .
goods ; but the productions of the Moscow factories are destined
only for the aristocracy and the trading classes, and the 40,000,000
of slaves that constitute the European population of Russia, con
sume but an insignificant portion of them, all their clothes being
-wrought by their o-wn hands.
" Q[t is not surprising then that aU the manufacturing estabhshments
are concentrated in Moscow, that being the place where the aristo
cratic and trading part of the community exist in most considerable
numbers, and where there is most certainty of finding customers.
E-verywhere else the chances of success would be few or none.: -wit
ness Southem-Russia-where all manufacturing attempts have hitherto
failed, notwithstanding the advantages it derives from its sea-ports.
The three governments composing it- reckon, at- this day but 2000
workmen, even, including those who work in the rope walksand the :
taUow houses^.
;.According to authentic documents the numbers^ of the nobiUty
and tradespeople do not. exceed 3,000,000j Without a complete
alteration, therefore,, in the manners and habits ofLthe peasants,, itia

32 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN" SEA, &C.
impossible to hope that the manufacture of piece-goods can ever
attain a great development, and it would have been infimtely better
to have left the supply of these articles to importation; the imperial
treasury would thereby have been a gainer, and more active relations
¦with the foreigner would have afibrded valuable guarantees for the
prosperity of the country. But Russia suffered herself to be seduced
by the most briUiant branch of Industry of our times ; she, too,
¦wished to have her cachemires and her silks ; and not considering
that agriculture is for her the most lucrative, the most positive of all
branches of Industry, she recoiled from no prohibitive measure in order
to favour some indigenous manufactures. I say again, Russia is
before all things a country for the production of raw materials.
Agriculture, including therein the breeding of cattle, e-vidently forms
the basis of the national prosperity, and it is only by faciUtatIng its
extension and its outlets that Russia can hope to secure the friture
welfare of its people. . ' -
If at this day the establishment of new -villages in Southern Russia
is becoming so difficult, it is not for want of' land, but because the
peasants have no' means of ready transport for their produce, and
because also the want of importation, naturaUy exercising a great
influence upon the price of com, signaUy restricts the demand from
abroad. (Ts it not indeed deplorable to see the most fertile and pro
ductive governments of New Russia sunk in extreme penury by the
want of roads, and by the culpable neglect of the administration which
deprives them of the na-vigation of the rivers! WUl the govemment
"at last open its eyes to the mischiefs of the course it is pursuing?
We can scarcely hope so. ' AU the commercial reports of the empire
dress up things in so fair a Ught, and the pubUc functionaries agree so
weU together in falsifying pubUc opinion, that the emperor, beguiled
by the briUiant picture incessantly laid before his eyes, cannot but
persevere in the fatal course adopted by his predecessors.

," CHAPTER vn.

DBPARTir»E FROM ODESSi— TSA-VTE-LXIXG ET RUSSIA — ^XIKOLAiEF, OLTIA, OTSHAKOP
— KHERSON— THE DNIEPBt— GENERAL POTIER — ANCIENT TUMVLX — STEPPES OS
THE BLACK SEA — ^A RUSSIAN -VILLAGE — SNOW STORM — NARROW ESCAPE ESOM
80FEOCAT1ON— A BCSSIAN EAMIL-IC — APPENDIX. ,
Aftee some months' stay in Odessa, we left it in company -with
General JPotier, a Frenchman by birth, to pass the -winter at his
CQuntiy-house. Travelling would nowhere be more rapid than in
Russia, if the posting-houses were a Uttie better conducted and more
punctual in supplying horses. The coiintry is perfectly flat, and
you may traverse several hundred leagues without meetin<y a single
hill. Besides this, the Russian driver has no mercy on hTs horses;

TEAVELLING IN EUSSIA. ' 33
they must gaUop continuaUy, though they should drop dead under
the whip. Another reason that contributes to the rapidity of
posting, is, that there are never less than three or four horses yoked
to the Ughtest vehicle. The general's carriage being rather heavy,
we had six horses, that carried us along at the rate of fifteen versts
(ten miles) an hour. We found the rooms in the posting-stations
much more elegant than we had expected; but this was owino- to the
journey of the imperial family, for whom they had been completely
metamorphosed. The walls and ceilings were fresh painted -with the
greatest care, and we found everywhere handsome mirrors, divans,
and portraits ofthe emperor and empress. Thanks, therefore, to the
transit of their majesties, our joumey was effected in the most agree
able manner, though on orclinary occasions, one must make up his
jnind to encounter all sorts of privations and annoyances in a long
excursion through Russia." -.The to-wns are so few, and the villages
are so destitute of all requisites, that one is in sore danger of being
starved to death by the way, unless he has had the precaution to lay -
in a stock of provisions at starting. The post-houses afford you
UteraUy nothing more than hot water for tea, and a bench to rest on.
The Russian and Polish grandees never omit to carry with .them on
their journeys a bed -with all its appurtenances, a whole range of
-cooking implements, and plenty of provisions,. In this way they
pass from to-wn to town, without ever suspecting the unfortunate
position in which the foreigner is placed who traverses their vast
wildernesses. The latter, it may be said, is free to foUow their
example ; but the thing is not so easy. Supposing even that he was
possessed of aU this travelUng apparatus,, still the expense of carriage
would imperatively forbid his taking it with him, whereas the
Russians, who generally travel -with their own horses, may have a
¦ dozen ¦without adding to their expenses. As for those who have
recourse to the post, they care very little about economy, and provided
they have a good dinner prepared by their own cooks, a soft bed and
all other physical comforts, they never trouble themselves to calculate
the cost. tSut as for the foreigner who travels in this country, the
inconvenience I have just mentioned is nothing in comparison with
the countless vexations he must .endure, simply because he Is a
foreioner. CHaving no legal right to lay his cane over the shoulders
of tSe clerks of the -post, he must make up his mind to endure the
most scandalous impositions and annoyances ajt their hands, and very
often he wiU be obUged to pass forty-eight hours in a station, because
he cannot submit to the conditions imposed on him. - Neither threats
nor entreaties can prevail on the clerk to make him furnish horses if
it does not suit his humour. The epithet particulamii tcheloviek
whichis appUed ia Russia to aU who do not wear epaulettes, and
which signifies something less than a nobody, is a categorical reply
to the traveller's utmost eloquence^*;.
Before we reached Kherson, we stopped at Nicolaief, a pretty town,
which has been for some years the seat of the Admiralty formerly
D

3.4 THE STEPPPIS OF THE CASPIAN; SEA, &C.
estabUshed in- Klierson, and. which is daily -increasing at its rival's-
expense. Its vast dockyards attract a whole population of workmen,,
whose presence, swells its wealth and importance. _ Its position, on, ther
Bug,, its new houses and pretty walks planted -with poplars, make it
the most agreeable town; in the government.. Whea -we passed
through it, a splendid ship of the line of three decks had just been:
completed,. and was waiting only for the ceremony of bemg christened:.
to take its place in the Black Sea fleet.
¦-" Four -or: five leagues below ~ Nicolaief, on- the right bank of the'
¦ Bug, near its embouchure in the llman* ofthe Dniepr, are the ruinsE
of Olvia or Olviopolis, a Milesian colony founded about^ 500 B.C..
Therehave been foimd. inscriptions and medals which put the origin:
of these remains, beyond aU doubt. Lower: down on the Uman ofc
the. Dniepr,-, not far, fcom- the sea, is the. fortress- of _ Otchakov, which;
formerly belonged to the. Turks,, and then: formed a conaderable^
town, known: by the_ name of Ozou. It was twice takem by- the;
Eussian troops^on the 13th.of June, 1737,. under- the command o£
Marshal. Munich, and orr. the- 6th. of: December,. 1788-,. under:
Potemkinu. .At pre3ent,,nota.trace of the Turkish sway remains in;
the -vdllage;. AU the Mussulman buildings- have been puUed. down
to give place: to a steppej.on. which, some Russian cabins and about;
fifty miserable shops have; been set up. The.en-vironaof:Otchako-7;
also present- traces of the, abode- of the ancient: Greeks.. Lt 1833/
there were found here a,fragment;of a: baSrreUef. in tolerable preser
vation, a male torso, and an offering::-with; aniinscription froni cer taiir
Greek.mlUtary chiefs to AchiUes,.nder o£ the Pontua., .
Otchakof was founded at the close of the- fifteenth century,. byj
Mengli ChereV, .khan of the Crimea, on.theruins^of Alektor, aUttie-
town. belonging to a. queen, of the Sauromatians, and which -waa
destroyed probably by the Getje at the same: time as Ol-via^lOO B.o.
Alektor must have possessed specimens- of. Greek .workmanship, but
they disappeared under the hands of the. Turks,, who employed them
in, building, Otchakov.; '
? Khei-son, where we arrived in the evening, retains no reUcs-of its
ancient -opulence, or of. the importance it derived scarcely:fifty yeaia.
ago from: its commei-ce,. its port, and itS: admiralty; at present, it
exhibits- the melancholy spectacle of a; town entirely ruined; its
population: does; not exceed; 6000 or 8000- souls. Odessa and
Nicolaief: have, dealt.it mortal blows, and. it- now- subsists- onlyr bj^
its entrepot , for, the various productions- of the empire,, whrch are-
conveyed, to it by the Dniepr,. and forwarded by Ughters to Odessa-i^
It bas even: lost its custom-house for.-imports^ retaining^ only the:
privilege of exporting; and: beside this, the vessels whi°h. take in:
cargo at:Kher3on, must first: perform quarantine in Odessa. Fevei-s-
and.the.Jews are likewise formidable foes to its; prosperity. Er-

*-L!man, a-Tartar word signiiymg- harbour, is the name givettto the giilfe fonnedhj-
the.priaeipal river3.of^Soutbexn,Russift before their entrance into the sea^

THE JEWS- OP KHEESOX. 35'
pelled from Nicolaief and Sevastopol, the Israelites swarm like
locusts- in Kherson, and form almost its whole population. Nothing
can- be more hideous than the appearance of the Russian Jews.
Dressed in a uniform garb, consisting of a long- robe of black
caUco, fastened with a woollen girdle, canvass drawers, and a broad-
brimmed black hat, they aU present so degraded a type of humanity,
that the eye tiuns from them with deep disgust. Their filthiness is
indescribable; the entrance of a single Jew into an apartment is
enough suddenly to vitiate the atmosphere.
We had already had occasion in Odessa to see into what an abject
state this people is fallen in Russia; but it was not until we came to
Kherson that we beheld them in aU their -vileness. What a contrast
between their sallow faces, cUsg-usting beards, and straggling locks,
plastered flat on the skin, their bi-utified air, and crawling humility,
and the easy, dignified bearing, the noble features, and the elegant
costume of the Jews of Constantinople! It is- impossible to bring
oneself to beUeve there is any thing in common between them, that
they belong to the same race-, and have the same rules and usages,
the same language and reUgion. But thecause which has produced-
such a difference between two branches- of one people. Is a question
iiivol-ving-poUtical and phUosophical considerations of t6o high an
order, to be discussed here; aU we can say, is that, in seeing the
Jfews^of Kherson", and comparing' them with their" brethren of the
Easti we- had- e-vidence before us; ofthe depth to- which govern
ments^^ and institutions can debase mankinds -
The streets of ' E^herson are thronged with these' miserable Israel
ites, who- carry -on every kind of trade, and recoil- from no species
oF occupation, pro-vided'it be lucrative. Their* pentiiy is- so great,
thatthey -will run firom one end of the to-wn to the other- for a. few
kopeks, and in this^ respect' they are of much use to the stranger,
who would be-greatly embarrassed if they were not at' hand, ready
tb'- render hiin every posible ser-vice. The moment a traveller
arrives at an. inn; In New Russia, he is beset and persecuted ¦without
ceasincr by these- officious agentSj who place at his- disposal- their.
goods, their persons, aU they have and all they have' not; It is
to no purpose- he threatens them and turns them out a hundred
times; they care little for' abuse; and do what' yoiv-wiU, they sit
themselves dowff on the ground opposite yourdoor; and remain, there
¦with- iinperturbable phlegm, waiting their opportunity to walk in
again; and renew^ their offer. Many a time have.' we: seen Jews.
thus' spendlfour-or- five hours- consecutively, -without e^vincing /_ the
least impatience, or seeming'to regret' the waste- of time they might
have employed more profitably, and go away at' last" satisfiedL with.
having.'gained a few kopeks.- ¦ /. -
It was inrthe^ govemment of Kherson that the- plan- of forming
Je-wish- colonies' was- first tried. Several were established in the
districts of Kherson and Bobrinetv and in: 1824. these contained
nine -viUages; with- a population of 8000 souls/.- settled- on 55,33S
D 2

36 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
hectares of land. AUthe new colonists are whoUy exempt from
taxation for ten years; but after the lapse of that time, they are
placed on the same footing as the other crown peasants; except that
they remain free from mihtary service for fifty years.
'The colonisation of these Jews was no easy matter; at first, it
¦was necessary to keep the most rigorous watch over them, to prevent
• them from leaving their viUages. The colonists are aU dependent
on the governor-general of New Russia, and each of their ¦viUages
is under the control of a non-commissioned officer of the army.
I have not the least idea of the object for which the govemment
founded these colonies, which, as fer as agriculture is concerned, can ,
be of no use to the country. Was its motive one of a philanthropic
kind? I. do not think so. I should rather suspect that the pros
pective advantages in a mihtary point of -view may have been the
inducement, an opinion, -which seems justified by the fact, that the.
Russian government has found it necessary, for some years past, to
enrol the Jews by force in the naval service. The unfortimate men
are chiefly employed as workmen, and I have seen great numbers of .
them in the arsenals of Sevastopol and Nicolaief. - , .
The aspect of Kherson is as dismal as that of. Nicolaief is brilliant
and lively. Nothing, is to be seen but dilapidated houses and
abandoned sites, which give it the appearance of a town devastated
by war. But -vie-wing it from a distance, as it rises in an amphi
theatre on the banks of the Dniepr, -with its. numerous belfries, its
barracks, and its gardens, one would be far from suspecting the sort
of spectacle its interior presents. Above aU, one cannot conceive
why a town in such a position, -with a river close at hand, na-rigable
for ships of war, should have been thus abandoned; but such has
been the imperial -will, and Kherson, completely sacrificed to Odessa, .
now shows scarcely any signs of life, excepting its great wool wash
ing estabhshments, which employ hundreds of workmen, and its
retail trade, which the Jews monopolise. The only remains of its
past greatness the town has preserved, are" its title as capital of the
government, and its tribunals. The governor resides in it, no doubt
much against his wiU; but many great famiUes have forsaken it on
account of the fevers prevailing in it during a part of the year,
with more fatal -violence thah in any other region. They are occa
sioned by the wide sheeta of water left behind by the inundations of
the Dniepr, and which, finding no issue when the river returns to
its bed, stagnate among the reeds, until the rays of the sun are
strong enough to make them evaporate. Fetid and pestilential
exhalations then rise, and produce malignant and typhoid fevers
that almost always prove mortah
f" Tlie population of IQierson, Uke that of aU the other to-wns in
Southern Russia, is a medley of Jews, Armenians, Russians, Greeks,
Italians, &c. ; a few French have been long settled there, and have
acquired some wealth; some deal in wood, others are at the head of
the wool-washing estabUshments I have already mentioned. Among

MM. POTIEE'AJfD' VASSAL. 37
the latter, there is a Parisian, who, by dint of wasliing and re-
washing wool, and that too on another's account, has managed to
amass nearly 12,00DZ. in less than eight years. The lavoirs of MM.
Vassal and Potier are the most considerable in Kherson, giving
daily employment to more than 600 men.
The Dniepr seen from Kherson, resembles a vast lake studded,
-with islands; the -views it presents are very beautiful, and partake-
very much of the character of maritime scenery. The estate we
were going to lay on the other side of the river, and we had the ¦
Eleasure of travelling about fifteen versts by water, through the
ibyrinth of islands, and a constant succession of the most enchant
ing views. We found horses waiting for us on the opposite bank,
and in less than four hours we were at Clarofka, our journey's end.
M. Potier, the proprietor of Clarofka, is an ex-pupU of the Poly
technic School, who was sent to St. Petersburg by Napoleon, with;
three colleagues, to estabUsh a school of civil engineering. In
1812, the govemment fearing lest they should join the French,
sent them away to the confines of China, where they were detained
more than two years. When our troops had evacuated Russia, and
the presence of these young men was no longer to be feared, the
Emperor Alexander recaUed them, and gave them each a pension of
fiOOO rubles, to indemnify them for their exile. From that time
forth, they aU made rapid progress in fortune and in honours. M.
Potier was for a long while director of the ci'vll engineering institu-
-tion. He is highly esteemed by the Emperor Nicholas, who wished
to attach him completely to his- court, by conferring on him a post
of the highest importance, but M. Potier always refused, and at last
succeeded in obtaining permission to retire. '..He is the son-in-law of
M. Rou-vier, who made himself popular in Russia and even in
France, by being the first to introduce the breed of Merino sheep
into Southern Russia. M. Potier followed his father-in-law's
example, and has more than 20,000 sheep on liis estate.'.
The estate of M. Vassal, another son-in-law and successor of M.
Rou-vier, is but a dozen versts from Clarofka. It is larger than
many a German diichy; but instead ofthe fertile fields and thriving
•viUages that adorn Germany, it presents to "view only a vast desert
¦with numerous tumuli, salt lakes, and a few sheep folds. These
tumuU exact models of mole-hiUs, from ten to fifteen yards high,
are the only hills in the country, and appear to be the burial-places
of its old masters, the Scythians. Several of them have been opened,
and nothing found in them but some bones, copper' coins of the
kings of Bosphorus, and coarse earthen utensils. SimUar tombs
in the Crimea have, been found to contain objects of raore value,
both as regards material and workmanship. This difference is easily
accounted for; the MUesian colonies that occupied part of the Crimea
200!^ears ao^o, spread a taste for opulence and the fine arts aU
through the penins-iila ; their tombs would, therefore, bear token
of the degree of civiUsation they had reached. They had a regular
government, princes, and all the elements and accessories of a

38 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, OStC.
kingdom ; whilst our. poor Scythians, divided into nomade tribes
Uke the Kirghises and lialmucks of the present day, led a rude
life in the .midst of the herds of cattle .that constituted their 5ole
wealth. Agriculture could never have yielded much in these steppes, where
rain is extremely rare in summer, where there are neither brook&nor
wells for irrigation, and where hot -winds scorch up every thing.
during the greater part of the fine season. Jt is only on the banks
of the rivers that vegetation makes its appearance and the eye rests
on cultivated fields and green pastures. . There are indeed here and
-there a few. depressions, where the grass retains its verdure during a
part of the year, and sorae stunted trees spread their meagre branches
over a less unkindly soil than that of the steppe ; but these are un
usual circumstances, and one must often tra.vel hundreds of versts
to find a single shrub. Such being the general configuration of the
country, it may easily beimagined how cheerless is the aspect of those
vast plains with- nothing to vary their surface except the tumuli, and
-with no other boundaries than the sea. - .No -one who 'is unaccus
tomed, to that monotonous nature .can Jong endui'e its .influence.
Those dreary wastes seem to him a boundless prison in which he vainly
exerts himself -without a hope pf escape. .And yet that flat and bar
ren sod from -which the eye turns away so contemptuously, has be
come a source of wealth to its present proprietors by the great success
of the first experiments in Merino sheep-breeding. It was M. Rouvier,
who first conceived thehappy idea of turning the unproductive steppes
into pasture. The Emperor Alexander, always ready to encourage
Uberal ideas, not only advanced the projector a sum of a hundred tiiou-
sand rubles, but gave hira even a man-of-war to go and make his first
purchases in Spain, and on his return, granted him an immense
.extent of land, where the flocks, increasing rapidly, brought in a con-
• siderable fortune to M. Rouvier in a few years. His sons-in-la-w;,
General Potier and M.' Vassal inherited it, and formed those great
estabhshments of which we have spoken. Thenceforth the stock
pf merinos increased with incredible rapidity in New Russia; but
an enormous faU in the price of wool soon occurred, and many pro
prietors have now reason to regret their .outlay in that branch of
rural economy, and are endeavouring to get rid of their flocks. The
rams which fetched 500 or 600 francs in 1834 and 1-835, were not
.worth more than 250 or 300 in 1841. In 1842, a landowner of
our acquaintance had made up his mind to part with his best -
thorough- bred rams for 140 and even 100 francs a head. The expoi^
tation of wool increased, nevertheless, during the last years of our
stay ia Russia ; but this was only because the lando-wners, after
holding out a long .whde, found themselves at last constrained to
accept prices one-half lower than those current a few years before,
and to dispose of the wools they had long kept in their warehouses.
Here was another instance of the disastrous consequences of the
Russian prohibitive system ; it has been as fatal to the wool-trade as
to that in com.

THE GARDENS OF CL-AEOFKA. . 39
-Clarofka is a viUage consisting of fifteen or twenty houses, each
containing two famiUes of peasants. It is some distance from the
farm, which alone contains more dwelUngs and inmates than the
whole village.
The steward resides in a very long, low house, ¦with small windows
in the Russian fashion, and an earthen roof, and standing at the
edge of a large pond, the fetid exhalations from which are very
unwholesome during the hot season. A few weeping-wiUows
wave their branches over the stagnant water, and increase stiU more
-the melancholy appearance of the spot. The pond is frequented by
a multitude of water-fowl, such as teal, gulls, clucks, pelicans, and
kourUs, that make their nests in the thick reeds on the margin.
Beside the house, according to the Prussian custom, stand the kitchens
and - other offices, the icehouse, poultry-yard, wash-house, cellar for
fruit and vegetables, &c, A little further on are the stables and coach
houses, containing a great number of carriages, -caleches, droshkies,
-and a dozen horses ; other buildings, including the workmen's bar
racks, the forge, the gardener's and the miller's dweUings are scat
tered irregularly here and there. Two great wind-mills lift their huge
iwings above theroad leading to the viUage. AU this is not very hand
some; but there is one thing indicative of princely sumptuousness,
namely, an. imraense garden that spreads out behind the house, and
almost makes one forget the steppes, so thick is the foliage of its
beautiful aUeys. One is at a loss to conceive by what miracle this park,
with its large trees, its fine fruit, and its charming walks, can have
thus sprung Tip ont of the scorched and arid soil, that waits whole
montlM.fora few drops of water to clothe it in transient verdure. And
indeed to create such an oasis in the heart of so barren a land, there
needed not one miracle, but a series of miracles of perseverance, toil,
and resolution, seconded by aU the means at the disposal of a Russian
lord.,.AU kinds of fruit are here collected together; we counted more
than fifty varieties of the pear in one aUey. Grapes of aU kinds, stra-w^
berries, beds of asparagus of incomparable flavour, every thing in
short that the most capricious taste can desire, grows there in such
abundance, that seeing aU these things one really feels transported
into the midst of regions the most favoured by nature.
No one but a Russian lord could have effected such metamorphoses.
Jdaster of a whole population of slaves, he has never to pay for labom-;
rand whims which -would be ruinous to others, cost him only the
•trouble of conceiving them. In the dry season, which often lasts
for more than five months, chain pumps worked by horses supply
water to every part, of this extensive garden, and thns afford what
the unkind skiesdeny it. --The work to be done in the spring season
generaUy requires the labour of more than 200 pair of hands daily,
and -during therestof the year three-score peasants are constantly em
ployed ia° pruning- the trees, plucking up the weeds that rapidly
spring up in the walks, training the vines, and attending to the flowers.
In retum for aU this expenditure the general has the satisfaction of

40 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
seeing his table covered with the finest' fruits and most exquisite
preserves ; and for one who inhabits a desert these things unques
tionably have their value. On the whole Clarofka is a real pays de
cocagne for good cheer : the steppes abound -with game of every
kind, from grouse to the majestic bustard. A himter is attached to
the farm, and daily supplies the table with aU the deUcacies of this
sort which the country affords. The sea also contributes abundance
, of excellent fish. It is evident, therefore, that in a gastronomic point
of view it would be difficult to find a more advantageous residence ;
but this merit, important as it is, fails to make amends for the in
tolerable ennui one labours under in Clarofka. Thanks to the garden,
one may forget the steppe during the fine season ; and thea
there is the amusement .of fishing, and of picking up shells on
the sea-shore, so that one may contrive to kiU time passably well.
But what are you to do in ¦winter, when the snow falls so thickly
that you cannot see the houses, particularly when the metel turns the
whole countiy topsy-turvy ? No language can give an idea of these
metels or hurricanes. They come down on the land -with such
whirUng and dri-^ing gusts, such furious aud continuous tempests,
such whistlings and groanings of the wind, and a sky so murlgr and
threatening, that no hurricane at sea can be more alarming. The
snow is now pUed up Uke a mountain, now hoUowed into deep
valleys, and now spread out into rushing and hea-sdng biUows ; or
else it is driven through the air like a long white veil expanding and
folding on itself untU the -wind has scattered its last shreds before it.
In order to pass from one house to another, people are obUged to
dig paths through the snow often two yards deep. Whole flocks ot
sheep, surprised by the tempest not far from their folds, and even
herds of horses, have been driven into the sea and dro-wned. When
beset by such dangers their instinct usually prompts them to cluster
together in a circle and form a compact mass, so as to present less
surface to the metel. But the force of the -wind graduaUy com-
peUing them forwards, they approach the shore, the ground fails
them, and ' finaUy they all disappear beneath the waves. These
terapests are generaUy succeeded by a dead calm,- and an intense cold
that soon changes the surface of the Dniepr and the sea-shore into a
vast mirror. This is the most agreeable partof the winter. The com
munications between neighbours are renewed ; sporting expeditions
on a great scale, excursions in sledges, and entertainments -withio-
do'ors foUow each other almost without intermption. Despite the
intensity of the cold, the Russians infinitely prefer it to a mUder
teniperature, which would put a stop to their business as weU as to
. their pleasures. The great fairs of the empire generaUy take place in
•winter ; for then the frozen lakes and rivers, serve theinhabitants as
a safe and rapid means of communication. In this way they traverse
immense distances -without quitting their sledges, and even -without
perceiving whether they are on land or water. Wrapped up in their
furs they encounter with impunity a temperature of 35° for several

EUSSIAN STOVES. ^ 41
consecutive days, without any other auxiliaries than brandy and tea,
which they consume in fearful quantities. During our winter resi
dence in Clarofka, we had an opportunity of con^vincing ourselves
that people suffer much less from cold in northern than m southern
countries. ' ' >
In Constantinople, where we had passed the preceding ¦winter,
the cold and the snow appeared to us insupportable in the lio-ht
wooden houses, opeii to every wind, and furnished -with no other
resource against the inclemency of the weather than a mano-hal,
which served at best only to roast the feet and hands, whilst i? left
the rest of the body to freeze. But in Russia even the muj Ik has
constantly a temperature of nearly 77° in his cabin in the very
height of winter, which he obtains in a very simple and economical
manner. A large brickwork stove or oven is formed in the waU,
consisting of a fire-place and a long series of quadrangular flues end
ing in the chimney and giving passage to the smoke. The fire is
made either of Jdrbitch* or of reeds. When these materials are com
pletely consumed, the pipe by which the flues communicate with the
chimney is hermetically closed, and the hot air passes into the room
by two openings made for that purpose. Exactly the same appa
ratus is used in the houses of the wealthy. The stoves are so con
trived that one of them serves to heat two or three rooms. The
halls, staircases, and servants' rooms, are all kept at the same tem
perature. But great caution is necessary to avoid the dangers to
which this method of warming may give rise. I myself was saved
only by a pro-vidential chance from falling a -victim to them. - I
had been asleep for some hours one night, when I was suddenly
awakened by my son, who was calUng- to me for drink. ' I got up
instantly, and without waiting to Ught a candle I was proceedmg to
pour out a glaas of water, but I had scarcely raoved a few steps
-when the glass dropped from my hand and I fell, as if struck -with
Ughtning, and in a state of total insensibiUty. I had afterwards a
confused recoUection of cries that seemed to me to have come from
a great distance ; but for two minutes I remained completely inani-
"mate, and only recovered consciousness after my husband had carried
me into an icy room and laid me on the floor. My son suffered
stUl more than myself, but it happened most strangely that my hus
band was not in the smallest degree affected, and this it was that
saved us. The cause of this nocturnal alarm was the imprudence of
a servant who had closed the stove before all the kirbitch was con
sumed; this was quite enough to make the atmosphere deadly. All
the inmates ofthe house were more or less indisposed. ~ -'
The hothouse temperature kept up in all the apartraen.ts cannot
fad to act injuriously on the health. For more than ten months the
' * Kirbitchconsistsof dung kneaded into little bricks, and dried in summer. Along
-with straw and reeds, it forras the onlj firing used for domestic purposes. At
Odessa, h'dw-eyer, they procure firewood from Bessarabia, but it costs as much as
ninety francs the cube fathom.

.42 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
outer air is-never admitted into the house, aud foreigners are affected
in consequence -with an uneasy sense of oppression and a sort of
;torpor that almost incapacitates thera for thinking, ^^s for the
.Russians, who are habituated to the thing frora their childhood,
they suffer Uttie inconvenience from it; nevertheless many maladies
.probably owe tiieir origin to this artlflcial warmth, which is equaUy
enervating for body and mind. To this cause, no doubt, we must
-,attribute the utter absence of blooming freshness from the cheeks of
.the Russian ladies. Incapable of enduring the slightest -change of
stemperature, they have no t the least idea of the pleasure derived from
inhaling the fresh air, and bra-^ing the cold by means of brisk exer
cise. .But for dancing, of which they. are passionately fond, ;their
Jives would .pass away rn..almost absolute immobility, for lolUng in a
.carriage is, not what I. caU putting oneself in motion.) There is
.scarcely any country where women walk less than in Russia, and
.nowhere do they lead more artificial Uves. We had a Russian
iamily for two months at Clarofka, returning from the waters ofthe
Caucasus, -and waiting nntil "the sledging season was fuUyset in, to
get .back to Moscow. This femUy, consisting of a husband and
.-wife and tile-sister of the latter, was a. great godsend for us during
.part of .the ¦winter. ^Madame Bougainslsy is a very clever young
¦woman, -equa-Uy weU acquainted with oto: .literary works as with our
^Parisian frivolities. But dress and play ate for her the two grand
iconcerns of life, and aU the rest are but accessories. I do not think
she went out of doors three times during ier. two months' stay in
iDlarofka. The habit of JEving in the "world lof Jashion and in a
¦perpetual state of parade had ¦taken such inveterate Itold on her,
ithat, without thinkmg of it, she used to dress three or four times
, a day, just.as^ if she were among the salons of Moscow-. I learned
Jfirom her that the Russian .ladies are as fond Of play as of dancing,
and that many rtiin themselves thereby. On the whole, there
; ' is little poetiy or romance in. the existence of Plussian , women of
fashion. Thejnen, though treating them -with exqrdsite politeness
and gaUantry, in reaUty .think Uttie about them, and find more
pleasure in hunting, smoking, gaming, and drinking, than in la-
!cishing. on them those atteiEtions to which they have .many just
claims. .The Russian ladies Jiave generaUy little beauty ; their
.tloom, as I have ¦ said, is gone at twenty-; but if they can boast
¦neither perfect features nor dazzEngly fair complexions, there is, on
the other hand, in aU their manners remarkable elegance, and an
indescribable fascination tiiat sometimes makes them irresistible.
With a pale face, a somewhat &aJl figure, careless attitudes, and a
•haughty cast of- countenance, tiiey succeed in making more impres
sion, in a dra-wing-room than many women of greater beauiy.

43

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VK

_A PEOPENSITT to sedentary habits is not pecuUarly a female
failing in Russia, as wUl appear from the following extract : ''• The
.Russian has as Uttie taste for promenading on foot as any Oriental.
Hence, with the exception of the two capitals, and the north-west
¦provinces, in which German usages prevail, -there are no pubUc
walks or gardens for recreation. True enjoyment, according to the
motions of the genuine Muscovite, consists in sitting down to a weU-
fumished table, either in his own house or a neighbour's, and indulg
ing .after the repast in some game which requires .tiie least possible
exertion of body. Soon after my arrival in Kasan, I was glad to
employ the early days of summer, which there begins at the end of
id!ay, in making pedestrian excursions in the neighbourhood, to the
great and general surprise of my new friends, who could not conceive
iwhyl -tiius roamed like an idiot. about the country, in which I had
BO business, as they very well knew. It was conjectured that I was
ill, and had adopted this laborious discipline as a mode of cure .; but
even under this interpretation my proceedings seemed very strange
to them, -for their owm invariable practice when they feel unwell, is
±0 go to bed immediately. In one of my -walks I. fell in -with an ac
quaintance, who asked me what .took me to the ¦viUage, to which he
. supposed I was going. On my replying, that I had nothing what-
,ever to do there, and that as yet I had neither seen the -vUlage nor-
any of its inhabitants, he said then of course I was going to look at
it. No, I told hira, that was not my intention, for I knew very weU
I should see nothing there different from any ofthe other villages in
.the -vricinity. •' WeU, then. Daddy (bafiushha),' .said, my puzzled and
curious friend, 'do tell me, what is it you are afoot for ?' 'I am
afoot, simply for the sake of being afoot,' was my answer, ' for the
pleasure .of a Uttie exercise in the open air.' My friend burst into a
loiid fit of laughter at this explanation of my rambling habits, whiclx
had so long been an enigma to himself and every body -else. _To walk
for -waUdng sake ! He had never heard any tlung like that in aU his
life, and it was not long before this most novel and extraordinary
phrase ran the round of the whole -town, so that_ even to the fol-
lo-wing year it remained a standing joke against rae in every company
lentered." — Von TJttroio.
Suffocating vapours. — Accidents Uke that which befel Madame
Horamaire, are unavoidably frequent under such a system of warming,
and with servants so negligent as those in Russia ; but happily they

44 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
do not often end fataUy. The worst result of thera is generally a ¦vio
lent headache, all trace of which disappears the foUowing day.
Incredible as it may appear, the common people take pleasure in the
sort of intoxication produced by the inhalation of diluted carbonic
acid, and purposely procure themselves that strange enjoyment on
leisure days. " They close the stoves before the usual time, and Ue
down on them ; for in the peasants' houses the stoves are so con
structed, as to present a platform, on which the family sleep in -winter.
On entering a cabin on these occasions, you see the inmates lying
close together on their belUes, chatting pleasantly with one another.
Their faces are tumid and of a deep red hue, from the effects of the
noxious gas. There is an unusual lustre in their protruding eyeballs,
and in short, they have aU the outward appearance of intoxication,
though the inteUectual functions are not aflfected by the gas. The
headache they sufifer may, indeed, be a drawback to tiieir pleasure, but
the increased waimth thus obtained, is so deUghtful to them, that
they are .content to purchase it even at that price. There is no mis-
- taking their evident enjoyment and satisfactioB, though one may not
be tempted to partake in their joy.
" Another mode of obtaining artificial heat is practised in what
the Russian peasants caU their smoke-rooms. These rooms have but
a few very small windows, just large enough to pass the head through,
and seldom glazed, except -with talc, where that mineral is abundant
and cheap. Where this is not the case they are stopped up, ia
-winter only, with moss and rags. When the fire is Ughted, the
chimney is closed, and the smoke escapes through the stove-door into
the room. Being Ughter than the cold air, it ascends at first, and
hangs overhead in a thick cloud. But as its mass increases, it gra
dually descends, until there is no standing upright in the room
-without danger of suffocation. As the smoke approaches the floor, so
too do the inmates, first stooping, then- kneeling, sitting, and at last
lying prone._ If the smoke threatens quite to reach the ground, they
open the -windows or air-holes, which are not quite level with a
man's head, and the black vapour rushes out. The under part of the
room is thus left free, the prostrate inmates graduaUy rise, and .set
about their occupations in the clear warm. space below. The -first time
I entered one of these dark sooty dens, I was so disgusted with it,
thati should not have hesitated in my choice between a prison andso
horrible an abode. I was, therefore, not a Httle surprised when I
saw the inmates lying on the floor, gossiping quite at their ease, and
bandying about jokes that wiU hardly bear repeating, but which ma
nifested a degree of rairthfulness in these people I had, until then,
thought quite impossible." — Idem. .:

45

CHAPTER VIH.
AN EABTHQC-AKE— LUDICKOnS ANECDOTE— SLEDGrsO — SPORTKiG—DANGEEOCS PAS
SAGE OF THE DSIEPK— THAW; SPKINC-TlME— MANNEKS AND CUSTOMS OP THE
UTTLE KUSSIASS — EASTER HOLIDAYS — THE CLERGY.
That same -winter at 10 p. M. on the 11th of January, we had a
smart shock of earthquake, but which happily did no mischief in that
part ofthe steppes. We were seated at the whist table, when we were
suddenly startled by a loud roUing noise, that seemed rapidly ap
proaching us, and the cards dropped from our hands. The sound
was Uke that of a large hea\ily-laden waggon rattiing over the
pavement. _ Scarcely two seconds after our first surprise the whole
house received a sudden shock, that set all the furniture in motion,
before the idea of an earthquake had occurred to our minds. This
first shock was foUowed by another of longer duration, but less
alarming character; it was like the undulation of the waves when
tiiey are seeking to recover their equilibrium. The whole house
was-fiUed with dismay, except the party in the dra-wing-room;
with us surprise prevailed over fear, and we remained motionless as
statues, whilst every one else was running out of doors. The earth
quake, of which mention has been made in several journals, gave
occasion to a ludicrous story that was related to us some days after.
One of the general's peasants, an -old feUow whose conscience was
no doubt burthened -with some weighty sin, imagined when he felt
his house dancing Uke a boat on the waves, that the devil in person
was corae to bid him prepare to accompany him to the bottomless
pit -Tearing out his hair "by the roots, bawUng, roaring, and
crossing himself, he begins to confess his sins ' aloud, and gives him
self up to the most violent terror and despair. His -wife, who was
no less alarmed, accused her husband of aU sorts of wickedness;
the husband retorted on the -wife, and the whole night was passed
in unspeakable confusion. The day dawned, but brought no comfort
to the unfortunate sinner, whose spirits were aU in a ferment, Uke
new wine. FuUy assured that the devil would soon come and lay
his claws on him, he had no thought of going to his daily work.
His wife . was equaUy regardless of her household cares ; what was
the use of her preparing the porridge, when she and her husband
were .sure of breakfasting with Lucifer ? So there they sat, waiting
the fatal moment, -with an anxiety that would have' petrified them
at last, but for an unexpected incident. AU the other peasants,.
probably having less on their consciences, had been a-field since
dawn. "The head man of the -sillage missed Petrovitch and his wife;
he waited for them some hours, and at last bent his steps towards
their cabin, calculatin'g as he went how many stripes of the knout
he should administer to them for their unpardonable neglect of duty>
He steps in, but no one seems to notice his presence. Petrontch sit-a

1

46 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
huddled together in a comer, staring before him with glassy eyes;
whilst his wife, on her. knees before a. picture of St. Nicholas, never
for a moment interrupts her crossings and lamentations. "HaUoI
what's all this?" cries, the overseer, "have, you lost your wits, and
don't you, know that yoa ought to have been at work hours ago?"
" Oh Ivan Ivanovitch, it's all over; I shaU never work again:"
"Not work again, wont you ? we shaU see. Come, start, booby!"
And down comes the knout on the back of the peasant, who receives
the blows with the raost stoical composure. " O beat me if you'
like; it's all the same. . What signify a few blows more, or less, when.
a body is going to be roasted -with the fiends?" " What on earth do
you mean? " 'said the puzzled overseer; "what has happened to yotL
to make you talk such nonsense?" "Nonsense here, or nonsense'
¦ there,. I have had a warning in the night." Ivan no-wrecoUected the^
earthquake, and suspecting he. had found a clue to the raystery
burst into a hearty fit of laughter. " Oh, you may laugh; butyou-
dbn't know that Lam a. great sinner; and that' the devil came- lasfc-
night to claim my soul.'" After amusing himself sufficiently -witt
the man's teiTors, the overseer had the utmostdifficulty in convincing
him that all' the other houses had been shaken like his own, andthat
the devil had nothing to do \nth. the matter.
Sledge driving is one of the greatest amusements of the RussTair
-winter.- The horses, stimulated by the cold, sweep -with- you ovec
the plain.- -with the most i^ttlesome impetuosity: . In the twiiikling-
of an eye, you have left behind you the whole surface of a frozen
lake, measuring several'-versts in length. It'is a-db-wnright steeple
chase : the keenness of. the air, the rapid' motion, the shouts- of the--
driver urging the -willing steeds, the vast plain that seems to enlarge"
as you- advance, all produce an.intense excitement, and pleasurably-
dispel the torpor caused by the indolent Ufe of the steppes^. We-
frequently crossed' the Dniepr in. this' manner, to drive- about the-
.stareets of Kherson, where aU the fashion of the" neighbourhood ren^
dezvous from noon to two o'clock. It is. an exercise which has as'
much charm. for the Russians as for foreigners;- the smaUest land
owner, or the lowest clerk in a pubUc office, though he earns but a-
few rubles a year, must Have his sledge' and. his two horses, if he-
starves for it half the year. At the ususd hour you. may reckon more
than a hundred sledges of every form, most of them covered -with
rich rugs and furs, chasing. each other through.the streets, and each-
containmg a gentleman and lady_, and a driver-fiirred from head to-
foot _ This sort of amusement is'- an admirable aid' to coquetry.
Nothmg can be more fascinating than those female figures- wrapped- .
up in pelisses, and with their faces dimly seen' through their-blonde-
veUs; appearing for an instant , and then vanishing into the vaporous^
atmosphere,- followed lay many a tender glance;
_ T must say a few words as to the field sports ofthe -steppes
bhootmg parties use a very Ibng low carriage caUed a dolgicshka,
and accommodating more^ than fifteen persons' seated back- to back.

THAW Oir THE- DNIEPK.. 47"
Thefeet rest on a.board on. each, side about a footfronr the ground-
Behind the driver is a lai'ge boxfor holding pro-visions and all the'
accoutrements of the sportsmen.; and the game is received in another
box fixed at the end of the carriage. Nothing can be more conve
nient for country parties.. The dolgushka is dra-wn by four horses
yoked abreast; birds are rauch less afraid of it than of a man on
foot, and come near enough to aUow the sportsman to shoot without.
alighting. Parties- often amounting to many hundreds, both nobles
and peasants, assemble for the- pursuit of wolves, foxes, and hare?..
The usual scene of these himts is a desert island belonging to General
Potier. They begin by a general beating of the steppes, whereupon
the wild animals, cross the ice to the Uttie island,, thinking to be safe
tiiere from, the, balls of their pursuers;; but their retreat is soon in
vaded.- The himters- form a circle round the island,, and then begins?
aslaughter that, for some time, clears the country of those sheep de
vourers.. Two or. three battues- of this kind take place every- year;.
chiefly -for the. purpose of destroying the wolves. that come in flocks;
and carry dismay- into, the sheep-folds: - ¦ -
Among the peculiarities presented by the plains of the Black Seav-
I must not omitto, mention theextensive conflagrations- that regularly
take-place- in -winter, andremind one of the scenes-witnessed by many
teavellers in.the.prairieaof America.. In Russia, .it is ;theinhabitant3i
themselves- who setfireto thesteppes, thinking that by thus clearing;
away the -withered herbage from.the surfaeef.they favour the growth:-
oftho' new-grass-... But.the flames beingoften driven by the winds?
iitall directions, and over, immense surfaces;, no-wand then occasionl'
great disasters; and there have: been. instances;iir which sheep-foldst
and whole.flocks.have been, consumed.
The thawbegins on the Dniepr,-.about the end. of March. Itis;
preceded by dull cracklings and.muffied sounds; giving token thatf
the river.is awakening from its long icy sleep, audris about: to burst:
it3;prisoni AU,. communication, between the farms: and.Kherson-is'^
interrupted forraore than six.weeks; ;posts of Cossacks stationed along*
the banks, give notice: ot the danger of crossings but as the terape-
rature is- continuaUy changing at that season, the final.break-up does
not take; place fbr ^ long whUe., ^- ¦
At. the beginning of the thawwe persisted in going-to:Kher3on-,.in:
opposition to all. ad vice.. 'Whercwe- came to the banks ofthe Dniepr
andinanifested:our.intention of'crossing, all the boatmen stared at us-
imamazement, andnotone of them would let us: hire hisr sledge^ Wer
were-.therefore abouttogiveupour;project,.wheni.we_sa-srtwo or-three'
gentlemen coming-towards us on Jbot across -theDnieprjibUowedbyi
am empty sledge: Theytold. us thatthe rivecTvas partiaUy-dearof ice;
opposite;. Kherson-, aid. that it; would be extremely^ ^ngerouff- tor
attempt crossingj iii a. sledge: They had left Kherson:2t:sixrin:tiie'
morning, (it waa-themten) and hadbeen;aL.that:time^iengaged;.in:
effecting: there passage.. They -united.with the boatmen in: dissuading
usifrom. undertaking, such a joumey, the,, dangerof which was no-wr

,48 ' THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
the greater, inasrauch as the sun had acquired much power since the
morning; but all was of no avail; their sledge which they placed.at
our disposal decided the business, and we embarked gaily, preceded
by a boatman, whom our example had encouraged, and who was to
sound the ice before us. A glo-wing sun streamed over the vast
sheet of ice, raising from it a bluish vapour, which the driver and
the guide watched Avith Uvely anxiety. Notwithstanding their looks
of uneasiness we pushed on rapidly, and the boatman was oftener on
the sledge than in advance of it. By and by, ho-wever, the sounds
of cracking ice gro-wing more and more frequent, rather cast a gloom
over our imaginations, ancl made us begin to fear that we should meet
with more serious obstacles frirther on. We saw the ice melting in
¦some degree beneath the rays of the sun, and graduaUy parting from
the shores of the islands we were coastrog ; and what still more aug
mented our uneasiness, was the elasticity of the ice, which bent very
¦visibly under the motion of our sledge. Its gradual rise and fall
seenied Uke the" breathing of the river, becoming more and more
distinct as the ice diminished in thickness. As our guide stiU con
tinued. to advance, we had no other course than to foUow him, and
so we carae to an arm of the Dniepr, which is much dreaded on
account of its current, the rapidity of which does not aUow the ice
to acquire much soUdity even in the most intense frosts. We all
proceeded to cross it on foot, each manoeuvering as best he could on
a surface as smooth as a mirror. At last, not-withstanding our zigzags,
our tumbles, and the spUtting ofthe ice, we found ourselves safe
over the perilous passage, very much deUghted at having escaped
so well, and at feeling soUd ground under our feet. We had then
more than two versts to travel over an island, before we came to the
branch of the river opposite Kherson. With the utmost confidence,
then, we seated ourselves once more in the sledge, and bounded
away at fuU speed over a soft surface of snow melting rapidly in the
sun. But it is always when the mind is most at ease, that accidents
seem to take a maUcious pleasure in surprising us. A ¦wide crevice,
which the driver had not time to avoid, suddenly ya^wned athwart
our course; the sledge was immediately upset, "and we were all
pitched out. My husband, who was seated on the top of the bag
gage, was quite stunned by the blow; the driver and the guide, who
were thrown a considerable distance fi-om the sledge, remained
motionless like-wise; and as for me, I found myself roUed up in my
pelisse in the middle of a bush. When I cast a look on my com
panions in misfortime,.they were beginning to stir and to feel them
selves aU over. They -seemed in no hurry to get up, and they cut
such piteous figures, that I could not help laughing most heartily.
Notwithstanding our bruises we were soon on our legs, -with tbe
certainty that none of our bones were broken. The driver limped
back to his seat, in great amazement at not receiving a severe castl-
gation for his awkwardness. Had this mishap occurred to Russians,
the poor feUow would not have escaped with less than a sound

THE KUSSIAN SPBING. 49
drubbing. We were more magnanimous, and imputed wholly to
fortune an accident which, indeed, could not easily have been avoided.-^
Our joumey continued -without much to alarm us, tmtil we were
just about to commit ourselves to the wide arm of the Dniepr, that
stiU lay between us and the town. Its surface presented an appear
ance that was reaUy frightful. Enormous banks of ice were begin
ning to move, and had already left a great part of the river exposed.
Besides this, the ice that stiU remained fixed, was so intersected
-with clefts, that we could not advance -without serious danger. Our
position was becoming more and raore critical, and we were thinking
of returning to the island we had just left, and waiting .until a boat
could take us across to Kherson; but as there would probably have
been as much risk in returning as in proceeding, we continued our
route but -with the utmost caution. The first glow of exulting boldness
•was over, and we sorely regretted our temerity. The floor that
separated us from the waters seemed so treacherous, that we every
moment despaired of escape. This state of perplexity lasted more
than an hour; but at last we reached the vessels that were ice-
locked at some distance from the harbour. We were now in safety,
and we finished our perilous expedition in a boat. .¦
Two days, afterwards a southerly -wind had alraost completely
swept away the imraense sheet of ice that for so raany months had
imprisoned the waters of the Dniepr. The thaw took place so
rapidly, that the river was free before anyone could have noted
the progress of its deUverance. In eight days there was not a
vestige of ice, and we returned to Clarofka, without experiencing
any of the emotions we had felt on our first rash and picturesque
expedition. ^ But this mild weather, very unusual in the month of
March, soon gave place to sharp frosts, which renewed the -winter
mantle of the Dniepr, and did not entirely cease until the beginning
of April. At this season the steppes begin to be clothed -with a
magnificent vegetation, and in a few days they have the appearance
of a boundless meadow, fidl of thyme, hyacinths, tuUps, pinks, and
an infinity of other wUd flowers of great sweetness and beauty.
Thousands of larks nestle in the grass, and carol everywhere over
the traveUer's head. The sea, too, partakes in the common gladness
of the general season. Its sheUs are more beautiful and more nu
merous; its hues are more varied, and its murmurs gentler Plants
and animals seem all in haste to Uve and reproduce their kind, as
if they foresaw the brief duration of these pleasant days. Elsewhere,
sumraer is often but a continuation of spnng; fresh blossoms come
forth, and nature retains her vital power for a long period; ,but
here a fortnight or three weeks are enough to change the vernal
freshness of the landscape into a sun-bumt waste. In all these
countries there are reaUy but two seasons; you pass from intense
cold to a Senegal heat; -without the body having time to accustom
itself to this sudden change of temperature. ^ The sea-breezes alone
-. . " - ¦ E •"''- :¦¦: -" - :

^0 THE STEPPES ,0P THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
make it possible to endure the heat which in July and August
ahnost always amounts to 94° or 95'^.:
The thing to 'which the stranger finds it most difficult to accustom
his eyes in Russia, is the horrible sheep-skins in which men, women,
- and children are muffled at aU times of the year. These half-tanned
skins, which are worn with the wool inwards, give them a savage
appearance, which is increased in the men by the long beard and
- moustaches they invariably wear. Yet there are handsome faces to
be - seen among the Russian peasants, and in this respect Nature has
been much more Uberal to the men than to the women, who aregene-
raUy very ugly. The dress of the latter consists in a shift -with wide
.sleeves, fitting tight round the throat, and trirnraed with coloured
.cotton, and a petticoat fastened below the bosom. Instead of a
petticoat, girls commonly wear a piece of wooUen stuff, which laps
across in front, without forming a single plait, and is fastened by
.a long, narrow scarf, embroidered at the ends. Their legs are
quite bare, and any rather sudden movement may open their sln-
. gidar garraent more than is consistent ^with decorum. On hoUdays
rtheyaddto their . ordinary attire a large muslin cap, and an apron
of the same material, adoriied ¦with a ¦wide flounce. Their hair is
tied up with ribands, into t^wo tresses, that faU .on tiieir shoulders,
or are twisted into a crown on the top of the head. "When they
marry," they cease to wear their hair uncovered; a handkerchief of
a glaring colour is then their usual head-dress. We are now speddng
only of the women of Little Russia; but those of Great Russia
retain the national costume caUed serafine, which is very pictur
esque, and is still worn at court on special occasions.
; - The women of- Little Russia, accustomed to field labour from their
childhood, and usuaUy marrying at the age of fifteen or sixteen, are
:old before they have reached their thirtieth year; indeed, one can
-hardly say when they cease to be young, since they never exhibit
the blpom of youth. Whether a Russian woman's age be fifteen,
twenty, or thii-ty, it is aU one in the end. Immediately after child
hood, her Umbs ai-e as mascuUne, her features as hard, her skin as
.tanned, and her voice as rough as at a more advanced age. So
much ha3_ been -written about the relaxed morals and the drunken
ness of the. Russian peasants, that we need not dweU on the subject
We shaU only say that their deplorable passion for' strong Uquors, is
continually on the increase, and that most of the young women are
as much addicted to them as the old. It frequently happens tiiat
a peasant and his wife go on Sunday to a Itabak, drench them
selves vrith brandy, and on their way back feU dead drunk into
some guUy, where they pass the^vhole night without -being awaxe
of their change of domicile.
A fondness for dancing is another distinguishing characteristic of
this people. You often see a party -of botii sexes assemble after
work, andcontinue dancing aU the evening. The Ruthenians are
remarkable for. their gaiety and extreme indifference to worldly.'-

THE ErS3:^N CliERGT. . . . 51
cares. Leaving to their masters the whole trouble of providing for
their lodging and maintenance, they never concern themselves
about the future. Their tasks once ended, they think only of re
pose, and seldom entertain ary idea of working for themselves.
" When you pass through their yiUages, you never see the peasants
busy in repairing their hedges", cultivating their gardens, mending
their implements, or doing any tiling else that' bespeaks any reo-:ird.
for domestic comforts. No -^the Russian works only because he is
forced to do so; -when he returns from his labour, liestretclies hiraself
-out to sleep on his stove, or goes and gets drunk at the next kaljnk.
,A curious custom I have noticed la Soutliem Russia, and which is
-.common to aU classes, is that of .che-wing the seeds of the melon or
the sunflower, from moming till night. In order to " indulge this
iaste, every one dries 'in the sun the seeds bf aU. .the melons he eats
-during the summer, and puts by his stotk for the -\vinter. I have
Been many wives of pometchihs (land-owners) pass their whole day
tin indulging this queer appetite. .
In Russia, as in aU imperfectly civiUsed -countries, reUgious cere-
Tnonies still retain aU 'their ancient influence. They afford the pea
sant a season of pleasure and emancipation, that makes him for a
^noraent forget his thraldom, to revel in intoxication; EuU of super
stition, and indolent to an extreme degree, he longs impatien'dy
-for.the interval of relaxation- that aUows him to indulge his favourite
-propensities. Por him the whole sum and substance of every re-
-llgious festival consists in cessation from, toil, and in outward prac
tices of devotion that bear a strong impress of .gross idolatry. The
Husslan thinks he perfectly understands and fulfils his rellgioii, if
¦he makes innumerable signs of the cross and g'enuflections before
the smoky picture that adorns his isbas, and scrupulously observes
those two commandments of the Church, to fast and make lenten
fare. His conscience is then quite at ease, even though it should'
¦ be burdened with the most atrocious crimes. Theft, drunkenness,
and even murder, excite in him much less horror than, the mere idea
of breaking fast or eating animal food on Friday.
Nothing can exceed the depravity of the Russian clergy; and
their ignorance is on a par with their vicious propensities. Most of
the monks and priests pass their Uves in disgraceful intoxication,
that renders them incapable of decently discharging then: reUgious
duties. . The . priestly office is regarded in Russia, not as a sacred
caUino-, but as a means of escaping from slavery and attaining
¦nobUity. The monks, deacons, and priests, that swarm in the
churches and monasteries, are almost aU sons of peasants who have
•entered the Church, tiiat they may no longer be hable to the knout,
and above aU to the misfortune of being made soldiers. But
-'.though thereby acquiring the right to plunder the serfs, and cate
chise them after their o-wn fashion, they cannot efface the stain of
their birth, and they continue to be regarded by the nobility with that
sovereign disdain which the latter profess for aU who axe not sprung
E 2

52 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
from their own caste. The great and the petty nobles are perfectly
agi'eed in this respect, and' it is not uncommon to see a pometshik-
raise his hand to strike a pope, whilst the latter humbly bows hjs
head to receive the chastisement. This resignation, which would
be exemplary if it were to be ascribed to evangelical humUity, is
here but the result of the base and crouching character of the slave,
of which the Russian priest cannot divest himself, even in the midst
of the highest functions of his spiritual Ufe.
¦ The appearance- of the popes provokes equal disgust and aston
ishment. To see those men, whose neglected beards, besotted faces,
and filthy dress, indicate a total want of aU decent self-respect,
it is impossible to persuade oneself that siich persons can be apostles
of the dl-yine word. As usual in the Greek Churchy they are all
married and have large families. You may look in vain in their
dweUings for any indication of their sacred character. A few coarsely-
coloured pictures. of saints, and a few books flung into a comer of
the room, in which the whole femily are huddled together, are the
only marks of the profession exercised by the "master of the house.
As they receive nothiiig frora the state, it is the unfortunate serfi
who must support their estabhshments, and even supply them -with
the means of- indulging their gluttony and drunkenness. It is par
ticularly on the eve of a great Church festival, that the Russian
priest is sure of an abundant harvest of poultry, eggs, and meal.
Easter is the most remarkable of these festivals, and lasts a whole
week. During the preceding seven weeks of Lent, the Russian must
not eat either , eggs, meat, fish, oU, butter, or cheese. His diet
consists only of salted cucumbers, boUed vegetables, and different
kinds of porridge. The fortitude with which he endures so long a
penance, proves the mighty influence which religious ideas possess
o-ver sueh rude minds. During the last few days that precede the
festival, he is not allowed to take any food before sunset, and then it
niay be fairly adoaitted that brandy is a real blessing for him.
It is impossible to imagine aU the discussions that take place
betw-ee4 -the popes and the peasants on these occasions. As the
Russian must then fulfil, his reUgious duties, whether he -wiU or not,
he is at the mercy of the priest, who of course makes him pay as
dearly as he can for absolution, and keeps a regidar tariff, in which
offences and punishments are set down -with minute precision. Thus
for a theft, so many dozens of eggs; ibr breach of a fast, so many
chickens, &c. If tho serf is refractory, the punishment is doubled,
and nothing can save him frora it I'The thought of complaining to
his lord of the j)ope'3 extortionate cupidity never enters his head;
for assuredly, if he -were to adopt such a course, he wovdd think
himself damned to aU eternity.
As long as the hoUdays last, the lords keep open table, and every
one is fi-ee to enter and take part in the banquet. Such was the
practice of the knias (princes) and boyards of old, who lived as
sovereigns in their feudal mansions, and extended their hospitality -

EASTEE PESTI-VITIES. 53
to all strangers, -without distinction of country or Uneage. Many
traveUers allege that this patriarchal custom still prevails in some
families of Great Russia. ¦ But here, except on gala days, most of
the poraetshiks Uve in such a shabby style, as gives but a poor idea
of their means or of their dispositions.
To retum to our Easter holidays: the last week of Lent is em
ployed in making an immense quantity of cakes, buns, and Easter
bread, , and in staining eggs with all sorts of colours. A painter
was brought expressly from Kherson to our entertainer's mansion for
this purpose, and he painted more than 1000 eggs, most of them
adorned with cherubiras, fat-cheeked angels, virgins, and aU the
saints in paradise. The whole farm was turned topsy-turvy, the
work was interrupted, and the steward's authority suspended. Every
one was eager to assist in the preparations for merry making; some
put xip the S-wlngs, Others arranged the ball-room; some were intent
on their devotions, others ¦ half-smothered, themselves in the vapour
baths, which are one ofthe most favoiuite indulgences of .the Russian
people : all in short were busy in one way or other. A man with a
barrel organ had befen engaged for a long while beforehand, and
when he arrived every face beamed -with joy". The Russians are
passionately fond of music. Often in the long summer evenings,
afte'r their tasks are ended, they sit in a circle and sing with a preci
sion and harmony that evince 'a great natural aptitude for musicl ,
Their tunes are very simple and full of melancholy;;" and as their
plaintive strains are heard rising at evening from some lonely spot
in the midst of the desert plain, they often produce' emotions, such
as more scientific compositions do not always awaken. ->¦
At last Easter day was come. In the morning we were greatly
surprised to find our sitting-room filled with mon who were waiting
for us, and were meanwhile refreshing themselves with copiotis
potations of brandy. The evening before we had been sent two ~
bottles of that Uquor, and a large basket of cakes and painted eggs,
but without any intimation of the use they -n'ere to be put to ; but
we at once understood the meaning of this measure, when we saw
all these peasants in their Sunday trim,, and a domestic seiTing out
drink to them, by way I suppose of beguiUng the time iratil we
made our appearance.
¦ The moment my husband entered the room, all those red-bearded
feUows surrounded him, and each -with great gra%ity presented liim
with a painted egg, accompanying the gift with three stout kisses.
In compUance with the custom of the country my husband had to
give each of them an egg in retum, and a glass of brandy, after first
putting it to his o-wn lips. But the ceremony did not end there :
Kooda barinya? kooda barinya? (where is madarae), nadlegit(it must
be so), and so I was forced to corae among them and receive my
share of the eggs and embraces. During all Easter week the peasant
has a right to embrace whomsoever he pleases, not even excepting
the emperor and the empress". This is a relic of the old patriarchal
manners which prevailed so long unaltered all over northern Europe.

54 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
In Russia, particularly, where extreraes meet, the peasant to this day
addresses the czar with thou and thee, and calls him father in speak- ¦
ing to him.
When we had got rid of these queer ¦visiters we repaired to the
parlour, where the morning repast was served up ¦with a. profusion
worthy of the rimes of Pantagruel. In the centre of the table stood
a sucking pig flanked -with smaU hams, German sausages, chitterlings,.
black puddings, and large dishes of gara.e. A magnificent pie con
taining at least a dozen hares, towered Uke a fortress at one end of
the table, and seemed quitecapable of sustaining the most vehement
onslaught of the assailants. The sondag and the sterlet, those choice
fish of Southern Russia, garnished. -with aromatic herbs, betokened
"the vicinity of the sea.' Imagine, in addition to aU these things, aU
sorts of cordial waters, glass vases filled -with preserves', and a mul
titude of sponge cake castles, with their platforms frosted ^ and
heaped with bonbons, and the reader wiU have an idea of the pro
fuse good cheer displayed by the Russian lords on such occasions. .
General. Potier, surrounded by all his household retinue, and by
some other guests, impatiently awaited the arrival ofthe pope, whose:
benediction was an indispensable preliminary, to the banquet. He;
arrived at ten. o'clock precisely, accompanied by a monk, and began
to chant a haUelujah,. walking two orthree tiraes round the table;::
then blessing each dish separately, he concluded by bravely attacking
the sucking pig, to the "best part of which he helped himself. This
was the signal to begin ;¦ every one laid hold on what he Uked -with
out ceremony ; the pie, the hams, and the fish, aU vanished. Por-
¦ more th-an a .quarter of an hour nothing was to be heard but a conti
nual noise of knives and forks, jaws munching, and glasses hobnob
bing. The - pope set a bright example, and his rubicund face fuUy
declared the pleasure he took in fulfilling such functions of his office.
The Russians in general are reraarkable for gluttony, such as ,
perhaps is without a parallel elsewhere. The rudeness of their cUmate-
. and their strong digestive powers would account for this. They make
five meals daily, and those so copious and substantial that one of them
would alone be amply sufficient for an inhabitant of the south.
¦"During the repast achoir of girls stood before the windows. and
sang several national airs in a very pleasing style ; after which they
received the usual gratuity of nuts -with tokens of the UveUest glee.
The Russians are strict observers of aU ancestral customs, and
Easter would be- no Easter for them if it carae without eggs or nuts.
On leaving the breakfast table we proceeded to the place where-.
the sports were held; bnt there I s.^w nothing of that hearty merri
ment that elsewhere accompanies a popular hoUday. The women,
in their best_ attire, climg to the swings, 1 wiU not Sviy gracefuUy,
but very bodily, and in a manner to shame the men, who'found less.
pleasure in lookino- at them than in gorging themselves with brandy
m. their smoky kabaks. ^ Others danced to the sound of the orgam
with cavaUers, whose zigzag rnovements told of plenteous libations.
Some old women nearly dead drunk went frora one group to another

EASTER FESTIVITIES. 55
^smglng obscene songs, and falling here and there in the middle of
the road, without any one thinking of picking them up.
^^ -We noticed on this occasion an essential characteristic of the Rus
sian people. In this scene of universal dmnkenness there was no,
qtiarrelling ; not a blow was struck. Nothing- can rouse the Russians
;from their apathy ; nothing cnn quicken the dull current of their
blood ; they are slaves even in drink.
^- Next day we went to dine with one of the general's neighbours,
who gave us a most sumptuous reception. Before we sat down to
table, we were shown into a small room with a side-board loaded
¦with cold meat, caviar, salted cucumbers, and UqueurSj aU intended
to whet our appetites. This collation, which the Russians caU
sagouska, always precedes their meals ; they are not content with their
natural appetite, but have recourse to stimulants that they may the
better perform their parts at table.
AU the tirae of dinner we were entertained by a choir of forty
young men who sang some fine harmonised pieces, and some
Cossack airs that pleased us rauch. Our entertainer was one of the.
richest landowners in New Russia, and his manner of living partakes
of many of the old national usages. His musicians are slaves taught .
by an Italian long attached to the estabhshment in the capacity of
chapel master. .
-. Such are the' Easter festivities. As the reader will 'perceive, they
consist on the whole in eating and drinking inordinately. Thewhcjle
week is spent in this way, and during all that time, the authority of
the master is almost in abeyance ; the coachman deserts tha stables,
the.cook the kitchen, the housekeeper her store-room ; aU-are drunk,.
aU are merry-making, all are intent on enjoying a season of Uberty
so long anticipated with impatience.
•-The rejoicings in the to-wn are of the same character. The
katchelhii; a sort of fair lasting three days, brings together aU classes-
of society. The nobles and the government servants ride about in
carriages, but the populace amuse themselves just as they do in the
country, only they have the pleasure of getting drank in better
company. " ' .

•;--..- CHAPTER. IX.
EXCUKSION ON THE BANKS 01 THE BNIEPE— DOUTCHETA— -ELBCTIOK- OP THE MAR
SHALS ANI> JUDGES OF THE NOBILITY- AT KHEUSOS— HOESE-BACINO— STEANGB
'STORTIXTHE " JOiiaKAI, DES DEBATS"— A COXJSTKY HOrSE AND IT3 VISITEKS 
.TBATTS Oi- RirsStAS.MAmrEKS— THE WTEE OF TWO HUSBASDS— SE3VASTS— SHTK-
- DEB OE A COUSIERr— AEPENDIX. . ,
We left Clarofka in May, to explore the banks of the Dniepr, and
the shores of the Sea of Azov. The object we had in view was
purely scientific, but the joumey became doubly mterestmg by

56 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
affording us a closer insight into the habits of Russian society, and
the raanner in which noble famiUes live on their estates. I had in
tended to visit Taganrok, but on this occasion I proceeded no fur
ther than Doutchina, the property of a Baroness- de Bervick, who
most hospitably insisted on my remaining -with her whUst my hus
band was continuing- his geological researches in the country of the
Cossacks. Doutchina is situated on the post-road from Kherson to lekate
riuoslav, in a broad ra-nne forraed by a brook that falls into the
Dniepr a little way from the viUage. From the high ground over
which the road passes, the eye suddenly looks down on a beautiful
landscape — -a most welcome surprise for the traveUer who has just
passed over sorae hundred versts of uncultivated plains.
In Russia, traveUing is not, as elsewhere, synonyraous -with seeing
new sights. In vain your troika bears you along with dizzy speed;
in vain you pass hours, days, and nights in posting; stiU you have
before your eyes the same steppe that seeras to lengthen out before
you as you advance, the sarae horizon, the -same cold stem fines,
the same snow or sunshine; and nothing either in the temperature
or the aspect of the ground indicates that you have accompUshed
' any change of place. , , - :
It is only in the vicinity of the great rivers tha.t the country
assumes a different aspect, and the wearied eye at last enjoys the
pleasure of - encountering more Umited horizons, a raore verdant
vegetation, and a landscape more. varied in its outlines. Among
these rivei-s, the Dniepr claims one of the foremost places, from the
length of its course, the volume of its watei-s, and the deep bed
it has excavated for itself athwart the plains of Southern Russia.
But nowhere does it. present more charming views than from the
height I have just mentioned and its vicinity. After having spread
out to the- breadth of nearly a league, it parts into a multitude
of channels, that -wind through forests of oaks, alders, poplars, and
aspens, whose vigorous growth bespeaks the richness of a virgin
soil. The groups of islands capriciously breaking the surface of
the waters, have a melancholy beauty and a priraitive character
scarcely to be seen except in those vast wildernesses where raan has
left no traces of his presence. Nothing in our country at aU re
sembles this kind of landscape. With us, the creature has every
where refashioned the work of the Creator; the mark of his hand
appears even on the most inaccessible mountains; whereas, in Russia,
where the nobles are the sole proprietors, nature stiU remains, in
many places, just as God created it. Thus these plavniks* ofthe
Dniepr, seldom touched by the woodman's axe, have aU the -wild
majesty of the forests of the new world. For some time after
my arrival at Doutchina, I found an endless source of delight in
• The name applied collectiTely to the islands and channels formed by all the
great nrers of Southern Eussia. ^ '

THE ELECTIONS I>f KHERSON. 57
contemplating those majestic scenes, Ughted by a pale sky, and
veiled in Ught mists, that gave them a tinge of sadness, some
tiraes more pleasing than the glare of noon.
CDoutchina, situated, as I have said, on a ledge of a ravine that
ends in the plavniks, is altogether unUke the other -villages of
Russia. Its pretty cottages, separated by gardens and groups of
fruit-trees, its picturesque site and magnificent environs, strilangly
remind one of the Danube, near Vienna. The whole country,
as far as one can see frora the highest point of the road, belongs
to the Baroness of Bervick, and forms one of the most valuable
estates in the neighbourhood. But her residence is strangely un-
siuted to her fortune, being a mere cabin, open to every wind,
and fit, at most, for a sporting lodge. As we looked on tliis
shabby abode, we were amazed that a wealthy lady, still young
and handsome, should be content to inhabit it, and to endure a
multitude of privations, which we should have thought intolerable
to a person of her station. At the time we becarae this lady's
guest, she had left France about eighteen months, to reside on
this property, bequeathed to her by her late husband.
Some days after my husband's departure we set out for Kherson,
where the elections of the raarshals and judges of the nobility were
soon to take place. All the great faraiUes of -the governraent of
Kherson, were already assembled in the tpwn, and gave it an ap
pearance of animation to which it had long been a stranger. These
elections, which take place only every three years, are occasions
for balls and parties, to which the pometchiks and their wives .
look forward with eager anticipation. For more than a fortnight
the town is thronged -with officers of aU ranks, and elegant equipages
-with four horses, that give the streets and promenades an unususdly
gay appearance. The Russians spare no expense on these occasions
of display. Many a petty proprietor's wife, who Uves aU the year
on hash* and dried fish, contrives at this period to outdo the ladies
of the town in costly finery.
The amuseraents began with a horse-race, which made sorae noise
in the world in consequence of an article in the Journal des Debuts.
Those who have any curiosity to know how one may mystify a
newspaper, and arause oneself at the expense of a credulous pubUc,
have but to read a certain number of the year 1838, which posi
tively alleges, that forty ladies, headed by the young and beautiful _.
Narishkin, appeared on the course as jockeys, rode their o-wn horses,
&c., and a thousand other things stiU more absurd and incredible. :
AU I can say of this race, at which I was present, is, that it was like
every other affair of the kind, and was not distinguished by any
remarkable incident or roniantic adventure. Eight horses started,
one of which belonged to the Countess Voronzof and another to
General Narishkin, and the riders were not lovely ladies, but rather
• A fOTourite Eussian dish, a sort of iwrridge of buck-wheat or Indian cora.'}

58' THE STEPPES OE THE CASPIAN SEA,. &C.
clumsy grooms. The first prize, a larger silver cup worth 1 500
rubleSr was^ ¦won by the Countess Voronzofs Atalantar, the second
was carried off by the general's horse. Such is the way in which.
these things al-ways end,, and the consequence may very likely be,
that the races -will cease altogether. The lando^wners know very
weU that their horses stand no chance against those belonging to
great people, and as they are sure of being beaten they wiU at last
grow tired of the mock contest. The Countess Voronzof ought to.
consider that these races are not merely an amusement, but that they
were instituted for the purpose of encouraging the improvement of
the breed of horses. _ .
, After tha race there was a grand dinner at the general com.-
mandant's, which was- attended by aU the rank and fashion then
assembled in Kherson. It was at this dinner I first reraarked the:
custom- observed by the Russians of placing the gentlemen, on one
side of the table and the ladies on the other, a custom both un
sightly and injurious to conversation. It has almost faUen into
disuse in Odessa, Uke aU the other nationaL practices;: but in the-
provincial towns it wonld stiU. be thought a deadly insult to a lady?
to help her after a gentieman, and no doubt it is in: order to avoid
such a breadi. pf poUteness that the ladiea. are aU. ranged, together
iir one ro-w.^- :• • - • - .
The nobiUty of the district gave a grand ball that evening in one
of the club-rooms, and. there I noticed.- aU the contrasts that fonrc
the ground- wort of Russian manners. The mixture of refinement
and barbarism, of gaUantry and grossness,. which this people exhibits
on aU occasions,- sho-ws how young- it still. is in. civilisation. Here
were officers -in. splendid tmiforras and ladies blazing with diamonds,.
dancing - and playing cards in a very ugly roora with old patched
and plastered walls, dimly Ughted by a few shabby laraps,. and. they
were as intent on their pleasures as if they were in a. court drawing-
room, and never seemed to think, that there was any thing at aU
offensive to the sight in the accommodations around thenu The
refreshments, consisting- of dried fruits and ea2t sucrce, T.-ere in as
much demand as the best: ices and sherbets could hava been. The
same inconsistency was displayed in the behaviour of the gentlemen
towards the ladies.. Though . ready, Uke the Poles, to drink- every
man of, them to his fancy'a queen out of the heel of her shoe,, they
did not think it unbecoming to take their places alone in the quad
rilles, neither tronbUng themselves to go in search of theurpartners
.nor escorting them backrto their seats after the. dance. Settmg-
aside, however, this total-want of tact, they perfectiy imitate aU.the-
outward shows and forms of poUteness. ; ¦..
. A-final-baU, given by the governor at the conclusion of the elec
tion,, was much more brilUant than those of the noblesse, and satia-
- fied my critical eye in every respect. Everything testified the taste
; and 'opulence of our entertainer.. -Al splendid, supper was served up
-' at midnight,, and a chorus o£ young lads, sang some national airs>

A COUNTRY HOUSE AND ITS VISITERS. 59"
fuU of that grave and melancholy sweetness that constitutes the
charm of Russian rausic. "When the champagne was sent round the
governor rose and raade a speech in Russian, which was responded
to by a general hurrah : the healths of the emperor, the empress,
and the rest of the imperial family, were then drank with shouts of
joy; the married ladies Avere next toasted, then the unmarried, who
were cheered -with frantic acclamations. These duties being accom
pUshed, the company returned to the ball-room, where dancing was
kept up until moming. This entertainment was perfect in its kind;-
but, in accordance with the national habits, it was destined to end
in an orgie. We learned the next day that the dawn had found the
gentlemen eating, drinking, and fighting lustily. It was reckoned
that 150 bottles of champagne were emptied on this occasion, and
as the price of each bottle is eighteen fiancs, the reader may hence
form sorae idea of Russian profusion.
Two days afterwards we left Kherson for the country seat of the-
marshal of the nobles, where a large party was already assembled.
The manner in which hospitaUty is exercised in Russia is veiy con—
¦venient, and entails no great outlay in the matter of upholstery.
Those who receive ¦visiters give themselves -very little concern as to
whether their guests are weU or ill lodged, pro^vided they Can offer
them a good table; it never occurs to them that a good "bed, and a
room pro-vided ¦with sorae articles of furniture, are to some persons-
quite as acceptable as a good dinner. ¦ Whatever has no reference to
the comfort of the stomach, Ues beyond the range of Russian poUte
ness, and the stranger must make up his accoimt accordingly. As we
were the last comers, we fared very queerly in pointof lodging, being
thrust four or five of us into one room, with no other furniture than
two miserable bedsteads; and there we were left to shift for ourselves
as we could. The house is very handsome in appearance ; but for all
its portico, its terrace, and its grand halls, it only contains two or
three rooms for reception, and a few garrets, graced ¦with the name
of bedrooms, (pstentation is inherent in the Russian character, but
it abounds especially among the petty nobles, who lavish away their
whole income iu outward'show. They raust have equipages with
four horses, blUiard-rooms, grand dra-wing-rooms, pianos, &c. .And
if they can procure aU these superfluities, they are quite content t>
Uve on mujik's fare, and to sleep in beds without any thing in the-
shape of sheets. > ' ' "¦
i Articles of furniture, the most indispensable, are totaUy unknowa
in the dwelUngs of most ofthe second-rate nobles. Notwithstanding
the vaunted progress of Russian civilisation, it is almost irapossible-
to find a basin and ewer in a bedroom. Bedsteads- are almost as-
great rarities, and almost invariably you have nothing but a divan.
on which you may pass the night. You raay deem- yourself singu
larly fortunate if the mistress ofthe mansion thinks of sending yoir
a blanket and a pdlow,- but this is so unusual a piece of good luckr
that you must never reckon upon it In their o-wn peraons the-

60 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &G.
Russians set an example of truly Spartan habits, as I had many op
portunities of percei-ving during my stay in the marshal's house. No
one, the marshal himself not excepted, had a private chamber; his
eldest daughter, though a very elegant and charming young lady,
lay on the floor, wrapped up in a cloak Uke an old veteran. His wife,
-with three or four young children, passed the night in a closet that
served as boudoir by day, and he himself made his bed on one ofthe
divans of the grand saloon. As for flje visiters, some slept on the biUiard-
table; others, Ul?:e ourselves, scrambled for a few paltry stump bed
steads, whilst the most philosophical wore away the night in drink
ing and gambUng.
I say nothing as to the manner in which the domestic servants are
lodged; a good guess as to this matterrmay be easily raade from 'what
I have just said of their raasters. - Besides, it is a settled point in
Russia never to take any heed for servants; they eat, drink, and sleep,
how and where they can, and their masters never think of asking a
word about the matter.^ The family whose guests we were was very-
large, and furnished us with themes for raany a reraark on the na
tional usages, and the nbtloijs respecting education that are in vogue
in the empire. ; A Swiss governess is an indispensable piece of fur
niture in every house in which there are many children. She must
teach thera to read, write, and speak French, and play a fe.wmazui'kas
on the piano. No more is required of her; for solid instruction is a
thing almost unknown among the petty nobles". A girl of fifteen
has completed her education if she can do the honours of the draw
ing-room, and warble a few French^roraances. Yet I have raet with
several exceptions to this rule, foremost among which I must note
our host's pretty daughter Loubinka, who, thanks to a sound under
standing and quick apprehension, has acquired such a stock of in
formation as very few Russian ladies possess.
,-¦ .It is only among those famiUes that constantiy reside on their estates
that we StiU find in fuU -vigour, all those prejudices, superstitions, and
usages of old Russia, that are handed down as heir-looms from gene--
ration to generation, and keep strong hold on aU the rustic nobiUty.
No people are more superstitious than the Russians ; the sif^ht of two
crossed forks, or of a salt-cellar upset, wiU- make them turn pale and
tremble -with terror. There are imlucky days on which nothing
could induce them to set out on a joumey or begin any business.
Monday especially is marked with a red cross in their calendar, and
woe to the man who would dai-e to brave its maUgn influence^
i. Among the Russian customs most sedulously preserved-is^that of
mutual salutations after meals. Nothing can be more ^musinV than
to see all the persons round the table bowing right and-left' with a
gravity that proves the importance they attach to a forraaUty so sin
gular in -our eyes. The children set the example by respectfully
kissing the hands of their parents^ In aU social meetings etiquette
peremptorily requires that the young ladies, instead of sitting in the
dra-wing-room, shaU remain by themselves in an adjoining apartment,-

THE "WIFE OF TWO HUSBANDS. 61
and not allow any young man to approach them. If there is dancing
the gravest matron in the company goes and brings them almost by
force into the baU-roora. Once there they may indulge their youth
ful -vivacity -without restraint ; but on no pretext are they to
•withdraw from beneath the eyes of their mothers or chaperons. It
would be ruinous to a young lady's reputation to be caught in a tete-
a-tete -with a young man -witliin two steps of the baU-roora. But
aU this prudery extends no- fiirther than outward forms, audit would
be a grand mistake to suppose that there is more moraUty in Russia
than elsewhere. Genuine virtue, such as is based on sound. prin
ciples and an enUghtened education is not very common there.
Young girls are jealously guarded, because the practice is in accord
ance with the general habits and feelings of the country, and little
reUance is placed in their own sense of propriety. But once married,
they acquire the right of conducting theraselves as they please, and
the husband would find it a hard matter to control their actions.
Though divorces are almost impossible to obtain, it does not foUow
that all -wives remain -with their husbands ; on the contrary, nothing
is more common than amicable arrangements between married people
to -wink at each other's peccadiUoes ; snch conventions excite no
scandal, and do not exclude the -wife from society. One of these di
vorces I ¦wiU mention, which is perhaps ¦without a parallel in the
annals of the ci-viUs^- world.
A very pretty and sprightiy young PoUsh lady was married to a
man of great wealth, but much older than herself, and a thorough
Muscovite, in coarseness of character and habits. After two or three
years spent in -wrangUng and plaguing each other, the iU-assorted
pair resolved to travel, in the hopes of escaping the intolerable sort of
Ufe they led at home. A residence in Italy, the chosen land of in
trigues and iUicit amours, soon settied the case. -The young wife
eloped with an ItaUan nobleman, whose passion ere long grew so in
tense that nothing would satisfy him short of a legal sanction of their
union. Divorces, as every one knows, are easily obtained in the pope's
dominions. Mada^me de K. had therefore no difficulty in causing her
raarriasre to be annulled, especiaUy ¦with the help of her lord and
master, who, for the first time since they had come together, agreed
•with her, heart and soid. Every thing was promptly arranged, and
Monsieur carried his complaisance so far as to be present as an official
•witness at Madame' s Avedding, doubtless for the purpose of thoroughly
making sure of its vaUdity. Three or four children were the fruit
of this new union ; but the lady's happiness Was of short duration.
Her doraestic peace was destroyed by the intrigues of her second
husband's family ; perhaps, too, the Italian's love had cooled ; be
this as it may, after some months of miserable struggles _ and humih-
ations, sentenceof separation was finaUy pronounced against her, and
she found herself suddenly without fortune or protector, burdened
with a young family, and weighed do-wn with fearful anticipations
of the future. Her first step was to leave a country where such cruel

62 THE STEPJPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
calaraities had befaUen her, and to return to Podolia, the land of her
birth. Hitherto her story is like hundreds of others, -and I should
not have thought of narrating it had it ended there ; but what
almost surpasses belief, and gives it a starap of originaUty altogether
out ofthe common line, is the conduct of her first husband when he
heard of her return. That brutal, inconstant man, who had trampled
on aU social decencies in^attending at the marriage of his wife -with
another, did all" in his power to induce her to retum to his house. .
-By dint of unwearied efforts and entreaties he succeeded in over
coming her scruples, and bore her home in triumph along with her
children by tiie Italian, on whora he settled part of his .fortune.
From that time forth the most perfect harraony subsists between the
pair, and seems Ukely long to continue. .1 saw a letter -written \>y
the lady two or three months after her return beneath the conjugal
xoof ; it breathed the UveUest gratitude and the fondest affectionfor
Jiim whom die called her beloved liusband.)
Ihe Rusaans pique themselves greatiy on having a large retinue
of servants; the smallest proprietor never keeps fewer than five or
' six ; yet this does not prevent their houses from being, -without ex
ception, disgustingly dirty. Except the state-rooms, which the
servants make a show of cleaning, all the rest of the house is leftin
a state of filth beyond description. The condition of these domestic
servants, is rauch less pitiable than one would . suppose ; they are so
numerous that they have hardly any thing to do, and spend half the
day in sleeping. The canings they receive from time to time do not
^t aU mffle their good humour. It is true tiiey fare horribly as to
-victuals, and have no. other bed than, the bare ground; but thehr
¦robust constitutions enable them easily to endure the greatest priva
tions, and if they have salted cucumbers, arbutus berries, and hash,
:they scarcely envy their masters their more nutritious viands.
After some ten days spent very agreeably in the house of the
jnarshal of the nobles, we at last set out on our return for Doutchina,
where my husband was soon to meet us again. On arri-ving at the
third post-station, we were surprised to find the house fiUed ¦with
Cossacks and poUce-officers» Neither postmaster, horses, nor coach
men, were to be seen, and it was plain some extraordinary event had
taken place. We were presently informed that a murder had been
-committed two days befiare, at a ¦very short distance from the station,
on the person of a courier,-who had a sum of 40,000 mbles in his
charge. - The following are the details communicated to us on the
subject. A courier arrived at the post-station in the evening, having
-with him a smaU vaUse containing a considerable amount of property.
He drank a -few glasses of brandy with the postmaster before he re-
^ed his joumey, and told him he was not going further than
JKherson, and would i-etum that way next day.
That same ni^ht some peasants found a deserted carriage on the .
^highway, near Kheraon, and were soon satisfied on examining it, ¦
-that a cnme had been committed in it. Several pieces of silver coin

A COURIER MUEDEEED. 63
were scattered in the straw, as if some one had forgotten them there
in his haste, and copious marks of blood were discernible on ths
ground and in the carriage. These facts were communicated to the
poUce, inquiries ¦were instituted, and the courier's body, with, a deep
gash iu ,the head, was foimd in a ditch two or three versts from the
station. The chiver had disappeared, and the postmaster, an unfor
tunate Jew, -who was perhaps innocent of aU participation in the
crime, was immediately taken to prison. Such was the state ofthe
case when we arrived at the station and found it all in confusion, and
.fiUed with Cossacks.
This tragic event threw the whole country into agitation, but it
•was not untd six weeks afterwards thatthe poUceatlast succeeded in
arresting the perpetrator of the deed, in consequence of quite new-
information, which gave a stUl stranger complexion to the whole
:story. By the murdeyer's own statement, it appeared that he be
longed to a family of shop-keepers, and that he had given up his
business only to execute a long cherished project. Some months
before the murder he had gone into the Crimea, where he iad
• taken pains to' concealhis identity and baffl.e any attempt to track his
steps, by letting his beard grow, adopting the habits and appearance
of a mujik, and frequently changing his place of abode. When he
-tiiought his measures complete in this respect, he w^ht and hired hlra-
self as postilUon to .the Jew, who kept the post-station before
mentioned. He had been waiting more than a month for a favourable
opportunity, when the unfortunate courier, .who was his victim,
arrived. He confessed he had hesitated for. some moraents before
committing the murder, not frora horror of the de^d itself, but
because he recognised in the courier an old companion ofhis boyhood.
Twice, perceiving that the man was asleep, he had left his seat and
got up behind the carriage -with the intention of knocking, him on
- the head ; but t-wice his courage failed him ; the third time,
however, he drew the courier's own sabre and cleft.his skull with it
at a blow. Ha-ving secured the vaUse, he threw the corpse into a
ditch, and continued his joumey to -within a short distance of Kher
son, where he left the Hbitka, changed his dress, cut ojffhis beard,
.and then entered the city on foot. His family received. him without
the least suspicion, never doubting but that he carae_ straight from
the Crimea, and for more than six weeks he Uved quite at his ease,
..making Uke every body else numberless conjectures respecting the
.event which, was the constant theme of conversation. ,. MeanwhUe,
:se-veral persons having been struck by the resemblance ofhis features
'to those ofthe postiUion who had disappeared, they put the poUce on
the alert, and he was arrested just as he was setting out for Bessarabia.
He was condemned to a hundred strokes ofthe knout, and the post
master was' sent to Siberia. The children of the latter were enroUed
. as solcUers, and all he was worth became the booty of the poUce..
With such penal laws, Russia has Uttie to fear from: malefactors.
INotwithstanding its vast extent and its thinly scattered population,

THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
traveUer is safer there than in any other country. But this
! of things is to be ascribed rather to the poUtical situation of
the "people, than to the strict administration of the poUce, and it is
easy to conceive that in a country, in which there are none but slaves
bound to the soil, highway robberies, generaUy speaking, are
morally impossible, because they can scarcely ever yield any gain to
their authors. There existed, nevertheless, Lu Bessarabia, from 1832
to 1836, a very formidable gang of robbers, of which the poUce
found it extremely difficult to rid the countiy. The captain, of
•whom a thousand extraordinary tales are told, was a revolted slave,
unconsciously playing the part of Fra Diavolo, in a corner of
Russia. He waged war not against indi-yiduals, but against society.
It is aUeged, that he never kiUed any one, and that man;^ a peasant
found with him an asylum and protection. He was a daring feUow,
beloved by his gang, and a mercUess plimderer of landlords, and
above all of Jews. It was not until the close of 1836 that he was
taken, through the treachery of a girl he was attached to, who
betrayed him to the officers of justice. He died under the knout;
the death of their leader : dispersed his gang, and they feU one by-
one into the hands of the poUce.
Some days after my husband's retum, we took our leave of the
baroness -to return to Clarofka. Our . main journey through the
Kalmuck steppes and to the Caucasus, being toed for the foUo-wing
spring, part of the winter was spent in maHng preparations for our
departure. Count Voronzof most obUgingly furnished us -with
letters for the govemoi-s and authorities of the countries we were to
pass through. : "-,. -v.. ,

. ,.: APPENDIX TO CHAPTER IX.
Petty Larceny. — " Highway robbery and burglary, -with -violence,
are things wholly unknown in the greater part of Russia. The
peasants kugh when they see fbreigners travelling about with swords,
pistols, and a whole ai-senal of weapons. The Russian trader journeys
from one end of the empire to the other, often -with aU he is worth
in the world, and does not thiuk it necessary even to carry a knife
in his pocket; yet one neverhears of their being robbed by force on
the highways, at least in the parts of the country with which I was
more intimately acquainted.. Cases of the kind do indeed occur in"
the southern provinces, adjoining the Turkish dominions, and in
Siberia, where so many malefactors are settled, and where there is
often extreme distress. Some may be disposed to ascribe this un-
frequency of highway robbery to the great remoteness of the villages
from each other, and to the severity of the climate, which must deter
rogues from remaining much in the open air, especiaUy at night.

PETTY LAECENY. 65
But even in summer, and in the raore populous regions, where the
villages are tolerably close together, highway robbery is equally rare,
and the absence of this crirae seeras to me attributable rather to the
character of the people themselves, to whom the practice seems re
pugnant and imnatural. It were to be wished that they had the
same instinctive aversion to robbery without -violence, but this un
fortunately is not the case. As I was a frequent sufferer frora the
nimbleness of their fiingers, I had occasion enough to ponder on the
causes of this striking propensity of theirs, and I came to the con
clusion, paradoxical as it may perhaps seem, that it arises not so much
from want of moral feeUng as from want of intellectual cultivation.
Most of the comraon folk who are given to this vice (for among
educated persons it is as rare and is reputed as infamous as in any
other country) see no harm at all in pilfering, and are, therefore,
prone to practise it whenever they have an opportunity. I ara fully
persuaded that these people, who are often the raost good-natured
and even honest-hearted feUows, would desist from the practice if
they were once taught to regard it in a different light, and were
made conscious of its impropriety. This is a case as to which primary
instruction, ¦village schools, and church sermons, in the vernacular
tongue, would deal most happily and beneficlaUy for the morals of
the nation. But village schools are rare, and sermons or religious
instruction of any kind, are rarer still; books there are none, and if
there were any the populace could not read them. What means
then have they of becoming enlightened as to themselves and the
things around them, and of correcting the -views and notions handed
down to them from generation to generation ? Centuries ago they
worked out for themselves their own system of ethics, if 1 may so
speak, and they now make the best they can of it. Certain things,
for instance, such as household furniture and the like,' are regarded
as sacred ; the o-wners may leave them all night in the street, and be
sure of finding them again in the morning, whereas there are a thou
sand other things which they cannot watch too carefuUy, though far
less serviceable, and consequently less tempting. On the forraer there
is a sort of interdict laid by tacit consent, whereas the latter are
looked upon as coraraon property. The same man who -will not
hesitate to pick another's pocket, or to filch something from his
table, wiU never, even though quite safe from detection, open a
closed door, or put his hand in at an open window to take any thing
out of a room. He would caU tbis ' steaUng' (vorit,) and that has
an ugly sound even in Russian ears, and is considered a great sin.
But the first-mentioned Uttie matters he looks on as allowed, or at
least not forbidden, and he appUes to them the endearing diminutive
vorovat, a pretty, harmless word, not at all associated -with the odious
idea of thieving properly so caUed. To put this matter in a clearer
Ught I wiU relate two Uttie incidents that came under my o-wn per-.
sonal observation. - . : : ¦- ¦¦ ¦

66 THE STEPPES'OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
" I was once in the house of a common chapman on an affair of
business, in which he behaved like an upright worthy man. We had
finished the. transaction between us, and were sipping our tea, when
an old man with an open, honest-looking countenance, but very
poorly clad, came. in. and offered the chapman a silver spoon for sale.
After sorae chaffering the latter bought the spoon at a price rauch
below its worth, ahd said, banteringly, as, he paid over the money:
' SuMn tu sin, tu vorovat.' ' You pilfered it, you son of a b  ¦.'
(This last phrase, as I have elsewhere remarked, is practically equi
valent to ' my good friend,' or the Uke.) The old man looked at-him
-with a roguish t-winkle of the eye, laid his hand on his breast, and
said very gravely : ' Hiet sudor, Bog podal,' ' No, sir, God bestowed
it,' and then went quietly about his business. I often took pains to
come at the special meaning of this ' Bog-padal,' by a series of indi
rect questions, and every time I became more and more assured tliat
by many persons the phrase was understood as signifying a. sort of
divine permission to steal.
" The second anecdote isperhaps stiU more characteristic. In the
year 1816 I was on my way -with a German friend to- the country-
seat of Count S. We thought we were the only persons in our
Uttie open carriage ¦who understood the- German language, in which
we conversed, when, to our surprise, .our long-bearded hlivorshtik
(coachman) joined in the- discourse -with great .fluency, though. his
German -was somewhat -broken. Observing our astonishment, he
told us that he had been in Germany, and had served in a detached
corps of the.army, which had been organised in the form of a land
wehr, or local miUtia: he had passed a. summer in Saxcaiy, and seen
Leipsig, -Dresden, Wittenberg, &c. All this. he told us with an air
of no small self-complacency. * -Aid how did you like Gennanyi"
said I. ' Why, pretty - well, ' ie answered, ' only for one thing thatl
could not abide at all.' He might have settled there ad-vantageously,
and his colonel would have given him his discharge, as the corps was
to be disbanded ; but this one thing he talked of was not to be got
over, and. so he had preferred toreturn-home. '. And what -was this
thing that stuck so in your stomach?' ' Sir,' said he, turning to
¦us with one eye half shut,;, andspeaking almost in a whisper, * Sudor,
vorovat ne velat,' ' Sir, they wont aUow a body to do a wee bit of
pilfering,'' -We were not- a Uttie confounded bythis imexpeeted
reply, and:my friend, who.had not been long in Russia, was begin
ning to lecture him on the enormity of sudi principles, when the
coachman, who had no mind, to hear a long sermon, laughingly cut
short the preacher's harangue, and gave Imn to understand that he
¦was wandering -wide of the maijk. ' O, you don't understand me,
sudor, 1 don't. mean steaUng; of course not; I know very well It Is a
bad. things I, only mean vorovat, which surely ought to be aUowed
everywhere; leastways it ought to be. aUo-wed to a poor soldier.'
" The world is ruled by opinion : we shoidd therefore try to set tliis

PETTY LARCENY. " 67
govermng power right, where we can, and where that may not be
done, we should at least make the best use we can of it in the state
in which we find it. Russia affords one striking exemplification of
thiswise system of compromise with reference to the subject -we
have been discussing. It is a received opinion among the populace,
as I have said, that a man may filch a Uttie from a stranger -without
being guilty of downright dishonesty, but to rob one's o-wn master,
is a grievous and unpardonable sin. Hence, the surest way of pro
tecting yourself against a house-thief, when you once know him,
is to take him into your service. From that moment yoa are not
only safe from any larceny on his part, but you have secured besides
the best watch against all other thieves, since it is a point of honour
¦with him to prevent aU acts of peculation that might entail suspicion
on hiraself; and he knows practically all the trlclcs and stratagems
against which he raust be on his guard. An officer of high rank in
the Russian array, a Gerraan by birth, told rae, that once when his
battalion had to encamp for several weeks together along ¦with a
Cossack pult, he and his men had like to be stripped Of aU they had
by a continual course of thie^ving. Every moming brought a
disastrous Ust of clothes missing, .horse trappings carried off, &c. &c.
More sentinels were placed, strict ¦vigilance was observed, but every
precaution, faded, -Alraost at his- wit's end, the officer complained
to the hetman of the pult, and was advised by him, to "withdraw aU
his own sentries, and to make one of the Cossacks mount guard in
his own quarters, and in every division of those occupied by, his
men. The German could not help thinking the proposed measure
very like comraitting the fold to the custody of the wolf, but as he
knew nothing better he could do, he adopted it, and from that
moment aUthe thie-ring was at an end. The- Cossacks always laid
.themselves do-wn at nightfaU right before the doors of the quarters
and stables, and the officer never again heard even of any attempt to
annoy him or his, men. Such is the force of opinion, and of the
manner in which these people (and all of us, too, if we will but o-wn
it) are in the habit of seeing things." — Von Littrow.
Von Littrow remarks that we ought not to be too hasty in laying
to- the account of -moral depra-vity the nimbleness of -finger of the
Russian peasant, but consider whether even among the most ci-^iUsed
people there are not some reUcs ofthe olden barbarism, some striking
deviations from moral propriety, which OPINION is pleased to look
on with indulgence. ¦ Books change o-wners in the German
universities by a surreptitious process, for which .a slang word has
been adopted. This kmd of vorovat is called " shooting " (schiessen)
and some very learned- professors we are told, plume themselves on
the skill -with which they contrive to " shoot "rare spedinens of
natural.history,.-&c. There are men otherwise of .great probity and
•worth,:who we fear-arenotalways scmpidously careful, to retum a
borrowed -umbreUa.. - '- -
p2

.68 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
Bussian Servants. — "Where a Gerraan would think himself very
well ofl' with the attendance bf one woraan servant, a Russian
tradesraan, in Uke pecuniary circumstances, keeps at least four; but
the German's one servant does quite as rauch as the Russian's four
put together. In the houses of the wealthy, the nuraber of men-
servants amounts to fifty, sixty, and even a hundred or more;
There is an intendant and a mailre-dliotel, a couple of dozen of
pages and footmen, the raaster of the house's own men, the lady's own
men, and again own men for the young gentlemen and for the young
ladies; then come the butlers, caterers, hunters, doorkeepers, porters,
couriers, coachmen, and stable-boys, grooms and outriders, cooks
and undercooks, confectioners, stove-lighters, and chamber-cleaners,
&c. &c., not to mention the "female servants of aU sorts. But the
worst ofthe thing is the continual increase of this numerous body;
for it is a matter of course in Russia that every married man who
enters service takes his wife -with him; his children, too, belong to
the house and remain in it ; nay, his kith and -kin, if not actuaUy
domesticated in the estabhshment, take up their abode in it for days
and weeks together, -without demur; besides which, the friends and
acquaintances of the servants may drop in when they please, and
partake of bed and board. ' When I married,' said a wealthy
Russian to me, ' I made up my mind to have no more of these
good-for-nothing people in my house than were unavoidably neces
sary for myself and my wife, and I therefore restricted myself to
forty, but after the lapse of three or four years, I remarked, to my
great astonishment, that this nuraber was already almost doubled.'
In any other country, some three or four of these feUows would be
thought enough to wait at table even in the best appointed houses;
but in Russia, where dinner parties often consist of forty or fifty
persons, there must be a 'servant behind every chair, or the whole
set out would be considered extremely shabby. It was formerly
the custom generally, and it. is so stIU in the country-houses of the
great, to have a footman constantly stationed in each of the rooms
of the numerous suite of apartments, and one or two lads outside,
their business being to do the office now performed by bells. An
order given by the lord of the mansion in the innermost apartment,
¦was transmitted from room to room, and from door to door, untU it
reached the lasl of the train, who fetched the article caUed for, and
so it was passed from hand to hand until it reached the gosudar
(the lord).
" APoUsh countess told me, that she once caUed on Count Orloff
on business, and while they were conversing, the count desired the
servant who stood by the door, to call for a glass of water. The
man disappeared for a moment to speak to his next neighbour, and
Immediately returned to his post; half an-hour elapsed, and no water
came. The thirsty count had to repeat the order, ahd turning to
the countess, he said, ' See what a poor raan I am; I have more

lEKATEKINOSLAV. 6,9
than a hundred and twenty servants in this house alone, and if I
want a glass of water, I cannot have it.' The countess smiled at the
poor man, and told hira that if he was a good deal poorer, and had
but one _ sei-vant, he w^ould be better attended on. The Countess
Orloff, his daughter, who inherited his -avhole fortune, is said to have
upwards of 800 servants of both sexes in her palace at Moscow,
and to maintain a special hospital for them." — Von Littrow.

CHAPTER X.
BEPARTUKE POR THE CASPIAN — ^lEKATECINOSLAV — POTEMKIn's EClKED PALACE —
PASKE-VITCh's CACCASIAN OUAKH — sham FIOnT — tXTOLEKABLE HEAT  CATA-
KACTS OF THE DStEPn — GERMAN COLONIES— THE SETCHA OFTHE ZAPOROGUES 
A FRENCH STEW.VRD  NIGHT ADVENTCRE — C0LONIE.S OF THE MOLOSHNLA VODI
— .-VIE. COBNIES — THE DOtJKOBOEEN, A RELIGIOUS SECT.
-About the middle of May, 1839, we left the shores of the Black
Sea, accompanied "by a Cossack and an exceUent dragoman, who
spoke all the dialects current in Southern Russia. After we had
traveUed more than 100 leagues upwards along ¦ the banks of the
Dniepr, we reached lekaterlnoslav, a new town, which about fifty
years ago consisted only of some -wi-etched fishermen's cabins, scat
tered along the margin of the river.
lekaterinoslav, founded in 1784 by the great Catherine, who
laid the first stone in the presence of the Emperor Joseph IL, Is
built on such a gigantic plan as makes it a perfect wilderness, in
which the sparse houses and scanty population seem lost, as it were.
Its wide and regidar streets, marked out only by a few dweUings
at long intervak, seem to have been planned for a miUion of souls ;
a whole govemment would have to be unpeopled to fill them, and
give them that life and movement so necessary to a capital.
But there seems no likelihood that time will fiU up the void spaces
of this desert, for the number of its inhabitants has not rauch In
creased within forty years; it is a stationary town, which will pro-
_ bably never reaUse the expectations formed by the empress when
she gave it her narae. It contains, however, some large buildings,
nuraerous churches, bazaars, and charming gardens. But for the
absurd raania of the Russians for planning their towns on an enor
mous scale, it would be a delightful abode, rich in its beautiful
Dniepr and the fertile hills around it.
CBut lekateriuoslav possesses one thing that distinguishes it from
aU the towns -with which Russian civiUsation Is beginning to cover
the south of the empire; and that is Potemkin's palace and garden.
The palace is in ruins though it was built for Catherine IL, barely

70 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
sixty years ago. The indifference of the Russians for their his
torical raonuraents is so great, that they hasten to destroy them-
. merely to clear the ground of things that have ceased to be of use.
The govemment, despotic as it is, unfortunately has not the
power to stay the Instinctive vandalism of its people. We will
give melancholy proofs of this by and by, when we come- to
speak ofthe ancient tombs of the Crimea, so rich in objects of art,
and so precious for their antiquity, yet which, in spite of the pre
tended care of the poUce, are day by day disappearing before the
barbarous cupidity of the peasants, and stilLmore of the employes.
To judge from its reraains, Poterakin's palace appears to have
been one of truly royal magnificence; on each side are still standing
-wings which must have contained a. great nuraber of apartments.
There is a profusion of colonnades, porticos, capitals, and beautiful
cornices in. the ItaUan style of the period; -but aU is atthe raercy
of the first peasant who wants stones or -wood to repair his cabin. The
ground is aU strewed over with shapeless fragments, blocks of stone,
and broken shafts. Nothing can look more sad than such skeletons
of monuments which no accumulated ages have haUowed, and
which have-not even. a. veU of ivy to hide their decrepitude, nor any
thing to throw a. cast of dignity over their blank disorder. The .
feehng they irapart is like, that produced by the efl^ts of an. earths
quake: no lesson given. by the past, nothing for. the imagination to
feed on : . no chronicles, no poetry.
The haughty Catherine . Uttie suspected that one day the ser&
would carry away piecemeal that magnificent edifice plaimed by
the inventive genius of her favourite, at the most briUiant period of
her Ufe. It was there she rested from the.-fatigues of her fantastic
journey, and_ prepared herself for the new wonders that awaited
her, in the Crimea.
The amorous sovereign of the largest empire in the world, left
the ices of St Petersburg, and performed a joumey of 1800 versfs,.
to visit the richest jewel added to her imperial crown, that enchant-?
ing Tauiis which PotemMn laid at her feet^.
At intervals aU along the route frora lekateriuoslav to Ivherson,
stand Uttie pyramids surrounded by a balustrade, to mark the spots
where the empress halted^ changed horses, . &c. In many places
are_ still to be seen palaces, that suddenly sprang up on her way,
as if. at .the touch of an' enchanter's wand. The whole tract of
country is stamped -with reminiscences of her grandeur, though she
but passed rapidly t'hroc^h these deserts, which were metamorphosed
beneath hsrrglance into smiling anipopulous plains.
Of aU these ephemeral palaces, that of lekateriuoslav -was the
most worthy to harbour the imperial beauty. It stands on a gentle
slope descending. to the Dniepr, and is stiU surrounded with a.mag*
nificent park, presenting an admirable variety of sites and -rie-ws:
forests, labyrinths, and granite rocks, clothed -with rich, vegetation,

PASKEVITCH'S CAUCASIAN GUAKD. 71,
with paths so capricious, thickets so dense, and resting-places so
mysterious, that every step reveals some token of the genius of a.
courtier, and the power of an empress.
Opposite the palace a Utile granite island lifts itself above the
waters of the Dniepr Uke a Nereid. Its sole inhabitants are sorae
white albatrosses and an old forest-keeper, whose cabin is Iiidden
araong trees. He leads a true hermit life. His gun and his fish
ing-tackle supply his food; the bushes and briars yield him firing,
and thus he finds every tiling requisite for his wants witliin the
Umits of his retreat. He has a nutshell of a boat, in which he can
-visit every nook of the island shore, which he shares -vsith the fowls
of. the ail-. . Except a few fishermen, no one ventures to thread that
labyrinth of rocks and whirlpools that render the Dniepr so dan
gerous hereabouts.
Besides Potemkin's Park, the to-wn has another of great beauty,
which serves as a pubUc promenade. It is crowded twice a week,
when a mihtary band performs. Its extent, its broad sheets of water,
its: shady alleys and fine: expanse of lawn, make It one of the hand
somest gardens I have seen in Russia.
We spent a. week in lekaterinosla-^ under the roof of an exceUent
French famUy long settled in the country. The cloth factory of
Messrs. Neumann Is the only industrial establishment in the to-wn.
Their, macldnes,. imported frora France and England,, and. their
thorough . knowledge of their business, enable them to give the
utmost perfection to their goods, notwithstanding which M. Neu
mann assured us that he should certainly be obUged to shut up his
estabhshment before the lapse of two years. We have already set
forth the causes that obstruct the progress of manufactures in Russia,
and corapletely paralyse the industrial efforts of the ablest men.
During our stay in lekaterlnoslav, we had aU the pleasure of
an excursion into the raountains of Asia, without the trouble of
changing our place. It is only in Russia one can encounter such
lucky chances. Three hundred raountaineers of the Caucasus
arrived in the town, and by. the governor's desire entertained the
inhabitants -with a display of their warUke garaes and exercises.
They were on their way to Warsaw, to serve as a guard of honour
for Paskevitch, the hero of the day. Tliis whim of a raan spoiled
by fortune and . the empeiror, is tolerably characteristic of the Rus
sians : merely to satify it, some hundreds of mountaineers had to quit
their famiUes,- and traverse vast distances to go and parade- on the
great square of a capital.
The sight of those half barbarians arri-sing Uke a torrent, and.
taking possession of the town as of a conquered place, was weU
calculated to excite .our curiosity. We forgot time and place as
¦we gazed on this unwonted spectacle, and seemed carried back
among the gigantic invasions of Tamerlane, and his exterminating
hordes of Asia, -with their ¦wild . cries and picturesque costumes,
swooping do-wn -with long lances and fiery steeds, on. old. Europe,

72 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
just as they appeared some centuries before, when they subjected
all the wide domains of Russia to their sway.
These raountaineers are small, agile, and muscular. There is no
saying how they walk, for their life is passed on horseback. There
is in the expression of their countenances, an inconceivable mixture
of boldness, frankness, and fierce rapacity. Their bronzed cora
plexion, dazzUngly white teeth, black eyes, every glance of which is
a flash of lightning, and regular features, compose a physiognomy
that terrifies more than great ugUness.
Their mauceuvres surpass every thing an European can imagine.
How cold, prira, and faded seem our civiUsed ways corapared with'
those impassioned countenances, those picturesque costumes, those
furious gallops, that grace and impetuosity of raoveraent, that belong
only to thera. They discharge their carbines on horseback at fuU
speed, and display iniraitable address in the exercise of the djereed.
Every rider decks his steed ¦with a care he does not always bestow
on his own adornment, covering it with carpets, strips of purple
stuffs, cashmere shawls, and . all the costly things ¦with which ther
plunder of the caravans can supply him.
ITie manoeuvres lasted more than two hours, and afforded us an
exact image of Asiatic warfare. They concluded vrith a general
mSlee, which ready terrified not a few spectators, so much did the
smoke, the shouts, the ardour of the combatants, the discharges of
musketry, and the neighings of the horses complete the -vivid illu
sion of the scene. It was at last impossible to distinguish any
thing through the clouds of dust and smoke that whirled round tlie
impetuous riders. ,.-,-, ,
Paskevitch wdl perhaps be more embarrassed with them than he
expects. From the moment these Uons of the desert arrived, the
town was in a state of revolution. The shopkeepers complained of
•their numerous thefts, and husbands and .fathers were shocked at
their cavalier raanners towards the fair sex. "
Though it was but the beginning of June, the, heat had attained
an intensity that made it Uterally a pubUc calamity. The hospitals
were crowded with patients, raost of them labouring under cerebral
fevers, a class of affections exceedingly dangerous in this country.
The dust lay so thick in the street, that the foot sank in it aa in
snow, and for more than a fortnight the thermoraeter had remained
invariably at 84° R. _ You have but to -visit Russia to know what is
the heat of the tropics. . We nevertheless carried away not a few
agreeable recollections of lekateriuoslav, thanks to its charming
position, and some distinguished salons of which it has reason to be
proud.. On leaving lekateriuoslav we proceeded to the famous cataracts of
the Dniepr, on which attempts have been ineffectuaUy made for
more than a hundred years to render them navigable, and in the
¦vicinity of which there are several German coloni^.
My husband having iu the preceding year discovered a rich iron.

CATARACTS OP THE DNIEPR. ,. 73
mine in this locaUty, we had to stop sorae tirae to make fresh in-
vestlfi^ations. I have already spoken so much of the Dniepr, that I
am almost afraid to return to the subject. In this partof its course,
however, there Is nothing like the maritime views of Kherson, the
plavnicks of the Doutchina, or the cheerful bold aspect of the
-vicinity of lekaterlnoslav. Near the cataracts, the river has all the
depth and calraness of a beautiful lake ; not a ripple breaks its dark
azure surface. Its bed is flanked by huge blocks of granite, that
seem as though they had been piled up at random by the hands of
giants. Every thing is grand and majestic in these scenes of prime
val nature ; nothing in them reminds us of the flight and the ravages
of time. There are no trees shedding their leaves on the river's
margin, no turf that withers, no soil worn away by the flood : the
scene is an image of eternal changelessness.
• The Dniepr has deeps here which no pluraraet has ever fathoraed,
and the inhabitants allege that it harbours real marine monsters in
its abysses. AU the fishermen have seen the silurus, a sort of fresh
water shark, capable of swaUo-wing a raan or a horse at a mouthful,
and they relate anecdotes on this head, that transport you to the
NUe or the Ganges, the pecuUar homes of the voracious crocodile
and alUgator. One of these stories is of very recent date, and there
are many boatmen who pretend to speak of the fact frora personal
knowledge. . They positively aver, that a young girl, who was washing
Unen on the margin of the water, was carried down to the bottom
of the Dniepr, and that her body never again rose to the surface.
A German -village is visible on the other side of the river, at
some distance from the house of Mr. Masure, the proprietor .of the.
mine. Its pretty red factories with their green window-shutters,
the surrounding forest, and a neighbouring island Avith cliffs glisten
ing in the sun, fiU the mind with thoughts of tranquil happiness.
On the distant horizon the eye discerns the rent and pointed rocks,
and the fleecy spray of the cataracts- Here and there some rocks
just rising above the water, one of which, surnamed the Brigand, is
the terror of boatmen, are the haunts of countless water-fowl, whose'
riotous screams long pursue the traveUer as he ferries across from
bank to bank. -All this scene ia cheerful and pastoral, like one of
Greuze's landscapes ; but the bare -Mils that foUow the undulations
of the left bank show only dreariness and aridity.
The Germans settled below the cataracts of the. Dniepr are the
oldest colonists of Southem Russia : their colony was founded by
Catherine IL, in 1784, after the expulsion of the Zaporogue Cos
sacks, -who were removed to the banks of the Kouban. _ It is
composed solely of Prussian Mennonltes, and comprises sixteen
viUages, numbering 4251 inhabitants, very industrious people,
generaUy in the enjoyment of an araple corapetence. Corn and
cattle form the staple of their wealth, but they are also manufactu
rers, and have two estabhshments for making cotton goods, and one
for cloth. These Mennonites, however, have reraained stationary-

7"4' THE STEPPESrOP-THE.CASPIANSEA, &C.
since their arrival, in. Russia: fuU ofi prejudices, and. intensely
self-wiUed, . they have settheir faces against all innovation and aU
inteUectual development- One of their villages stands, on the island
of CortetZj.iii the Dniepr,. once the seat of the celebrated Setcha of
the Zaporogue Cossacks. The Setcha,. as- the reader is perhaps
aware, was at first only a. fortified spot, where the young men were
trained to arras, and where the public deUberations and.the elections;
of the chiefs were held. .Afterwards it became the fixed, abode of
warriors who Uved in. celibacy; and aU.who aspired to a reputation
for -valour, were bound, to pasa at least three years there. I. went
over the island of . Cortetz, and saw everywhere nuraerous traces of-
fortifications and entrenched caraps. It would not have been easy
to select a position more siuted to the purpose the Cossacks had in
¦view. The island is a natural fortress, . rising more than. 150 feet
above the water, and defended on aU. sides by raasses of granite,
that leave scarcely any thing for art to do to renderit impregnable.
We made our first halt, after our departure: from the cataracts, at
the house-of a. village-Superintendent, io-whom we discovered, -with'
surprise, ayoung. Frenchman^ with the raost Parisian accent I ever
heard... He ia^ married to awoman.of.the country,- and- has beeiL
two years prigatchik (superintendent) in_ one. of General Markof.'s;
¦villages.'. He placed. his whole- cabin: at our disposal^ with an
alacrity that proved.how:deUghted he was to. entertain. people. frooE
his native . land... We. had exceUent honey,, cream,, and.'waterr
melons, .set before us in profusion;. but; in spite of aU our urgent
entreaties, we could not prevail on him.. to partake -with, us.-. "Hiis
made a painful. irapression-.on. us. Is the air of slavery so conta
gious that no one can breathe it -without losing- his personal dignity?
This man,., bom in. a-* land where social, distinctions are almost
effaced, voluntarUy degraded himself in our eyes, by esteeming
himself unworthy to sit :by our. side, just as-though he were a.bom
serf, and. had been. used.from his chUdhood to serviUty;
. He gave, us a hrief .Jhistory of his Ufe, .a melancholv tissue of dis
appointments, and. -wretchedness,, the ¦ narration . of "which deeply
affected us. His ardour and. his Parisian -wilfulness, his eflbrts and
his hopes,. aU. the exuberance of his twenty years, were cast into a
withering. atmosphere of. disgusts. and humiUations, whick at last
destroyed in him aU. feeling of nationaUty: he is become a slave
through his intercourse alike, with the masters and -witii the serfs;
and what completely proves this,.. is the cold-blooded, cmelty with
which he chastises, the- peasants under-rhim^..- Th&whole villageir
struck -with. consternation at the punishments he daily inflicts for
the most trivial offences...; WhUe he was conversing -with us, word
was brought him .that two woraen and three, men had arrived atthe
place of punishment in pursuance to his orders. Notwithstanding our
entreaties,_and.the repugnance we felt at being so near such a scene,
he ordered that they should, each, receive fifty blows of the stick,
and-double the number if they made any resistance. The wretched

A.JJ-USSIANISED FRENCHMAN. ' 75
man thus avenges himself on the mujlks, for what he has himself
endured at the hands of the Russian aristocracy, and it is at best a
hazardous revenge; even for his own sake he ought not to exas
perate the peasants, who sometimes raake fearful repiisals ; frequent
attempts have already been made to assassinate hira, and although
the crirainals have paid clearly for their temerity, he may one day.
faU a victim to some more cunning or more fortunate aggressor.
Only the week before our -visit, as his wife told us, a more daring
attempt than any preceding one, had been raade by a peasant who
from the first had declared himself his enemy.
After a long walk in the fields, the superintendent sat down under
the shade of some trees, in a ra-vine. Overcome with heat and
fatigue, he at last fell asleep, after placing his two pistols by hia
side. -An instinctive fear possessed him even in sleep, and kept
him sensible of the least noise around him. The body slept, but
not the mind.- Suddenly his ear catches a suspicious sound; he
opens his eyes, and sees a mujik stooping down softly in the act of
picking up one- of his pistols. There was so much ferocity in the
man's looks, and such, a . stealthiness in his movements, that there.
could be no doubt of his intentions. The superintendent, withi
admirable presence of mind, raised himself on . his elbow, and
asked, -with a yawn^ what he was going to do -with the pistol; to
which the mujik, instantly putting on an air of affected stolidity
pecuUar. to the Russian serf, answered, that he was curious to see
how a pistol waa made. So saying, he handed the^ weapon to his
master, -without appearing in the least disconcerted.- The unfor
tunate man nearly died under. the knout, and the superintendent's
¦wife remarked, with a^naivete thoroughly Russian, that- he woidd
have done much, better to cUe outright.
We had further opportunities in this village for-^reraarking how
Uttie corapassion the Russian peasants have for each other. They
look on at the beating, ofa comrade without e-rincing the. least sym
pathy, or being moved by so degrading a sight to any reflection on
their unhappy condition; it seeras as though huraanity , has lost aU
claim on their hearts, so corapletely has servitude destroyed in them
all capability of feeUng, and aU human dignity.
We left this statix)n about sis in the evening, havmg stUl some
twenty versts to travel before, arri-ving at the first' viUage of the
German colonies of the Moloshnia,. where we intended to pasa the
night;.. Thanks to the bad horses and the stupid driver our country
man had given .us,...we had. scarcely got over a quarter.of the. ground
when we were in total darkness.
The coachman was all black- and blue from.the bmtal. treatment
of his master,, who. had given him half a dozen blows in our-pre-
sence. The feUow was every moment changing his road atiandom^
vrithout regard to the fresh - corrections of th& same sort, which
Antoine.. showered thickly upon him by way of admonition. He ¦

76 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
made us lose a great deal of time on the way, besides wearing out
the strength ofhis cattle to no purpose.
Nothing can be more wearisome and monotonous than travelling
"in the steppes; but it is, above aU, by night that the uniformity of
the country is truly dlscoura^ng, for then you are every raoment
in danger of turning your back on the point you want to reach: you
have an iraraenslty like that of the sea around you, and a compass
would be of real service. Such, however, is the instinct of the
peasants, that they find their way with ease, in the darkest night or
the most violent snow-storm, through tracks crossing each other in
every direction.
Our driver was an exception to the general rule, but sulkiness
had more to do thah inabiUty -with his apparent embarrassment
Our perplexity increased considerably when we found that the
horses at last refused to move. The night was very gloomy; there
was not a t-winkUng' of Ught, nor any sound or sign of human
habitations; every fresh question we put to our driver only eUcIted
the laconic answer, "nesnaV (I don't know); and when a Russian
has said he does not know, no power of tongue or stick can make
him say he knows. Of this we had a proof that night. Our Cos
sack, tired of vainly questioning the unlucky driver, began to tickle
his shoulders with a long whip he carried at his girdle; but it was
all to no purpose; and but one course remained to us, if we would
not pass the night in the open air. The Cossack unharnessed one
of the horses, and set off to reconnoitre. After an absence of two
hours, he carae back and told us we were not very far from a Ger
man viUage, and that we might reach it in two hours; that is to
say, provided our horses would move; but they were dead beat
Here, again, the Cossack relieved us from our difficulty, by
yoking to the carriage a poor Uttie colt that had foUowed iti
mother, -without suspecting that it was that night to begin its hard
apprenticeship. Weak as was this relnforceraent, it enabled us to
advance, though very slowly;, but at last the barking of dogs re-rived
the mettle of our horses, and they broke into a trot for the first time.
A forest of handsome trees and distant Ughts gave indubitable
assurance of a vUlage., It was not Uke the ordinary -villages, col
lections of mean-looking kates rising Uke mushrooras out of the
arid ground, without a shrub to screen thera; we were entering the
German colonies, and the odours from the blossoming fruit-trees,
and the aght of the pretty Uttie red houses of which we caught
gUmpses through the trees^ soon carried us in imagination far away
irora the Russian steppes. .
With as keen delight as ever oasis caused the desert wanderer,
we entered this pretty village, the name of which (Rosenthal, Rose-
dale) gives token of the poetic feeUng of the Gerraans. Its exten
sive gardens obliged us to make a long detour. The people -were
all in bed when we arrived," and we had much difficulty in finding

MENNONITE COLONIES. 77
the house of the schultz (the headborough). At last we discovered it,
and the hospitable reception we met with soon made us forget the
events of this memorable night.
The region occupied by these colonies Is unlike the steppes, though
the form of the ground Is the same. The villages are very close to
each otiier, are aU built on the same plan, and are for the most part
sheltered in ravines. The houses have only a ground-floor, and are
built -with wood or with red and blue bricks, and have very pro
jecting roofs. Their party-coloured walls, their carved wooden
chimneys, and pretty straw roofs, that seem as neatly finished as the
finest Egyptian mats, produce a charming effect as seen through the
green trees of the gardens that surround them. They are almost all
exactly similar, even to the most minute details : a few only are dis
tinguished from the rest by a little more colouring or carving, and a
more elegant balustrade next the garden.
The fields are in excellent cultivation ; the pastures are stocked
with fine cattle ; and sheep-folds and wells placed here aud there
enUven the landscape, and break the fatiguing monotony of the
plain ; the whole face of the country tells of the thriving labours of
the colonists. But one must enter their houses to appreciate the
habits of order and industry to which they owe not only an ample
supply for the necessaries of Ufe, but almost always a degree of com
fort rarely to be found in the dwelUngs of the Russian nobles. One
might even accuse the good housewives ofa Uttie sensuaUty, to see their
elder-down beds and pillows heaped almost up to the celUng. You
may be certain of finding in every house a handsome porcelain stove, a
glazed cupboard, containing crockery, and often plate, furniture care
fully scrubbed and poUshed, curtains to the -windows, and flowers in
every direction.
We passed two days in Orlof -with the wealthiest and most phi
lanthropic proprietor in all the German villages. M. Comics came
Into the country about forty years ago, and started without capital,
ha-ving like the others only a patch of land and some fiirming imple
ments. After the lapse of a few years every one already envied his
fortune, but aU acknowledged his kindly soUcitude for those who had
been less prosperous than himself. Endowed with an active and in
telligent character, and strongly interested In the cause of human
improvement, he afterwards became the leader in the work of civiUs-
ing the Nogai Tartars, and he now continues with very great suc
cess the work so ably begun by one of our own countrymen, Count
Maison. M. Comies is a corresponding member of the St Peters-
"burg Academy, and has contributed to its Transactions several papers
of learned research, and reraarkable for the comprehensive scope of
their ideas ; hence he enjoys a great reputation not only among his
countrymen, but Ukewise throughout all Southem Russia. His
flocks, his nurseries, and his wools, are objects of interest to all per
sons engaged in trade, and his plans for the improvement of
agriculture and cattle rearing, are generaUy adopted as models.

78 THE STEPPES'OF THE CASPIATT SEA, &C.
, Though M. Comies is worth more than 40,0007.,_ his way of life
is in strict conformity -with the rigorism and simpUcity of the Men-
' nonites, -to which sect he belongs. The habits of these sectarians
are of an extreme austerity that strips domestic Ufe of all its ordinary
charms. The wife and daughters of a Mennonite, whatever be his
fortune, are the only female servants in his house, and Madame Cor-
nies and her daughters waited humbly on us at table, as though they
had no right to sit at it -with the head of the family. Notwith
standing this apparent inequaUty of the sexes, there is a great deal of
happiness in the married hfe of the Mennonites ; nor should it be
forgotten that in judging of all matters appertaining to foreigners,
we should endeavour to behold things in the peculiar light in which
education and custom invest them for native eyes.
The dress ofthe women is like their habits of life, plain and
simple. It consists invariably ofa gown of blue printed cotton, the
bodice of which ends just below the bosom, an apron of the same
material, and a white collar ¦with a flat hem; the hair is combed back
A la Chinoise, and on it sits a Uttie black cap-without trimming, tied
.under -the chin. This head-dress, which has some resemblance to that
of the Alsacian women, sets off a young and pretty face to advan
tage, but increases the ugliness of an ugly one. The dress of the
men is the same as that of the Gerraan peasants, vrith the exception of
some slight-modifications.
One dish of meat and two of vegetables, corapose the whole dinner
of a Mennonite ; each person at table has a large goblet of milk set
before him' instead of wine, the use of which is altogether prohibited
in their sect. •;.•;-.
There are no regidar priests in these colonies ; the oldest and
most esteeraed members of each community, are elected to fulfil
the office of the ministry. These elders read the Bible every Sunday,
preach, and give out the hymns, which are sung by the -whole con
gregation. The Mennonites are generally well educated ; but their informa-
tion_ has no more than their -wealth the effect of impairing the
patriarchal simpUcity of their habits. We happened to see a young
man, belonging to one of the wealthiest famiUes, on his return from a
long foreign tour ; he had visited France, S-witzerland, and Germany,
and yet it -was- -with a most cordial alacrity he returned to share in
the agricultural labours of his fether and his brothers.
.AJl these German colonies are divided into two distinct groups :
the one established on the right bank of the Moloshnia Vodi* is com
posed of people from Baden and Swabia, and comprises twenty-three
•villages, with 6649 inhabitants ; the other seated on the leftcoastof
the Elack'Sea, and along the little rividet JoushendU, contains forty-

¦n li?^^i '*^°'™'"''»- ^""^i (Milt River) is a little stream emptying itself between
Bewliansk and Guenitshky into the Hman of » lake -iTluch no longer communicates
-with the Seil of A».n-ir ^

MENNONITE COLONIES. 79
tiiree Mennonite villages. As the latter is unquestionably the most
important and thriving colony in Southem Russia, we -wUl direct our
attention to it almost exclusively.
The Mennonites, so caUed alter the name of the foirader of their
sect, profess nearly the same religious principles aathe .Anabaptists
of France. They first arose in Holland, the language of which
country they stUl speak, and settled towards the close of the last cen
tury in Northern Prussia, in the -vicinity of Dantzig. Attempts
having been made about that tirae, to force them into military ser
vice, contrary to their tenets, a first migi-ation took place, ancl the
colony of Cortetz, below the cataract of the Dniepr, was founded
under the auspices of Catherine 11. That of Moloshnia Vodi, was
founded in 1804, by a fresh body of emigrants ; it was greatly en
larged in 1820, andat the end ofthe year 1837, it covered 100,000
hectares of land, and contained forty-three villages, with 9561 inha
bitants, including 984 families of proprietors.
¦ The non-agricultural population is composed of handicraftsmen of
aU sorts, some of whom are very skilful. Alpstadt,.the chief place
of the colony, has a cloth manufactory, in which seven looms are at
-work. Wages areveryhigh ; for almost all the workmen as soon
as they have saved any money, give up their trade and addict them
selves to agriculture.
Each village is under the control of a headborough, called the
schultz, .and. two assistants. Ihey are elected every tiiree years, but
one of them remains in office a year after the two others, that he may
afford their successors the necessary current information. An ob-
o-schultz (mayor), -who likewise has two assistants, resides in the
chief place ofthe colony. These magistrates decide -without appeal,
in all the Uttie differences that may arisebetween the colonists. Im
portant cases are carried before the central committee. As for cri
minal cases, of which there has yet been no example, they fall under
the jurisdiction of the Russian tribunals. Laziness is punished by
fine and forced labour for the benefit; ofthe community.
The inspector, who represents the govemment, resides in the
Swabian colony, on the right bank of the Moloshnia. Odessa is the
seat of the administrative council, which consists of a president and
three judges, all Russians, nominated by the emperor. The com
mittee exercises a general control over aU the colonies, and ratifies
the elections of the schultzes and their assistants. Its last president
was the infantry general Inzof, a man remarkable for his personal
character and the deep interest he took in the estabhshments under
his direction.
Every proprietor has sisty-five hectares of land,, for which lie
pays an annual quit-rent to the crown of fifteen kopeks- per hectare ;
besides which he pays four mbles a year towards defraying the
general expenses of the colony, the salaries of the comraittee, the
inspector, the schoolraasters, &c. Each viUage has a granary fOr

80 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
reserve against seasons of dearth ; it raust always contain two tchet
verts of wheat for every raale head.
Tbe cattle is all under the management of one chief herdsman, at
whose call they leave their staUs in the moming, and return in the
evening to the village.
Every five or six years one or more new -villages are estabUshed. A
newly-established faraily does not at once receive its sixty-five hectares
of land; if the young couple do not choose to reside with their
parents,they generally buUd themselves a Uttie house beyond the
precincts of the vlUage. But -when the young famiUes are become
so numerous that their, united aUotraents shall form a space suffi
cient for the p-asture of their flocks in coramOn, and for the execu
tion ofthe agricultural works enjoined by the regulations, then, and
not till then, the new colonists obtain permission to establish
¦ theraselves on the uncultivated lands. At present the Mennonite
colony possesses nearly 30,000 hectares of land not yet .brought
under the plough. Thus these Gerraans, transplanted to the ex-
treraity of Southem Russia, have successfully realised some of the
ideas of the celebrated economist, Fourrier.
It will readily be conceived that under such a system of adminis
tration, and, above all, -with their simple habits, their sobriety and
industry, these Mennonites must naturally have outstripped the other
colonists in prosperity. Those from Swabia and Baden, though
subjected to precisely the same regulations, wiU never attain to the-
same degree of wealth. They are generaUy fond of good cheer,
and addicted to drink ; but they have, perhaps, the ment of under
standing life better than their Puritanical neighbours, and of
making the most of the gifts Providence has bestowed on them.
The Mennonite colony possessed at the close of 1837 : —
Homed cattle  7,719
Horses  6,029
Merino sheep.  412,274
Fruit-trees in the gardens  316,011
Forest trees  „    60d,096
These last have since perished for the most part. The sale of
wheat in 1838, amounted to 600,000 rubles. The provisions for
jubllc Instruction are highly satisfactory. The colony numbers
brty schools, attended by 2390 pupils of both se.xes, who are taught
the German language, arithraetic, history, and geography. Rus
sian is also taught in two of the schools.
The Mennonites, as well as the other Gerraan colonists of Southern
Russia, for a long while enjoyed a very special protection on the
part of the govemment ; and both the present sovereign and his
predecessor have on sevei-d occasions given tiiem signal proofs of their
favour. But unhappily their committee was suppressed eighteen.
months ago, and this measure will be fatal to them. They had long
looked forward with alarm to a change in their affairs, and sent many

I

GERMAN COLONIES. 81
deputations to St. Petersburg, to soUclt a continuance of the original
system : their efforts were ineffectual ; tho work of centraUzation
and unity has involved them In their turn, and they are now in im
mediate dependence on the newly-constituted ministry of the
domains of the crown. No doubt the govemment had a full right to
act in this manner ; and after ha-ving allowed the colonists to enjoy
their pecuUar privileges for such a long series of years, it ,may now,
¦without incurring any obloquy, subject thera to the ordinary system
of adrainistration prevalent in the empire. But it is not the less
certain, seeing the corruption and venality of the Russian functiona
ries, that this change of system will lead to the ruin of the colonists,
and that, notwithstanding all the efforts and the good intentions ofthe
govemment, when once the Germans are put under the same manage
ment as the crown serfs, they will be unable to save their property
frora the rapacity of their new controlers. The colonies have been
but a few months under the direction of the ministry ofthe domains,
and already several hundred faraiUes have abandoned their dwellings
and their lands, and retired to Germany. I saw a great number of
them arrive in 1842, in Molda-via, where they thought to forra some
settleraents ; but they did. not succeed.
Besides the German colonies of which we have been speaking,
titiere are others in the environs of Nicola'ief and Odessa, in Bessarabia
and the Crimea, and about the coasts of the sea of Azov. Altogether
these foreign colonies in New Russia, number upwards of 160 vil
lages, containing more than 46,000 souls. In the midst of them are
several viUages inhabited by Russian dissenters, entertaining nearly
the same religious views as the Mennonites and Anabaptists. These
are the Douckoboren and Molokaner, who separated from the national
church 'about 160 years ago, at which time they were resident in
several ofthe central pro-vinces ; but the government being alarmed
at the spread of their doctrines, transported thera forcibly to New
Russia, where it placed them under miUtary supervision. Here they
admirably availed themselves of the examples set them by the Ger
mans, and soon attained a hi.'Jjh degree of prosperity. In 1839, they
amounted to a population of 6617 souls, occupying thirteen villages.
Most of their houses were in the German style, and every thing.
about them was indicative of plenty. Two years after this first visit
to them, I met on the road from "Taganrok to Rostof, two large de
tachments of exiles escorted by t-wo battalions of Infantry. They
were the unfortunate dissenters of the Moloshnia, who had been ex
pelled frora their -villages, and were on their way to the miUtary lines
of the Caucasus. The most perfect decorum and the most touching re
signation appeared in the whole body. The women alone showed signs
of anger, v/hllst the men sang hymns in chorus. I asked several of
them whither they were going; their answer was " God only knows."
After leaving the German colonies, we passed throuo-h several vil
lages of Noga'i Tatars. We shall reserve what we have to say of
these people for another place. a

82 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPI.AN SEA, &C.

CHAPTER XI.
MARIOUPOL — ^BEEDLVJfSK — KKA-VISH JEW POSTM.4.3TEH — TAOANBOK — MEJIOBIAIS
OF PETEU TUE CHEAT AND ALEXANDER — GREAT TAUL — THE GEXEEAL -WITH TWO
-WIVES — MORALITY IN ROSSIA — ADVENTUEES OF A PI^ILHELLE^^; — A FBESCH
DOCTOR — THE ENGLISH CONSUL — HORSE KACES — A-i-IBST SIGHT OP THE KALMITCKS.
Our arrival in Marioupol unpleasantly reminded us that we were
no longer in the German colonies. A dirty inn-room, horses not
forthcoraing, bread not to be had, nor even fresh water, rude em-
ploi/es — every tiling in short was in painfiil contrast with the comfort
and facilities to which we became accustomed in our progress
through the thriving viUages of the Mennonites.
Marioupol is the chief place of an important colony founded on
the shores of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmious, by
the Greeks whom Catherine II. reraoved thither frora the Crimea in
1784. It now reckons eighty viUages, a population of about
30,000, occupying 450,000 hectares* of land. The taxes paid by these
colonists araount to ten kopeks per hectare; in addition to which,
each family contributes one ruble fifty kopeks towards the salary
of the govemment officers in their district, "rhey enjoy several pri-
-vileges, have their own magistrates and subordinate judges, elected
by themselves, and are exempt from mihtary service. Criminal cases
and suits not terminated before their own tribunals, come under the
general laws and regulations of the erapire.
Agriculture and commerce are the chief resources of the colony,
but 1 have seen no trace ofthe mulberry plantations attributed to it;
Having been for a long series of ages subject to the khans ofthe
Crimea, all these Greeks speak a corrupt Tater dialect araong them
selves. They are on the whole a degenerate and thoroughly un
principled race, particularly in Marioupol, the traders of which en
rich themselves by robbing the agriculturists, who are forced to sell
thera their produce.
Marioupol is a large dirty viUage, and its port, which has only a
custora-house of exit, is nothing but a paltry roadstead of Httie depth,
in which vessels are sheltered frora none but western winds. With
the exception of a soUtary brig, there were only some smaU coasting
vessels in it when we -visited the place. Its export, trade is consider
able notwithstanding, amounting to the annual value of four or five
milUons of francs.
Marioupol is infalUbly destined to lose aU its commercial import
ance since the foundation of the new aud more advantageously-
situated harbour of Berdiansk, to which the greater part of the pro
duce of the surrounding coimtry already takes its way. As a general
rule, one town of Soutbam Russia can prosper only at the expense
•_ A hectare is a little more than tvfo acres.

TAGANROK. 83
and by the abandonment of another; thus Kherson has been sacri
ficed to Odessa, Theodosia to Kertch, &c. It must, however, be
owned that the preference given to Berdiansk is weU grounded.
Placed at the mouth of the Berda, that to-wn is imquestionably the
best port on the Sea of Azov. Its population in 1840 was 1258,
ancl during the year 1839 it exported 187,761 tchetverts of whe.tt;
its importation is a blank as yet.
After waiting several hours we at last procured horseS that con
veyed us rapidly to the next post; but there we had another stop
page. Tlie clerk had a fancy to squeeze our purses, and knew
no better w-ay of doing so than by refusing us horses. Commands,
-tiireats, and abuse, never for a moment rufiled his dogged cora-
posure. Unfortimately om- Cossack had been seized with a vio
lent fever, and remained behind at Marioupol; had he been with
us the clerk would hardly have ventured on his tricks, for he would
have been sure of a sound drubbing. But this manner of enforcing
compUance was not in our way, and as we had written authority to
hire horses from the peasants wherever we found them, we sent
Anthony to the next village, and thought no more about belnc
suppUed by the postmaster. Our unconcern began to alarm the
clerk ; gangs of horses were every moment returning from pasture,
and he saw plainly that his position was becoming critical. After an
hom-'s absence ^Anthony appeared in the distance with three stout
horses and a driver. I wiQ, not atterapt to depict the consternation
of the Jew when he was assured that the team was really for us.
He threw himself at our feet, knocked his head against the ground,
and ih short, evinced such a passion of grovelUng fear, that disgusted
and wearied with. his importunities, we at last promised not to make
any coraplaint against him. We made all haste to quit the spot,
and in five hours afterwards we were in Taganrok.
The to-wn, situated on the bay of the same name at the northern
extremity of the Sea of Azov, is the chief place of a distinct
administrative district, dependent on lekateriuoslav only as regards
the courts of law, and comprising within its Uraits, Rostof, Slariou-
pol, Nakitchevane, and a little territory lying round the northern
end of the sea, and encorapassed by the country of the Don. Its
boundaries are, on one side, the Mious, which falls into the Sea of
Azov, and on the other side,the Government of the Cossacks of the
Black Sea.
, Taganrok was founded in 1706, by Peter the Great, after the
¦taking of Azov, and was demolished in pursuance of the treaty of
the Pruth. War ¦with Turkey having been renewed, it was re
built in 1709, and fortified; and a harbour was constructed, sur
rounded ¦with a. mole, the remains of which are stiU seen just level
with the surface of the water.
This, harbour is a long rectangle, with a single entrance towards
the west. There is some idea of renovating it, by reconstructing
its mole, and clearinsr it of the sand with which it has beea long
g2

84 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
choked; but this project, if carried into effect, will not remove the
natural defects of the Taganrok roadstead. The water is so low,
that vessels are obliged to lie from four to six leagues off the shore,
and to load and unload their cargoes in a curious round-about, and
very expensive manner. Waggons surmounted ¦with platforms
loaded with grain, perform the first part of the process, and advance
in files, often to a distance of half a league into the sea. There
they are unloaded into large barges, and these almost always
require the aid of a third auxiliary, before their freight is finally
shipped. On approaching Taganrok, one almost fancies the town before
him is Odessa. Its position on the Sea of Azov, the character of
the landscape, its churches, its great extent, and every feature of
the place, even to the fortress coramanding it, combine to favour the
iUusion. Taganrok has thriven rapidly, as Peter the Great foresaw it
would do, and has become one of the most comraercial to-wns of
Southem Russia. Its trade, however, has considerably diminished
since the suppression of its lazaret, and the closure of the Sea of
Azor, in consequence of a fifty days' quarantine estabUshed at
Kertch. Tlie to-wn now contains 16,000 inhabitants.
Peter the Great's sojourn In Taganrok, is commemorated by an
oak wood of his own planting. Such a memorial of a great
prince is certainly better than a pompous raonuraent; raore dura
ble, and raore philanthropic, particularly in a country destitute of
forests. It was at Taganrok that the Emperor Alexander died, far away
from the splendours of St. Petersburg. As we visited the modest
dwelUng that served hira for his last abode, aU the events ofthe
great epoch in which he was one of the most Illustrious actors
crowded on our meraories. The bed-roora where he died has been
converted into a chapelle ardente, but in every other respect the
house has been preserved with reUgious care, just as he left it.
There was a lair in the to-wn when we arrived. The suffocating
heat, the clouds of dust, and the crowded state of all the hotels, at
first made us look unfavourably on the place, but the diversions of
the fair soon reconciled us to the inconveniences of our lodgings.
In Russia, fairs still retain an importance they scarcely any
longer possess in our raore civiUsed countries. Every town has
its own, which is more or less frequented; that of Nijni Novgorod
is reputed the most considerable on the European continent; all the
nations of Europe and Asia, send their representatives to it. Next
after it, the fair of Karkhof, is In high esteem among merchants for
its rich furs. These fairs often last more than a raonth, and they
are impatiently looked forward to by aU the country nobles, whom
they enable for a while to breathe as it were the odour of fashion
able town life. Balls, theatres, shopping, rausic, horse races— what
a world of pleasures in the compass of a few days ! And eveiy one

A GENER.4JI:, -WITH TWO "WIVES. 85
sets about enjoying them "with feverish ardoiir. Every tiling else is
interrupted; the fair to-day, all other concerns to-morrow. At some
Uttie. distance frora Taganrok, there are huge bazaars filled -with
oriental merchandise, and the covered alleys are crowded -with
fashionable loungei-s in the evening. A very curious spectacle
indeed is this labyrinth of Pereian cloths, slippers, furs, Parisian
bonnets and caps, shawls from Kashmir, and a thousand other
articles too numerous to detail. Every thing is arranged to the best
advantage, and the eye is delighted with the picturesque and
fantastic medley of colours and forms.
Europe and Asia are matched against each other, and exert all
their arts of fascination to allure purchasers. In spite of all the
elegance of the French fashions, it must be owned that our Uttie
bonnets and our scanty mantiUas cut but a sorry figure beside the
muslins interwoven -with gold and silver, the rich termalamas and
the furs that adorn the shops of the country. And yet all eyes, aU
desires, all purses tum towards the productions of France. Sorae
faded ribands and trumpery bonnets attract a greater number of
pretty customers than aU the gorgeous wares of Asia.
During our stay at Taganrok, we were in-rited to a ball at the
mansion of General Khersanof, son-in-law of the celebrated Hetman
Platof. The general possesses the handsomest residence in the town,
and keeps his state Uke a real prince, amidst the motley society of
a comraercial town. AU his apartments are stuccoed and decorated ,
with equal taste and magnificence. The windows consist of single
ftanes of plate glass more than three yards high. The furniture,
ustres, ceiUngs, and pictures, all display a feeling for the fine arts,
and a sumptuosity governed by good taste, which may well surprise
us in a Cossack.
In front of the mansion lies a handsome garden, ¦which was Ughted
up with coloured lamps for the occasion. The whole front of the
dwelling was brilliantly illuminated. It was a magic coup d'ceil, parti
cularly as it was aided by the transparent atmosphere ofa beautiful sum
mer night, that ¦ned in purity with the clearest of those of the south.
On entering the first salon, we were met by the general, who imme
diately presented us to his two wives. But the reader wiU say, is
bigamy aUowed araong the Cossacks? Not exactly so ; but if the
laws and pubUc opinion are against it, stUl a man of high station may
easily evade both ; and General Khersanof has been living for many
years in open, avowed bigamy, without finding that his salons axe
the less frequented on account of such a trifle. In Russia, wea,ltli
covers every thing with its gUttering veil, and sanctions every kind
of eccentricity, however opposed to the usages of the land, pro-
¦vided it redeem them by plenty of balls and entertainments. PubUc
opinion, such as exists in France, is here altogether unknown. The
majority leave scruples of conscience to timorous souls, without even
so rauch as acknowledging their merit.
A raan the slave of his word, and a woman o£ her reputation,
could not be understood in a country where caprice reigns as abso-

86 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
lute sovereign. A Russian lady, to whom I made some remarks on
this subject, answered naively, that none but low people could be
affected by scandal, inasmuch as censure can only proceed from
superiors. She was perfectly right, for, situated as the nobiUty are,
who would dare to criticise and condemn their faults? In order-
that public opinion should exist, there must be an independent class,
capable of uttering its judgments -nithout fearing the vengeance of
those it calls before its bar; there raust be a free country in which
the acts of every individual raay be irapartlally appreciated; in
short, the words justice, honour, honesty, and delicacy of feeUng
must have a real meaning, instead of being the sport of an elegant
and corrupt caste, that systematicaUy makes a mock of every thing
not subservient to its caprices and passions.
Not-withstanding their opulence, and the society that frequents
their salons, Mesdames Khersanof retain a simplicity of raairaers
and costume in curious contrast -with every thing around thera. An
embarrassed air, vulgar features, an absence of all dignity in bearing
and in conversation, and an ungainly style of dress — this was all that
strack us as most remarkable about thera. The younger wore a
silk go-wn of a sorabre colour, with a short body and straight sleeves,
and so narrow that it might be taken for a bag. A silk kerchief
covered her shoulders and part of her neck, and her Uttie cap put me
strongly in mind of the head-gear of our master-cooks. The whole
costume was raean, awkward, and insipid. Except a few brilUants in
her girdle and her cap, she showed no other trace of that -Asiatic
splendour which is still afiected by many other women of this
country. .
It is said that the two co-^wives Uve on the best possible terms
¦with each other. The general seems quite at his ease -ivith respect
to them, and goes from the one to the other -with the same marks
of attention and affection. His first wife is very old, and might
be taken for the mother of the second. We were assured that being-
greatly distressed at having no children, she had herself advised her
husband to make a new choice. The general fixed on a very-
pretty young peasant working on his own property. In order to
dirainiah the great disparity of rank between them, he married her
to one of his officers, who, on coming out of church, received orders
to depart instantly on a distant mission, frora which he never re
turned. Sorae tirae afterwards the young woraan Was instaUed in
the general's brilUant raansion, and presented to aU his acquaintance
a^ Madarae IQiersanof. -
Two charming daughters are the frnit of this not very orthodox
union. Dressed m seraphines of blue sUk, they performed the Russian
and the Cossack dances with exqmsite grace, and enchanted us during
the whole continuance of the baU. The Russian dance fascinates by
its shnpUcity and poetry, and differs entirely frora aU other national
dances :_ it consists not so much in the steps, as in a pensive, natural
pantomime, in which northern calmness and gravity are terapered
by a charnnng grace and timidity. Less impassioned than the dances

FE5ENC.H IN TAGANROK. 87
of Spain, it affects the senses with a gentle langour which it is not
easy to resist.
We met with a Frenchman at Taganrok, a real hero of roraance.
At eighteen his adventurous temper impeUed him to quit the service
to go and play a part iu the Greek revolution. He participated in all
the chances and dangers of the struggle against the Turks; and
battling sometimes as a gueriUero, sometiraes as a seaman, and some
tiraes as a cUplomatlst, he was thrown into more or less immediate
contact with all. those who shed such a lustre on the war of in
dependence. In one of his carapalgns he chanced to save the Ufe
of a young and pretty Srayrniote, -n-liom he lost no time in mar
rying and bearing far away from the scenes of massacre with which
the whole archipelago then abounded. A Russian nobleman advised
hira to repair to Moscow, and furnished him with the means. His
wife's magnificent Greek costume, her youth and beauty, produced
an intense sensation in that capital. The whole court, which waa then
in Moscow, was full of Interest for the young Smyrniote, and the
empress even sought to attach her to her person by the most terapt-
ing offers. Madame de V. refused them, preferring to remain with
her husband, whose conduct, however, was far from Irreproachable.
Being young, very handsorae, and of an enterprising character, his
successes araong the Muscovite laches -svere very numerous ; and
he was everywhere known by the narae of the handsome French-
inan. An adventure that raade a great deal of noise, and in which a
lady of the court had corapletely compromised her reputation for
his sake, obUged him to quit Moscow in the midst of his triumphs.
He then led his wife from one capital to another, presenting her
everywhere as an interesting victim of the Greek revolution. After
this European tour, he returned to Paris, where he passed sorae
years. Many erainent artists of that city painted the portrait of
his wife, who Is still very beautiful. In 1838 he left Paris and
settled in Taganrok as a teacher ofthe French language; and there
this poet, traveller, raan of the world, and beau cavalier is throw
ing away almost all his advantages, which are of little serviee to
him in the walk he has chosen, and in a town where there arc so
few persons capable of appreciating him.
Our whole colony in 'Taganrok consists of Doctor Meunier, who
acts as consul; M. dc V., and a Provencal lady, who keeps a
boarding-school. This Doctor Meunier is another original. He passed I know
not how raany years in the service of the Shah of Persia, who had
a great regard for hira, and invested him on his departure with the
order of the sun, a magnificent decoration, more briUiant than that
ofa grand cordon. . .
Having shrewdly availed himself of his extensi-ve opportumties
for obsei^ation, his acquaintance Is highly to be prized by all who
love to give their imagination fr-ee scope : his graphic and inarveUous

88 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
stories are like pages from the Ai-ablan Nights. In an instant,
he sets before ms hearers palaces of gold and azure, bewitchmg
almehs, towns ruined to their foundations, towers of huraan heads,
a French nulUner superintending the education of Persian ladies,
princes, beggars, dervishes, unbounded luxury side by side ¦with the
most hideous poverty, and all that the East can show to move,
allure, or terrify the soul.
One of- the houses that offer most attractions for foreigners, is
that of Mr. Yearns, brother of the EngUsh consul-general of
Odessa. We found him possessed of all his brother's amiable quaU-
'ties and perfect tact. When the English can shake off the stifihess
-with which they are so justly reproached, and their immoderate
pride, they are perhaps the most agi-eeable of all acquaintances.
They generally possess strong powers of observation and analysis,
large and sound information, genuine dignity of conduct, and above
aU, a good-humoured kindUness, that is more winning for the pains
they take to conceal it.
WhUe looking" over Mr. Yearns' EngUsh,- French, and German
Hbrary, and the journals of aU nations that lie on the tables, it is not
easy to beUeve oneself on the shores of the Sea of .Azov, and on the
outskirts of Europe. The " Journal des Debats," the " Times,"
and the " Augsburg Gazette," put you au courant of the affairs of
Europe, as though Paris and London were not a thousand leagues
away from you.
It is not to be conceived into what a confusion of ideas one is cast
at first, by the sight of a room filled with books, maps, journals,
faraillar articles of furniture, and people talking French: you ask
yourself what is become of the days and nights you have spent in
galloping post, the vast extent of sea you have crossed, the leagues
of land and water, the regions and the cliraes you have left between
you and your native country.
With the advances civiUsation is daily raaking, distances wiU
soon be annuUed ; for distance to ray thinking, consists not in differ
ence of longitude, but in diversity of raanners and ideas. I certainly
felt myself nearer to France in Taganrok than I should have been
in certain cantons of S-witzerland or Germany.
On the eve of our departure we attended some horse-races, that
interested us only by the number and the variety of the spectatora.
There we began to make acquaintance -with the Kalmucks, some
of -vvhom had come to the fair to sell their horses, the breed of which
is in great request throughout the south of Russia. There was
nothing very captivating in the Mongol features and savage appear
ance of these worshippers of the Grand Lama; and when I saw the
jealous and disdainful looks they cast on those aroimd them, and
heard their loud yells whenever a hoi-se passed at fuU speed before
them, I could not help feeling sorae apprehension at the thought
that I should soon have to throw myseff on their hospitaUty.
Taganrok has the strongest reserablance to a Levantine town, so

DEPARTURE PROM TAGANROK. 89
much are Its Greek and ItaUan inhabitants In a majority over the
rest of the population. Such was the perpetual hubbub, that we
could hardly persuade ourselves we were m Russia, where the people
usually make as little noise as possible, lest the echo of their voices
should reach St. Petersburg. The Greeks, though subjected to the
imperial regime, are less circumspect, and retain under the northern
sky the vivacity and restless temper.ament that characterise their
race. We particularly admired that day, a number of young Greek
women, whose black eyes and elegant figures attracted every gaze.
A string of carriages was drawn up round part of the race-course,
and enabled us to review all the aristocratic faraiUes of the town and
neighbourhood. The ladles were dressed as for a baU, with short
sleeves, their heads uncovered and decked with fiowers.
A blazing sun and whirlwinds of dust, such as would be thought
fabulous in any other country, soon dimmed all this finery, and
drove away most of the spectators: we were not the last to seek
refuge in the covered alleys of a neighbouring bazaar, where we
had ices and deUcious water-melons set before us in the Armenian
cafe for a few kopeks.

CHAPTER XIL

DEPARTURE FR03I TAGANROK — SUNSET IN THE STEPPES — A OIPST CASfP — R03T0P;
A TO-WN UNPAEAT.T.BLED IN THE EMPIRE — NAVIO-4,T10N OP THE DON— AZOV; ST.
DUnTBI — ASPECT OF THE DON — NAKITCHEVANE, AND ITS ARMENIAN COLONY.
As we turned our backs on Taganrok, we could easily foresee what
we should have to suffer during our journey. A long drought and a
temperature of 99° had already changed the verdant plains of the
Don into an arid desert. At times the wind raised such billows of
dust around us, that the sky was completely veiled from our eyes;
our breath failed us, and the blood boiled in our ears ; our sufferings
for the moment were horrible. The hot air of a conflagration does
not cause a more painful sense of suffocation than that produced by
the wind of the desert. The horses could not stand against it, but
stopped and hung down their heads, seeming as much distressed
as ourselves.
As we approached the Don the country was not quite such a dead,
unbroken flat as before ; a few Cossack stanitzas began to show them
selves among the clumps of trees on the banks of the river. Deep
gullies lined with foliage, and the traces of several streams, show how
agreeable this part of the steppes must be in spring ; but at the period
of our journey every thing had been dried up and almost calcined by
the rays of a sun which no cloud had obscured for two months.
¦Before reaching Rostof, we passed through a large Armenian vii-

90: THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN" SEA, &C.
lage. Its picturesque position, in the midst of a ravine, and the
oriental fashion of its houses, give some interest and variety to these
lonely regions, and transiently busy the imagination. The evening
promised to be very beautiful; something serene, calm, and melan
choly, had succeeded to the- enervating heat of the day.
Sunset in the steppes is like sunset nowhere else. In a country of
varied surface, the graduaUy lengthening shadows give warning long:
beforehand that the sun is approaching the horizon. But here there
is nothing to intercept its rays until the moment it sinks below the
Une of the steppe ; then the night falls -with unequaUed rapidity ; in
a few moments all trace is gone of that brilUant luminary that just
before was making the whole west ablaze. It is a magnificent trans
formation, a sudden transition to which the grandeur of the scene
adds almost supernatural majesty and strangeness.
Fatigued by the rapidity with which we had been travelling since
¦we left Taganrok, I took advantage of our halt at a post station, not-
far from the ¦village, to ascend the rising ground that concealed the
load from my -view. • ' t • •
As I have said, the night had come do-wn suddenly, and there-
reraained in the west but a few pale red stripes that were fading
away with eveiy second. At the opposite point of the horizon the
broad red glo-wmg raoon, such as it appears when it issues from the
sea, was cUmbing majesticaUy towards the zenith, and already fiUed-
that region of the heavens -with a soft and mysterious radiance. The
greater part of the steppe- was stIU in gloom, whilst a golden fringe .
marked the Umits of earth and sky : the effect was very singular and
splendid. _When Preached the summit ofthe hiU an involuntary cry of sur
prise and alarm escaped me. I reraained motionless before the un
expected scene that presented itself to my eyes — a whole gipsy camp,
reaUsing one of Sir Walter Scott's most striking fictions. Dispersed
over the whole surface of the globe, and placed at the bottom of the
social scale,, this vagrant people forms in Russia, as elsewhere, a real
tribe of pariahs, whose presence is regarded with disgust, even by
the peasants.-. The govemment has attempted to settle a colony of.
these Bedouins of Eumpe in Bessarabia,, bat with Uttie success
hitherto.. True to the traditional usages of their race, the Tsigans
abhor every thing belonging to agriculture and regular, habits. No
bond has ever been found strong enough to check that nomade
humour they inherit from their forefathers, and which has resisted
the rude cUmate of Russia and the despotism of its govemment.
Just as in Italy and Spain, they roam from -village to viUage, plying
various trades, steaUng- horses^, poultry, and fruit, teUing fortunes,.
procuring by fraud or entreaty the means of barely keeping thein-
selires alive, and infinitely preferring such a vagabond and lazy ex
istence to the comfort they might easUy secure ¦with a. moderate
amount of labour.
Their manner of travelUng reminds one of tiie emigrations of bar-

RUSSIAN GIPSIES. 91
barous tribes. Marching always in nuraerous bodies, they pass
from place to place ¦with aU they possess. The women, children,
and aged persons, are huddled together in a sort of cart caUed
pavoshk, drawn each by one or two smaU horses with long raanes.
All their wealth consists of a few coarse bro-wn blankets, which form
their tents by night, and in sorae tools employed in their chief trade,
that of farriery.
AU traveUers who have visited Russia, speak -with enthusiasra of
the gipsy singing heard in the Moscow salons. No race perhaps
fiossesses an aptitude for music in a higher degree than these gipsies.
n manv other respects too, their intelligence appeared to us reraark
able. A long abode in Moldavia, where there are said to be more
than 100,000 Tsigans, enabled us to study ^vith faciUty the curious
habits of this people, and to coUect a great number of facts,
which would not perhaps, be without interest for the raajority of
readers.* The Tsigans pass the fine season in traveUing frora fair to fair,
encaraping for some weeks in the neighbourhood of the towns, and'
U-ving, heedless of the friture, in thorough Asiatic indolence; but
when the snows set in, and the nortiiem blasts sweep those vast
plains as level as the sea, the condition of these -wretched creatures
is such, as raay weU excite tiie strongest pity. But half clad,
cowling in huts sunk below the surface of the ground, and desti
tute of the commonest necessaries, it is inconceivable bow they live
tiirough the -winter. Horrible as such a state of existence must be,
they never give it a thought from the raoraent the breath of the
south enables thera to resurae their vagrant career. Recklessness
is the predominant feature in their character, and the most frightful
sufferings cannot force them to bestow a moment's consideration on
the future.
The singular apparition that had suddenly arrested my steps by
the road sSe, was that of a troop of gipsies encamped for the nlght-
in that lonely spot, about thirty yards from the road, near a field of
water-melons. Their pavoshks were arranged in a circle, -with the
shafts tumed upwards, and support the cloths of their tents, which
could only be entered by creeping on aU fours. Two large fires
burned at a Uttie distance from the tents, and round them sat
about fifty persons of the most frightiul appearance. Their sooty
colour, matted hair, wild features, and the rags that scarcely covered
them, seen by the capricious Ught of the flames, that sometimes
glared up strongly, and at other moments suddenly sank down and
left everything in darkness, produced a sort of demoniacal spectacle,
that recaUed to the iraagmation those sraister scenes of which they
have so lonor been made the heroes.

• As the plan of the present irork does not alloTV of our entering on the subject
in this place, ¦tre reserve it for our " Travels in the PrincipaUties of the Danube, to
te hereafter puhlished.

92 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
The history of aU that is most repulsive in penury and the habits
of a vagrant life, was legible in their haggard faces, in the restless
expression of their large black eyes, and the sort of voluptuousness
-with which they grovelled in the dust ; one would have said it was their
native element, and that they felt themselves born for the mire with
all swarming creatures of uncleanness. The women especiaUy ap
peared hideous to rae. Covered only -with a tattered petticoat, their
' breasts, arras, and pait of their legs bare, their eyes haggard, and
their faces almost hidden under their straggling locks, they retained
no semblance of their sex, or even of humanity.
The faces of some old men struck me, however, by their perfect
regularity of features, and by the contrast between their white hair
and the pUve hue of their skins. AU were sraoking, raen, woraen,
and children. It is a pleasure they esteem almost as much as drink
ing spirits. What painter's imagination ever conceived a -wilder or
more fantastic picture !
Hitherto they had not perceived me, but the noise of our carriage,
¦which was rapidly advancing, and my husband's voice, put thera on
the alert. The whole gang instantly started to their feet, and I found
myself, not without sorae degree of dread, surrounded by a dozen of
perfectly naked chUdren, all bawling to rae for ahns. Some young
girls seeing the fright I was in began to sing in so sweet and melo
dious a raanner, that even our Cossack seeraed affected. We re
mained a long" while listening to them, and admiring the picturesque
effect of their encampment in the steppes, under the beautiful and
lucid nio'ht sky. No thought of serious danger crossed our minds,
and, indeed, it would have been quite absurd; but in any other
country than Russia such an encounter would have been far from
agreeable. In the course ofthe foUo-wing day we reached Rostof, a pretty Uttie
town on the Don, entirely different in appearance from the other
Russian towns. You have here none of the cold, monotonous
straight Unes that afflict the traveller's sight from one end of the
empire to the other; but the inequaUty of the ground, and the
-wish Ho keep near the harbour, have obliged the inhabitants to
build their houses in an. irregular manner, which has a very pic
turesque effect. -
The population, too, a riiixtnre of Russians, Greeks, and Cos
sacks, have in their ways and habits nothing at aU analogous to the
systeraatic stiffness and military driU that "seem to regulate all the
actions of the Russians. The influence of a people long free has
changed even the character of ihe chancery employes, who are here
exempt from that arrogance and self-sufficiency that distinguisli the
petty nobles of Russia, Hence society is much more agreeable in
Rostof than in most of the continental towns. The ridiculous pre
tensions of tchin (rank) do not there assail you at every step; there
is a complete fusion of nationaUty, tastes, and ideas, to the great
advantage of aU parties.

ROSTOP : AN EXCEPTIONAL TOWN. 93
This secret influence exercised by the Cossacks on the Russians,
is worthy of note, and seeras to prove that the defects of the latter
are attributable rather to their poUtical systera, than to the inherent
character of the nation.
Their natural gaiety, kept down by the secret inquisition of a
sovereign power, readily gets the upper hand when opportunity
offers. The pubUc functionaries associate freely in Rostof, with the
Cossacks and the Greek raerchants, -without any appearance of the
haughty exclusiveness elsewhere conspicuous in their class.
One thing that greatly surprised us, and that shows how much
Uberal ideas are in favour in this town, is the establishment ofa sort
of cassino, where aU grades of society assemble on Sunday, to
dance and hold parties of pleasure. Tills is without a parallel
elsewhere. This cassino contains a large baU-room, handsome gardens, bil
liard and refireshraent-rooms, and every thing else that can be
desired in an estabhshment of the sort. Though, all persons are at
liberty to enter -without payment, it is nevertheless frequented by
the best society, who dance there as heartily as in the most aristo
cratic salons. AU distinctions vanish in the cassino : pubUc func
tionaries, shopkeepers, officers' wives, work-girls, foreigners, persons,
in short, of all ranks and conditions mingle together, forming an
amusing pell-meU, that reminds one, by its vmceremonious gaiety,
of the bals champStres of the en^virons of Paris. Every thing is
matter of surprise to the traveller in this little to-wn, so remote from
aU civiUsation: the hotels are provided with good restaurants, clean
chambers, each fumished -with a bed, and aU appurtenances com
plete (a thing unheard of everywhere else in the interior of Russia),
besides raany other things that are hardly to be found even in
Odessa. Rostof is the centre of all the commerce of the interior of the
empire, with the Sea of Azov, and -with a large portion of the Rus
sian coasts ofthe Black Sea. Through this town pass aU the pro
ductions of Siberia, and the manufactured goods intended for con
sumption throuo-hout the greater part of Southem Russia. These
goods are floated down the Volga as far as Doubofka, in the vicinity
of Saritzin. They are then carried by land, a distance of about thirty-
eight miles to Kahilnitzkaia, where, they are embarked on the Don,
and conveyed to Rostof, their general entrepot. The barges on the
Don and the Volga are flat; 112 feet long, from twenty to twenty-
six wide, and about six feet deep. They draw only two feet
of water, and cost from 300 to 500 rubles. They are freighted
with timber and firewood, mats, bark, pitch, tar, hemp, cables,
and. cordage, pig and wrought iron, pieces ofartillery, anchors,
lead, copper, butler, &c. The whole traffic and navigation of the
Don, down stream, frora Kahahiitzkala, depends on the arrivak
from the Volga. The barges employed on the latter river, being
put together with wooden bolts, are taken asunder at Doubofka,

94 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SJBA, ecu.
and laid with their cargoes in carts, on which they are conveyed
to the banks of the Don.* Seven or eight days are sufficient for
this operation, the expense of which amounts nearly to a quarter
of the capital employed. Thus every year the crown and the mer
chants spend from 850,000 to 1,000,000 rubles at Doubofka. It is
reckoned that 10,000 pairs of oxen, on an average, are employed on
the road connecting the two rivers. The charge for hea-vy goods ia
from sixty to sixty-five kopeks the 100 Hlogrammes. The vessels
that ascend the Upper Don convey the goods above-named to the
government of Voronege and the adjoining ones; besides which,
sorae are freighted -with the fruits and -wines of the Don. Scarcely
any traffic ascends the lower part of the river.
The coasting trade of Rostof is, therefore, brisk, and particularly
so since the establishment of the quarantine at Kertch. There were
exported from the town, in 1840, for Russian ports, more than
3,500,000 rubles' worth of domestic goods of various kinds, and
about 700,000 rubles' worth of provisions, chiefly intended for the
armies. Flax-seed and common wool have also become, ¦within the
last three years, rather important articles of export to foreign coun
tries. The population of Rostof is about 8000.
Azov, on the other side of the Don, a Uttie below Rostof, is now
only a large -viUage. Its long celebrated fortress has been aban
doned, and is faUing into ruin. It is said to occupy the site of the
ancient Tana, buUt by the Greeks ofthe Bosphorus.
The fort of Saint Dimitri, biult by Peter the Great, between ,
Rostof and Nakhitchevane, has had the same fate as -Azov. It was
formerly destined to protect the country against the incursions of
the Turks, who were then masters of the opposite bank. The post-
road traverses its whole length, and then continues aU the -way to
Nakhitchevane, along a raised causeway, and overlooks the whole
basin of the river. Nothing can be more varied than the -wide land
scapes through which one travels along this extended ridge. Behind
Ues Rostof, with its harbour fuU of vesseb, and its houses rising in
ten-ace rows, one above the other, its Greek churches, and its hang
ing gardens ) di the right is the calm and Umpld mirror of the
river, spreading out into a broad basin, with banks shaded -with
handsome poplars. Fishing-boats, rafts, and barges diversify its
surface, and give the most picturesque appearance to this part of the
landscape. "Then in front, Nakhitchevane, the elegant Armenian
town, towers before you, the glazed -windows of its great bazaars
glittering in the sun. Enter the to-wn, and you are surprised by a,
-vision of the East, as you behold the capricious architecture of the
buildings, and the handsorae A^atic figures that pass before you.
Irapelled by our recoUections of Constantinople, we visited every
• The constmction of a canal or a railroad between the Don .-md the Volga has
long been talked of, Peter X. began a canal, but the works -were soon abandoned.
A new project was laid before the gorerdment in 1820, the expense of which was
estimated at r,.';0O,O0O., bnt it remains still to be realised

THE ARMENIANS OP N-AKHITCHEVANE. 95
q[uarter of the town without delay. At the sight of the veiled
woraen, traUing their yellow sUppei-s along the ground -with inimita
ble nonchalance, the Oriental costuraes, the long white beards, the
merchants sitting on their heels before their shops, and the bazaars
fJled with the productions of Asia, we fancied ourselves reaUy
transported to one ofthe trading quarters of Stamboul; the IUusion
was coraplete. The shops abound with articles, raany of which ap
peared to us very curious. The -Arraenians are exceUent workers m
sUver. We were shown sorae remarkably beautiful saddles, in
tended for Caucasian chiefs. One of them covered with blue velvet,
adorned -with black enamelled silver plates, and with stirrups of massive
silver, and a briUiantiy adorned bridle, had been ordered for a young
Circassian princess. Here, as in Constantinople, each description of
goods has its separate bazaar, and the shops are kept by raen only.
This -Arraenian town, seated on the banks of the Don, in the
heart of a country occupied by the Cossacks, is stUl one of those
angularities which are only to be met -with in Russia. One cannot
help asking what can have been the cause why these children of the
JEast have transplanted theraselves into a region, where nothing is in
harraony with their manner of being; where the language, habits,
and wants of the inhabitants are diametricaUy opposite to their own,
and where nature herself reminds them, by stern tokens, that their
presence there is but an accident. It is true that the Ajcraenians are
essentiaUy cosraopoUtan, and accoramodate themselves to aU cUmates
and governments, when their pecuniary interests require it. Indus
trious, intelUgent, ancl frugal, they thrive everywhere, and com
merce .springs up -with their presence, in every place where they
settle. Thus it was that Nakhitchevane, the town of traffic par ex
cellence, to which purchasers resort from the distance of twenty-five
leagues all round it, arose amidst the wUderness of the Don. It
was only Armenians who could have effected such a prodigy, and
found the means of prosperity in a retail trade. But nothing has
escaped their keen sagacity; every source of profit is largely em
ployed by thera. They do not confine theraselves to the local
trade ; on the contrary, there is not a fair in aU Southem Russia
that is not attended by dealers from Nakhitchevane. _ The supply of
dress and arms to the inhabitants of the Caucasus, stiU forras one of
tiie principal branches of commerce for these Armenians. They
maintain a pretty close correspondence with the mountaineers, and
are even accused of ser-ving them as spies. As to their social habits,
the Armenians are in., Nakhitchevane what they are everywhere else;
they may change their countiy and their garb, but their manners
and their usages never undergo any alteration. Their race is Uke a
tree whose trunk is almost destroyed, but which thro-ws up at every
pomt new shoots, invariable in theu: nature, and differing from each
other only in some outward particulars.
The colony of Nakhitchevane dates from- the year 1780, when
Catherine H. had the greater part of the Armenians of tiie Crimea
transported to the banks of the Don, The colonists are divided

96 ' THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN" SEA, &C.
into agriculturists and shopkeepers. The former inhabit five vil
lages, containing a population of^4600 ; the others reside exclusively
in the town, which is the chief place of their establishment, and
contains about 6000 souls. These Armenians enjoy the sarae pri-vi-
leges as the Greeks of Marioupol, already mentioned. They are
under the control of functionaries chosen, by themselves, and it
happens very rarely that they are obUged to have recourse to the
Russian tribunals.
The following was the decision adopted by the Council of the
Empire, in 1841, relatively to the Arraenians of New Russia. " The
descendants of the Armenians settled at the invitation of the govern
ment, in the towns of Karasson Bazar, Starikiira in the Crimea,
Nakhitchevane, and Gregorioupol, in the governraent of Kherson, -will
continue to pay, not the poll-tax, but the land-tax, and that .on
houses, according to the privileges granted to their fathers hy an
ukase of October 28, 1799; whilst those who have settled since that
tirae, as weU as aU Arraenians generally, shaU be liable to the poU-
tax, in pursuance of an ukase of May 21, -1836; in addition to
•which they shall pay from January 1, 1841; viz., townspeople and
artisans, seven rubles per house, and agriculturists seventeen and a
half kopeks per deciatine of land."

CHAPTER xm. :
CEN-ERAI. REMAEKS on KE-W RUSSIA — ^ANTIPATBT BETWEEN THE SlUSCOVITES ANO
MALOROSSIANS — rOREIGN COLONIES— GENERAL ASPECT OP THE COUNTET, CATTLE,
&C. — -WANT OP MEANS OP CO^OlD-SlaVTION — RIVER NA-VIGATIOS ; BRIDGES —
CH-VR.\CTER of the MINISTER OP FIN.\NCE — HISTORY OF THE STEA3I-BOAX ON THE
DNIESTR — THE BOAUB OP KOADS AND WAYS — ^ANECDOTE.
Ne-vv Russia, which we have now tra-versed in its whole length,
. from west to east, consists of the three 2;overnments of Kherson, "Tau-
rid, and lekaterlnoslav. It is bounded on the north by the govern
ments of PodoUa, Kiev, Poltava, and Kharkov; on the east by
the coimtry of the Don Cossacks, the Sea of Azov, and the Straits
of Kertch; on the south by the Black Sea, and on the west by the
Dniestr, which divides it from Bessarabia. Its surface may be
estimated at 1882 square myriam^tres. It contains a population
of 1,-346,515, which makes about 715 inhabitants to a square my- •
riametre. • ,. ;-¦•:.— -.. ri -. ¦ . ,» -. .--, ,,',;
Tlie existing organisation of the three governments dates from '
the year 1802. 'Their territory was successively tumexed to the
empire, by the treaty of Koutchouk Kainardji, the conquest of the -
Crimea, and the convention conpluded at .lassy. In 1791.
"The population of these regions is extremely mixed. The Malo
rossians (Little Russians) formerly known by the appeUation of

DISAFPECTION OF THE MALOROSSIANS. 97
Cossacks of the Ukraine, forra its principal nucleus; then come
nuraerous villages of Muscovites (Great Russians) belonging to the
crown and to individuals; colonies of Germans, Grreeks, Arme
nians, Jews, and Bulgarians; the military establishments of Vos
necensk, formed \vith the Cossacks of the Boug and fugitives frora
all the neighboming nations ; and lastly the Tatars, who occupy
the greater part of the Crimea aud the western shores of the Sea
of Azov.
Here are certainly very various and heterogeneous eleraents ; nor
can there exist between them any religious or political sympathy.
The Muscovites and the Malorossians are even very hostile to each
other, though professing the same, creed and subject to the same
laws. • In spite of all the efforts of the government, and notwith
standing aU the Muscovite colonies disseminated through the coun
try, no blending of the two races- has yet been effected. The old
ideas of independence of the Cossacks of the Ukraine, are very far
frora being entirely extinguished, and the Malorossians, who have
not forgotten the Uberty and the privileges they enjoyed do-wn to
the end of the last century, always bear m mind that serfdom was
estabUshed amongst them only by an iraperial ukase of Catherine II.
When the Emperor Alexander travelled through the Crimea, in
1820, it is said that he received more than 60,000 petitions from
peasants claiming their freedom. Two years afterwards an insur
rection broke out at Martinof ka, in the environs of Taganrok ; but
it was speedily put down, and led to nothing but the transportation
of some hundreds of unhappy serfs to Siberia.
As for the foreign colonies established in New Russia, the govern
ment adapted its regulations at first in strict accordance with their
wants. Each of them possessed a constitution in harmony with its
manners, its usages, and its state of civilisation, and nothing had
been neglected that could prompt tho development of tiieir pros
perity. But -within the last few years, the principles of political unity
havelbeen gaining the upper hand, and all the govemment measures
are tending to assimilate the foreign populations to the free peasants
of. the cro-wn. It is -with this view that the special administrative
committees have been suppressed, and the ministry of the domains of
the crown has been created. Undoubtedly, as we have already
said, when speaking of the German colonies, Russia has an incon
testible right to strive to render herself homogeneous; the interests
of her policy and her nationality require that she should neglect
no means of arriving at a uniforra administrative system. Unfortu
nately, generaUsations are stiU impossible in the empire. Where
there are so many conflicting forras of civilisation, the atterapt to
impose one unvarying systera of rule upon so many dissimilar
¦peoples,' cannot be unattended with danger, particularly when that
systera is an exclusive one, and belongs only to one of the least
enlightened portions of the population. It is, at this day, quite as
H

98 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
ImpoUtic to apply to the German colonists the administrative
system practised with the Russian peasants, as it would be absurd
to govei-n the latter like the Germans.
The govemment would act more -wisely if it tried, in the first
place, to raise its native subjects to the level of the foreigners,
instead of depressing the latter by subjecting them to the same
conditions as its 40,000,000 of serfs. The difficulties would no
doubt be great; but obstinately to persist in establishing a forced
administrative unity by dint of ukases, is nothing short of ruin to
those thriving and industrious foreign colonies, which for more
than half a century have done so rauch for the prosperity of the
country, by bringing the soil of Southern Russia Into productive
cultivation; and it is weU kno-wn, that aU-eady, several hundred
famiUes have abandoned their settlements and returned to Germany.
The whole of Southem Russia from the banks of the Dniestr to
the Sea of .Azov, and to the foot of the mountains of the Crimea,
consists exclusively of vast plains caUed steppes, elevated frora forty
to fifty yards above tiie level of the sea. The soil is completely bare
of forests ;. it is only in some sheltered locaUties along the banks of
the Dniepr and the other rivers, and in their islands, that we find a
few woods of oak:, birch, aspen, and -wiUow. The inhabitants of the
country are obliged to use for firing, reeds, straw, and the dung of
cattie kneaded into Uttie masses Uke bricks. In Odessa, tiiey import
wood from Bessarabia,, the Crimea, and the banks of the Danube ;
but it' costs as much as eighty rubles the fathom. English, coal Is
also consumed, and as the merchant vessels carry it as baUast, its cost
is very moderate. Within the last fe-w years the native coal from
the governraent of lekaterlnoslav and the Don country, is also be
ginning to be used throughout Southem R-ossia.
The growth of wheat and the rearing of cattle, chiefly Merino
sheep, are the main sources of wealth in these regions. The best
. cultivated tracts are, in the first place, those occupied by the
German- colonies, and next, the environs of PodoUa and Khivia.
But the most productive soil is, unquestionably, that of the noi-th-
east of the govemment of lekaterinoskv, where the surface of the
country is more varied-and better irrigated. Unfortunately, the in
habitants have scarcely any markets for their produce.
The grand -want of this part of the empire is, the means of
transport. Within the sixty years or thereabouts, during which the
Russian's have been in possession of these regions, they have founded
many to-wns and erected many edifices to accommodate the public
functionaries ; but they have completely forgotten the most im
portant thing, the thing -without which agriculture and trade can
make no progress worth speaking of. There are no causeways
anyvvhere; the roads are raere tracks marked out by two ditches a
few inches deep, and a Une of posts set np from verst to vei-st to
mark the distance. But usuaUy no account is made of the im
perial track,, and the wheel-ruta vary lateraUy over a space of half a

TVANT OP EOADS AND INTERNAL NAVIOATION. 99
league and more. With every fall of rain the course of the road
is changed. In vrinter, when snow-storms and fogs prevail, tra
velUng itt New Russia is beset -with serious perib. It ia then so
easy to wander from the route, that' traveUers are often in danger
of losing theraselves in the steppes, and dying of cold.
Bridges over the strearas and rivers are as rare as causeways,
and where any exist they are so defective, that diivers always try
to avoid thera, and so save their vehicles irora the chance of being
broken. Whenever the traveller is suddenly roused up frora a
sound sleep by a violent shock, he may be certain he is passing
over a bridge or a fragment of a causeway. Spring and autumn
are the seasons when he has most reason to curse the bad manage
ment of the Board of Bridges and Roads, for then the roads are
irapracticable: the smallest gully becomes the bed. of a torrenfr,
and. communications are often totally interrupted. The conse
quence is that the transport of goods can only be effected in winter
and during four months of sumraer. Nor must we allow ourselves
to- imagine that sledding is a very safe mode of carriage ; the snow
storms cause great disasters, and if the winter be at aU. rigorous,
an enormous number of draught oxen are lost-
Every one knows what fine rivers nature has bestowed on New
Russia. The Dniestr and the Dniepr are two admirable canals,
which, after ha-^rii^ traversed the central parts of the erapire and
its most fertile regions, terminate in the Black Sea.. Their na-vigar
tion, if weU managed,, woidd certainly corapensate largely for the
difficulties in. the way of constructing roads, and might amply
suffice for the wants of the population. But,, as we have said in
our chapter on the coraraerce ofthe Black. Sea, every thing ih Russia
bears deplorable proof of the suplneness of the govemment. It
must, however, be owned that it is not to be reproached in every
case with want of the -will to do better; for recentiy, upon the
enlightened soUcitation of Count Voronzof, it was deterrained to
establish on the Donetz, one of the confluents of the Don, a steam-
tug to take in tow the coal-barges of the government of leka
teriuoslav. The two- grand obstacles which, in our opinion^ irapede the ac-
compUshraent of useful works in Russia, consist in the self-sufficient
incapacity of the ministry of finance, and in the peculation of the
fimctionaries.. Count Cancrine* may be an exceUent book-keeper7
we grant that he possesses no ordinary talent in matters- of account;
but we beUeve, and facts demonstrate it, that his-: administration
has greatly diminished the financial resources of the empire. The
man possesses not one. enlargedidear no forecast ; he sacrifices every
tiling to the present moment. Every item, of expenditure must
bring in an iraraediate profit, or he looks on it as money mis-spent;
he can never be brought- to understand that all capital expended
•SeeAppendE^p. 101. .. - -
h2

100 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
in promoting agriculture and trade, returns sooner or later to the
exchequer with large interest.
In 1840, a landowner, deeply interested in the navigation
of the Uman of the Dniestr, after many fruitless efforts, at last
succeeded by stratagem in inducing him to estabUsh a small steamer
on those waters, in order to facilitate the coraraerclal intercourse
between Akermann and Ovidiopol. The salt works of Touzla,
situated in the vicinity, were to advance the necessary funds to
the directoiy of the steamer, and although that directory was en
tirely dependent on the govemment, it was, nevertheless, obliged
to enter into an engagement for the repayment of the small sum
advanced, within a specified time. The stearaboat was set plying;
but whether frora mismanagement or from other causes, no
profit was reaUsed in the first few years; on the contrary, there
¦was some loss. Angry expostulations on the part of the ministry
soon followed ; and for a while there was an intention of suppressing .
the new raeans of communication, though so highly important to
both banks. Such Is the beha-vaour of the ministry on all industrial
or commercial questions. We shaU have many other facts of the
same kind to mention, vrhen we come to speak of Bessarabia and
the Crimea. ...¦+'., - ., .
Now for an anecdote exemplifying the proceedings of the Board
of Roads and Ways.* It was proposed by Count Voronzof in
1838, to have a bridge constructed over a brook that crosses the
road from 0-vidiopol to Odessa, and which is twice every year con-"
verted into a torrent. Tlie chief engineer of the district having
estimated the expense at .36,750 rubles, the scheme was discounte
nanced by the ministry, and the bridge remained unbuilt for four
years. In 1841, Count Voronzof visited Bessarabia, and his car
riage was near being overturned on the Uttie old bridge by which the
brook is crossed. "It is very much to be regretted," said he to
M  1, who accompanied hira, " that there is not a suitable
bridge here ; the ministry would not, perhaps, have refused to
sanction it, if the engineers had been more moderate in tiieir
demands." Some days afterwards M  i sent for an ItaUan engineer, and
put into his hands a statement of all the measurements on which.
the government engineers had Ibimded their estimate. The ItaUan
asked at first 8400 rubles, and finaUy reduced liis demand to
6475. M  i hastened to lay his proposal before Count Voronzof,
who was amazed, and instantly accepted the terms. The bridge
was to be forthwith constmcted. It was not long before the chief en
gineer -visited M  ^i, and beset hira with reproaches and remon
strances, to wliich the former repUed thus: "My good sir, I have
• It is needless to say that our remarks do not apply to all the Russian engineers
-without exception, for we ourselves have known many- upright and worthy men
amongst them; and these men were the more deserving of esteem, as they always
ended by being the victims of their own integrity.

COUNT CANCRINE. 101
not slandered you, nor do I bear you the least enmity. I wanted
a bridge that I raight visit ray estate without danger. It is not
enough to have a steamer on the Uman of the Dniestr, unless one
has also the means of making use of it. Your demand for the
execution of the, works -u'as 36,750 rubles; another pci-sou, who
has no desire to lose by the job, is content to perform it for 6475.
I am soiry you think he has asked too little. Be that as it may,
I shall have the bridge, and that was a thing I had set ray mind on.
Excuse me this once."
We see by this, with what difficidty useful improvements are
effected in Russia. The most earnest and laudable purposes are
constantly frustrated by the vices of the administrative system.
Unhappily there never can be an end to the fatal influence and the
tyranny everywhere exercised by the public functionaries, until a
radical reform shaU have taken place in the social institutions of the
empire ; but notliing indicates as yet that there is any serious inten
tion of efiecting such a system.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XIII.
" Count Cancrine was the only statesman in Russia who possessed
some share of learning and general information, though somewhat
deficient In the kno-wledge specially applicable to his own depart
ment. He was a very good bookkeeper; but chemistry, mechanics,
and technology were quite unknown to him. His sense of duty
overbore all feeUngs of German nationality; he really desired the
good of Russia, while at the same time he did not neglect his ovra
affairs, for the care of which his post afforded him pecuUar facUitles."^
Colbert's fortune was raade matter of reproach to him; a similar
reproach may be fairly made against M . Cancrine, even though he
leaves to his children the care of expending his wealth. He has
amassed a yearly income of 400,000 rubles. ' It will all go,' he
says, ' ray children will take care of that.'
'• He was the raost ardent partisan both of the prohibitive and of
tiie industrial system; ancl the feverish development he gave to
manufactures does not redeem the distress of agriculture to which he
denied his soUcitude. A true Russian would nev'er have faUen into
this error, but would have comprehended that Russia is pre-eminently
an agricultural country. The question of serfdom found this minis
ter's knowledge at fault. His monetary measures were but gropings
in the dark, \vith many an awkward fall, and sometiraes a lucky hit.
He deserves credit, however, for having opposed the emperor's wasteful
profusion, -with a pei-severance which the tsar called wrongheaded-
ness, though he did not venture to break v>-ith him. It was Maza
rine's merft tiiat he gave Colbert to Louis XIV. In appointing M.
Vrohfeshenko as his successor. Count Cancrine has rendered a very
Ul service to Russia." — Ivan Goloviiie, Eussia under Nicholas I.

102 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
CHAPTER XIV.

THE DD-PERBNT CONDITIONS. OF MEN IN RUSSIA — THE NOBLES — DISCONTENT OP
THE OLD ARISTOCKACT — THE MERCHANT CLASS — SERFDOM.
The Russian nation is di-vided into two classes : the aristocracy,
who enjoy all the pri-nleges ; and the people who bear aU the
burdens of the state. '
We must not, however, form to ourselves an idea of the Russian
nobility at all sirailar to those we entertain of the aristocracies of
Gerraany, or of ante-revolutionary France. In Russia, nobiUty is
not exclusively conferred by birth, as in the other countries of
Europe. There every freeraan may become noble by serving the
state either in a mUitary or a civil capacity; vrith this difference
only, that the son of a nobleman is advanced one step shortly after
he enters the service, whibt the son of a comm'oner raust wait twelve
years for his first proraotion, unless he have an opportunity of distin
guishing hira.self in the meanwhile. Such opportunities indeed are
easily found by all who have the incUnation and the means to pur
chase thera.
The first iraportant modifications in the constitution of the
noblesse were anterior to Peter the Great j and Feodor jAlexievitch,
by burning the charters of the aristocracy, made the first attempt
towards destroying the distinction which the boyars wanted to
estabUsh between the great and the petty nobles. It is. a curious
fact, that at the accession of the latter monarch to the throne, most
offices of state were hereditary in Russia, and it was not an
uncommon thing to forego the services of a man who would have
made an exceUent general, merely because his ancestors had not
fiUed that high post, which men of no miUtary talent obtained by
right of birth. Frequent raention has of late been made of the
celebrated phrase. The boyars have been of opinion and the tzar has
ordained, and it has been raade the therae of violent accusations against
the usurpation of the Muscovite sovereigns. But historical facts
deraonstrate that the supposed power of the nobiUty -was always
iUusory, and that the so much vaunted and regretted institution
served, in reality, only to reUeve the tzars from aU personal responsi
biUty. The spirit of resistance, whate-ver may be said to tiie con
trary, was never a characteristic of the Russian nobiUty. No doubt
there have been frequent conspiracies in Russia; but tihey have
always been directed against the life of the reignino- sovereign, and
never in any respect against existing institutions, ^e faciUty with
which Christianity was introduced into the country, affords a striking
proof of the bUnd serviUty of the Russian people. Vladimir caused
proclamation to be made one day in the to-wn of Kiev, that all the
inhabitants were to repair next day to the banks of the Dniepr and

THE EtrSSIAN NOBLES. 103
receive baptism; and accordingly at the appointed hour on the
morrow, without the least tumult or show of force, all the inhabi
tants of Kiev were Christians.
The existing institutions of the Russian noblesse date from the
reign of Peter the Great. The innovation of that sovereign excited
violent dissatisfaction, and the nobles, not yet broken into the yoke
tiiey now bear, caused their monarch much serious uneasiness. The
means which appeared to Peter I. best adapted for cramping the old
aristocracy, was to thi-ow open the field of honours to all his subjects
who were not serfs. But in order to avoid too rudely shockino-
estabUshed prejudices, he raade a difference between nobles and
coramoners as to the period of service, entitUng them respectively to
obtain that first step which was to place thera both on the same
level. Ha-ving then estabUshed the gradations of rank and the
conditions of proraotion, and desirous of ratifying hb institutions
by his example, he feigned submission to them in his o-wn person,
and passed successively through aU the steps of the scale he had
appointed. The rank of officer in the military service makes the holder a
gentleman in blood, that is, confers hereditary nobiUty; but in the
ci-ril service, tins quaUty is only personal up to the rank of coUege
assessor, which corresponds to that of major.
r The indi-ddual once admitted into the fourteenth or lowest class,
becomes noble, and enjoys all the privileges of nobUity as much as
a count of the empire, with this exception only, that he cannot have
slaves of his own before he has attained the grade of coUege assessor,
unless he be noble bom.
It results frora thb system that consideration is attached in Russia,
not to birth, but merely to the grade occupied. .As- proraotion frora
one rank to another is obtained after a period of service, specified by
the statutes, or sooner through private interest, there is no coUege
registrar (fourteenth class) whatever be his parentage, but raay aspire
to attain precedence over the first famiUes in the erapire ; and the ex
amples of these elevations are not rare. It must be owned, however,
that the old famiUes have raore chance of advanceraent than the
others: but they owe this advantage to their wealth rather than to
their personal influence.
With aU the apparent Uberallty of this scheme of nobility, it has,
nevertheless, proved admirably subservient to the poUcy of the Mus
covite sovereigns. The old aristocracy has lost every kind of influ
ence, and its great iamUies, most of thera resident in Moscow, can
now only protest by their inaction and their absence from court,
against the state of insignificance to which they have been reduced,
and frora which they have no chance of recovery.
Had it been necessary for aU aspirants to nobility to pass through
tiie wretched condition of the common soldier, it is evident that the
empire would not possess one-tenth of its present number of nobles.
Notwithstanding their abject and servile condition, very few com
moners would have the courage to ennoble themselves by under-

104 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
going such a novitiate, with the stick banging over them for many
years. But they have the alternative of thfe civil service, which leads
to the same result by a less thorny path, and offers even compara'
tively many more advantages to them than to the nobles by blood.
Whereas the latter, on entering the miUtary service, only appear for
a brief while for form's sake in the ranks, becorae non-comraissioned
officers Iraraediately, and officei-s in a few raonths; they are com
pelled in the civil service to act for two or three years as supernu
meraries in some pubUc office before being promoted to the first
grade. It is ti-ue, the preliminary term of service Is fixed for com
moners at twelve years, but we have already spoken of the faciUties
they possess for abridging this apprenticeship.
But this excessive mcllity for obtaining the pri-vlleges of nobiUty
has given rise to a subaltem aristocracy, the most insupportable and
oppressive iraaginable; and has enorraously multiplied the number
of employes in the various departments. Every Russian, not a serf,
takes ser-vice "as a matter of course, were it only to obtain rankinthe
fourteenth class; for otherwise he would fall -back almost into the
condition of the slaves, would be virtually unprotected, and would
be exposed to the continual vexations of the nobiUty and the pubhc
functionaries. Hence, many individuab gladly accept a salary of
sixty francs a year, for the permission of acting as clerks in some
department; and so it comes to pass that the subaltem employes are
obliged to rob for the means of subsistence. Thb is one of the chief
causes of the venaUty and of the defective condition of the Russian-
administrative departments. -'
Peter the Great's regulations were exceUent no doubt In the
beginning, and hardly could that sovereign have de-vised a more
efficacious rheans of mastering the nobiUty, and prostrating thera at
his feet. But now that-the intended result has been amply obtained, .
these institutions require to be modified; for, under the greatly
altered circumstances of the country, they only serve to augment
beyond measure the numbers of a pernicious bureaucracy, and to-
Inipede the development of the raiddle class. To obtain admission
into the fourteenth class, and become a noble, is the sole ambition of
a priest's or merchant's son, an arabition fully justified by the
unhappy condition of all but the privileged ordei-s. There is no
country in wliich persons engaged in trade are held in lower esteem
than in Russia. They are daily subjected to the insults of the
loAvest clerks, and it is only by dint of bribery theycan obtain the
smaUest act of justice. How often have I seen in the post stations,
unfortunate merchants, who had been waiting for forty-eight hours
and more, for the good pleasure of the clerk, -without daring to
coraplain. It mattered nothing that their papers were quite regular,
the noble of the fourteenth class did not care for that, nor womd he
give them hoi-ses until he had squeezed a good sum out of the par-'
ticularnii tcheloviehs, as he called them in his aristocratic pride. The
same annoyances await the foreigner, who, on the strength of his
passport, undertakes a journey without a decoration at his button-'

THE EUSSIAN NOBLES. 105
hole, or any titie to give him importance. I speak from experience:
for more than two years spent in traversing Russia as a private Indi
vidual, enabled me fully to appreciate the obliging disposition of the
fourteenth class nobles. At a later period, being employed on a
scientific mission by the government, I held successively the rank of
major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel; and then I had nothing to
complain of; the posting-clerks, and the other employes received me
with all the poUteness imaginable. 1 never had to wait for horses,
and as the title with which I was decked authorised me to distribute
a few cuts of the whip with impunity, my orders were fulfilled with
quite magical promptitude.
Under such a system, the aristocracy would Increase without end
- in a free country. But it is not so in Russia, where the number of
those who can arrive at a grade is extreraely Umited, the vast majority
of the population being slaves. Thus the hereditary and personal
nobility coraprbe no more than 563,653 males; though aU free-
bom Russians enter the raiUtary or civil service, and reraain at their
posts as long as possible ; for once they have returned into private
life they sink into raere obU\ion. Frora the moment he has put on
plain clothes, the most deserving functionary Is exposed to the vexa
tions of the lowest subalterns, who then omit no opportunity of,
lording over their former superior.
Such social institutions have fatally contributed to excite a most
decided antipathy between the old and the new aristocracy ; and the
eraperor naturaUy accords his preference and his favours to those
who owe him eveiy thing, and from whom he has nothing to feat;
In this way the new nobles have insensibly supplanted the old
boyars. But their places and pecuniary gains naturaUy attach them to
the established go vernment, and consequently they are quite devoid of
all revolutionary tendencies. EquaUy dbUked by the old aristocracy
whom they have supplanted, and by the peasants whom they oppress,
they are, raoreover, too few in numbers to be able to act by thera
selves; and, in addition to this, tbe high importance attached to the
distinctions of rank, prevent all real union or syrapathy between the
members of thb branch of Russian society. The tzar, who perfectly
understands the character of this body, is fully aware of its venality
and corruption ; and if he honours it with his special favour, this is
only because he finds in it a more absolute and bUnd submission
than in the old aristocracy, whose ambitious yearnings after their
ancient prerogatives cannot but be at variance -with the imperial
wiU. , As for any revolutions which could possibly arise out of the
discontent of this latter order, we raay be assured they will never -
be directed against the poUtical and moral system of the country;
they wlU always be, as they have always been, aimed solely against
the indiiidual at the head of the govemment. Conspiracies of this
kind are the only ones now possible in Russia; and what proves -
this fact is, the impotence of that resentment the tzars have pro
voked On the part of the old aristocracy, whenever they have touched,
on the question of emancipating the serfs.

106 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
The tzars have shown no less dexterity than the kings of France
in their straggles against the aristocracy, and they have been much
more favoured by circumstances. We see the Russian sovereigns
bent, Uke Louis XL, on prostrating the great feudatories of the
realm ; but there was thb diSerence between their respective tasks,
tiiat tiie French nobles could bring armies into the field, and often
did so, whereas the Russian nobles can only counteract the power
of their ruler by secret conspiracies, and wiU never succeed in
stirring up their peasants against the imperial authority.
"What may we conclude are the destinies in store for the Rus
sian nobiUty, and what part -will it play in the future history of
tiie country? It seems to ns to possess Uttie inherent vigour and
vitaUty, and we doubt that a radical regeneration of the empire b
ever to be expected at its hands. The influence of Europe has
been fatal to it. It has sought to assimilate itself too rapidly -with
our modem ci-vilisation, and to place itself too suddenly on a level
¦with tiie nations of the west. Its efforts have necessarily produced
only corruption anddemoralbation, which, by bastardbing the country,
have deprived it of "whatever natural strength it once possessed.
No doubt -there are in Russia as elsewhere, men of noble and
patriotic sentiments, who feel a Uvely interest in the greatness and
the future destiiues of their native land ; but they are, perhaps, com
mitted to an erroneous course; and it is to be feared that by adopt
ing our liberal principles in their full extent, and seeking to apply
them at home, tiiey -wiU do still more mbcldef than the obstinate
conservatives who suffer themselves to be borne along passively by
tiie current of time and circumstances. ; ,- .- -
Hence, after having studied the influence of European civiUsa
tion on Russia,, we are fully prepared to understand the efforts
which the Emperor Nicholas b making to isolate hb erapire as
much as possible, and to restore its priraitive nationaUty. Despairing
of tiie destinies of his aristocracy, he, no doubt, -wbhra to preserve
tiie middle class (whose development -wiU infalUbly be effected sooner
or later) from the rock on "which the former class have made ship-
¦wreck of their hopes. ^ And certainly it is not among a few thou
sand nc^bles he can hope to find sufficient elements of greatness and
prosperity for the present and for future times.
After the nobles corae the merchants and burghers, about a million
and a half in number, and now constituting the first nucleus of a
middle class. They are whoUy engrossed with commerce and their
pecuniary interests. Among thera thfere are some very wealthy
men, and they are allowed to discharge the inoffensive functions of
mayors in the towns. The nobiUty profess alraost as much con
tempt for this class as for the slaves, and are not sparing towards it of
injustice and extortion. But the Russian merchant b the calmest and
most patient being imaginable, and in comparison with slavery and
the sad condition of the soldier, he regards his own lot as the very
ideal of good fortune. Do-wn to the reign of Ivan IV., merchants
enjoyed tolerably extensive privileges in Russia. They were, it is

THE MERCHANT CLASS. 107
true, placed below the lowest class of the nobiUty, just as in our
'days; but they were considered as a constituent part ofthe govem
ment, were summoned to the great assembUes of the nation, and
voted in them Uke the boyars.
The Emperor Nicholas has sought of late years to raise their body
in pubUc estimation, by granting them many prerogatives of nobi
Uty ; but hb efforts have hitherto not been veiy successful. The
only means of giving outward respectablUty to this iraportant class,
would be to aSbrd it admission into the body of the nobles ¦without
corapelUng it to enter the govemment service. And surely au Indi
vidual who contributes to develop the trade and comraerce of the
land, has as strong clairas to honorary distinctions as a petty clerk,
whose whole life b passed in cheating his superiors, and robbing
those who are so unfortunate as to have any deaUngs with him.
Shoidd the emperor ever adopt such a course, there would follow
frora it another advantage stiU more important, namely, that it would
graduaUy extinguish the abuses of the present nobiUary system, and
would immediately rid tiie pubUc departments of aU those useless
imderUngs, who now encuraber the various offices solely with a view
to acquire a footing among the pri-rileged orders.
The Russian and foreign merchants, estabUshed in the country,
are di-vided into three classes, or guilds. Those of the first guild
must give proof of possessing a capital of 50,000 rubles. They have
a right to own manufactories, town and country houses, and gardens.
They may trade -with the interior of the empire, and with foreign
countries ; they are exempt from corporal punishments, and are pri-
-vUeged Uke the hereditary nobiUty to drive four horses in their
carriages ; but they must pay 3000 rubles for their Ucence.
Those of the second guild are required to prove only a capital of
20,000 rubles, and their trade is confined to the interior of the erapire
They raay be proprietors of factories, hotels and boats ; but they are
not aUowed to have more than two horses to their carnages.
The third guild merchants, whose capital needs not exceed 8000
rubles, are the retail dealers of the towns and -viUages, they keep
inns and workshops, and hold booths in the fairs.
The peasants who engage in trade, are not required to prove any
capital. The statistics of these several classes, in 1839, were as
follows : —
Pirst guild merchants  "•-  889
Second „.  —   1.874
:„. , Third „   -.  -   ..33,808
• Peasants ha-ring permission to trade .-.  5,299
Clerks  •  ^,345
. Total   __„.. 50,215 .
The slaves form by far the most considerable part of the popula
tion; their nurabers, exclusive of those belonging to the crown and
to private proprietors, exceed 45,000,000; an enormous amount m
comparison -with the numbers of the nobles. 

108 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
We will not enter into any historical detaUs respecting the origin ,
of serfdom in Russia; every one knows that the institution is- one of
soraewhat raodern date, and that servitude, though long existing
virtually, was estabUshed legally in the erapire only by an ukase
of Boris Godounof We will confine our reraarks to the institution
as it exists at the present day.
The slaves are divided into two classes, those belonging respec
tively to the crown, and to private individuab. The foi-raer are
imder the control of the rainbtry of the doraalns of the crown, a
special board created January 1st, 1838, and presided over by
General Count Ivizelev. By law they are required to pay to the
crown a capitation tax of fifteen rubles yearly for every male, but
thb tax is alraost always raised to thirty or thirty-five rubles by the
rapacity of the govemment servants. Besides these money con
tributions, they are subjected to corvees for the repair of the roads
and public works, ancl they raay abo be required to furnish means
of conveyance and food for the troops. For these latter services,
it is true, they receive a norainal corapensation in the shape of
orders payable by treasury, but these are never cashed. Lastly,
they are Uable to raiUtary recruitment, which of late years has
annually taken off six out of every 1000 male inhabitants in the
governments of New Russia. , .
In exchange for aU these burdens, the peasant receives from
the crown the land necessary for his subsistence, - the quantity of
which varies from ten or eleven deciatlnes, to one or two, accord-.
ing to the density of the .population. Whatever mav have been
said on the subject, the condition of the cro-wn serf b neither
miserable nor destitute, and his slavery cannot but be favourable
to physical and animal Ufe, the only life as yet understood by the
bulk of the Russian people. Except in yeara of great dearth, such
as often desolate the country, the peasant has his means . of exist
ence secured; his dwelling, his cattle, and his Uttie field of buckwheat;
and as far as freedora from moral and physical sufferings constitute
happiness, he may be considered rauch better off than the free
peasants of the other European states. With plenty of food, his.
dwelUng well warmed in ¦winter, hb mind disencurabered of aU
those anxieties for the future that harass our labourino- noor; and
endowed by nature with a vigorous constitution, he possesses aU
the elements' of that negative happiness which is founded on Igno
rance and the want of all awakened sense of man's dignity. The
slave besides is so fmgal, he needs so Uttie to Uve, his wants and
desires are so circumscribed, that poverty, as it exbts in our civi
Used lands, is one ofthe rarest exceptions in Russia. But aU these
conditions of existence constitute a life essentially bmtish; and the
most wretched being in France would certainly not exchange hb
lot for that ofthe Muscovite peasant.
It cannot, however, be questioned that the crown serfs enjoy
alraost coraplete liberty. Simply attached to the soU, they are.

THE SERPS. 109
siasters of their own time, and raay even obtain permission to go
and seek employment in the towns, or on the estates of private
landowners. Hence, were it not for the difficulties connected with
the emancipation of the private serfs, the crown peasants raight be
declared independent to-raorrow, without any sort of danger to the
empire. Their physical condition is in perfect harraony with the
present state of ci-vilisation, and in this respect the system established
by the crown, does not deserve the outcry raised against it. The
penury and distress in which the imperial serfs are plunged in some
districts, are ascribable solely to the cupidity and corruption of the
public functionaries, or to the want of outlets for the produce of
the soil, and not to the laws regulating serfdom.
The condition of the slaves on seignorial lands is both raorally
and physically less satisfactory than that of the crown serfs. They
are subject to arbitrary caprice, and to countless vexations, par
ticularly when they belong to small proprietors, or are immediately
dependant on stewards. There exist, indeed, very strict regula
tions for their protection against the undue exactions of their lords;
but the latter are, nevertheless, aU-powerful through their social
position and the posts they fiU, and however they may abuse their
authority, they are always sure of impunity. Thanks to judicial
venality, they know that aU appeals to justice against them ' are
futile. There is only one case in which the peasant can hope for a
favourable hearing, namely, where there b any ill-wiU between his
master and the higher powers; but his wrongs raust be very cruel
indeed if they goad hira to seek legal redress, for he weU knows that
sooner or later he will be made to pay dearly for his rebeUion. We
are bound; however, to acknowledge that the lords often act with
the" greatest humanity towards the serfs, and they have at last come
to iraderstand that in caring for the welfare of their peasants, they
are taking the best means to augment their o-wn fortunes. It is
only to be regretted that their benevolent efforts are almost con
stantly paralysed by the rapine and insatiable cupidity of their
stewards and agents.
The private slaves, who nuraber about 23,000,000, pay a poU
tax of eight rubles for every male to the crown, and must give
half their time to their mastei-s. They usually work three days
in the week for the latter, and the other three for theraselves.
Their lord grants them five or si.x hectares of land, and often more,
and aU the produce they raise from them is their own. They are
required furthermore to supply out of their nurabers all the domestic
servants requisite for their master's establishment, and to do extra
duty labour of various kinds, dependent solely on the caprice of the
latter. A peasant cannot quit his village without hb master's per
mission, and if he exercises any handicraft trade whatever, he b
bound to pay an annual sura proportioned to his presumed profits.
This sum is caUed hb obrok, and is often very considerable; in the
case of agricultural and other peasants, it averages fifty rubles. But

110 THE STEPPES OF THPI CASPIAN SEA, &C.
whatever be the position the serf may have attained to by his talents
and his skiU, he never shakes off his absolute dependence-'^ on his
master, one word frora whora may compel him to aba.ndoh aU hb busi
ness and his prospects, and return to his ¦village. Many of the
¦wealthiest merchants of Mosco-w have been named to me, who are
slaves by birth, and who have in vain offered hundreds of thousands of
rubles for their freedom.. It flatters the pride of the great patrician
faraiUes to have men of merit among their serfs, and raany of them
send young slaves into- the towns, and supply them -with all the
means necessary for pursuing a creditable and lucrative calUng.
AU the hawkers and pedlars that go from -viUage to -viUage, and
from mansion to mansion,, from the banks of the Neva to the extre
mity of Siberia, are slaves, who bring in large profits to their
masters ; it frequently happens that a pometchik has no other income
than that which he thus derives from his peasants.
Marriages between serfs- can only take place with the consent of
the lord. They are usuaUy consummated at a very early age, and
are arranged by the steward, who never consults the parties, and
whose sole object is to eflfect a rapid increase in the population of his
-viUage. The average price of a whole family is estimated as ranging
from 25^. to 40Z.
A great deal has been often said of the boundless attachment of
the serfs to their lords; I doubt that it ever existed; at any rate, it
exists no- longer. The slaves no longer regard -with the same resig
nation and apathy the lo-w estate which Pro-vidence has assigned
them in this -world; the raore liberal treatraent enjoyed by the impe
rial serfs, has inoculated them -with ideas of independence, and they are
all now ambitious of passing into the domain of the cro-wn — a good
fortune, which in their eyes is equivalent to emancipation. This
tendency of the serft to detach themselves from the arbtocracy b a
most important fact, and if the emperor succeeds in regulating thb
freat social movement so that it may be effected withoutturbulence,
e will have rendered a signal service td Russia, and have mightily-
contributed to the regeneration and friture welfare of her people.
Every -viUage has its. rtiayor, caUed golova, and its starosts, whose
number depends on that of the population, there being usuaUy one
for every ten families. They are aU elected by the coraraunity, and
to them it belongs to regulate the various labours perforraed by it,
and to apportion and coUeet the taxes. Whatever petty differences
may arise between the peasants, are settled before the stccrosts or
council pf elders, whose decisions are always received -with bhnd
submission. --¦¦-:- , , ;- ,.-.,.
Military service is the only coriree which the Russian peasants
regard -with real horror. Their antipathy to it is universal, and the
re^raents can only be recraited by main force. There- is no con
scription in Russia, but whenever men are wanted, an imperial ukase
13 issued, commanding a certain nuraber to be rabed in such or such
a. government.. In the cro-wn lands, it is- the head man of the village

THE SEEPS. Ill
aided by the district authorities, who selects the future heroes, and
this is usuaUy done in secret, in order to prevent desertion. The
young men chosen are forthwith arrested, generaUy in the middle of
the night, and reraain fettered until they have been inspected by the
surgeon, after which they are sent off in small detachments to the
regiments, under the guard of armed soldiers. In the seignorial
villages, the selection is made by the steward. But the business
is here of more diflficult execution than in the domains of the crown,
and the unfortimate recruit b often chained to an aged peasant, -who
acts as lib keeper, and cannot quit him day or night. I sa-w two
young peasants thus chained to two old men, in a -dllage belonging
to General Papof;: they spent their time quietly in drinking in the
dram-shops, -without exciting any surprise in the spectators. When
we reflect on the privations and sufferings that await the Muscovite
soldier, we cannot wonder at the intense repugnance the peasants
entertain for the service.
The miUtary spirit, so potent elsewhere, scarcely exists in the
empire. Glory and honour are things for which the Russian serfs
c-are very Uttie, nor have they any conception of the raagic that Ues
in the words " Our country," " Our native land." Theonly coimtry
they know b their -village, their stove, their kasha, the patch of
ground they daily cultivate, and that mud which a French grenadier
lifted up -with his foot, exclaiming, " And this they caU a coimtry I"
"¦ils appellent cela une patrie !" At the same time, it b e-vident that
this antipathy ofthe Russians for mUitaiy service, b to be attributed
as much to the poUtical constitution of the empire, as to the cha
racter of the inhabitants; and as that constitution has hitherto been
a national necessity, it would be unjust to charge as a crime upon
the govemment, the unhappy moral concUtion of its armies. We
shaU speak at more length, in. another place, on the subject of the
Russian soldiery.
Moral and intellectual instruction have hitherto made very little
way among the slave population.. Attempts indeed, have been made
to found schoob in sorae of the crown, villages, but these attempts
have been always iU-directed, and necessarily unsuccessful. Religion
which everywhere ebe constitutes the raost potent instmraent of
civiUsation, can have in Rusria no favourable effect on the. improve
ment of the people.. Consisting solely in fasts, crossings, and out
ward ceremonies, it leaves the mind totally uninfluenced, and in no
respect acts as a bar to the demoralisation which b graduaUy per
vading the immense class of the serfs. The pecuUar circumstances
of the Russian towns and ¦viUages are abo perhaps among the greatest
obstacles to inteUectual progress-. The advance of ci-viUsation
depends in a great measure on faciUty of intercourse- When a
population is corapact, and ita several merabers are- continuaUy in
presence of each other, each man's knowledge is propagated among
his compatriots, facta and opinions are discussed, and, men become
rautuaUy enlightened, as: to whatb thought and done around them.

112 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
From thb' continual interchange of mental wealth, there naturally
arises an amount of enUghtenraent and capacity that tends greatly
to extend the domain of thought. But let any one cast his eyes on
Russia, and he will be struck by the unfavourable raanner in which
its population is distributed. Not only are the great centres of
population very thinly scattered over the surface, but the several
dwellings too In the towns are placed very wide apart, and those of
the vUlages stiU more so. Every man is isolated, every raan lives
by and for himself, or at least -within a very contracted sphere.
Social meetings are rare, and in winter alraost impossible; in a word,
it is not at all unusual for people not to know their neighbours on
the opposite side ofthe street; hence the invariable riesnai (I do not
know) with which the Russian repUes to every question the traveUer
puts to him, ought not to astonish or incense the latter. At first I
-was disposed to think this ignorance was pretended, and to attribute
it to sulkiness and indolence; but I afterwards perceived that it was
occasioned in much greater measure by the absurd style of buUding
adopted in the country. ' •
Another thing that tends to enervate the Russians and keep them
- in their brutified condition, is the immoderate use of brandy, to
which both men and woraen are addicted. It b truly deplorable
that the govemment feels constrained to favour the sale of that per
nicious Uquor which forms its most important source of revenue.
How often have I seen the dram-shops luU of women dead drunk,
who had left their poultry yards tenantless, and sold their household
frirniture to gratify their fatal passion. - : : ;
A thing by which I have always been much struck in Russia, is
the stationary uniforraity which prevaib over the whole surface of
the empire, both in ideas and in physical productions. You see
everywhere the same plans and arrangements of the buUdings, the
same implements, ' and the same agricultural practices and modes
of carriage. Contact with foreigners has as yet had no influence
on the Sclavonic population, and the prosperity generaUy enjoyed
for sixty years by the German colonies has done Uttie in the way of
exaraple. Is this intellectual insensibiUty the result of servitude
exclusively? I think not. Servitude may indeed repress, but it
cannot extinguish, the various quaUties -with which nature has en
dowed us; and if the Russians are stiU so backward, and give so little
promise of improvement, we must explain the fact by the nature of
their race, by their still infant state as a nation, and their want of
precedents in civiUsation." At the same time there is no reason to
despair of thera. In our opinion, the future civiUsation of Russia
rests in a great measure on the contingency of a religious reforma- ,
tion; but as that reformation could not but be hazardous to absolute
power by awakening ideas of independence and resistance to oppres
sion, the government impedes it by every nieans in its power, and
labours unceasingly to reduce aU tiie inhabitants of the empire to
reUgious uniformity, as is proved by its conduct towards the United

EM-^NCIPATION-OP THE SERFS. 11.3,
Greeks of Poland, and towards the Douckoboren and the Molokaner.
I had opportunities of obser-ving among the members of the two
latter comraunities, how great an influence a change of reUgion may
have on the character and inteUect of the Russians. The Doucko
boren and the Molokaner differ essentially in this respect from the
other subjects of the erapire. Acti-vity, probity, intelligence, desire
of iraproveraent, aU these qualities are developed among them to the
highest degree, and after having consorted with the Germans for
fifteen years, they have completely appropriated aU the agricultural
araeUorations, and even the social habits of those foreign colonists.
Among the Russian peasants on the contrary, whether slave or free,
a coraplete iramobiUty prevaib, and nothing can force thera out of
the old ine-vitable rut. All the efforts and all the encourageraents
of the governraent have hitherto been of no avaU.
The eraancipation of the slaves seeras earnestly to occupy the
Eraperor Nicholas ; and the raeasures adopted of late years testify
in favour of hb generous intentions. Unfortunately, the task is
beset -with difficulties for the legislator, and an abrupt attempt to
make the Russian people independent, would infalUbly expose the
empire to the greatest dangers.
"rhere are in the Russian slave two natures, essentiaUy distinct:
the one, destitute of all energy, of all vitaUty, is the result of the
servitude under which the nation has bent for ages; the other, a
bequest of barbarism, starting Into action at the breath of liberty,
is prompt to the most alarming excesses, and inspires the revolted
serf -with the desire, above aU things, to massacre his master. Eman
cipation, therefore, is not so easy as certain philanthropists would
believe it to be, and the details we have just given may enable one
to conceive aU the mischiefs that might ensue from it.
The greatest obstacle to this social metamorphosis Is presented by
the private slaves, the raajority of whora belong to the hereditary
aristocracy; it is especiaUy on the part of this class that premature
Uberty might occasion fatal and bloody reactions, which would
endanger the empire itself, though immediately directed against the
lords only. Accordingly the tzar,^ who is not ignorant of these
facts, does all in his power to withdraw the serfs from their pro
prietors, and bring them into the crown domain : hence the position
of the serfs has been considerably altered within the last few years.
Slaves can now no longer be purchased without the lands to which
they are attached. Formerly owners often hired out their slaves :
they can now only grant them passports for three years, and the serf
himself choses the master he -will serve, and the kind of labour to
which he wiU apply himself. . -
It was evidently -with a view to the same end that a bank was
created some years ago in St. Petersburg, for the purpose of render
ing pecuniary assistance to the aristocracy. Every proprietor cap
borrow from the bank at eight per cent., on a mortgage of his
lands. But by the rules of the institution, when the term of pay-
I

114 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
ment is past, the property of a defaulting creditor may be imme
diately sequestrated to the crown. What the government foresaw
has happened, and does happen daily, and it has acquired numerous
private estates, and incorporated them with the iraperial doraains.
A new ukase respecting the emancipation of the slaves which was
issued in 1842, fixed the relative position of freedmen and their
former lords. 'The raeasure was shaped so as to give the governraent
a direct influence conducive to the gradual emancipation of the po
pulation. The owners were left, as before, the power of eraancipating
their serfs; but by the terras of the ukase, they could only do so in
accordance ¦with certain rules, and -with the express sanction of the
emperor. This ukase excited so much dissatisfaction araong the
old noblesse, that the tzar was induced subsequently to neutraUse
its effect by a poUce enactment. The primary end was, neverthe-,
less, obtained, and the ukase dealt a heavy blo-w to the subsisting
relations between lord and serf.* We beUeve, nevertheless, that
the course adopted by the Eraperor Nicholas (by the advice, no
doubt, of Count Kizilev) is erroneous, and that the last ukases are
irapolitic. Do what it wiU, the governraent wiU never succeed in
Uberating the private slaves -without the co-operation of their
o-wners. It is impossible to think of raaking aU the peasants ex
clusively serfs of the crown; such a means of emancipation b
impracticable, for it impUes that the government should remain, in
the last result, sole possessor of all the lands in the empire, and that
the nobUity, great ancl small, should be infaUibly ruined. In our
opinion, the last ukases have only served to make emancipation
more difficult, by exciting hatred between masters and slaves, and
fostering the germs of a dangerous rebelUous spirit. The Russians
are still so backward in civiUsation, that ideas of independence,
abruptly and incautiously introduced amongst them, would be very
Ukely to cause cUsastrous con-vubions. Liberty must reach them
graduaUy; and above all, it is absolutely necessary that they should
be prepared, by instruction, to exchange their slavery for a better
state of things. Other^vise, with their present character, Uberty,
after being first summed up by them in the pri-vilege of doing
nothing, in piUage and massacre, would inevitably end in wretched
ness and destitution. In. the treatment of this great social question,
it is before all things necessary that the govemment should come to
a fair understanding with the nobles, and labour conjointiy -with
them for the regeneration of the slave population: it b only by
earnest mutual aid that those, two powers wiU ever succeed in ad
vancing the cause of eraancipation -without imminent peril to the
empire. But in any case, -tiiere is no denying the many diffi-
* 'We have not the honour of being acquainted -with the Emperor of Russia's
secret thoughts, and we wrUiugly ascribe to a certain liberalism all the ukases con
cerning the emancipation of the slaves; it ia possible, however, that the tzar's
meastures may have been prompted, in a great degree, by- the fears -with -vrhich he
regards an aristocracy still possessing more than 20,000,000 of slayes.

TABLE OF THE POPULATION.

115

culties of this enterprise, no answering for aU future contingencies.
Considerations connected with landed property wlU probably long
defeat all efforts in tliis direction, unless the peasants be freely per
mitted to become lando-wners, on payment of a certain sum for
the redemption of their persons, and the purchase of the land re
quisite for their subslatance. This seems to us the only rational,
nay, the only possible means, of arriving at complete eraancipation
without violence. No doubt if such a privilege be granted to the
peasants, the present iraprovident and prodigal race of nobles will
be rapidly dispossessed; but this will not occasion the country any
serious inconvenience, and the new order of things wiU but favour
the developraent of the raiddle class, in which really reside, in our
day, all the strength and prosperity of a nation.
As for the clergy, whose nurabers amount to about 500,000, both
males and females, we mention them here only to repeat our declara-
tipn of their nulUty and iraraoraUty. Utterly unacquainted with
any thing pertaining to polity and administration, ha-ving notlUng
to do -with public instruction, and being in their own persons
ignorant to excess, the priests enjoy no sort of influence or con
sideration, and are occupied solely -with corporeal things. We will
not enter further into this subject. We are loath to imveU com
pletely the vices and ignoble habits that distinguish the priests of
the orthodox Russian church.
The foUo-wing is a general table of the Russian population as
pubhshed by the ministry in 1836 :

Clergy.
Orthodox Greek clergy of all grades, including the families
of ecclesiastics   „ 
United Greek 

Males. 254,057 7,823
2,497 474
1,003 51
7,850 150t
-284,731 78,922
187,047
950,698 13t,347
1,339,434

Females. 240,748 7,318

343

955
37
6,701*
Nobility,
25.3,420
Personal nobles, including the children of officers 
Subaltem functionaries, retired soldiers, and their families
Populations hound to military service in time of war.
Cossacks of the Don, the Black Sea, the Caucasus, As
trakhan, Azov, and the Danube, Orenburg and the Ural,
74,273
237,443 931,467
Inhabiting toums, or included in ihe municipalities.
Merchants of the three guilds, including notable hourgeois.
Bonrf^eoia and artisans 
120,714
1,433,982
- ;.¦. ,¦, ; ,; i.. Carried forward  „ 
3,246,084
3,357,410
• These figures are evidently misplaced. Ought they to stand for Catholic nuns?
— Trandator. ¦ .
f This number is quite erroneous, for -we ourselves found several hundred pnests
among the Kalmucks of the Volga. The encampment of Prince Tumene, which
we visited, alone possesses more than 200.
I 2
116

THE STEPPES OF THE CASPL4N SEA, &C.

Inliahiting towns, or included in the municipalities.
Brought forward 
Bourgeois in the towns ofthe western provinces 
Greeks of Nejiue, armourers of Toula,appreQtices in the
pharmacies, and others, brokers in the towns, and func
tionaries in the service ofthe municipalities 
Inliabitants of the towns of Bessarabia.  x-....,
Inhabiting the rural districts.
Serfs ofthe croivn and the apanages 
Serfs ofthe seigaorial lauds 
Nomade races, such as
Kalmucks, Khirghis, Turkmans, Tatars 
Inhabitants of the Transcaucasian Provinces 
Kingdom of Poland 
Grand Duchy of Finland.... 
Eussian colonies in America 

Total.,

Males.
3,246,084 7,522

10,882
57,905
10,441,399 11,403,722 254,715 689,147
2,077,3 U
663,653 30,761

Females.
3,357,410 6,966

10,940 56,176
11,022,595 11,958,873 261,982 689,150
2,110,911 708,464 30,292

28,883,106 130,213,759

Soldiers and saUors in actual service, their -wives and famiUes,
not having been included in this total, the gross araount of the
population of the empire appears to be about 61,000,000, — at least
if we may judge from the ministerial table, the correctness of which
we by no means guarantee.
According to the report of the ministry of the interior, the part of
the population of European Russia not belonging to the orthodox
Greek church, was, in 1839, as follows:
Catholics  2,235,586
Gregorian Armenians  39,927
Catholic Armenians  28,145
Protestants  „  1,500,000
Mohammedans  1.530,726
.Tews  1,069,440
-. - Buddhists  ; 65,000

Total  6,868,824

CHAPTER XIV.

CONSTITCTtOX OP THE EJfPIKE ; COVEBNIIENTS — CONSESCESCES Or CEKTBALISA-
TIOJ.' ; DISSIMin.A.TIOS OP PUBLIC ProrCTIDN-UUES — TEIBir3fAI.S — THE COLONEI.
OP THE GENDAEMEBIE — COBRIJPTIOX — PEDANTRY OP FOKMS— COIiTEMPT OP THE
DECREES OP THE EilPEKOR ASD THE SE5ATE — SINOtTLAB ASECDOTE ; ETTEEPRE-
TATION of a -will — RAIUCAl. E-VILS IS THB JUDICIAL ORGAS13ATIOS — HISTOBT
AND PRESENT STATE OP RUSSIAN LAW. -
The existing di-vision of the Russian empbe into fifty-six govern
ments dates from the reign of the Emperor Paul. A nearly simUar
organisation existed indeed in the time of Catherine II., but the
functions of the governors had' a rauch -wider range at that period
than in our days, and those administrators, caUed by the empress her
stewards, enjoyed nearly sovereign power.

THE GOVEP.NMENTS. 117
Tlie Russian governments correspond to the French departments,
the districts to sub-prefectures; each government has its chief town,
which is the seat of the different civil and raiUtary adralnistratlons.
The governor, who has the exclusive charge ofthe civil admini
stration, nominates to various secondary places, is the head of the
coUege of prevoyunce, and ex-o£Scio inspector of the schools, can
demand an account of their proceedings of all the provincial autho
rities except the high court, and determines administrative questions
with the aid of a councU of regency composed of two councillors and
a secretary, nominated by the eraperor.
' At first sight the governor's power seems unlimited; and indeed
he has all the authority requisite to do mischief, but very Uttie to do
good. In Russia the most laudable intentions and the most bril
liant capablUties are completely paralysed, and the chief administra
tors must, whether they will or not, undergo the disastrous conse
quences of the venaUty and corruption of their subordinates. Dis
trust and suspicion have been made the essential basis of the organi
sation of the bureaucracy.' By surrounding the high functionaries
-with a multitude of emplmjes, and subjecting thera to countless
forraalltles, it was thought the abuses of power would be hin
dered; and aU that is corae of it is the creation of an odious
class, who use the weapons put into their hands to cheat the
governraent, rob individuals, ancl prevent honest men from la
bouring for the prosperity of their country. The governors bave
not even the right of inquest in judicial questions, and the judges
may, by entrenching themselves behind the text of the rules,
pronounce the most iniquitous sentences with irapunity. I have
known s.ome true-hearted and generous administrators, but all after
struggling for long years to arrive at some sage reforms, at last
gave up their efforts in despair, and most of them fell Into disgrace
through the mulripUed intrigues of their subordinates. In each chief
town it is the secretary, the bead of the chancery, who is the real
wlelder of the power of government. He alone is regarded as know
ing the text of the Russian laws; so that, In order to oppose any
raeasure of the governor's, he has but to cite a few phrases, more or less
obscure, from the code of regulations, and it very rarely happens that
his principal ventures, without his approbation, to take on himself
the,responsibiUty of any administrative act. There have been in
stances in which governors, disregarding bureaucratic formahties,
and acting for theraselves, have impeded the execution of a decree
ofthe tribunals; but they have never failed to expiate tlieir audacity
by disraissal, unless they were supported by a high social position
and potent protectors.
Eurthermore, the representatives of government are so cramped
in their powers, that a governor-general, who often rules over se
veral raillions of men, cannot dispose of 200/. -without the sanction
of the ministry.
CentraUsation, no doubt, has its advantages; but in a country so

118 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
vast, and of such varied wants as Russia, it is impossible that a
minister, be his talents what they may, can ever satisfy the reason
able deraands of all paits of the empire. The consequence is that
the most useful projects are almost always neglected or rejected in
the provinces remote from the capital.
Another evil, not less deplorable, is the necessity of practising
mutual deception, under which the public functionaries labour. A
public servant never thinks of raaking known to his superior the
real situation of the country he governs : either he ridiculously ex
aggerates the good, or he is absolutely silent as to what is bad. In
the latter case, he acts only in accordance -with the imperative dic
tates of prudence, for if he declared the truth he would infaUIbly
incur disgrace, and would even run the risk of being dismissed. So
whenever a pubUc calaraity happens, it is only at the last extremity,
and when the mischief is become irreraediable, that he makes up ms
mind to call for an aid that usuaUy coraes nOt at aU, or else is sure to
come too late. . ' - ¦
This profound dissimulation, joined with the' jealousy which the
distinctions of rank excite among the employes, does incalculable
damage to the empire by impeding every useful reform. However,
of all the sovereigns of the empire, the Tzar Nicholas is, perhaps,
the one to whom truth and plain dealing are most welcome, and -with
¦whom well-grounded censure finds most acceptance. Unfortunately,
since Potemkin's mystifications, falsehood has become a normal thing
¦with the Russian employes, and the basis of all their proceedings,
and hitherto the imperial wiU has been incapable of eradicating this
fatal evil. - .' ¦
The superior court of justice sitting in the chief place of each
govemment, and comprising a civil and a criminal section, consists
of two presidents, two councIUors, two secretaries, and eight asses
sors, four of whom are burghers. Tho emperor endeavoured in 1835
to extend the rights of the nobility, by making the offices of presi
dent and judge in these tribunals elective, -but this change appears
to have produced but very unfavourable results. As all the great
proprietors had very Uttie incUnation to fill such offices, the electors
had no opportunity of making a good choice, and at last it was
found necessary to retum to the old institutions.
The superior court of justice decides finally in all civil cases, in
which the sura in dispute does not exceed oOO rubles. Over it are
the various departments of the senate and the general asserably,
resident partly in St. Petei-sburg, and partly in Moscow, and consti
tuting two courts to which appeals lie from the governmental courts.
There is no appeal from the decisions of the general assembly of the
senate, or from those of the council of the empire approved by the
emperor, except on the ground of misrepresentations in the evidence.
In the district courts (corresponding to the French tribunaux de pre
miere instance) there are also two sections, civil and criminal, consisting
each ofa president, a secretary, having imder him several employes

VENAi JUSTICE. 119
who constitute the chancery, and four assessors, two of whom are
chosen from araong the inhabitants of the rural district. These latter
sit only in cases w-here peasants are concerned.
_ There is Uke-wise in each governraental chief town, and in each
district town, an inferior court, speciaUy charged -with the affairs of
the rural poUce, the taking of inforraatlons in crirainal affairs, sum-
marj' jurisdiction as to minor offences, and the execution of sen
tences. This court consists of a president, called ispravnik, and four
assessors, two of them nobles, two peasants. These judges, who are
all elected by the nobles, are assisted by a secretary, the only employe
directly dependent on the govemment.
The chief towns and the district towns have also a sort of muni
cipal council, consisting of a mayor (golova), and four assistants,
elected by the munlcipaUty, and afterwards approved of by the go
vemment. This council acts also as a tribunal, and takes cognizance
of aU the petty cases of litigation that may arise among the towns-
folk> A nearly sirailar institution exists among the peasants of the
empire. We wUl not speak of the coUeges of wards", the coraralttees of the
nobles presided over by the marshals of the nobles, the courts of
conscience which tiy cases between parents and children, &c. The
merabers of aU these institutions are elected, but their functions are
too insignificant to deraand mention here. .
. One of the raost influential personages in each government, is the
colonel of the gendarmerie, who is completely independent of the
governor. He is the head of the secret poUce, corresponds directly
with the rainister, and has it in his power, if he is an honest raan, to do
much good by the rigorous control he can exercise over aU the em~
ployes of a province.
This justiciary scheme is in itself very Uberal, and ought, one
would suppose; to satisfy tiie wants of the population ; hut like the
governors, the judges of the different tribunals are in fact but
puppets, moved at the discretion of the subordinate clerks, who alone
are masters ofthe tricks and quibbles of Russian jurisprudence, and
legal practice. The lowest clerk in a chancery has often more in
fluence than the president himself, and the suitor who refuses to be
squeezed by him may be quite certain that be will never see the ter
mination of his cause. It is irapossible to imagine with what
adroitness all these fellows, raany of whom receive for salary only
sixty or a hundred rubles a year, manage to sweat the purses of those
¦who require their assistance. Justice is continuaUy violated in favour
of the highest bidder, and thanks to the nuraber of contradictory'
ukases which pass for laws, the raost audacious robberies are un-
blushingly committed without the possibiUty of redress. It may be
asserted -with truth, that the jurisdictional authority in Russia resides
in the offices of court rather than in the persons of the judges. The
secretary is the omnipotent arbiter of sentences, and dictates them
imder the influence of raoney and the bureaucracy.

120 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
Nothing can give an idea of the arts of knavery and chicane
put In practice to fleece the unfortunates who have to do with the
underlings of justice. The rigorous stickUng for forms, and the
multitude of papers, are a curse to the country ; no business is done
by word of mouth in Russia.* AU law proceedings are carried on
in writing ; the slightest question and the most trivial explanation
must be put down on stamped paper acordlngto the appointed forms.
Hence it raay be conceived that with the horrible spirit of chicanery
that characterises the employes, and the readiness with which they
can find a flaw (a krutchuh as they caU it), in every paper, legal
proceedings are spun out to an indefinite length, and scarcely end
until both parties are ruined, or until the one prevails over the other
by dint of raoney and corruption. I have often known a document
to be sent back from St. Petersburg after a lapse of six raonths, raerely
because this or that phrase was not written according to rule. The
governraent of Bessarabia alone paid 63,000J. for stamps, in the
course of four years, and the population of that province does not
exceed 500,000. The want of pubUcIty, moreover, has the most
pernicious influence on the adrainistration of justice. All judgments
are made up in secret; there are no open pleacUngs; law processes
consist frora first to last in piles of paper, which enrich the judges
and their subordinates, but in no--wise affect their opinions, which are
always based on the raost advantageous offers.
This woful state of things is further aggravated by the fact that
-the judges are secure frora all responsibility; in whatever raanner
they decide a cause, they always do so in accordance -with, the laws,
pro-rided they observe the due forms; but what Is really incredible,
is the irapudence with which the lowest tribunal of a district to-.vn
presumes to annul both the decrees of the emperor and those of the
general asserably of the senate. I will raention in illustration a cer
tain suit brought against the heirs of a rich landowner in Podolia,
who was deeply indebted at his death to the imperial bank of St.
Petersburg and to several foreign bankers. These latter having become
creditors before the bank, naturally clairaed to be paid in the first
instance. The consequence was a suit, which had been going on
for twelve years when I arrived in Russia. Tlie foreigners were de
feated in the district court, but they gained their cause successively
in the governraental court and the general assembly of the senate,
and finally they obtained a decree in their favour from the emperor
himself ; but the district tribunal, under pretext that certain regula
tions had been violated, took upon Itself to annul all the decisions of
the senate, and to make the whole suit be begun over again.
It soraetimes happens, however, that the iraperial wiU is declared ,
in so positive a manner, that all the tricks and subterfuges of judges
and secretaries must give way to it. Here is an anecdote that con-
• The official correspondence of the ministers, and of the civil and military
authorities, amounts annually to nearly 15,000,000 of letters, -whilst that of all
private Russians does not exceed 7^000,000.

A -WILL CURIOUSLT INTEKPPvETED. 121
veys a perfect notion of what law means in Russia. In Alexander's
reign the Jesiuts had raade theraselves all-powerful In sorae parts of
Poland. A rich landowner and possessor of 6000 peasants at Poltzk,
the Jesuit head-quarters, was so wrought on by the artfid assiduities
of the society that he bequeathed his whole fortune to it at his death,
with this stipulation, that the Jesuits should bring up his only son,
and afterwards give hira whatever portion of the inheritance they
should choose. When the young man had reached the age of twenty,
the Jesuits bestowed on him 300 peasants. He protested vehemently
against their usurpation, and began a suit against the society ; but
his father's will seemed clear andexpUcit, ancl after having consumed
aU his Uttie fortune, he found his claims diso-^vned by every tribunal
in the empire, including even the general assembly of the senate.
In this seemingly hopeless extremity he applied to a certain attorney
in St. Petersburg, faraous for his inexhaustible fertiUty of mind in
matters of cunning and chicanery. After having perased the -will
and the documents connected with the suit, the lawyer said to his
client, " Your business is done ; if you wiU promise me 10,000
rubles I -wiU undertake to procure an imperial ukase reinstating you
in possession of aU your father's property." The young man readily
agreed to the bargain, and in eight days afterwards he was master of
his patrimony. The decision which led to this singular result rested
solely on the interpretation of the phrase they shall give him lohatever
portion they shall choose, which plainly raeant, as the lawyer main
tained, that the young man was entitled exclusively to such portion
as the Jesuits chose, i. e., to that which they chose and retained for
theraselves. The emperor admitted this curious explanation ;
the son becarae proprietor of 5700 peasants, and the Jesuits were
obliged to content themselves with the 300 they had bestowed on
their ward in the first instance. Assuredly the most adroit cadi in
Turkey could not have decided the case better.
"We have already seen that Utigants can appeal to the govern
mental court, and again to the general assembly of the senate, in all
suits for raore than five hundred rubles. This privilege instead of
being advantageous, appears to us to be highly the reverse. In
France, where distances are short, ancl where justice is administered
with a promptitude and impartiality elsewhere unexampled, the
appeal tp the court of cassation affords the i-nost precious guarantee
for the equitable appUcation of the laws. Besides this, it only
gives occasions to a re-vision of the documents in the case, and to a
new trial before another tribunal if there have been any error of
form; but in Russia, where distances are immense, and where all
things conspire to render suits interminable, litigants frora the pro-
¦vinces can only ruin theraselves hy using their right of recourse to
the tribunals of St. Petersburg. I have known landowners who
spent twenty years of their Uves in prosecuting a stut in the capital,
and who died without ha-ving obtained judgraent. It must be

122 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN' SEA, &C.
acknowledged, however, that appeals to St. Petersburg are justified
to a certain extent by the deplorable nature of governmental justice.
The last radical -vice we have to mention has its origin in the
nobiliary systera of Peter the Great, in inadequate salaries and the
want ofa special body of magistrates. We have seen the necessity
entailed on all freemen of entering the service of the state and ac
quiring a raore or less elevated rank, the consequence is, that aU the
pubUc departraents are overburdened with employes; and as most
of them have no patrimony and are very scantily paid, soraetiraes not
paid at all, they are of course driven to dishonest shifts for their Uve-^
lihood Even the heads of departraents are not sufficiently remune
rated to be safe frora the many temptations that beset them. The
govemment has indeed augmented their salaries at various times, but
never in a sufficient degree to produce any desirable reform in their
conduct. The office of judge, too, is not regarded -with sufficient
respect and consideration to make it an object of ambition to the
high nobiUty; it is fiUed in all instances by the lowest privUeged
class in the empire, or bestowed as a recompense on retired miUtary
men. This wiU no doubt appear extraordinary; but it must be
reracrabered that there exists as yet in. Russia no distinct corps of
magistrates, nor any official class of la-wyers; the merabers of the
several tribunals, whether elected by the nobles, or nominated by
tiie emperor, are by no means expected to be acquainted -with juris
prudence and the laws, and if any among thera have studied law in
the universities this is a raere accident. Those of them who are
honest, judge according to their conscience and their common sense;
the others give their voices for those who have bought them.
It is the same with the senate, the supreme judicial court in the
empire. It consists only of miUtary veterans, and superannuated
servants of the state; in a word, of men who know nothing whatever
of law. Hence it is easy to^ conceive the unUmited power exercised
in aU these coxvcta by the government secretaries, who, when they
know by heart the some thousands of ukases that form what is caUed
the imperial code,, pass for erainent la-wyers in the eyes of the
Russians. The same evil affects^ to an equal degree, aU the adnunistrative
departments. In Russia, no calling or profession has its hmits
sfenctiy defined; a man passes indifferently firom one service to
another. A cavalry officer, for instance, vriU be nominated as di
rector of a high Eciool, an old colonel as head of a custom-house,
and so forth.
In addition to the laws which are pecuUar to it, Russian legisla- •
tion evidently comprises two foreign eleraents, the German and the
Roman. Germaiuc law was introduced into Russia by the Varen-
^ans, a branch of the Northman stock. To the leaders of those war
riors the country owes the origin of its feudal system. Subsequentiy,
-when the Russians were converted to Christiamty, Vladimir adopted

HISTOET OF RUSSIAN LAW, 123
certain parts of the Roman law as modified by the Byzantines. But
if we may judge from the documents furnished by the Nestorian
chronicle, it would appear, that previously to that epoch, the Rus
sians had already borrowed sorae particulars firora the Roraan code,
and blended them -with their custoraary law of indigenous and
German origin.
The first written code mentioned in Russian history, is that of
Jaroslav, who reigned in the beginning of the thirteenth century ; from
that period the country reraained qiute stationary, in consequence of
the continual wars and troubles occasioned by its territorial di^vision;
and more than a century of suffering and anarchy prepared the
nation to submit ¦without resistance to a foreign yoke.
It was in 1218 that the Tatars crossed the Volga and seized the
dominions of the tzars; and whilst Europe, under the energetic
influence of the crusades and of the Ughts of the Lower Empire,
was sapping the edifice of feudaUsm, and labouring towards its future
glorious emancipation, Russia reraained for more than 300 years
in ignominious thraldom, taking no part in the great inteUectual
movement of the fifteenth century, retrograding rather than ad
vancing, debasing its national character day by day, and thus
heaping up against the progress of ci-vilisation, obstacles which
tile genius of its modern sovereigns has not yet been able to
annlhUate. In the ever memorable reign of Ivan HI. the Tatars were expeUed
firom the greater part of Russia, the dissensions caused by the par
celling out of the erapire were extinguished, the several principaUties
were united into a single body, and legislative labours were resumed
after four hundred years of Inaction.
Ivan III. had a coUection raade of all the old judicial constitutions,
and published, -with the assistance of the raetropolitan Jerome,
a collection of laws, which is not without merit, considering the
period when it was made. But this code allowed wager of battle;
and raurder, arson, and highway robbery, continued to be judged
in the Usts.
About 1550, Ivan IV. s'urnaraed the Terrible, completed the code
of laws promulgated by his grandfather, Ivan IH. and put a check
upon the territorial aggrandisements of the clergy. The newcode,
kno-wn by the name of Sudebnick, remained in force alraost without
any change, until the accession of the tzar Alexis Michaelo-vitz-
(father of Peter the Great), who, having coUected the laws of the
several provinces of the erapire, pubhshed thera in 1649, under the
title of Ulogenii. This collection, the first printed in Russia, was
begun and completed -within the space of two months and a half;
but notwithstanding its iraperfection, it has ne-rertheless, sei-ved as
the foundation on which all subsequent iraproveraents have been
based. Since the reign of Peter the Great, ten comraissions have been
successively employed in the codification ofthe Russian laws. We

124 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
will not enter Into the details of the changes introduced by them :
on this subject, the work published by M. Victor Foucher, and the
" Coup d'ceil sur la legislation Riisse," by M. Tolstoi, may be con
sulted with advantage. The tenth commission was appointed in
1804, and sat until 1826. It appUed itself earnestly to the con
struction of the civil, penal, and criminal codes; but numerous
difficulties prevented it from completing its task.
On his accession to the throne, the Emperor Nicholas promised
at first a new code which should correct and complete its predeces
sors. But the difficulties were too great, and he ended by adopting
a digest, which merely classified according to their subjects all the ex
isting laws promulgated since the general regulation of 1649, effected
by Alexis Michaelo-vitz. In 182b, he laid do-wn the foUo-wing rales
for this revision.
1. Enactraents fallen into desuetude to be excluded.
2. All repetitions to be suppressed, by choosing araong statutes
-to the same efiect that one which is raost coraplete.
3. The spirit of the law to be preserved by expressing in a single
rule the substance of all those that treat of the sarae raatter.
4. The acts from which each law is drawn are to be exactly set
forth. 5. Between two contradictory laws, the preference to be given to
the raore recent.
The design of the Emperor Nicholas was speedily carried into
effect. The complete collection of the laws of the empire was
pubhshed in 1830; and on the 31st of January, the tzar announced
in a manifesto that the classification of the law as a systeraatic body
was terminated. The matter was then spoken of in the Russian
journals in 1830: .
-" The second section of the private chanceiy of his raajesty the
emperor has just finished printing the first collection of the l-aws of
the Russian empire frora 1649 to December 12, 1825 in forty-five
volumes, 4to. - . . _ -
" This collection consists of four principal parts: 1. the text of
the laws from the general regulation of 1649 to the first manifesto
of the Eraperor Nicholas (Deceraber 12, 1825), in forty -snalumes.
Tills part comprises 30,920 laws, rides, treaties, and acts of various
kinds; 2, a general index containing a chronological table, which is
in some sort a j uridieal dictionary for Russia ; 3, a book of the ap
pointments of civil functionaries and of the administrative expenm-
ture and the tariffs from 1711 to 1825, to the number of 1351;
4, a book ofthe plans and designs pertaining to the several laws.
" The laws and acts belon^ng to the reign of his majesty the
Emperor Nicholas, will forra the second collection beginning on the
12th of December, 1825. The printing is already begun, and it
wUl appear in the course of the year. A supplement to it -wiU
afterwards be pubUshed every year. '
" The laws anterior to the year of 1649, which are generally con-

THE NICHOLAS CODE. 125
sidered as obsolete, but which are nevertheless of high iraportance
as regards, history, wiU forra a separate coUection under the name
of the ancient laws.
" This first coUection was begun in 1826, and finished on the 1st
of March, 1830. The printing began on the 2l3t of May, 1828,
and ended on the 1st of April last, at the press of the second section
of his majesty's chancery. For the composition of this collection,
it has been necessary to collate and extract from 3396 books of laws.
The forty voluraes of the text, and the volume of the chronological
index, contain 5284 printed sheets.
" This book will be ready for sale on the 1st of June at the print
ing-office. The price of the forty-five volumes is 500 paper rubles.
" By a rescript of the 5 th of April last, addressed to the privy-
counciUor Dashkof, adjunct of the rainister of j ustlce and director of
that ministry, his majesty the emperor notifies to hira the order
he has given to furnish copies of the collection to all the depart^
ments of the senate, and to aU the tribunals and adralnistratlons of
the govemment, and directs him to concert with the ministers of
finance and of the interior for the prorapt delivery of these books
in all the govemraents," so that they raay be kept and employed in
due manner."
' Thus the code of the Emperor Nicholas is, in fact, but a sys
tematic collection of all the laws promulgated within the last 200
years, or thereabouts. It contains not one new idea, not one mo
dification required by the actual situation of the empire, not one
thought for the future. Now if we reflect that the study of 3396
books of laws, and the revision of 50,000 laws or ukases, have taken
place within the short period of two years, and that the men who
had to perform this task, were far frora being jurisconsults, we shaU
perceive that such a work raust be very iraperfect, and that it raust
have been totaUy irapossible to fulfil the mtentlons of the tzar, as
expressed in the instructions above cited. The erapire, indeed,
possesses fifty-five bulky volumes of laws, but the inconveniences re
sulting from the raultlpUcity of contradictory ukases, and frora others
iU adapted to the necessities of the country, have been retained in
them to a great extent; and the experience of thirteen years has
shown the insufficiency of this coUection, and its little influence on the
course and conduct of lawsuits. Another defective point ¦ in this
impro-sisated legislation, is its pretension to satisfy the requirements
of the future by admitting, as a complement to the body of the
statutes, all the ukases issued, or to be issued by the emperor. If
to these 30,920 laws already existing, this .palladium of justice
already so formidable, there be added every year a supplementary
volume equal in capacity to the average legislative contributions-
of the last 180 years, every year -wiU then supply its battalion of
172 new la-ws ; and I am at a loss to conceive where there ¦wiU be
found by-and-by a lawyer sufficiently patient to study this new
levy of justice, when with . aU the good will imaginable the most

126

THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SKA, osu.

indefatigable reader can hardly once in his Ufe pass in review the
body of the veterans. _ -c x /r
In tiie space of five years since the emperors manilesto (January ¦
31 1833), five new volumes liave been already added to the collection.
Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that the emperor's performance
is extremely meritorious. To him belongs the honoiur of having
been the first to bestow a regular body of laws on his country.
Before his time Russia had but a confused and fluctuating legisla
tion, encumbered with an infinity of statutes, the studjr of which
was 'the more difficult, as no printed coUection of them existed. At
present it possesses at least a complete digest, -within reach of aU,
and which aU may consult and appeal to. Surely a man of the
emperor's, perseverance and great capacity would not have shrunk
firom accompUshing a more perfect work, could he have mdulged
the hope of being seconded by abler and better instructed juris
consults. But he was compeUed of necessity to take the conse
quences of the want of any thing Uke a corps of magistrature, and
findincr he could not do any thing better, he resolved to make
no change in the spirit of the laws promulgated during the pre
ceding 200 years, and to foUow exactly the course marked out
in 1700 by Peter the Great. In this way the codification of the
laws becarae a mere effort of compilation and arrangement, and
setting aside the coUatidn of the ukases, the clerks of the second
section of the imperial chancery were quite competent to the task.
It ¦wiU not be altogether uninteresting to pkce here a detailed
table of the population in a governmental chief town. An exanuna-
tion of such documents may lead to very curious comparisons and
reflections. The town we have chosen is Kichinev, the capital of
Bessarabia, and the figures we give have been extracted directiy
firom the books of the provincial governor's chancery. ..

Monks  „.._... — ..-.¦. — .".- 
Priests 
Servants  •  — 
Military officers* in active service 
Superior officers in the civil service, ditto
Officers ofthe fourteentli classy ditto 

- .; - . Military officers on leave.
Generals  -  -.•
Staff-officers of every grade 

Civil officers on leave.
Generals  .— 
Superior officers and others .«.« 

Persons employed in the theatre ..'.
First guild merchants  ~~..
Second ditto 
Third ditto  _.

Carried forward-

2060

Men.-

Women.

16

89

126

114

59

139

53

339

235

419

163

1

1

.42

31

- 2

2

107

104

-¦ 15

9

6

10

35

31

'736

623

144S

Neither the officers nor the soldiers of the garrison are included in this list.

EDUCATION IN KUSSIA.

127

Brought forward 
Foreigners 
Burghers  _ 
Government employes of aU kinds 
Xoung people reared at the expense of the crown
Soldiers on furlough 
"Workpeople  ,
Gipsy slaves 
German colonists  ,
I*npil3 of all kinds 

Total  24,032

Men.

Women.

2060

1448

194

144

18,092

15,973

2,121

237

32

31

12

415

511

54

63

37

24

996

17

24,032

18,429

CHAPTER XV.

PUBLIC rssTRXTcnoN — COUPS or cadets — unitebsities and eusjientarv
schools; ASECDOTB — ^PLAU OP EDUCATION — JIOHVES FOR ATTENDrsO THE UNI
VERSITIES  STATISTICS  PROFESSOKS; THEIB IGNORANCE  EXCLUSION OP FO-
BEIGN PROFESSORS — ENGINEERINO— OBSTACLES TO INTELLECTUAL IBIPROVEJIENT
—CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCLAVONIC RACE.
In contemplating the developraent and organisation of pubUc
instruction in Russia from the time of Peter the Great to these days,
one cannot help thinking that the Russians attach infinitely more
value to the appearance of progress, than to its real existence. One
would say they care very Uttie about scientific and inteUectual
•results, provided their universities and schools be coraplete in aU
physical detaUs, and pro-vided they have nuraerous educational haUs
graced -with the names of all the sciences professed in Europe.
Nevertheless, the sovereigns of Russia have all laboured more or
less actively for the propagation of pubUc instruction. Unfortunately
tiiey would never suffer themselves to admit that civilisation is a
long and difficult work; and incapable of forgetting, even amidst
the Uberal ideas on which they based their projects, that they were
before aU things absolute princes, they fancied they could civiUse
their nation as they had disciplined their soldiers; and then, swayed
by vanity and self-conceit, they graciously suflered themselves to be
deceived by aU the brilUant reports laid before them by the admin
istrative departraents.
It was in the reign of Feodor Alexie-vitz that the first acaderay was
founded in Mosco-w. The Sclavonic, Greek, and Latin languages
were taught there. A university was afterwards established in the
sarae city, and in the reign of Catherine II. St. Petersburg possessed an
acaderay of sciences and the fine arts, and a society of rural economy.
Bnt even at that period the spirit of ostentation, -which forras the
substratum of the Russian character, already revealed itself; and
¦whUe forraing those grand Institutions, not a thought had been given
to the. opening of a single elementary school in either capital. Sorae

128 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
-writers indeed allege that Peter I. left behind him, at his death,
fifty-one schools for the people, and fifty-six for the mlUtary; but I
have always been disposed to think that those estabUshraents existed
but in narae, and my researches have but confirmed that opinion.
The first elementary institution of any importance founded in the
new capital, dates only firom the beginning of the eighteenth cen
tury : it is the school of the cadet corps, exclusively reserved for the
young nobiUty, and intended to form officers for the land and sea
service, and for the engineers. In order to judge ofthe instruction
afibrded in it, one ought to be able at least to mention some of its
pupils who have been distinguished for their talents, and who have
acqiured a certain degree of celebrity; but it is as difficult to name
any such, as to discover men of learning and science among the
merabers of the various acaderaies mentioned above. Be this as it
may, we cannot help entertaining a very raean opinion of the spirit
and organisation of all these estabUshraents founded by Peter the
Great, and by the sovereigns who succeeded hira during the latter
part of the eighteenth century.
The first institution in favour of the people was created in St.
Petersburg in 1764: it was an educational estabUsbment for the
daughters of burghers and gentlemen of scanty fortune. It was
founded by Catherine IL, who in taking measures by preference for ,
the education of women, seems to have intended to prepare them
for usurping in their doraestic circle the same absolute sway which
she was herself about to exercise over the whole empire.
Elementary schools were not actually opened to the pubUc until
1783, and that only in some ofthe great towns of the erapire. As
all these ill-contrived early institutions possess Uttie interest, I
wUl pass on to the consideration of the present state of pubhc
instruction. The existing system dates from Alexander's reign. The -
course adopted in the beginning was on aU points similar to that
pursued bv Peter the Great and Catherine II. The firet thing
thought of was the estabUshraent of universities; those of Dorpat
and VUna were re-estabUshed; that of Moscow was reformed, and
new ones were founded in Kasan and Kharkofi As for elementary
schools, they were corapletely overlooked. The foUowing anecdote
wiU give an idea of the primitive state of the great coUeges of the
empire. A German gentleman in the Russian service traveUed in the
Crimea, in 1803. On passing through Kharkof, curiosity induced
him to visit the university, which had been opened in the town about
a year before. While looking over the cabinet of natural philosophy,
he perceived with amazement that the professor of that branch of
science did not even know the names of the few instruraents at his
coramand. Unable to conceal his surprise, he asked his guide where
he had been professor before he became attached to the university. "I
never was a professor before," was the reply. " "Where did you study ?"
"I learned to read and write in Moscow." " How did you obtain the

\

PLAN OP STUBT. 129
rank of professor of natural philosophy ?" " I was an officer of police ;
my age no longer allowed me to support the fatig-ues of ray duty; so
hearing that a place which would suit rae better was vacant in the
academy, I appUed for it. Thirty years' service, good certificates,
and the influence ofa patron, enabled me to obtain it." "And what
are the duties belonging to your place ?" "I have to inspect the instru-
¦ ¦ ments, and keep them in order, and I am directed to show them to
such persons of distinction as raay please to visit the university."
Tins happened, it is true, in 1803, and I only raention the fact to
show the spirit that prevailed in the establishment of these learned
institutions. The university of Kliarkof is now in a better condition,
and I know many professors there of real merit, distinguished among
whom are Doctor Vancetti, equaUy remarkable for his acquirements
ahd his philanthropy, and Professor Kalenltchlkov, who devotes
> himself with. success to all branches, of natural history.
' - ,Atolast,-ho-w;ever3it !.-was felt that universities were insufficient,
and could not ."exist- without elementary schools. Some years after
the accession -of Alexander, gymnasiums were therefore established
In all the goveramentalchief towns ; and the district towns had their
priraary institutions, in' which were to be taught reading and writing,
the eleraents of grararaar and arithraetic, the history of Russia,
sacred history, geography, geometry, ancl the rudiments of Latin.
: ^ -The course of instruction in the gyranasia was raore extensive, and
erabraced special matheraatics, logic, rhetoric, and physics. Lastly,
the pupil was advanced to the university, where he went through a
coraplete course of study, coraprising the sciences, the Uberal arts,
Hterature. At first sight It would appear that this well conceived plan of
studies ought to have had the raost satisfactory results ; but this waa
not altogether the case. The noblUary system of the empire, and
certain regulations of detail and discipline combined to destroy the-
reasonable hopes founded on such Uberal Institutions.
,'i The Russian universities unquestionably number among their
professors sorae distinguished men, equally devoted to science and
to the duties of their calUng; but the social ideas prevalent in the
country render their efforts, ahnost always unavailing, and they find
theraselves corapeUed to restrict their course of instruction -within
the narrow routine prescribed to thera.
: . Now and always the universities and gymnasia are and have been
.-• fdf -the most part attended only by pupils ofthe class of petty nobles,
" or of tiiose of the priests and burghers. As for the sons of the
aristocratic famlUes, they are generally educated at horae by private
tutors, and as they are almost aU intended for the array, they enter
at once into the corps of cadets estabUshed in St. Petersburg.
According to a table pubUshed by the rainistry of the interior,
aU the first class estabhshments for pubUc instruction, that is to say
the universities, the two medico-chirurglcal academies, the pedagogic
K

130

THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.

/

Students.

59

433

82

-932

66

530

79

468

-74

237

55 ¦- -

140

25 . .

52

20-'

33

15- ¦'

19

94

797

43

68

institute and the three lycea, contained in 1840 only 612 function
aries and professors, and 3809 pupils, the numbers being thus
made up: ; Functionaries
' ^ and Teachers.
St. Petersburg  .."........
Moscow  „...:. 
Borpat 
Eharkof  ..:."...
Kasan 
St. Vladimir (Kiev) 
Eichelieu Lyceum (Odessa)  „....
Demidof ditto 
Eezborodko ditto 
Hedico-chimrgical academies of Moscow and Vilna ...
Pedagogic institute of St. Petersburg   
According to the sarae report the Russian. erapire possessed atthe
close of the year 1840, 3230 establishments under the superioiidi-
rection ofthe ministry of public instruction,j:and. containmg 103,450
pupUs. ¦y.y. , . v-^ .j_:^-";t^v-if^v:;.-r^;^^'> V '--^
The young men who attend theunivereity_coiirs^;.-have aU but
one single object in -riew; that of acquiring- a gradepf nobiUty; and
the examinations are too sUght to make industry and proficiency in
their studies really requisite to the attainment of their purpose.
Besides, they are most of them educated at the cost of the govem
ment, and as the latter does not Uke to lose Its money; they must aU
enter the iraperial service, whether weU taught or not. . In this
manner are formed aU the physicians, surgeons, and subordinate pro
fessors of gymnasia. .- -., .1-^ -. y."-..- - i-^^^--
As for the civil departments the sole condition required for ad
mission into them, is the knowledge of writing and arithraetic; ac-
corcUngly the common class Russian thinks he has corapleted his edu
cation when he can read, write, and cypher; and he. Is indeed
sufiicientiy erudite to get a footing in sorae chancery, office, a
comraon clerkship in which adraits hira to the first grade as a civil
officer, and from thence he may arrive at the highest rank in the
service. :- . "-- .^ . - - _-.^_...'.- ,.;^v¦rv^'¦
Many young men on.lea-ving the universities, are of course em
ployed in the public offices ;_ but then, ;:whatever talents they may
possess, and whatever firuit they may have gathered firom their
studies becorae utterly useless to them. Frora the moment they
enter any office whatever, they perceive -with astonishment that they
know nothing of what It Is essential they should know. They have- ¦
stepped into a new world of which they do not even know the •
language. They hear nothing talked of around them" but forms,
rules, tricks for evading thelaws and ordinances, artifices for giving
a. legal colouring to abuses and extortions, and all sorts of inventions
for squeezing money out of those who have the misfortune to need
the help of the CTW^/o^es.
They soon see that the greatest adepts in those frauds which are

SOCIAL POSITION OP THE SCHOOLMASTEE. 131
conveniently styled office usages, the least scrupulous, or, in plain
terras, the greatest rogues, are considered clever feUows, and make
tiieir way rapidly; whilst those who stiU retain sorae sense of honesty
and a lingering respect for the principles of moraUty, are lauffhed at
as fools. What then does the novice, who has perhaps "carried
ofi" the prize of eloquence at the university? FincUng himself
obUged to defer to the lowest pupil of an elementary school, who
has already gained some knowledge of office piactice, he tries to
forget all he has learned, and appUes himself to a new course of
study. His conscientious scruples are soon silenced; prompted by
emulation he gradually becomes as accomplished as his mates, and
by dint of this second education the clever fellow at last quite effiices
the honest man.
;-It is also from the universities that the young men are taken who
are designed for the business of public instruction; and as we have
already stated, they are for the most part educated at the expense of
the state. When their studies are completed they are appointed
professors in the gyranasia and other schools. The government has
neglected no raeans of making their calUng as advantageous as
possible, both as to salary and honorary advancement. These en
courageraents would have the happiest effect anywhere else than in
Russia, but there they have quite the contrary result. It follows from
the existing systera of nobility with its graduated scale, the privileges
it confers, and the means of fortune its Offers, that a raan's whole status
in life resolves itself into a question of official rank. Now, as no
caUirig presents a greater chance of rapid advanceraent than that of
the pubUc instructor, in which capacity a young raan rarely fails to
obtain- the rank of major (^hereditary nobility) after five or six years'
service, the consequence is that all the sons of the petty nobles,
burghers, and priests, eagerly rush into this thriving profession.
This, however, is not the real mischief; on the contrary, the great
nuraber of corapetitors might produce a very salutary rivalry; but
unfi)rtunately the Uttie power and influence exercised by the pro
fessors, who after aU, can only coramand boys, and stiU more than
this, their want of opportunity to enrich theraselves under cover of
their office, strip the business of pubUc instruction of all prestige,
and cause it to be considered, not-withstanding its high pay, as much
less advantageous than many other posts the fixed salary of which is
almost nothing, but which enable tiie holders to levy alraost unU
mited contributions on those who corae under their hands. VrHiat
foUows ? As soon as the professors have obtained the rank
of major, they quit the universities and enter the ci-vil adminis
trations, where they can fatten on law suits, chicanery, and exactions,
and aU the countless means by which the law enables them to make
firaudulent fortunes. And here we may retaark that this state ¦ of
things is another consequence of the want of definite caUings and
professions In Russia. The career of official rank is the only one
kno^wn to the Russian; for hira there exists none other.
e2

132 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPI^VN SEA, &C.
. We must not wonder, therefore, if the instruction given In the
elementary schools, and the gyranasia is Incomplete and alraost
barren of good effect. The teachers are almost always mere boys
-without experience or sound knowledge. They content themselves
with going through their routine of business according to the letter
of the rules, and the miUtary discipline iraposed on them ; but once
escaped frora their classes, they think of nothing but enjoying them
selves, eating, drinking, and playing cards. I have visited many
gymnasia in Russia, and I have always seen In them the sarae efiects
flowing from the sarae causes.
Besides the great universities and high schools, aU the leading
to-wns of the empire formerly contained numerous boarding schools,
most of them kept by strangers; but these were suppressed by ukase
in the year 1842. "The means of instruction are at present confined
to the iraperial estabUshraents, frora which all foreigners not natur
alised in Russia are excluded. These new regulations dictated by
false vanity, wiU infalUbly have a disastrous influence, and render
the progress of education more and more difficilt. - "^-w^ ^' -, -
There still exist in Russia- several estabUshraents for the education
of officers and civU and military engineers. -i4The Institute of Ways
and Communications was established in ther reign of Alexander,
under the superintendence of four pupils of the Ecole Polytechnique
of France, MM. Potier, Fabre, Destreme, aiid Bazain, who entered
the service of Russia, at the request to that effect preferred by the
tzar to Napoleon. This school (which I- have not -visited) might
have rendered great service to the empire, had the government been
discreet enough to leave it its foreign professors, and not subject It
to the absurd Interfei-ence of the Russian raiUtary driU.-. Very few
able men have issued from this institution, and the profound Igno--
rance I have seen exhibited in all the great works executed at a
distance frora the capital, attests the decay of a . school which at
first proraised so fairly. Again, it must be owned, that firom the
time when engineers enter on active service, they have no leisure to
complete their studies; as soon as they receive an appointment, their
whole time is taken up with reports, accounts, writings -without end,
and all the countless formalities de-vised by the quIbbUng and cap
tious spirit of the Russians. I have known several engineers at the
head of important works ; they had not a raoraent to themselves,
their whole day being spent in -writing and signing heaps of paper; '
The sarae observations apply to the miUtary, for whom secondary
manceuvres and minute costume observances form a never relaxing
and stultifjing slavery. Under such a system, aU the germs of
instruction implanted m the schools, soon disappear in service.
BesideSjit must be admitted that the generaUty of Russians have
a natural indifference to the sciences and the arts, which -wiU long
defeat the efforts of sovereigns desirous of effectiag an InteUectud
regeneration. Though I have gone over a large portion of the
empire, I have found very few persons, young or old, who were reaUy

'i SCLAVONIC CilAr.ACTEP.. 133
studious and weU-informed, and too often I have met with notliing
but the most utter apathy, where I had a right to expect interest ancl
enthusiasra. It matters not that the emperor showers tokens of
favour and respect on his savans, the Russians themselves continue,
notwithstanding, to treat them with great disdain. The reason is,
that the arts and sciences do not lead to fortune in Russia, and as
they fall exclusively to the lot eitiier of foreigners, or of the petty
nobles, they cannot enjoy high consideration in a forra of society
which respects only raight and authority, and consequently recoo'-
nlses but two vocations worthy of ambItlon,viz., the raiUtary profession,
and the civil service.
But independently of the influence of a bad social oro-anlsation,
the Russians seem to me to be at this day the least apt by nature of
aU the nations of Europe to receive solid instruction. The Scla
vonic race raay be di-vided into t-»vo great branches: the first of
these, wliich contains the Poles among others, has felt the influence
of the west, with which it has been in long and immediate contact,
and so enabled to adopt its cl-villsatlon more or less closely; the
second, on the contrary, has aclcnowledged the paramount influence
of Asia, and the Russians who compose it, are still in our day under
the action of the jMongol hordes, to which they were enslaved for
more than three centuries. Again, Russia is absolutely and entirely
a novice in civiUsation; go over her whole history, and you will not
find a single page which gives proof of a reaUy progressive tendency.
It Is a very remarkable fact that her poUtical and commercial relations
¦with the Lower Empire were entirely barren of result upon her ci-vIU-
sation, -which reraained completely stationary, even in circura
stances raost favourable to its development : it is therefore by no
means surprising, that despite all the efforts of her sovereigns, she
has been unable to place herself on the level of the other nations of
Europe -within the space of a hundred years.
The results of our civilisation, more than twenty centuries old,
are not to be inculcated so rapidly: there needs -we think, a long-
series of progressive initiations, so that the moral constitution reacting
on the physical, may render the perceptions and the organs of the
latter more deUcate, and more suited to Intellectual developraent:
and this period of transition must necessarily be very long for a
nation to which the past has bequeathed only reminiscences of slavery
and destruction. Look, on the other hand, at Greece, Molda-tia, and
Wallacliia, countries which have all had glorious periods in history;
they have raade great strides within ten years, and have in that short
space of time established their claim to rank as members of the
European family of nations. To their past history belongs in part
the honour of their present advancement. That thirst for Insti-uction,
that incredible aptitude to seize and -.inderstand every thing, which is
characteristic above aU of the Greeks, are e-\idently but old faculties
long sunk in torpor imder the pressure of slavery, and which waited
but for a little freedom to break forth with new energy.

134 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C. /
CHAPTER XVI.
ESTHT rSTO THE COUNTRV OFTHE DOK COSrSACKS— TEMALE PILGEDIS OP KIEV f
BELIGIOUS PBBVOUI. OF THE COSSACKS — NOVO TCHERKASK, CAPITAL OF THE DON
— STKEET-LAJCVa OnABDED BY SEXTIJTELS — THE STREETS ON SUJfDAT— COSS.iCK
HOSWTALITT AND GOOD NATURE — THEIK VENEBATIOS FOB KAPOLEON's 3IEM0ET.
Beyond Nakhitchevane, several valleys abutting on the basin of the
Don, isolated hamlets, and a few stanitzas, diversify the country, and
make one forget the steriUty of the steppes, that spread out their gray
and scarcely undulating surface to the -westward. The banks of tha
Don which are seldora out of sight, are enUvened by clumps of
trees, fisherraen's huts, and herds of horses that seek there a fresher
pasture than the desert affords. But except these aniraals, we saw
not a single living creature ; the heat was so intense, and the coun
try is still so Uttie inhabited, that raost of the fields appeared to us
In a state of ¦wild nature. Nothing around us indicated the presence of
man. In the country of the Don Cossacks, as 'elsewhere throughout
Russia, the post road is barely marked out by two cUtches so caUed,.
which you often drive over without perceiving them, and by distance
posts two or three yards high. This is aU the outlay the govern
ment chooses to incur for the imperial post roads leading to the prin
cipal towns of the empire..
Before arriving in Novo Tcherkask, the capital of the Cossacks,
we encountered another wandering party at least as curious as our.
gipsies. - . .
Imagine our surprise when having passed through a wide ravine^
which for a long while shut in 'the road, we saw defiUng over the
steppes a countless string of smaU cars, escorted by I know- not how
many hundreds of woraen. We advanced, puzzled and curious to
the last degree ; and the raore we gazed the more the numbers of
these women seemed to multiply. They were everywhere, in the
cars, on the road, and over the steppes; it was like a swarm of locusts
suddenly dropped from the sky. Most of them walked barefoot^
holding theu- shoes in one hand, aud -with the other picking up
fragments of wood and straw, for what purpose we could not con
ceive. Their carts were just like barrels with two openings, and
were driven by theraselves, for there was not tiie shadow of a-
beard among them. They -were aU retumiug, as they told us, from
the catacombs of Kiev, to -which they had been raaking a pilgrimage.
Among them I remarked some old women who had scarcely a
breath of life reraaining. They seemed cbreadfuUy fiitigued, but at
the sarae time very well pleased -with their pious expediSon.
Further on we met another procession of the sarae kind, which
had aheady- arranged Its encarapment for the night. Two fires, fed
¦with those Uttie chips of wood that had so much perplexed us, served
to prepare the evening meal. AU the pUgrims were busy, and
forraed the most varied groups. Some were fetching water in

NOVO TCHEEKASK. 135
earthen pitchers, which they carried on their heads ; others were
kneeling devoutly, making the sign of the cross, and the genuflexions
so frequent among the Russians and Cossacks ; the oldest were feed
ing the fire and telUng stories. It was an indescribable scene of bustle
and noise, displaying a variety of the most picturesque attitudes and
physiognomies. AU ' the women were of Cossack race. There is much more of
pious fervoiu- in this nation than in the Muscovites. A sUght dif
ference of text between the Bibles of the two people has occ'asioned
a very great one in their reUgious sentiments. Tlie Cossacks call
themselves the true beUevers, and abstain on religious grounds from
the pipe, and from. many other things which the Muscovites allow
theraselves -without scruple. The natural integrity of their character
is- rarely sulUed by hypocrisy. They love and beUeve with equal
ardour and sincerity.
.. -;, —/At the extreraity of a plateau, on the verge of a wide and deep
vaUey,-:..the town of Novo Tcherkask suddenly appeared to us, rising
-•; ".In-.an.ara"phitheatre> and erabracing in its huge extent several hiUs,
- tiie' broad slopes of which descend to the bottom of the valley. All
the towns wejiad pre-viously seen, and which had shocked us by the
extravagant breadtii of their streets and their dearth of houses, were
nothing, in comparison -with what now met our eyes. Seen from
the point where we then stood, the whole to-wn was Uke an enormous
chess board, -with, the lines formed by avenues broader than the
Place du Carousel in Paris. These lines, bordered at intervals by
¦ a few shabby dwellings, and separated from each other by open
'-V. .spaces in which whole regiments might manoeuvre quite at their
•^r'r'r ease,-sorae churches, and a triumphal arch erected in 1815 in honour
'^'¦."}of Alexander, are xhe only saUent points of this desert which they call
a capital, and the superficial dimensions of which are, -without exag
geration, as great as those of Paris.
Novo Tcherkask, now the seat of all the pubUc of&ces of the Don
country, was founded in 1806 by Count Platof, who became so cele
brated through the unfortunate French campaign of Moscow. Its
very iU-chosen position forbids all chance of future prosperity.
It is situated nearly eight miles from the Don, on a hill sur
rounded on aU sides by the Axai and the Touzlof, sraaU confluents
of the river from which it Is so fataUy reraote. Platof is said to
have selected this site for the purpose of building a fortress; but his
intentions have not been reaUsed. Another most serious inconveni
ence for the to-wn is the absolute want of good water. Wealthy
persons use melted Ice to make tea.
In the great square there are'two very large bazaars -with wooden
roofs, in which are found aU sorts of goods, and especiaUy an abun
dant coUection of military eqiupraents for the use of the Cossacks.
There is also a great arsenal, but quite destitute of arms. As for
the other edifices, they are hot worth mentioning, notwithstanding
aU the fine descriptions given of them by geographers.

136 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
But Novo Tcherkask has one precious thing to boast of — a thing
imique in Russia — and that is an excellent hotel kept by a French
man, in which the traveUer finds aU the coraforts he can clesire.
The nobiUty who have strongly encouraged this estabhshment,
have formed in it a casino, in which many balls are given in the
winter. ' -,. '.' '- ¦ ' -, -
The Emperor Nicholas visited the Don Cossacks in 1837, and to
this auspicious event the capital owed the good fortune of being
suppUed with lamps in the streets. But the lights went out when
his majesty departed; and it is said, that in order to save the lamps
from being stolen, the authorities had been obUged to make to armed
Cossack stand sentry over each of them. •- .-. ¦ . .^ ..^^y -!.*.;, - .
• The population of Novo Tcherkask, formed by the union of four
stanitzas, amounts to about 10,000. Staro Tcherkask; the old
¦ capital, now abandoned, has nothing to attract the traveUer's atten
tion, though Dr. Clarke has bestowed on it the pompous titie ofthe-
Russian Venice. . ff ,';;; ¦:, ; . - c k.;7t;?^->i^t>^:"$i
Our arrival in the Cossack capital fell on a Sunday. ,' As "the -wifr;
dows of our hotel looked full on the only promenade in the 'to-wn,"
the greater part of the population passed in re-vriewjbefore'^us.
Every tiling here bespeaks the nomade and warUkeitemper of the"
Cossacks. There is no copying of Europ«ui fashion,; iio Frank' cos
tumes, no mixed population ; every thing is Co£3ack,-;except a few
Kalmuck figures, telUng us ofthe -vicinity of the Volga. '~-C'.
• The Cossacks we had seen at Taganrok, had gi-ven us but a poor;
opinion of the beauty of the woraen of the- country ; we were,:
therefore, agreeably surprised at the sight of aU the pretty girls that;
passed continually before our windows. Even their costume, which :
-vve had thought ugly, now seemed not waiiting in originaUty, and.-
even in a certain piquancy. The young girls let their braided hair .
fall on their shoulders, and ususdly tie the braids -with bright
ribbons, that hang down to their heels. . Some of them confine
their tresses in a long bag made of a silk handkerchief, a style of
head-dress by no raeans unbecoming. :-'.
¦ It was really a very pretty sight to see the crowd of elegant
officers and young women in gala attire that filled the footways,'
exchanoing looks, srailes, and even soft discourse, as if they were
in a ball-roora. The men. are tall and handsorae, ancl look remark
ably weU in uniforra. .Bravery and noble pride are legible In their
features and their eyes, as If they were still those fiery children of
the steppes, who, before the days of Catherine II. acknowledged
no other power than that of their ataman, freely chosen by them
selves. Arras are at this day their sole occupation, just as they were a"
hundred years ago, and their organisation is stUl altogether mUitary,
as we shtul see by and by. - -,- ,-. .-
What erroneous notions are entertained in France, of these good-
natured, inoffensive, and hospitable Cossacks ! The events of 1814
and 1815, have left a deep repugnance towards them in aU French.

\ - ORIGIN OF THE DON COSSACKS. 137
-minds, and indeed it could hai-dly be expected it should be other
wise. But speaking of them as we found them in their own land,
they do not deserve the aversion -with which our countrymen
regard tiiem. 'There is no part of Russia where the traveller is
more safe than in their country, nor does he anywhere meet -with a
more kindly welcorae. The narae of Frenchman, especially, is an
excellent recomraendation there. The portrait of Napoleon is found
in every house, and sometimes It is placed above that of the great
St. Nicholas himself. AU the old veterans -who have siu-vived the
.great wars of the erapire, profess the greatest veneration for the
French emperor, and these sentiments are fully shared by the pre-
t-sent generation. .

CHAPTER XVII.
origin of the -don cossacks — dceaninq op the najie — the kitteghis cossacks
-Graces anterior to the cossacks — Sclavonic ejucrations towards the
EAST. .: .'.. ' : ", "'¦'¦]. ...
r^.THE origin of the Don Cossacks has, Uke that of the Tatars of
.Southern Russia, given rise to interrainable discussions. Sorae have
represented .:this people as an offshoot of the great Sclavonic
stock; "others consider it as only a raedley of Turks, Tatars, and
Circassians. Vsevolbjsky adopts the former of these opinions, ia
his Geographical 'aiid Historical Dictionary of the Russian Empire.
M-'r.'Schnitzler ..boTdly:' decides the question, in his Statistics of
.Ilussia;iby decEring'that the Cossacks of the Don have proceeded
firom the.Caucasus, and belong for the most part to the Tcherkess
or .Circassian nation.
-?.- /Constantine Porph3Trogenitus, a writer of the ninth century, men
tions a country called Kasachia. " On the other side of the
Papagian country," he says, " is Kasachk, and immediately after
wards are discovered the tops of the Caucasus." The Russian
chronicles like-wise mention a Circassian people subjugated in 1021
\>y Prince Mstizlav, of Tmoutarakan. Tiiese, it raust be owned,
are very vague data, and the reserablance between two names
is not warrant for our concluding that the Cossacks of our day and
the Kasachians of the ninth century, are one and the sarae nation.
Except the few words we have just cited, we have no other infor
mation respecting the latter people, and all the historical researches
hitherto made, have failed to determine the real situation of
Traoutarakan. This town has been placed soraetimes at Riazan,
soraetiraes at the mouth of the Volga, on the site of Astrakhan,
sometimes on the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus. A stone, -with a
Sclavonic inscription, discovered at Taman, seeraed for a while to

138 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAiT SEA, &C.
have solved the problem- But It was afterwards. fuUy demonstrated,
-that this grand historical discovery was. only a hoax practised on the
credulous antiquarians. "•',.>¦.'
The Kasachia of tiie ninth century is thus but very Imperfectly^
known to us; even with the help of Constantine Porphyrogenitus,
it would be difficult to detennine its position with any real preci
sion; and when the Cossacks, now kno-wn to us, appear- "for the
first time, 600 years afterwards, it would be rash and arbitrary in
tiie extreme to declare them, the descendants of a people- so briefly-
mentioned by the Byzantine writer. This- opinion -wUi appear the
less admissible,, when it ia considered that the countiy of the
Cossacks, situated around the Sea of Azov, lay directly in the;
route of all those conquering hordes that issued firora Asia to over-;
run and ravage Europe, and afterwards disappeared successively,;
Tvithout leaving any other trace of their existence than their .name.;
in the pages of history. ' -.;-.---'-••-- '?
Is it hkely that Kasachia was more fortunate? Isfthere^any
probability that its people,. after 600- years of absolute obscurity,:
again arose out of the chaos of all those revolutions, to prodiice the..
Cossacks of our day? We cannot think so. ^;- Historical; mquirie?, J
and above all a knowledge of the regions extending- between the
Sea of Azov and the Caspian, prove beyond question that aU those ;
countries were never occupied by a nation having- fixed habitations.:;
We have ourselves^ traversed those- Russian desertSj up- to the*
northern foot of the Caucasus; and except- the somewhat? modem-'
remains of Madjar, on the- bordei-s- of the Konma, we nowhere-
found any vestige of hum-an occupancy, or anyc trace of civiUsation. '
It isr therefore, by no raeans Ukely, that amidstrall the- convulsions of
the Asiatio invasions, from the ninth to the fifteen tK-centuryj -whilst.
so many races were disappearing completely,- that a Uttie remotesi
nomade people shall have preserved for 600 years its nationaUty and .-:
its territory, -without being swept away and absorbed by iO^ those
¦warlike hordes that must have passed over it in torrents. This'
would be an historical fact perfectly unique in that part of the
¦world; to_ us It appears in flagrant contradiction with historical
experience. - We are of opinion then, that the Cossacks of our day
have nothing" in comraon -with the Kasachia of Constantine Por-
phyrogenitus, and that- we must look elsewhere for their origin and
for the reason of their appellation. - ... ' -
Let us in the first place examine this word Cossack. Aecording
to the use in which it was formerly and is still eraployed, it seems-
evidently not to belong to a special j)eople, but simply to express
the generic character of every nation, having certain distinct man-
ner3_ and custoras. Thus In Eussia, at this day, the name of Cossacks--
13 given to all those persons who are under mUitary organisation:
there are Turcomans, Kalmuks, and Tatars so called in tiie-steppes
of the Caspian ; and in Bessarabia, some gipsies and a medley
of nondescript people constitute the Cossacka of the Dniestr. The-

1 1
\ \ ORIGIN OF THE DON COSSACKS. 139 ~
Don Cossacks, themselves, attach no historical significance to their
designation, which they seem to regard merely as a by-name given
to them in former times, and they readUy share it with the nomade
tribes around them, whose organisation is the same as their own.
The only appellation they assume among themselves, is that of true
believers. The existenceof the Khirghis Kaissacks of our day, can be traced
back to more reraote times ; but there Is certainly no analogy between
this Mussulman people and our Cossacks. Furthermore, it seeras
proved that the Tatars before their invasions of Europe, used to give
the appeUation of Cossacks to all those individuals of their o-wn race,
who, ha-ving no property, were obUged to subsist by pUlage, or to
seU their services to some military leader. Cossack then, according
to our apprehension, signifies only a nomade and a vagabond people,
and it is likely that the Tatars on their arrival in Europe, gave that
name to all the wandering tribes they foimd in the steppes of Azov
and ofthe Don. What tends stiU more to confirm this opinion is,
that no mention of Cossacks is made b-y Rubruquis and Du Plan de
Carpln, who traversed all the regions- of Southern Russia, on their
embassy to the grand khan, in the beginning of the thirteenth
century.. And now let us ask whence came those nomade people that pre
ceded the modem Cossacks in the steppes of the Don and the Sea
of Azov? Here again we must dissent frora the -rie-ws of Dr.
Edmund Clarke and Lesur which have been generally adopted in
Schnitzler's statistics.
According to the testimony of all liistorians the Slaves already oc
cupied various parts of Southem Russia, during the first period of
the decadence ofthe Lower Empire : every one knows indeed that
the descendants of Rurik often carried then- attacks on the em
perors of the East up to the very gates of their capital. The annals
of Russia also deraonstrate the existence of the Slaves at the same
period, in aU Littie Russia, and even in the coim-try of the Don.
talis region, was then caUed Severa. Ita inhabitants,^ after a long
contest ¦with the Petchenegues, emigrated In part, and -we- now find
their name attached to one of the principaUties of the Danube, viz.-,
Servia. Again, it is universally admitted even by the adversaries of our
opinions that the Don country was occupied previously to the
Tatar invasions by a nomade and warUke people, the Polovtzis, who,
there is every reason to think, were no other than Slaves.*

*"W"e are quite conTinced that the Comans mentioned by the Byzantine -tmters,
are identical -\vith the Kaptschabs of the Oriental historians. Eubruck's narrative
supplies proof of this; moreover boih peoples spoke Turkish. But in spite of all
Klaproth's assertions, yre do not believe that the Polo-rtzis of the Slavic chroniclers
were Comans; for it seems to us far more rational to look for the descendants- of the
Comans among the Mussulman inhabitants of the south of the empire, -who, as -w-e
team Irom historic records, ivere already established in the same regions under the
name of Kaptschak, at the arrival of Geagis Khan's ilongols.

- 140 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
It may weU be conceived that the dissensions and continual wars
between the numerous chieftains, among whom the Russian soil was
formerly parceled out, must naturally have produced numerous emigra
tions ; and these partial emigrations being too weak to act against the
¦west, must of course have turned eastward towards those remote re
gions of the steppes where the fugitives raight find freedom and inde
pendence. It would be difficult then to disprove that a Slavic people
existed on the banks of the Don when the Tatars arrived ; and that
people was apparently the Polovtzis, an agglomeration of fugitives
and malcontents, who, during the convulsions ofthe Russian empire,
under Vladimir the Great's successors, seera to have laid the first
foundations of the Cossack power in the steppes of the Sea of Azov
ancl the Don.*
The narae of the Polovtzis disappeared corapletely under the
Tatar sway ; but it would be iUoglcal thence to infer that the people
Itself utterly perished, and did not share the destiny of the other
Sclavonic tribes of Russia. We agree, therefore, with sorae historians
in thinking that the Polovtzis merely exchanged their appeUation
for that of Cossacks, iraposed on them by the Tatars, and raade per
manent by a servitude of more than three centuries. We have
besides already remarked that the Tatars used araong them
selves to call all adventurers and vagabonds Cossacks: it is not,
therefore, surprising that they shoidd on their arrival in Russia, have
given this designation to the noraade hordes of the Polovtzis. This
historical version seems far raore rational than the supposition that
the Polovtzis completely disappeared, and were entirely supplanted
by a Caucasian race, which had taken part in the expeditions of
Baton Khan. - ,- ;',
The traveller, who has studied the Cossacks and the raountaineers
of the Caucasus, can never adrait the doctrine that would raake but
one nation of these two. Our notions on this subject are corrobo
rated in e-\^ery point by physiological observations. In the first place,
considerations founded on reUgion and language, are not so Ughtly
to be rejected as Clarke and Lesur assert. The conversion of the
Cossacks would not certainly have been passed over unnoticed In the
history of the Lower Empire; the Byzantine -writers would have
been sure to record such a triumph of their creed; but they say not
a word about it; and every one knows perfectly well in what manner
Christianity was categorically introduced into Russia. Moreover, if.
the Cossacks had been nothing but Circassians at the beginning of
the thirteenth century. It vroidd be hard to account for their ready
adoption of a foreign language and religion, at a time when that .
language and that reUgion were, if not proscribed, at least much dia

ls ote that in our day the Cossack populatioa though augmented during a suc
cession of ages, by numerous emigrations, does not exceed 600,000 souls; it must,
therefore, in all probabiUty, have been much less considerable in the fifteenth
centu^, a supposition which further confirms our opinion that the Cossacks never
termed a distinct nation.

\ OBIGIN OF THE DON COSSACKS. 141
credited under the Tatar sway. The last Russian expeditions into
the Caucasus, towards the sources of the Kouban, have, it is true,
given birth to new historical ideas as to that part of Asia. Thus,
there have been cUscovered two churches in a perfect state of preser
vation, the origin of which is evidently Genoese or Venetian, and
we can scarcely fail to recognise in the Circassians some traces of
Christianity in the profound respect they bear to the cross. But,
on the other hand, nothing indicates that this people was ever
Christian ; on the contrary, every thing proves that its primitive re
ligion, if its reUgious notions raay be so called, has undergone no
alteration. Those Christian edifices, too, which we have alluded to,
belong to a later period than the inroads of the Tatar hordes, conse
quently they can only testify in favour of our -dews.
No chronicle speaks of the eralgration of a Tc'nerkess people in
the middle ages. The only tradition relating to any thing of the
kind, is that of a strong tribe from the Caucasus, which, after occu
pying the plains of the Danube, is said to have settled at last in
Pannonia. Every one Is aware that mountain tribes are the least
migratory of aU, and the most attached to their native sod; it is,'"
therefore, natural to suppose that the Circassians, so proud of their '
'.-: .independence and so often ineffectuaUy attacked, did not receive the
warriors of Gengis;Khan-as friends, or take part in their sanguinary
expeditions.*.^' .Hehce-vM.-Schnitzler appears to me to propound a -::
more than questionable fact 'when .he alleges, following Karamsin,
; that the Circassiahs entered Russia -with Batou Khan, and so forraed
% by degrees that ne-w. people,, which, to borrow the language of this „.
'.. statician, on the breakiricf~up,of the Tatar ride and the dispersion of -,
the clouds, which till then-hadjiung over their country, appears to us '
as Russian and Christian,~but'xoith Circassian features, with Tatar
manners ancl customs, and hating the Muscovites.
How can we assign such a,n origin to the Don Cossacks when : '
-there exists neither araong""tliein,' nor araong their supposed brethren,
any tradition of so raodem'aj^fact? Besides, if the Cossacks had
really corae firom the Caucasus, would they not have retained some
neighbourly relations with the^mountaineers ? Is It not a singular
notion to. take Circassian3.,.:'the .^inost indomitable^ of aU men, and
the most, attached to thefr" hereditary usages and manners, to sub
ject them to the Tatars for more than 300 years, and then to trans- '-.
form them at once, and -without' transition, into a people speaking
pure unmixed Sclavonic, and professing the Greek religion? This is
certainly one ofthe most curious of metamorphoses; -before It could
happen there must have been a combination of circumstances exactly
the reverse of those which have reaUy existed. The Cii-cassians,
one would think, would have been much raore disposed to adopt the
reUgion of the victors, than of the vanquished, the more so as islam-
• According to Du Plan de Carpin, the Circassians do not appear to hare escaped
unscathed from the attacks of the Mongols ; but there seems no reason to think
that they -were really subjugated.

142 , THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C. ' ;
ism ha-ving already at that period made considerable progress iii
Eastern Caucasus, would give thera a much stronger bias towards
the Tatars, than towards the wandering hordes of the Polovtzis,
from which we derive the Cossacks. r'
Not-withstanding the asserti.ons of Dr,- Clarke, it is not easy
to trace rauch resemblance between the Circassians and the Cos
sacks. At present we see aU the people who dweU at the foot of
the Caucasus, generally adopting the habits of the raountain tribes.
A great number of Nogai Tatars have become corapletely blended
-with thera. The Cossacks of the Black' Sea have borrowed from
thera their costume and their arras. The Musco-rites and the Ger
man colonists theraselves have not escaped the energetic influence
ofthe Caucasian tribes; and yet some' would have us believe that
the Don Cossacks, a Tcherkess tribe, separated from the parent stock
not more than 400 years, have undergone a contrary irapulse during
all that -tune, and now present, in a raanner, no resemblance to
their ancestors. The two peoples differ In costume, arms, industry,
and every other particular. "The Circassians "are extremely apt in
"_ manufactures, and excel in all sorts of handicraft productions, to
- which they give a very marked and original character. The Cos
sacks, on the contraiy, have Uttie or no tunffcfor manufactures ; in .
. this respect they exhibit no trace of what characterises the Caucasian
'¦-¦ tribes in so h^h a degree. As for .the" Tatar 'habits, of which M.
Schnitzler speaks, I kno-wnot where'^to look for^thein,- unless they
consist in the trousers generaUy vvorn'by the Cossack women.
^ After aU, the Tatars must necessarily have left some traces of their
habits in the countries over which they- ruled for so many centuries.
The 'real point of contact between^the '.Cossacks and the Cir
cassians, consists in their love of fireedom^-^and their Intense hatred
for every thing Russian. But these sentiments evidently flow firom
their ancient and priraitive constitution-;^ and if they detest the
Russians, It is because the Muscovite '^yereigns, who have never
ceased to attack their pri-vileges, have ¦.'It last succeeded in. annihi
lating their whole poUtical existence*. -"¦ :'.;>'-v- -'" "-
Undoubtedly the Cossacks are not pure Sclavonians, like the
people of Great Russia, but are raised -''iip with many other races.
The Don countiy long remained a soil "of freedom, a real land of
' asylum for aU refugees. The Circassians have probably not been
strangers to their past history, and the' ad'*^nturou3 life of the Cos
sack must ha;ve fascinated Tnany a'mou'ntaln chief. History, too,
informs us- that the Sclavons of Poland have mingled their blood
with that ofthe inhabitants ofthe Don "country. It is this medley
of races, and the combination of aU these various Influences, added
to the thoroughly repubUcan character of their priraitive constitution,
that give the Cos-sacks their InteUectual superiority, and make them
a nation apart. But the principle stock is nevertheless Sclavonic.
The partisans of the Circassian origin have also dwelt on the
reserablance between the name of the capital of the Don country,

HISTORT OF THE DON COSSACKS. 143
and that of a Caucasian tribe. But reaUy when a historical question
of this iraportance is under discussion, such a reserablance cannot be
of much weight. We know that some fugitives from the Boris-
thenes, about the year 1569, feU in -with Cossacks on the
Don, and joined with them in an attack on Azov, which then be
longed to the Turks. It was just about this period, 1570, that Staro
Tcherkask -was founded. We should hence be disposed to beUeve
that the fugitives from the Ukraine had a great share in the crea
tion of that town, and that they caUed It Tcherkask, in memory of
the name of the old capital of their native land.
The Don Cossacks appear to us for the first tirae in the thirteenth
century, on the ruins of the Tatar erapire. Not tlU then did they
begin to raake a certain figure in the history of the Musco-vite em
pire. In the reign of Ivan IV. the Terrible, they put theraselves
under the protection of Russia. Frora that tirae untd near the end
of the last century, we see them sometimes marching under the
banners of the Musco-vite sovereigns, sometiraes rising against them,
and often bringing the empire to the very verge of ruin. Their
poUtical condition was in those days a real republic, founded on a
basis of absolute equaUty. The head of the govemment, styled
ataman, -was selected by the whole assembled nation, and retained
his of&ce but for five years; but his power was dictatorial, and no
one could caU him to account for his acts, even after the expiration
ofhis office. AU the subaltern leaders were, likewise elected, and
retained their posts for a gxeater or less time, according to circum
stances. EquaUty, however, resumed its sway at the end of each
military campaign; each officer, on returning into private Ufe, en
joyed only the rights coramon to aU; and the colonel or starshine often
made-the ensuing carapaign as a private soldier. Aristocracy was
totaUy unknown to^the Don Cossacks in those days ; If some fami
Ues* were distinguished firora the rest by their greater influence,
they-owed this solely to their courage a-ncl their exploits. So strong
was tiien the sense of independence, that the Cossacks despised as
-vile raercenaries those -who took permanent ser-vice under the Rus
sian sovereigns. As for the iraperial suzerainty, it was limited to
the right of calUng for a miUtary contingent in case of war, and of dis
posing of-a small body of troops to defend the frontiers against the
nomades of the steppes. -,.
Cossack freedora was doomed to perish when brought into colUsion
-with the principles of absolutism and servitude which rule in the
Russian empire; accordingly, as soon as the Empress Catherine II.
felt strong' enough to raake the atterapt, she decided on a radical
change In the poUtical constitution of the Don country.
The first of her ukases to this effect enacted that aU the Cossack
officers in the service of Russia should retain their rank and pri-vi
leges on their return to their own country; a regulation directly
opposed to the habits and usages of that repubUcan people. Ho-w,

144 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, ocu.
indeed, 'could that haughty soldiery have endured that slave-officers,
as it called thera, should be put on the, same footing with'its o-wn,
elected by the acclamations of the nation? , A revolt ensued, but
it was promptly put dowli. The illustrious Potemkin could not under
stand that insurrection, for it seemed to him Incredible that the
Cossacks should rebel because they were granted almost aU the
privileges of Russian officers. After these unhappy troubles, their
elections were aboUshed, and their poUtical system was gradually
changed, untd it came to resemble tAat of a Russian govemment.
Count Platof was the last ataman ofthe Cossacks, and he owed. the
authority he was allowed to enjoy, in a great raeasure to tbe pecu
Uar circumstances in' which he was placed by the wars of the
empire. ' . ¦ . .-. ...
The Don country continued through the, last century as before,
to be a land of asylura and freedora for all refugees. This led to
the settleraent of a great nuraber of Russians araong the Cossacks.
The Eraperor Paul took advantage of this circurastance to secure
the attachment of the principal faraiUes by publishing an ukase, in
-which he at once, and without warning, declared all the Russian
fugitives slaves of the landowners, whose patronage they had ac
cepted. This first partition of the people was not the last; ano
ther ukase of the same sovereign completed the work of Catherine
U., aboUshed equaUty, ancl constituted an aristocracy by ennobUng
all the of6u3ers and employes of the govemment. The nobUity at
present amount to a considerable nuraber, and all fhe officers are
taken firom that body. .'The young Cossacks, Uke the Russians,
enter the St. Petersburg.' corps as cadets, at ten or twelve years of
age; after some years they join a regiment as junker, and.twoor
three months afterwards they become officers. . .? . ..'/?;--rj~; 7 .
The poUtical power of the Cossacks being annihilated, ^active
means -were taken to deprive thera of aU miUtary strength, by •
dispersing them aU over the . erapire, and stationing them wherever,'.
there were quarantines, custom-house Unes, and hostUe frontiers to
guard Cossack posts were simultaneously estabUshed on the frontiers
of Poland, and at the foot of the Caucasus. Lastly, every means of
enfeeblement;was largely employedj and , after the death of Platof,
under pretext bf rewarding- the nation, for' its. devotedness during
the campaign of Moscow, the functions . bf ataman-in-chlef were
suppressed, and the title was conferred on the heU--appar8nt. .
AU these arbitrary measures, which, after aU cannot be blampil.
have naturaUy excited the most violent discontent In the country of the
Don, and the Cossacks would undoubtedly cause the empire serious
uneasiness in case of war. The govemment Is not ignorant of this
hostile temper. In recent tiraes it did not dare to trust the Cossacks
with real pieces of artiUery, and the regiments were corapeUed to
exercise -with wooden cannons. It is certain that the campaign of
1812 would not have been so disastrous for France, If Napoleon had

THE DON COSSACKS. 145
taken care to send emissaries araong the inhabitants of the Don with
promises to re-estabUsh their ancient political constitution. I have
questioned a great number of mihtary men on this subject, and all
were unanimous in assuring me of tbe alacrity with which the
Cossacks would then have joined the French array. Nothing can
give an Idea of the antipathy they cherish'' to their masters ; the
feeUng pervades aU classes, in spite of every effort of the government.
The Russians afiect so much disdain for the CossaCk nobles, that the
latter, not-withstanding their epaulettes and their decorations, cannot
but bitterly regret the old republican constitution. Furthermore,
the miUtary service is so onerous, that it checks all agricultural and
industrial activity; for be it observed, that the Cossacks of the
present day are far fi-om being the pliraderers they were in foi-mer
tiraes. The service is to them but a profitless task, and they all
long eagerly for a sedentary Ufe, which would allow them to attend
to rural occupations, and to trade.
The country of the Don Cossacks is now definitively a Russian
govemment. AU the laws of the erapire arc there in full force, and
the adrainistrative forms are the sarae, under other names. Never
theless, the stlU free attitude of the Cossacks has not hitherto per
mitted the installation of the Russian employes araong thera.
Within the last three years only, the govemment has succeeded in
ha-ving itself represented at Novo Tcherkask, by a general placed at
the head of the miUtary staff of the country. The Cossacks regard
this innovation -with dislike, and spare their new miUtary superior no
annoyance. The foUowing is the present organisation of the Don
Cossacks: —
The ataman {locum tenens) holding the gi-ade of Ueutenant-general,
is the miUtary and civil head of the govemment, and at tlie same
time the president of the various tribunals of the capltrd. The
functions of vice-president having been conferred since 1841 on the
general of the staff before mentioned, the latter is in fact the sole
influential authority in the country.
The province of the Don Cossacks is divided into seven civil and
four miUtary clistricts; the courts are sirailar to those of the other
govemraents. The army amounts at present, to fifty-four regiments, of 850 men
each (not including the two regiments of the femperor and the grand
duke) and nine companies of artillery, ha-ving each eight pieces^ of
cannon. In 1840, there were twenty-eight regira.ents in active
service, fifteen of them in the Caucasus, with three companies of
artiUery. At the same time, iilne other regiments were under
orders to march for the lines of the Kouban.
AU the Cossacks are soldiers bom : their legal term of service is
twenty years abroad, or twenty-five at home. But no regard is paid
to this regulation, for most of them remain in active service for
thirty or even forty years. They pay no taxes, but are obUged to
- equip theraselves at their o-wn expense, and receive the ordinary
I.

146 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
pay of Russian troops only from the day they cross their native
frontiers.* The organisation of the. regiments is effected in rather a curious
manner. When a regiment is to be sent to the Caucasus, each
distiict receives notice how raany soldiers ancl officers it is to supply,
and then the first naraes on the mihtary books are taken without
distinction. The place of muster is usually near the frontier, and
every one arrives there as he pleases, without concerning himself
about others. When aU the men are assembled, they are classed by
squadrons, the requisite officers are set over' them, and the detach
ment begins its march. Hence we see there is nothing fixed in the
composition of the regiments. The Cossacks are subjected never-
-theless to the European discipUne, and formed into regular corps;
but this innovation seeras Ukely to be fatal to them, by completely
destro3ring their valuable aptitude for acting as skirmishers. The
Emperor Nicholas visited the Don country in 1837, and reiiewed
the Cossack troops at Novo Tcherkask, but It appears that he was
exceedingly displeased -with the condition of the regulars. Accord
ingly, that he might not expose them to the criticism of foreigners,
he took care not to be accompanied by the briUiant cortege of
European officers who had been present at the grand miUtary parades
of Vosnecensk.
The population of the Don Cossacks amoimts to about 600,000,
occupying 14,000,000 hectares of land, and di^vided into four
very distract classes: 1. The aristocracy founded by the Eraperor
Paul; 2. The firee Cossacks; 3. The merchants; 4. The slaves. The
free Cossacks form the mass of the population, and fumish the horse
soldiers; they- have however the opportunity of acquiring nobUity
by raiUtary ser-\rice, bnt to this end, they raust serve lor twelve years
as non-coraraissioned officers.
The raerchants forra a pecuUar class, which can hardly exceed
500 in nuraber. They are not bound to do raiUtary service, but in
Heu of this, they pay taxes to the governraent. The slaves, whose
origin we have described, amount to about 85,000 souls.
The revenues of the govemment of the Cossacks, are about
2,000,000 rubles, raore than sufficient for the expenditure, that is to
say, for the payment of the employes. The spirit duties produce
1,500,000 rubles, the rest is made up by the salt .works ofthe
Manitch, and the pasturage dues.
The cotmtry of the Don Cossacks Is bounded on the north by
the two governments of Voroneje and Saratof; on the east by the
latter, and that of Astrakhan; on the south by the government of
the Caucasus, the country of the Cossacks of the Black Sea, and
the Sea of Azov; on the west, by the governments of Voroneje
and lekaterlnoslav and the Uki-aine slobodes. AJll this territory
• Since -we left Eussia- it has been proposed to equip the Cossack regiments at
the cost ofthe government. The comitry would,, of course, in that ease be taxed,
and would cease to differ ia any respect from the other provinces.

COSSACK COMMUNIS!!. 147
forras a vast extent, no part of which is detached as M. Schnitzler
asserts; on the contrary, the regency of Taganrok is completely en
corapassed by it.
The country of the Cossacks may be dl-rided into two very
distinct parts: that situated to the north and west, presenting lofty
plains intersected by many rivers and ravines, is admirably adapted
ibr agriculture , and possesses exceUent pastures. Araong its numerous
rivers, are the Donetz, the Mious, and the Kalmious, which marks
its frontier on the west, and the Khoper and the Medveditza on the
north-east. It Is principally along the two latter streams, that the
Cossacks have estabUshed their most celebrated studs, among the
foremost of which, are those of Count Platof. The second division
of the cotmtry, consists of aU the steppes that extend along the left
bank of the Don, to the confines of the govemment of the Cau
casus, and along the Manitch to the frontier of Astrakhan. The
sod is here unvaried ; it is the Russian desert in all its uniformity,
and the basin of the muddy and brackish Manitch, is perfectly
in harmony -with the regions it traverses. But those monoto
nous plains are a source of wealth to the Cossacks, who rear vast
herds of horses and other cattle; several thousands of Kalmucks
too find subsistence in them.
Until 1841, the governraent of the Cossacks exhibited one veiy
singular pecuUarity. Its whole territory forraed but one vast cora-
munal domain, ¦without any individual owners or ownersliip. After
several fruitless atterapts, the Russian govemment finaUy deter
mined on dividing the lands, and the work must by this time have
been completed. Besides the new arrangements adopted, there have
been granted to each faraUy thirty hectares of land for each male,
and fifteen additional for each slave. After this distribution,
there wiU remain to the government, 2,000,000 hectares of land,
on which it wiU no doubt estabUsh IMuscovite colonies. Tliis
division of the land is a final blow to the old Cossack institutions,
and ere long the population -will consist only of nobles and peasants,
just as in the rest of Russia. The peasants are free it is true, but
their properties v/ill soon be absorbed by the wealthier and more
powerful: and then an ukase wiU do the work of estabUshing slavery
in the country. The commtraity of landed property was liitherto
the only obstacle to a complete severance between the new nobles and
the other Cossacks. It was another reranant of the old republican
equality, and was naturaUy doomed to faU before the principles of
unity and centraUsation of the Russian governraent. When we see
¦Russia laying her hand on all the free populations of the southern part
of the erapire, and bringing them graduaUy uader the yoke of serf
dom, we caimot but be struck -with astonishment, and compare the
revolution it is now effecting before our eyes, -with that which so
deplorably signalised the Rom.an sway.
. It may easily be conceived how fatal the miUtary organisation of
L 2

148 • THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
the Cossacks must be to their prosperity and weU-belng. Never
sure of what the morrow may bring forth, and Uable at any raoraent
to be called to arms, they have of necessity faUen Into indifference
and sloth. Their domestic ties are broken, for they are often many
years -without seeing their wives and chUdren. Under such a
system, all inteUectual improvement becomes irapossible; and there
has also resulted frora it an incipient demoraUsation, compressed as
Set by the force of prlraiti-ye manners, but which -wUl not fail at
st to spread over the whole population. Yet the Cossacks are
eminently IntelUgent. I saw thirty young raen. at Novo Tcherkask
execute topographical plans extreraely well, after a few weeks' study.
The Russian generals themselves could not refrain firom expressing
their surprise to me at so rapid a progress. Let Russia renounce
the oppressive systera she Is forcing on the Cossacks; let the latter,
on their part, make up their mind to admit that their ancient consti
tution is m our day- become an Utopia; and the Don country wiU
soon raake rapid advances in colonisation, and exhibit aU that con
stitutes the prosperity and wealth of a nation.
The raeans of Instruction enjoyed by the Cossacks are stiU ex
tremely limited. In the whole country there Is but one gymnasium,
very recently established in Novo Tcherkask; but the wealthier
Cossacks have long been used to have their chUdren educated in the
neighbouring governments, particularly in Taganrok, where the
private schools kept by foreigners afford them great advantages.
The rearing of cattle, especially of horses, is now the chief source
of gain to the Cossacks, Count Platof 's studs, as we have aheady
said, are reputed the best : they are descended from the trans-Kouban
races, crossed by Persian and Khivian staUions, procured by the late
count during the war of 1796 with Persia. Very good cavalry
horses are also produced by Platof 's stalUons out of Tatar and Kal
muck raares. Count Platof 's horses fetch frora 250 to 350 rubles ; but
in the steppes ofthe Manitch, where there are very extensive herds, the
price seldom exceeds 150. The care of the herds is cliiefly committed
to Kalmucks; usually 100 horses are kept by one lamUy, five hundred
by three, a thousancl by five, and frora 1500 to 2000 by six. Ex
cept a few proprietors, who are careful about the Improvement of
the breed, the Cossacks aUow their vast herds to wander about
the steppes -without any care or superintendence. The horses of
the Don never enter a stable; summer and winter they are in the
open air, and must procure their o-wn food, for which tiiey have
often to strive against the sno-w; hence they become extremely
•vigorous, and support the most trying campaigns -with remarkable
hardiness. -. Nothing oan be more siraple and expeditious than the
way in which they are broken in. The horse selected is caught with
a noose; he Is saddled and bridled; the rider mounts him, and he
is aUowed to gaUop over the steppe untd he falls exhausted. From
that moment he is almost always perfectly tamed, and may be used

AGRICULTURE OF THE DON. 149
TivIthout danger. I rode a raare thus broken, in one of my longest
journeys on horseback. Six days before my departure she was
completely free; yet I never rode a raore docile animal.
The Cossacks have three sorts of horned cattle, the Kalmuck,
the Himgaiian, and the Dutch breeds. The first is generaUy pre
ferred because it does not require to be staUed either winter or
summer, or to receive any particidar care, and always can pick up
its feed in the steppes._ At the same tirae the loss of cattle is enormous
In long and severe -winters, for the proprietors can never procure
hay for more than six: weeks' consuraption, on account of the great
nurabers of their herds. At the end of the year 1839, the Don
country possessed in cattle :
Homed cattle  1,013,106
Sheep  2,310,4-15
Goats  53,221
Camels  1,692
Horses  326,'783
Total  3,705,252
In that year the sheep produced 5,698,000 kilogrammes of wool,
which was exported. Of the above number of sheep, only 308,652
axe raerlnos. The wool of the latter fetched 156 rubles the 100
kUograrames, whilst that of the native sheep did not sell for more
than 58 to 62. But the merinos require too much care, and I rauch
doubt that they -wiU ever be reared on a large scale by the Cossacks.
Besides, as we have already seen, the breeding of merinos is far
firom being as profitable at this day as it -was formerly.
Agriculture, properly so called, must naturaUy be in a depressed con
dition in a country of which the tenth part of the population is con
tinuaUy either in active service, or in readiness to be caUed out. No
more com is c-ultlvated than is sufficient for the subsistence of the
inhabitants. The crop of 1839 was 6,953,814 hectohtres, a quan
tity considerably too smaU for seed, and for the consuraption of a
nation that annually consumes 6-18 hectohtres per head. The Cos
sacks were, therefore, obUged to draw on the reserved stores and on
the neighbouring govemraents. In general, whatever M. Schnitzler
may say to the contrary, their agriculture produces no more than is
barely necessary; notwithstanding the. advantages of a great na-
"vigable river, and its position on the Sea of Azov, the Don country
has not yet been able to export any com.
- The cultivation of the -vine is the only one that has prospered In
any remarkable degree among the Cossacks; it prevails in the
southern regions on the banks of the Don and of the .Axai. They
now reckon 4514 -vineyards, yielding annually, on an average, from
20,000 to 25,000 hectohtres of wine, and 300 to 400 of " brandy.
In 1841, the production amounted to nearly 62,500; and when I
was in Novo Tcherkask, grapes were selling there for three rubles
the 100 kilogrammes. SparkUng wines are made, of which the
Don country now exports more than a miUion of bottles yearly.

150 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
The best wine of a certain Abraliaraof is usually charged for at the
rate of six rubles in the inns of Novo Tcherkask. The reader wiU,
no doubt, be surprised to hear of such quantities of sparkling wines;
but Russia is unquestionably the country in which that sort of
beverage is raost esteemed ; and as the petty nobles and the employes
cannot afford to drink champagne, they have recourse to the Cos
sack -mintage. The latter is consumed In incredible quantity, prin
cipally in the fairs, where no bargain can be concluded -without a
case of Don -wine. Tt is very agreeable, and is rauch Uked, even by
foreigners. It Is to Frenchmen the Cossacks owe this branch of
industry. . Fishing also forms an iraportant source of income for the Cossacks.
It is carried on chiefly at the mouths of the Don. In 1838, it pro
duced 304,000 kUograrames of sturgeons yielding ca-viare, and more
than 20,000,000 of fish of different kinds, which they salt and send
to the neighbouring govemraents. Bees must also be enumerated
araong the sources of wealth in the country. The Mious district,
which possesses nearly 31,000 hives, produced in 1839, 124,336
Hlogrammes of honey, and 21,056 kilogramraes of wax.
. From these hints it -will be seen how rich is the country of the
Cossacks, and how high a degree of prosperity it might reach under
an enlightened and Uberal adrainistration. Manufacturing industry
Is the only one tiiat, as- yet, has made no progress in it. It is said
not to possess a single manufactory, which is natural enough, con
sidering the railitaiy organisation of the nation. There is an extreme
¦want of workmen; the few found in the country, who come firom
the neighbouring governments, deraand very high pay, as much as
two rubles and a half a day, which is exorbitant in Russia. As for
mineral wealth, the Don country possesses abundance of coal and
anthracite, the latter of which is worked in the neighbourhood of
Novo Tcherkask.
Araong the tribes incorporated with the Don Cossacks, the Kal
mucks deraand especial raention. In the reign of the Emperor Paul,
an ukase was issued, commanding a census to be taken of all the
noraade tribes subject to Russia. This certain presage of some tax
or other, spread consternation araong the Kalraucks; their hordes
began to break, up, and great numbers of them took refuge -with the
Cossacks. But the fatal ukase soon pursued them to their ne-w
asylum, whereupon sorae returned to the steppes of the Caspian,
-whUst the rest being retained by the Cossacks, were put under the
sarae miUtary ancl civU system of adrainistration as the inhabitants of
the Don. These Kalmucks now form a population of about 15,000,
and encamp on both banks of the Manitch, about 100 mUes fiom
the confluence -with the Don. In order to give some notion of
the manners and customs of this people, I -wiU here copy some frag
ments from an account of a scientific joumey I made along the
Manitch, to determine the difference of level between the Black Sea
and the Caspian.

EXCUKSION TO THE MANITCH. 151
It was towards the end of May, 1841, I set out from Novo
Tcherkask, to explore the Manitch, a paltry stream, but which,
nevertheless, had for a long while the honour of raarklno- the
boimdary between Europe and Asia. I was accorapanied by my
fiiend. Baron Kloch, a Gerraan by bu-th, and a raost agreeable raan,
lately arrived for the first time in Russia. His Intelho-ent conver
sation was a great source of enjoyment to rae. Six hours' travel
brought us to Axai, a charming stanitza, built like an amphitheatre
on the right bank of the Don. It is the great trading place of the
Cossacks, and but for the vicinity of Rostof, a Russian, and of course
a privUeged to-wn, it would have been made the capital of tho Don
country, and the general entrepot of all the traffic from the north of
the erapire. The project was even entertained at first, but it was
defeated partly by intrigue, and partly T beUeve by the -obstinacy of
Count Platof. Axai is, nevertheless, the handsomest stanitza in the
country. Its balconied houses, painted In different colours, Its port,
the activity prevailing in it, its Uvely and bustUng population, all
excite the traveUer's attention and curiosity. When I arrived in the
to-wn the inundations of the Don were at their height, and as far
as the eye could reach the waters covered the low plain that
stretches along its left bank. We were soon furnished -with a boat
having on board a pUot and four excellent rowers, and at nine In the
evening, we erabarked to cross the river. The evening was per
fectly calm and beautiftd; and IshaU never forget the lodkas with
beUied sails, gUding down -with the current, the melancholy songs of
the Russian boatmen, the sounds from Axai graduaUy djing away
in the distance, and our boat skimming across the sraooth surface of
the water, which broke in thousands of sparks frora the oars. At
midnight we landed before Makinskaia, where we passed the re
mainder of the night on heaps of hay, in the courtyard of a
paltry inn.
. At daybreak next raorning, the saddle horses were ready, and we
started for Manitchkaia on the confluence of the Manitch -with the
Don. -After sorae hours' riding we were brought to a halt by the
overflow of the latter river; and for want ofa better road to reach
the stanitza, we were obliged to betake ourselves to wading through
the teraporary lake. This was the most unpleasant part of our
joumey. For a distance of raore than four leagues our horses
plodded on through thick raud -with the water up to their beUies;
and sometimes they were forced to s-wira. Besides this, we were
tormented by clouds of gnats. At last our situation became quite
intolerable; for in the very middle of this passage we were assailed
by a -Tlolent hurricane, the rain came do^wn in torrents; our baggage
¦waggon broke down, and we very nearly lost all its contents. The
whole day was consumed in raaking the six leagues to Manitchkaia.
Our Kalraucks only succeeded in extricating the waggon from the
hole in which it was stuck fast, by yoking one of their horses to it
by- the tail. This is an infallible means as we often found by expe-

152 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
rience ; nothing can resist the violent efforts of the imfortunate horse
¦when he finds himself in that predicament.
Leaving Manitchkaia, we skirted along the basin of the Manitch.
The first dwelUngs we descried were some miserable Tatar cabins,
surrounded with brambles and tlilstles. We found in them an old
Tatar captain, a reUc of the French campaign. He amused us a
good deal by his pompous encomiums on the valour and tall stature
of the Prussians. A Frenchman, said he, does not fear ten Russians,
but a Prussian would settle at least ten Frenchmen.
For three days oiir journey was -without Interest. No traces of
btuldings -were to be seen ; at intervals there appeared in the middle
of the steppes, a Ivalmuck tent, the inhabitants of which kept a
large herd of horses ; then here and there some strayed camels, and
these were the only objects that broke the dreary monotony of the
-wilderness. - But on the fourth day, we reached the vicinity of the
great Khourotd of the Kalmucks, the residence of their high priest.
One of our Cossacks was sent forward to announce our -visit, and>an
hour after his departure two priests carae galloping up to us. v After
corapUraenting us in the narae of the grand Lama, they presented us
-with brandy distilled fi-om mare's milk, in token of welconie, and feU
in to Une with our party.' Sorae minutes afterwards we descried the
white tents ofthe Khouroul. Our party was every moment swelled by
fresh reinforcements, and we had soon fifty horsemen caracoling
by our sides. Having reached the centre of the Khouroul, we
alighted, and then walking between two lines of priests dressed in
garments of the raost glaring colours, we were conclucted to the high
priest's tent. This venerable representative of the great Dalai Lama,-
was an old raan upwards bf seventy, entirely bald, and -with features
of a rauch less Kalmuck cast than his countrymen. He was -wrapped ,
in a wide tunic of yellow brocade, lined with cherry red silk, and
his fingers were busy with the beads of his chaplet. After many
salutations on both sides we sat dov/n on a sofa, and then, according
to the Invariable Kalrauck us%e," we were helped to brandy and
kourals, a beverage at which ray friend Kloch raade very queer
faces. Next, I presented the high priest with two pounds of bad
tobacco, purchased at Novo Tcherkask, -which I passed off as genuine
Latakieh. He was so deUghted -with ray present that he did honour
-to It on the spot, with every raark of extreme satisfaction. This
high priest will have tbe honour to be bumed after his death, and
his ashes, foi-med Into a paste with a certain ingredient?, -wiU be
-worked into a Uttie statue, which will adorn the temple to be erected
to his memory. His successor is already nominated; he looks Uke
a stupid fanatic, puffed up -with the iraportance of his future dignity;
¦we afterwards saw hira acquit himself of his reUgious duties, with a
conscientiousness qiute rare araong the Cossack Kalraucks. AU the
priests of this khouroul, appeared to us incoraparably less devout
than those of the Volga and the Caspian. They have very little
reverence for their spuitual chief; they seem fiiUy aware of the. ab-

A KALMUCK KHOUROUL. 153
surdities of their reUgious notions and ceremonies, and if they set
any value by their functions, it is because they enable them to lead
a Ufe of Indolence and sensuaUty, and exempt them from miUtary
service. The laity seeras to be very indifferent as to reUgious
matters. The woraen alone seem attached to their ancient principles ;
one of them burst Into a fury because her husband aUowed us to see
and touch the leaves of her prayer-book. It is to their intercourse
with the Cossacks that we raust attribute the lapse of these Kalmucks
firom the strictness of the primitive rule, which has been preserved
alraost unirapaired among the Kalmucks of the Caspian.
After leaving the -high priest's tent we attended the reUgious
ceremonies, in which there was nothing very striking. A sheep
was afterwards kiUed in honour of. our visit,, and was served up, cut
into smaU pieces, in a huge cast-iron pan. The ragout was black
and detestable, but hunger made it seem deUcious.
The woraen of the ^icinity arrived in the evening, and began to
sing in chorus, parading round the khouroul. Their strains were
profoundly melancholy; notliing Uke them had ever yet struck my
ears. Their voices were so sonorous and vibrating, that the sound was .
like that of brazen instruraents ; and heard in that vast soleran -wilder
ness, it produced the raost singular irapression. After walking halfi
a-dozen times round the khouroul the singers halted, and forraing
line with their faces towards the teraple, they stretched out their
arras and prostrated themselves repeatedly. The wonjen having
ended, next carae the mandjis or musicians, who made the -air
resound with the braying of their trumpets at the raoraent when the
sun was descending below the horizon.
Next day we left the khouroul to retum to the banks of the
Manitch;- I then continued my levelling along the course of that.
stream up to the point, where eighteen months before, on my way
back from the Caspian, I had been stopped by want of water and
pasture. In our retum joumey we passed through numerous
Ka,lmuck camps on the right bank of the Manitch, and were every
where received -with the UveUest deUght. As all these nomades
are exclusively engaged in rearing cattle, our curiosity was greatly
excited by the prodigious herds of camels, horses, and oxen that
covered the plain.
Before we reached the Don we spent the last two nights in the
lonely steppe, under the open sky. But six hours afterwards we
"were In Taganrok, In the dra^wIng-room of the amiable EngUsh
'consul, surrounded by aU the coraforts of civiUsed life.

154 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.

CHAPTER XVni.
JOtTRHET TKOM NOVO TCHERKASK ALONG THE BON— ANOTHEE KNA-7ISH P03X-
MASTES— MtrsCOVITE MERCHANTS — COSSACK STAJfTIZAS.
Beyond Novo Tcherkask the road to Astrakhan runs northward
along the right bank of the Don; the country stlU continuing the
sarae naked and monotonous appearance; It is only in the neighbour
hood of the river that its desmation Is here and there reUeved by
a few cluraps of trees In the ra-tines.
It is certainly not -without reason that the Russians boast of the
rapid travelUng in their coimtry; its posts wotdd beunrivaUedin
Europe were It not for the vexations practised by the employes at the
stations. On the whole we had hitherto had no great reason to com
plain; the official papers -with which we were furnished smoothed
many difficulties; but at the first station beyond Novo Tcherkask we
endtured the common fate of aU who travel -without titular grade or
decoration, and were mercilessly fleeced. We arrived towards
evening foUowed by another carriage of which we were but a few
minutes in advance. A caleche -without horses seemed a bad omen to
us as -sve entered the courtyard ; and the first answer given to onr
Cossack Was, that we could not have horses untd the next moming.
The prospect of passing the night In a miserable hovel was disagree
able enough; but what remedy had we "with a post-master, who
opening aU his stables, showed that he had no horses? After waiting
a full half hour to no purpose our interpreter explored the -vicinity
of the station, and on his retum, some rubles bestowed on the head
of the estabhshment procured us aU the horses we wanted. We put
¦to and started Immediately, leaving our companions behind us; but
they overtook us an hour afterwards, having done Uke ourselves;
and so it appeared at last, that there were horses enough for us aU.
The traveUers who foUowed us -were young Musco-vite raerchants
returning frora sorae fair in the Caucasus. They araused themselves
aU night with -letting off rockets and aU kinds of fireworks, the
sudden flash of which, fighting up the deep darkness of the steppes,
produced a raost striking effect.
We passed on the following day through several stanitzas. These
Cossack hamlets have a far raore pleasing appearance than the Rus
sian villages. The houses of which they consist are smaU, almost
all of thera built of painted wood, with green -window-shutters.
They have only a groundfloor, surrounded by a rainiature gaUery,
and look as if they were raerely intended fbr pretty toys. The in
teriors are extreraely neat, and show an appreciation of domestic
comfort of which the Russians betray no trace. You find in them
table-Unen, delf plates, forks, and all the most necessary utensils.
The Cossacks have usually two dw-eUings adjoining each other.
One of these, that wliich we have been speaking of, is occupied in

JOUENET ALONG THE DON. 155
summer, and almost always contains one handsome apartment,
adorned -with stained paper, images, flowers, and groups of arms;
It is the room used on grand occasions, and for the accoramodation
of strangers. The other dweUing is built of earth, and resembles
the kates of the Muscovite peasants; it contains but one room. In
which the whole fanuly huddle themselves together in -winter for
the more warmth.
In general, only, woraen and children are to be seen in the
stanitzas. The whole male population is trader arms^ -with the ex
ception of some veterans who have purchased, by forty years' ser
vice, the right of returning horae to die. AU the burden of labour
falls on the woraen; it is they who must repair the houses, white
wash them, dress the furs, take care of the children, and tend the
cattle. It is reaUy Inconceivable how they can accorapUsh so many
laborious tasks.
AtPiatisbanskaia, a charming stanitza, shaded by handsorae trees,
and rising In an ampliitheatre on the banks of the Don, we turned
off from the post-road, and after crossing the river, entered ona sea
of sand, through which we worked our way with immense difficulty.
The peasants' horses are less used than those of the post to such
toilsome marches, and it was ready piteous to see their panting dis
tress. The reflected glare of the sun, and the absence of any breath
of wind, made this day's joumey one of the most oppressive we en
countered. It took US- four hours to get over nine versts (less than
six English miles). Though I wore a thick veil and 'blue spec
tacles, my eyeUds were so swollen I could scarcely open them. -
Towards noon we at last reached a poor lonely -viUage, where we
rested until nightfaU.
The country from Piatisbanskaia is dreary, and void of vege
tation. The stanitzas are few and far between, the land Ues waste,
and the sand-hlUs and hot winds betoken the approach to the de
serts ofthe Caspian. Nothing is more saddening to the imagination,
than the Ufeless aspect and uniforra hues of these endless plains.
One is surprised to raeet in thera, frora tirae to time, sorae miserable
Cossack viUages, and cannot tell how the inhabitants can exist
amidst such desolation. This sad sterility Is the work of men,
rather than of nature. The present system of government of the
Don Cossacks is an insuperable bar to agricultural improvement;
and so long as it exists, the land raust remain uncultivated.
But, as we have already remarked, aU is contrast in Russia. Ex
tremes of aU kinds meet there without any transition : frora a desert
you pass into a poptdous town, frora a cabin to a palace, from a
Tatar mosque into an ancient Christian cathedral, frora an arid
plain into the cheerful Gerraan colonies. Surprises follow one upon
the other -without end, and give a pecuUar zest to travelling, scarcely
to be experienced in any other part of Europe.
It is particularly In approaching Sarepta that one feels the force o£
these reflections: the novel irapressions that there await the tra-

156 • THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
veller who arrives benurabed In soul from the dreary ¦wilderness,
corae upon him with the bewildering effect of a marveUous dream.
Even were Sarepta whisked away, and set down in the raiddle of
Switzerland, one could not fail to be deUghted with so charming a
place ; but to feel all its real excellence, one should corae to it weary
and worn as we were, one should have known what it was to long
for a Uttie shade and water, as for manna frora the skies, and have
plodded on for many days through a country Uke that we have
described, under the unraltigating rays ofa roasting sira.
Picture to yourself a pretty Uttie Gerraan iovm, with its high
gabled houses, its firuit trees, fountains, and proraenades, its scru
pulous neatness, and its comfortable and happy people, and you wiU
have an Idea of Sarepta: industry, the fine arts, morality, sociablUty,"
commerce, are aU corabined in that favoured spot.
Tlie Mora-rian colony, shut in within a bend of the Volga, in the
midst of the Kalmuck hordes, eloquently demonstrates what miracles
decision and perseverance can effect. It is the first shoot planted
by Europe in that remote region, araidst those pastoral tribes so
jealous of their independence ; and the changes -wrought by the Mo
ravian brethren on the rude soil they have fertiUsed, and on the
StiU ruder character of the inhabitants, give striking evidence of the
benefits of our civiUsation.
Every thing breathes of peace and contentraent in this little
town, on which rests- the blessing of God. It is the only jplace I
know in Russia in which the eye is never saddened by the sight
of miserable penury. No bitter thought mingles there with the
interesting observations gleaned by curiosity. Every house is a
workshop, every incUvidual a workman. During the day every one
is busy; but in the evening the thriving and cheerful population
throng the walks and the square, and give a most pleasmg air of
animation to the town.
Like raost Germans, the Mora-vian brethren are passionately fond
of rausic. The piano, heard at evening in alraost every house, re
minds them of their fatherland, and consoles them for the -vicinity
of the Kalmucks.
We -visited the estabUshraents of the Mora-vian sisters, where, by
a fortunate chance, we raet a German lady who spoke French very
¦weU. The Ufe of the sisters is tranquU, hurable, and accordant -with
the purest principles of morality and reUgion. They are forty in
number, and appear happy, as rauch so at least as it is possible to
be in a perfectly monastic state of existence. Consummate order,
comraodious apartments, and a handsome garden, make the current
of their lives flow -with unruffled smoothness, as far as outward
things are concerned. Music, too, is a great resource for them.
We observed In the prayer-roora three pianos, with which they
accorapaay the hyrans they sing In chorus. They execute very
pretty work In pearls and tapestry, which they seU for the benefit of
-the community. There woidd be nothing very extraordinary in these

3I0RAVIAN COLONT OF SAREPTA. 157
details, if any other country were in question; we are afraid they
wiU even be thought too comraonplace; but if the reader will only
refiect for a raoraent on the position of this oasis of civiUsation on
the far verge of Europe, in the raidst of the Kalmucks and on the
confines of the country of the lihirghls, he -will think oiu- enthu
siasm very natural and excusable.
The only thing that rather offended our eyes was the would-be
finery of the women's dress. Would any one imagine that iu this
remote Uttie comer of the( earth they should be' ridiculous enou<^h
to ape French fashions and wear bonnets -with flowers? How pre
ferable are the siraple deraurc costurae of the Mennonite woraen
and their Uttie Akacean caps, to the mingled elegance and shabbi-
ness of the Mora-rian sisters. Their dress is quite out of character,
and raakes thera look Uke street ballad-singers.
To give an idea of it, here foUows an exact description of the
costurae of a fashionably- dressed young lady of Sarepta (our host's
daughter.):— A flowered muslin gown, short and narrow; a black
apron; a large Madras handkerchief on the neck ; a patch- work ridi
cule carried in the hand; thick-solcd shoes, bare arms, and a pink
bonnet -with flowers. To complete the portrait, we must add a very
pretty face, and plump, well-rounded arms. The women here are
much handsomer than in any other part of Russia; many of them
are remarkable specimens of the North German style of beauty.
On the evening of our arrival we were ad-vised to attend the
funeral music performed as a last honour to one of the piincipal
inhabitants of Sarepta. The body was laid out in a mortuary
chapel, -with the family and nuraerous friends around it, and was
not to be reraoved to the cemetery until the fourth day; an ex
cellent custora, which raay prevent horrible accidents.
It would be difficult to iraagine any thing more melancholy than
the harmony produced by the voices and the brass instruraents that
alternately answered each other, and seeraed the echoes of the sad
dest and raost profound eraotions of the heart. A great number of
persons were present, and all the solemnity of the occasion did not
hinder those worthy Germans from gathering round us with the
UveUest curiosity, and putting a thousand questions to us about the
purport of our travels. -^
The association of the Mora-vian brethren dates frora the cele
brated John Huss, who was burnt at Constance, in 1419. Their
history is but a long series of persecutions. The issue of the Thirty
Years' War, so disastrous for Frederick, the elector palatine, and king
of Bohemia, was particularly fatal to them. At that period most of
the Protestants of Bohemia fled their country, and spread them
selves through Saxony, Brandenburg, Poland, and Hungary. The
vengeance of the Eraperor Frederick II. pursued thera without
ceasing, and great numbers of thera perished in want and -wretched
ness. In 1722, Christian David, a carpenter, and sorae others of
the proscribed^ obtained permission from the Count of Zinzendorf,

158 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
in Lusace, to settle on his lands. They reached their place of
xefuo-e in secret, with their -wives and chddren, and Da-vid strack
his axe into a tree, exclaiming : ' ' Here shaU the bird find_ a dweUing,
and the swaUow a nest." His hopes were not disappointed. The
new estabUshraent assumed the narae of Herrenhut (The Lord's
Keeping), and its raerabers were soon known in Germany only by
that appellation. Such was the beginning of the new evangehcal
society of the Brethren of the Unity of the Confession of Augsburg.
Herrenhut, the central estabhshment, throve rapidly, and became
known aU over Europe for its industry and its manufactures; and
by and by, when the proselytising spirit had possessed the brethren,
they extended their relations over all parts of the world.
Shortly after the Empress Catherine H. had made kno-wn to
Europe that Russia was open to foreigners, and that she would be
stow lands the immigrants, a deputation frora Herrenhut to St.
Petersburg decided on the formation of a Moravian colony in the
government of Astrakhan. Five of the brethren -visited the banks
ofthe Volga In 1769, and on the 3rd of September of the same year,
the colony was settled at the confluence ofthe Sarpa with the Volga,
and consisted at that tirae of thirty persons of both sexes. Its name
was borrowed from the Bible, and an oUve and a wheatsheaf were
chosen for Its arms.
It was only by dint of courage and perseverance that these first
colonists succeeded in their enterprise, surrounded as they were on
all sides by the savage hordes of the Elalraucks, having no know
ledge of the language of the country, and situated at raore than 120
versts from any Russian town. But after the first difficulties were
surraounted, their prosperity was rapid. As we have already said,
the Mora-vian brethren form a vast society, spread throughout aU
parts ofthe world for the propagation ofthe Gospel; but, moreover,
for the better fulfilment of their mission they are all required by the
rules of their order to know sorae trade, so as to be able to support
themselves by the work of their own hands. Hence Sarepta soon
became a seat of raanufactures of aU sorts, and an industrial school
for the surrounding country, and Catherine's intentions were reahsed.
As for the brethren themselves, the estabUshraent of an industrial
town in a land so renifcte and so destitute of resources and markets,
¦was for them but a secondary object. Their chief aira was the con
version of the Kalraucks, to accompUsh which they thought rightly
that it was indispensable to have a perraanent settlement among those
people. All their proselytising efiorts, however, remained fruitless;
the Kalmuclis were deaf to their instruction. It was not tiU 1820
that they succeeded in converting a few famiUes, and inducing them
to receive baptism. But now the Russian clergy interposed, and in
sisted on the converts being baptised according to the Greek rite,
and finaUy, aU the Moravian missions were suppressed. Ever since
then Sarepta has been a purely manufacturing town.
The colony of Sarepta endured great calamities In the beginning.

DISASTERS OF SAREPTA. 159
In 1771, the period of the famous emigration ofthe Kalmucks, the
brethi-en had a narrow escape of being carried Into capti-vity, and
were saved only by the mildness of the winter, which prevented
thei;: enemies from crossing the Volga and joining the great horde.
The Cossack Pougatchef ravaged the whole country in 1773, and the
colonists, 200 in nuraber, incTucUng women, were obhged to retreat
to Astrakhan. The defeat of the rebel shortly afterwards enabled
tnem to retum home. Their to-wn had been destroyed, but they
were not disheartened, and it soon rose again frora it ruins. A
-whole street was bumed do-wn in Sarepta in 1812, and in the sarae
year they lost their warehouses in Moscow, containing an imraense
stock of goods, in the great conflagration. But the most terrible
disaster was that of 1823, when two-thirds of the colony and the
largest estabUshraents were reduced to ashes; the loss was estimated
at upwards of 40,000Z. The Ernperor Alexander and the Mora-vian
A.ssociation afforded the poor colonists generous aid, but they could
never restore the old prosperity of Sarepta.
AU these hea-/y blows falling successively on the unfortunate com
munity, did not, however, prevent the development of its industry.
Great acti-vity prevaUed in its very various raanufactories down to
thebeginning ofthe present century, and their productions continued to
be in request in all parts of Russia. Sorae of the brethren established
in the great towns ofthe empire were the active and honest correspon
dents of the Volga colonists. The siUcs and cottons of Sarepta were
so successful that the weavers of that to-wn forraed estabUshraents at
tiieir o-wn cost araong the Gennan colonies of the government of
Saratof.* But aU these elements of wealth were annihilated by the
new "customs'' regulations; raost ofthe manufactories w-^ere closed; as
for the rest, -with one or two exceptions, being obUged to confine
theraselves to the production of a small number of articles, they can
only subsist by dint of great economy and skiU. The difficulty, too,
of procuring workraen makes labour extremely dear in Sarepta; -and
besides this the colonists instead of Importing the raw materials direct
from the foreigner, are obUged to purchase them in the markets of
St. Petersburg and Moscow. The decrease in the waters of the
Sarpa has also been disastrous to the trade of Sarepta. The brethren
had set up a great number of saw ancl other mills on the banks, and
these brought them large profits; but the want of water caused them
aUto be abandoned in 1800. In noticing this continual straggle of
man against nature and events, we cannot but pay the tribute of our
¦ admiration to -those intrepid colonists, who, on the fiirthest verge of
Europe, in the arid steppes of the Volga, have never suffered them
selves to be overcome by their mischances, but have always found
fresh resources in their o-wn energy and perseverance.
The manufacture of mustard is at present the most iraportant
• The German colonies of the gorernment of Saratof consist of 102 villages, with
a population of 81,271; in 1820 they produced 2-t2,830 hectolitres of wheat, worth
555,263 paper rubles, and tobacco to the value of 260,485.

160 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN 8EA, &C.
branch of business in Sarepta, producing nearly 16,000 kilogran^mes
yearly, besides 4800 kilogramraes of oil. This trade is not uikim-
portant to the neighbouring villages, since It uses upon an average
every year 160,000 kilogramraes of mustard seed, for which- the
manufacturer pays the peasant at the rate of 1.60 rubles the poud
or thirty-three pounds.
The other trades that are still carried on with sorae degree of suc
cess are the manufactures of sUk and cotton tissues, stockings and
caps, tobacco and tanned leather, but these are all upon a greatly
reduced scale and at a greatly diminished rate of profit. There
Is also a very clever optician in Sarepta, and there are several con
fectioners who travel to Moscow. The colony possesses also ware
houses of manufactured goods, and offers alraost all the resources and '
conveniences of a good European to-wn.
Agriculture can only be a secondary matter in the colony; of the
17,000 deciatlnes of kind possessed by It 2000 are quite unfit for
cultivation, 10,000 are salt, and only 4000 are reaUy good. There
Is, however, a Uttie viUage named Schonbrunn, not far from the
to-wn. In which there are some faraiUes engaged in agriculture and
cattle rearing. Merino sheep have not done weU -with them hi
therto. They had a large stock some years ago, but It dwindled
away either from misraanageraent, or frora the severity of the cU
mate, and at present does not exceed 1000 head.
The -brethren possess also numerous gardens along the Sarpa,
irrigated by water wheels, and producing aU sorts of fruits and
- plants, but chiefly tobacco, and latterly indigo, which wiU no doubt
becorae of great iraportance to the colony.
The little town of Sarepta has not changed much -within the last
eighty years : Its buUdings stiU present the sarae appearance as they
did sorae years after the foundation of the colony ; but the great
industrial moveraents of former tiraes have deserted it, and Its streets
are become lonely and silent. The fountain still flows on the same
spot, and is still shaded by the same trees; but the blackened walls
of the two flnest raanufactories, burnt down in the terrible fire of
1823, and which the colonists have never been able to rebuild,
' make a singularly painful irapression on the beholder, and teU too
plainly that in spite of their courage and industry, events have
been too strong for the Mora-vians. AU traveUers who \isit Sarepta,
and have an opportunity^ of appreciating the worth of its Inhabit
ants, -wiU certainly desire frora their hearts a return of prosperity to
this interesting colony: unhappily it Is not probable that these
-wishes -wiU be very speedUy realised.
Tbe Moravian coraraunity has augraentedbut Uttie since 1769;
for in 1837 it comprised but 380 souls, viz., 160 men and 220
women; ancl even of these, only one half were natives of Sarepta,
the reraalnder being iraraigrants frora abroad. Many causes com
bine to keep down tiie population. In the first place, no colonist ia
aUowcd to many, untd he can prove the sufficiency of his means;

SAREPTA. 161
botli men and women, therefore, raarry late in life, aud large fami
Ues are extremely rare. Again, no brother can marry, if his doing
so would cause any detriment to another; and all those who, by
their ralsconduct, in any degree disturb the order and tranquilUty
of the colony, are banished and put out of the association. A
sort of passport is given thera for the govemment of Saiatof, and
tnen they are at Uberty either to enrol themselves as government
colonists, or to enjoy their privileges as foreigners. Lastly, after
the great fire of 1823, many of the brethren, discouraged by the
loss of their aU, left Sarepta, and went to reside elsewhere. AU
these reasons, sufficientiy account for the stationary condition of the
population. Of strangers to the association, there are in Sarepta,
• thirty famiUes of work people frora the German colonies of Saratof,
forty Russians, and twenty Tatars; sorae fifty Kalrauck kibitkas
(tents) supply labourers for the gardens and for other works.
There are now fifty-six stone and 136 wooden houses In Sarepta, and
outside It, one stone and forty-nine wooden. Its pubUc buildings, are
a church, -with an organ and a belfry, and three large workhouses for
bachelors, -widows, and girls. These serve at the same tirae as
asyluras for orphans, and for aU persons who have no families.
There are also schools for the young of both sexes, in which the
course of Instraction is rather extensive, and includes the German,
Russian, and French languages, history, geography, and elementary
mathematics. At first, Sarepta was surrounded -with ditches and ramparts, sup
pUed -with artiUery and defended by a detachment of Cossacks; but
these raiUtary displays have long disappeared, and the worthy
Moravians are left alone to their own peaceful pursuits. In describ
ing this interesting colony, we must not forget its numerous and
delicious fountains. Every street, every house has its own, the
water being conveyed by wooden pipes underground into a coraraon
reservoir, whence it is distributed to all parts. Nor will it be without
a keen feeUng of satisfaction that the weary traveUer will stop at the
Sarepta hotel, where he wiU find a good bed and a good table, excel
lent -wine, and aU the comforts he can desire.
The Moravian brethren of Sarepta justly enjoy much more
extensive privUeges than aU the other colonists of Russia: they pay
to the cro^wn but a shghttax per deciatine of land; and they have
the right of trading in aU parts of the empire and to foreign parts,
as first gtdld merchants ¦without paying any dues. They have their
o-wn perfectly separate adrainistration, and aU litigated affaii-s araong
them are settled by themselves, without the interference of any
Russian tribunal: if any disputes arise between them and their
neighbours, they have recourse to the general committee of the
German colonies of Saratof, or in matters of weight, to the ministry
in St. Petersburg, through one of their brethi-en, who resides there
as their agent. In cases of miurder alone, they deUver over the
criminal to the Russian authorities. Banishment is usuaUy the

162 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C. ;
sentence pronounced for other ofiences by the tribunal of /the
association, which consists of a mayor and two assistants, elected by
the coraraunity, and who act also as adrainistrators of the colony,
and have uncler their orders an officer, who is responsible for all
things pertaining to the town and country poUce. The pubUc
revenue is 20,000 rubles, produced by the rent of the fisheries and by
special taxes; this money is spent in keeping up the piibUc budd
ings, the schools, workliouses, &c.
The habits of these colonists, their amount of education, and
fhelr ' reUgious principles, make a raarked distinction between them
and all the other Germans In Russia. We have seen few sectarians
whose reUgious -views are characterised by so rauch sound sense.
While discharging their duties -with the most scrupulous exactness,
they avail theraselves of the good things granted thera by Pro-vi
dence, Uve in a Uberal and commodious manner, and surround
theraselves -with aU that can render Ufe easy and agreeable. What
struck us most of aU, was. to find invariably in the raere workman
as weU as m the wfealthy manufacturer, a w-ell-bred, -weU-informed
man, of elegant manners and appearance, and engaging conversa
tion. We spent but a few days in the colony, but our knowledge
of the German language, enabled us quickly to acquire the friend
ship of the principal inhabitants;, and when we left the to-wn, our
carriage was surrounded by a great nuraber of those worthy people
who came to bid us a last fareweU, and to -wish us a pleasant journey
through the -wild steppes of the Kalmucks..

CHAPTER XIX-
FCRST KAI/ittrCK ENCAMP^IESTS — THE VOLGA — ASTEAKHA2f — -VISIT TO A EAX3II7CK
PKINCE — 3inSIC, DA>-CE>G, COSTUME, &C — EftnESTMAIf EEATS — EEUGIOUS CEEE-
MONY — POETKT.
At eight in the evening -we left Sarepta, deUghted in the highest
degree -with the good Moravian brethren, and the cordial hospitahty
they had shown us. <
At sorae distance from the colony, a didl white line, scarcely dis
tinguishable through the gloom, annotmced the presence of tiie
Volga. We foUowed its course aU night, catching a gUrapse of it
from time- to time by. the "faint gUraraering-of ^e stars, and by
nuraerous Hghts along its banks ; these -were fishermen's lanterns.
There was an originaUty in the whole region that strongly impressed
our Imagmations, Those- numerous Ughts, flitting every moment
from pdace to place, were Uke the wUl o' the wisp that beguiles the
benighted traveUer; and then the Kalrauck encarapments with their
black raasses that seemed to glide over the surface of the steppe; the
darlmess of the night ,- the speed with which our troika bore us

THE EOAD ALONG- THE TOLGA. 163
over the boundless plain; the shriiU tinkling-s of the horse bells, and
above aU, the thought that we were in the land of the Kalmucks,
wrdught us up to a state of nervous excitement that made us see
every thing in the hues of fancy.
At daybreak, our eyes were bent eagerly on the Volga, that
gleamed in the colours of the morning sky-. From the plateau
where we were, we could see the whole country, and it may easUy
be conceived with what admiration we gazed on the calm majestic
stream, and its multitude of islands clothed with alders and aspens.
On the other side of the river, the steppes where the Khirgises
and Kalmucks encamp, stretched away as far as the eye could reach,
tiU bounded by- a horizon as even as that of the ocean. It would
have been difficnlt to conceive a raore majestic spectacle^ or one more
in harraony -with the ideas evoked by the Volga, to which its coturse
of more than six hundred leagues assigns the foremost rank among
the great rivers of Europe-
The post-roady which skirts the river as far as Astraldian, is diffi
cult, and often dangerous. Our driver was constantly turning his
horses into the water, to prevent their sinking in a soil that undulates
Uke the sea -with every breath of wind. At intervals we encountered
Cossack viUages ahnost buried under sandy biUows, and many cabins
entirely abandoned- This encroachment of the: sands, which
increases every year in extent, will soon change the already dreary
banks of the. Volga, into a real desert. No one can behold the
SteriUty and desolation of these regions,, -without maxveUIng at the
patience -with which the Cossacks endure a visitation that from year
to year drives them from their cabins, and corapels thera to build
new ones. For a length: of more than sixty versts, the traveUer
finds his route shut in between the bed of the river, and mo-ving
hills of sand, whose, dead monotony has a most depressing effect on
tiie spirits.. It is stUl worse at night, for then he seenas surrounded
-with perils. No wonder if fear possesses him when he thinks
that a plundering nomade horde may be lying in ambush behind
those defiles which the darkness renders still more menacing; the
Cossack posts, however,, which he meets from time to tirae along his
road, contribute greatly to quiet his apprehensions..
These Cossacks were originaUy from the Don, and were sent by
the govemment to defend the frontiers of the Volga against the
incursions of the nomades.. Settling with their iamiUes, they
founded several viUages, and afterwards peopled Saraara, Saratof,
and. other to-wns. There remains of these colonists only a miUtaiy
population, whose duty is limited to watching the movements of
the Khirgises. from a distance, and protecting traveUers- Tiie soil
affords thera no means of practising agriculture, but, they supply
their wants by fishing-. -- ' '¦ '
Since our departure from Sarepta, we were much surprised to
findon this Uttie fireqnented routemuch better horses than are raetwith
on the main post-roads ; the stations too seeraed larger, more cpramo-
M 2

164 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
dious and elegant, and every thing about thera betokened attentive
care on the part of the govemment. i
As we approached Astrakhan, the sand-hiUs diminished insensibly
In height, untU they no longer confined the ¦view. AU this part of
the steppe is bare of wood, and the salt sandy waste is only spotted
here and there ¦with pools of water and patches of wormwood. No
sound Is heard but the shriU cries of the petrels and -wUd geese that
haunt the edges of the pools. Here and there only we encountered
nuraerous herds of caraels going to drink the clear water of the
Volga, or wandering among the Kalmuck kibitkas scattered over
the steppes.
At the last station but one, we were startled from our breakfast by
the sound of miUtary music, which for a raoraent threw the whole
house into a state of revolution. We were ourselves very much
puzzled to know what it meant, and jumping up from table we ran
and saw — what ? A steamer, no less, puffing and smoking, and
lashing the astonished waters of the calm Volga into foam. Gay
flags flaunted over Its 'deck, which was cro'wded -with passengers,
and whence proceeded the sounds that had so surprised us. It
passed before us, I wIU not say proudly, but very clumsUy, by no
means skimming along the water Uke a s-waUow.
When we saw the crowded state of the deck, a thought struck
us that the matter In some degree concerned ourselves, for as the
steamer was from Astrakhan, It was to be presumed that It carried
several persons we had expected to see there. But our conjectures
feU short of the reality, and our consternation was extreme, when
the postmaster told us that the boat was conveying aU the good
society of Astrakhan on a visit to a Kalmuck prince, whose custom it
¦was to give splendid entertainments at that season of the year. "What
made the thing still more vexatious, was, that many persons had
already talked to us aboutthe said prince, and strongly recommended
ns to go and see hira.
There could not have been a raore favourable opportunity for
indulging our curiosity; but we were corapeUed to forego it for
¦want of a podoroshni* entitUng us to have horses on our way back
The Russians are such rigid sticklers for forms, that nothing but
strong motives of interest can make them swerve from the letter of
their instructions. Now it happened by a singular piece of lU-luck
that our postmaster was an honest raan after his fashion ; that is to
say, he -would not depart a hair's breadth from his regulations to
please any one. His stupid obstinacy was proof against aU solicita
tions and bribes, and we gave np the tempting project of visiting the
prince, whose palace we had passed a few hours before, about forty
versts from tiie station.
Our best course under the circurastances would have been to hail
• A sort of passport licensing you to hire post-horses. Yon pay a sum for it pro
portioned to the distance you wish to travel, and the number of horses to your
carriage.

ASTRAKH^US'. 165
the stearaer, and go on board of it, but we did not think of this
until we had lost much time with the postraaster, and then it was
too I late to overtake the stearaer, notwithstanding its slow rate of
moving. When we afterwards related our mischances to the' go-
vejnor of Astrakhan, he blamed us much for not having at once
tTr'.ought of so simple an expedient.
'~ ' About four o'clock P. M. the sarae day, we came In sight of
Astrakhan. I cannot describe our sensations when frora a large
boat in which we embarked, we beheld the fine panorama of the
city, its churches, cupolas, and ruined forts gradually coming forth
to the view. Situated in an island of the Volga, its environs are
not covered Uke those of most great cities, with villages and cul
tivated fields : no, it stands alone, siurrounded by water and sand,
proud of its sovereignty over the noble river, and of the narae of
Star of the Desert, with which- the poetic imagination of the Ori
entals has graced it.
We had great difficulty in finding a lodging after we had landed,
and though assisted by a poUce officer, tvo spent more than two
hours in wandering from place to place, everywhere -raeetlng -with
refusals. We were about cutting short our perplexities by taking
refuge in a Persian caravanserai, when chance carae to our aid.
A PoUsh lady whom we feU in -with, offered us the accoraraodation
of her -house, and with such good grace, that we conld not hesitate
to accept her civiUty. Besides, our travels in Russia had accus
toraed us to the syrapathy ¦with which every thing French is
greeted by the Poles. The last poUtical events have not yet been
able to weaken their good will towards us; they regard us as
.brethren, and are ready to prove it on all occasions.
Except sorae crown buddings occupied by the employes, there
Is nothing in Astrakhan to remind us of its being under foreign
sway. The town has corapletely preserved the Asiatic physlognoray
it owes to Its cUmate, its past history, and its diversified population.
It is built partly on a hiU, partly on the plain, and several of its
oldest portions stand on low spots intersected with marshes, and are
exposed to very unwholesome exhalations during the summer,
after the river floods. A canal with quays runs through its whole
length. My husband's first proceeding after a hurried instaUation In our
new quarters, was to caU on M. Fadier, the curator-general of the
Kalraucks, and try to obtain a podoroshni as quickly as possible.
He carae back In an hour, and told rae that we were to start that
evening m a boat belonging to the admiralty, which was placed at
our disposal. The governor, M. Fadier, the port-admiral, and all
the superior society of the place were visiting the prince, as we had
before been told; but Madame Fadier had been kept at horae by
Indisposition, and that lady, whose name wiU frequently appear in.
our reminiscences of Astrakhan, obligingly removed aU our diffi-"
.culties.

166 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C. ,'
We embarked In the evening in the boat, with a crew of ; six
stout Kalmuck rowers and a Tatta pilot. We expected to arrive at
the prince's in the moming; but by some unaccountable chance I
was seized all at once with a dread that obUged us to halt, in spite of
our eager desire to reach our journey's end. The night was very
dark, and the river, the waves of which made our boat reel, seemei
to me boundless; yet all this was not enough to account for thi-
insurraountable terror that took hold of me so capriciously. Many
sea-voyages and long excursions on the Bosphorus in those light
caiques that threaten to upset with the slightest raoveraent, ought
to have seasoned rae against such eraotions ; but fear Is a sentiment
that cannot reason, and that comes upon us unawares, without any
real danger to justify It. I must add, however, in palliation of my
conduct, that the frequent Ughtning and the heaviness of the atmo
sphere foretold a storra ; and no doubt had soraething to do -with
the nervous state in which I found myself.
Be this as it may, I could not rest until I had heard my husband
give orders to put back into port, and the sequel proved that this
¦was ready the best thing we could do. The night -was horrible:
one of those terrific squaUs that are so frequent and so dangerous
on the Volga, came on soon after we landed, and made me bless
that terror of which I was at first ashamed, and which I was now
tempted to regard as a secret presentiment of the clanger that threat
ened us. '¦ ;
At sunrise next day we set out by the post, and travelled tiU
evening along that river on which I had been so much agitated
Its appearance in the fresh, calm raorning was Uttie in accordance
¦with ray terror on the preceding day. The weather showed that
briUiancy that always foUows a storm in southem lands, and our
spirits were such as to make our little trip exceedingly agreeable.
The postmaster who had annoyed us so much the precedmg day,
could_ not help sho-wing great surprise at our reappearance. He
exaralnedour ne\r podoroshni with scrupulous care, and ha-ving
satisfied hiraself that it -was quite as it ought to be, he was suddenly
seized -with great respect for us. The quickness -with which we
had obtained the paper, was plain proof to him that we were persons
of importance.
We left our post-carriage In the evening, and embarked ; for we
had still a dozen versts to travel on the river before reaching the-
prince's; but all the phantoms of the previous night had fled before
the bright sim, and 1 stepped gaily into the boa't thinking only of
the pleasure of a long row over the limpid waves of the Volga. But
no-w a last vexation befel us; one would have fancied some e-ril
genius was amusing himself -with baffling aU our arrangements,
merely for the purpose of preventing our paying that visit on
which we were so eagerly bent.
Our whole desire was to arrive at the prince's before the depaiture
of the stearaer; for as for the fetes, we had akeady given up aU.

THE PjVLACE OF A KjU^MUCK PRINCE. 167
thought of thera. From what Madarae Fadier had told us we were
qu,"te at ease, and never doubted but that we should find the whole
company assembled in the Kalmuck palace. Fancy our dismay then,
when our boatraan suddenly called out ' the stearaer !' polntino- at
the sarae tirae to a Ught smoke that rose above the trees. I am not
very prone to superstition, but this obvious fatality was too rauch
for liiy pliilosophy. Here was the best part of the pleasure we had
anticipated from this unlucky trip, struck frora us at ono blow, and
that at the very moment when we flattered ourselves -we had over
come all obstacles 1 the steamer passed proudly and triumphantly at
a Uttie distance from us, with its joyous rausic tiiat seemed to insult
our disappointment, and our poor Uttie boat, tossed about like a
nutshell by the surge of the confounded vessel, had not even the
honour of being seen at first. Sorae one at last condescended to
notice us; a telescope was pointed in our direction, and we after
wards learned that our appearance gave rise to a multitude of con
jectures, which, of course, were solved only in Astrakhan.
Nothing remained for us but to bear our fate -with plulosophical
composure; and we did so -with the confident beUef that luck, which
had hitherto run so decidedly against us, must soon take a turn in
otn- favour. Forgetting, therefore, the stearaboat, its rausic, and its
briUiant company, we appUed all our attention to the spectacle
before us, which was certainly rauch better worth seeing than the
prosaic steamer.
The httle island belonging to Prince Tumene stands alone in the
middle of the river. From a distance it looks Uke a nest of verdure
resting on the waves, and waiting only a breath of wind to send it
floating down the rapid course of the Volga ; but, as you advance, the
land unfolds before you, the trees form themselves Into groups, and
the prince's palace displays a portion of its white fa9ade, and the
open gaUeries of its turrets. Every object assumes a more decided
and raore picturesque forra, and stands out in clear relief, from the
cupola of the mysterious pagoda which you see towering above the
trees, to the humble kibitka gUttering in the magic tints of sunset.
The landscape, as it presented itself successively to our eyes, -with
the unraffled mirror of the Volga for its fraraework, wore a calra,
but strange and profoundly melancholy character. It was like no
thing we had ever seen before; it was a new world which fancy
might people a^ It pleased; one of those mysterious isles one drearas
of at fifteen after reading the " Arabian Nights;" a thing, in short,
such as crosses the traveUer's path but once in all his wanderings,
and which we enjoyed with all the zest of unexpected pleasure.
But we were soon caUed back from aU these charming phantoms of
the imagination to the reaUties of Ufe? we were arrived. Our boat
man moored his Uttie craft in a clump of thombroom ; and whUst nay
husband proceeded to the palace -with his interpreter, I reraained in
the boat, divided between the pleasure I anticipated from the extra-

168 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPI-^iN SEA, &C. i
ordinary things to be seen in a Kalmuck palace, and the involuntary
apprehension awakened in me by aU the incidents of this -visit. |
The latter feeUng did not last long. Not many minutes had
elapsed after the departure of my corapanions, when I saw them
returning with a young man, who was presented to me as one of the
princes Tumene. It was with equal elegance and good breeding he
introduced me to the palace, where every step brought me sorae new
surprise. I was quite unprepared for what I saw; and ready in
passing through two salons which united the raost finished display
of European taste with the gorgeousness of Asia, on being suddenly
accosted by a young lady who welcomed rae in exceUent French, I
felt such a thrill of delight, that I could only answer by embracing
her heartily ! In tlus manner an acquaintance is quickly made.
The room where we took tea was soon fiUed with Russian and
Cossack officers, guests of the prince's, and thus assumed a European
aspect which we had not at aU expected after the departure of the
steamer. But was this what we had come to see? was it to look at
Russian officers, and articles of furniture of well known fashion, to
take caravan tea off a silver tray, and talk French, that we had left
Astrakhan? These reflections soon yielded to the secret pleasure of
meeting t'ne image of Europe even araong the Kalmucks, and being
able without the aid ofa dragoman to testify to the charming Polish
lady who did the honours of the drawing-room, the gratification her
presence afforded us. The old Prince Tumene, the head of the
family, joined us by and by, and thanked us with the most exquisite
politeness for our obliging visit.
After the first civiUties were over, I was conducted to a very hand
some chamber, with -windows opening on a large verandaL . I found
in it a toilette apparatus in silver, very elegant furniture, and many
objects both rare and precious. My surprise augmented continuaUy
as I beheld this aristocratic suraptuousness. In vain I looked for
any thing that could remind me of the Kalraucks; nothing aroimd
me had a tinge of couleur locale; aU seemed rather to bespeak the
abode ofa rich Asiatic nabob; and -with a little effort of imagination,
¦ I raight easily have fancied myself transported into the marveUous
world of the fairies, as I beheld that magnificent palace encircled
with water, -with its exterior fretted all over with balconies and fan
tastic ornaments, and its interior aU ffiled with velvets, tapestries,
and crystals, as though the touch ofa wand had raade all these won-
dersstart frora the bosom of the Volga ! And what completed the
iUusion was the thought that the author of these prodigies was a
Kalmuck prince, a chief of those half-savage tribes that wander over
the sandy plains of the Caspian Sea, a worshipper of the Grand
Lama, a beUever In the metempsychosis; in short, one of those
beings whose existence seeras to us alraost fabulous, such a host of
mysterious legends do their naraes awaken in the mind.
Madarae Zakarevitch soon made rae acquainted with aU I wished

PRINCE TUMENE. 169
to know respecting the princes Tumene and herself. Her husband,
who had lon^ been curator of the Kalraucks, died some years ago,
a victira to tlie integrity with which he discharged his office. "Ilie
employes, enraged at not being able to rob at their ease, combined
together to have hira brought to trial and persecuted hira to his last
moment with their base intrigues. His wife, who has aU the impas
sioned character of the Poles, has ever since been actively engaged
in vindication of his meraory, devoting time, money, and tousorae
journeys, with admirable perseverance to that sacred task. A
friendship of long standing subsists between her and Prince Tumene,
with whose daughter and a lady companion she usually passes part
of the summer.
Prince Tumene Is the wealthiest and raost influential of aU the
Kalrauck chiefs. In 1815 he raised a regiraent at his own expense,
and led it to Paris, for which raeiitorious service he was rewarded
-with nuraerous decorations. He has now the rank of colonel, and
he was the first of this noraade people who exchanged his kibitka
for an European dwelUng. Absolute master in his own famUy
(among the Kalmucks the sarae respect is paid to the eldest brother
as to the father), he eraploys his authority only for the good of those
around hira. He possesses about a mlUion deciatlnes of land, and
several hundred faraiUes, frora which he derives a considerable re
venue. His race, which belongs to the tribe of the Koshots, is one
ofthe raost ancient and respected among the Kalmucks. Repeatedly
tried by severe afflictions, his mind has taken an exclusively religious
bent, and the superstitious practices to winch he devotes himself give
him a great reputation for sanctity among his countrymen. An isolated
EaviUon at some distance from the palace is his habitual abode, where
e passes his Ufe in prayer and rehgions conference with the most
celebrated priests ofthe country. No one but these latter is aUowed
admission into his mysterious sanctuary; even his brothers have never
entered it. This is assuredly a singular mode of existence, especiaUy
if we compare it with that which he might lead amidst the splendour
and conveniences with which he has embellished his palace, and
which betoken a cast of thought fiir superior to what we should ex-
f)ect to find in a Kalmuck. This voluntary sacrifice of earthly de-
Ights, this asceticism caused by moral sufferings, strikingly reminds
us of Christianity and the origin of our reUgious orders. Like the
most fervent Catholics, this votary of Lama seeks in solitude, prayer,
austerity, and the hope of another Ufe, consolations which all his
fortune is powerless to afford him I Is not this the history of many a
Trappist or Carthusian?
. The position of the palace is exquisitely chosen, and shows a sense
of the beautiful as developed as tiiat of the most civiUsed nations. It
Is buUt in the Chinese style, and is prettily seated on the gentie slope
of a hiU about a hundred feet from the Volga. Its nuraerous gal
leries afibrd -views over every part of the isle, and the Imposing sur
face of the river. . From one of the angles the eye looks down on a

170 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, OCU.
mass of foUage, through which glitter the cupola and golden ball of
the pagoda. Beautiful meadows, dotted over with clumps of trees,
and fields in high cultivation, unfold their carpets of verdure on the
left of the palace, and form different landscapes which the eye can
take in at once. The whole is enUvened by the presence of Kalmuck
horsemen, caraels wandering here and there through the rich pastures,
and officers conveying the chief's orders frora tent to tent. It is a
beautiful spectacle, various in its details, and no less harraonious in
its asserablage.
After learning the reasons why we had not arrived two days
sooner, Madauie Zakarevitch very agreeably surprised us with the
assurance that it was the prince's intention to have th.e fetes repeated
for us. Couriers had already been despatched to bring back the
priests who had been engaged in the solemnities of the occasion, in
order that we might have an opportunity of seeing their reUgious
ceremonies. The day being now far advanced, we spent the re
mainder of It in -visiting the palace in detail, and restiiig from the
fatigues of our joumey.
At an early hour next day, Madarae Zakare-vltch carae to accom
pany ns to the prince's sister-in-law, who^ during the fine season,
resides In the kibitka in preference to the palace. Nothing could be
more agreeable to us than this proposaL At last then I was about
to see Kalmuck manners and customs -without any foreign admix
ture. On the way I learned that the princess was reno-wned among
her people for extreme beauty and accomplishments, besides many
other details which contributed further to augment my curiosity.
We forraed a tolerably large party when we reached her tent, and
as she had been Informed of our intended -visit, we enjoyed, on
entering, a spectacle that far surpassed our anticipations. When the
curtain at the doorway of the kibitka was raised, we found ourselves
in a rather spacious roora, Ughted fi-om aboVe, and hung -with red
damask, the reflection from which shed a glo-wing tint on every
object; the floor was covered with a rich Turkey carpet, and the
air was loaded -with perfumes. In this balmy atmosphere and crimson
Ught we perceived the princess seated on a low platform at the
further end of the tent, dressed in gUstening robes, and as motion
less as an idol. Some twenty woraen in fuU dress, sitting on their
heels, formed a strange and particoloured circle round her. It -was
like nothing I could compare It to but an opera scene suddenly got
up on the banks of the Volga.. When the princess had aUowed us
time enough to admire her, she slowly descended the steps of the
platforra, approached us -with dignity, took me by the hand,
embraced me affectionately, and led me to the place she had just
left. She did the same by Madarae Zakare-vitch and her daughter,
and then graciously saluting the persons who accorapanied us, she
motioned them to be seated on a large divan opposite the platform.
No mistress of a house in Paris could have done better. When every
one had found a place, she sat doivn beside me, and through the

A KALMUCK PRINCESS. 171
medium of an -Armenian, who spoke Russian and Kalmuck ex
tremely weU, she made rae a thousand corapUraents, that gave rae a
.very high opinion of her capacity. With the Arraenian's assistance
we were able to put raany questions to each other, and notwithstand
ing the awk-wardness of being obliged to have recourse to an inter
preter, the conversation was far frora growing languid, so eager was
the princess for information of every kind. The Armenian, who
was a merry soul, constituted himself^ of his own authority, grand
master of the ceremonies, and coramenced his functions by advisin"-
the princess to give orders for the opening of the baU. Immediately
upon a sign from the latter, one of the ladles of honour rose and
perforraed a few steps, turning slowly upon herself; whilst another,
who reraained seated, drew forth frora a balalaika (an Oriental
guitar) sorae melancholy sounds, by no means appropriate to the
occasion. Nor were the attitudes and movements of her companion
more accordant -with our notions of dancing. They formed a pan
tomime, the meaning of which I could not ascertain, but which, by
its languishing monotony, expressed any thing but pleasure or gaiety.
The young figurante frequently stretched out her arras and knelt
down as If to in-voke some in-visible being. The performance lasted
a considerable time, during which I had full opportunity to scruti
nise the princess, and saw good reason to justify the high renown in
which her beauty was held araong her own people. Her figure is
imposing, and extremely weU-proportioned, as far as her numerous
garraents aUowed me to judge. Her mouth, finely arched and
adorned -with beautiful teeth, her countenance, expressive of great
sweetness, her skin, somewhat brown, but remarkably deUcate,
would entitle her to be thought a very handsome woman, even in
France, if the outline of her face and the arrangement of her features
were only a trifle less Kalmuck. Nevertheless, in spite of the obU-
quity of her eyes and the prominence oflier cheek-bones, she would
StUl find many an admirer, not in Kalmuckia alone, but aU the world
over. Her looks convey an expression of the utmost gentleness and
good-nature, and Uke all the woraen of her race, she has an air of
caressing humihty, which makes her appearance stiU more winning.
Now for her costume. Over a very rich robe of Persian stuff,
laced aU over -with sUver, she wore a Ught silk tunic, reaching only
to the knee and open in front. The high corsage was quite flat,
and gUttered with silver erabroidery and fine pearls that covered aU
the seams. Round her neck she had a white cambric habit shirt,
tiie shape of which seemed to rae Uke that of a man's shirt collar.
It was fastened in front by a diamond button. Her very thick, deep
black hair feU over her bosom in two magnificent tresses of reraark
able length. A yeUow cap, edged -with rich fur, and resembUng ia
shape the square cap of a French judge, was set jauntUy on the
cro-wn of her -head. But what surprised me most. in her costume
was an embroidered carabric handkerchief and a pair of black mit
tens. Thus, it appears, the productions of our workshops find their

172 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
way even to the toilette of a great ICalmuck lady. Among the
princess's omaments I must not forget to enumerate a large gold
chain, which, after being wound round her beautiful tresses, fell
over her bosom, passing on its way through her gold earrings. Her
whole attire, such as I have described it, looked much loss barbarous
than I had expected. The ladies of honour, though less richly clad,
wore robes and caps of the same form ; only they had not advanced
so far as to wear mittens.
The dancing lady, after figuring for half an hour, went and
touched the shoulder of one of her corapanions, who took her place,
and began the sarae figures over again. When she had done, the
Arraenian urged the princess that her daughter, who until then had
kept herself concealed behind a curtain, should also give a specimen
of her sHU; but there was a difficulty in the case. No lady of
honour had a right to touch her, and this forraaUty was indis
pensable according to estabUshed usage. Not to be baffled by this
obstacle, the Armenian sprang gaily Into the middle of tiie circle,
and began to dance in so original a manner, -that every one enthu
siastically applauded. Ha-ving thus satisfied the exigency of Kal
muck etiquette, he stepped up to the curtain and laid his finger
Hghtly on the shoulder of the young lady, who could not refuse an
invitation thus made in all due form. Her dancing appeared to ua
less wearisome than that of the ladies of honour, thanks to her
pretty face and her timid and languishing attitudes. She in her
tum touched her brother, a handsome lad of fifteen, dressed In the
Cossack costurae, who appeared exceedingly mortified at being
obliged to put a Kalmuck cap on his head. In order to exhibit the
dance in aU its nationaUty. T-wice he dashed his cap on the ground
with a most comical air of vexation ; but his raother rigidly Insisted
on his putting it on again.
The dancing of the men is as iraperious and animated as that of
the woraen ¦ is tame and monotonous ; the spirit of domination dis
plays itself in aU their gestures, in the bold expression of their looks
and their noble bearing. It would be Impossible for me to describe
all the evolutions the young prince went through -with equal grace
and rapidity. The elasticity of his Umbs was as remarkable as
the perfect measure observed in his cornpUcated steps.
After the ball came the concert. 'The women played one after
the other on the balalaika, and then sang In choi-us. But there is
as little variety in their music as in their dancing. At last we -were
presented with different kinds of kourals and sweetraeats on large
silver trays.
When we came out from the kibitka, the princess's brother-in-
law_ took us to a herd of wild horses, where one of the most extra
ordinary scenes awaited us. The raoraent we were perceived, five
or six raoun ted men, armed with long lassoes, rushed into the middle
of the taboun (herd of horses), keeping their eyes constantly fixed on
the young prince, who was to point out the animal they should

KALMUCK HORSEMANSHIP. 173
seize. The signal being given, they instantly gaUoped forward and
noosed a young horse with a long dishevelled mane, whose dUated
e-yes and smoking nostrils betokened inexpressible terror. AUghtly-
clad Kalmuck, who foUowed them on foot, imraediately sprano-
lipon the staUion, cut the thongs that were throttUng him, and en
gaged -with him in an incredible contest of daring and agility. It
would be irapossible, I think, for any spectacle more vi-vidlv to affect
the mind than that which now met our eyes. Sometimes'the rider
and his horse rolled together on the grass; soraetiraes they shot
through the air with the speed of an arrow, and then stopped ab
ruptly, as If a waU had aU at once risen up before them. On a
sudden the furious animal would crawl on its belly, or rear In a
manner that made us shriek -with terror, then plunging forward
again in his mad gallop he would dash through the taboun, and en
deavour in every possible way to shake off his novel burden.
But this exercise, -violent and dangerous as It appeared to us,
seeraed but sport to the Kalrauck, whose body followed aU the
movements of the animal -with so much suppleness, that one would
have fancied that the same thought possessed both bodies. The
sweat poured in foaraing strearas frora the stalUon's flanks, and he
trembled in every limb. As for the rider, his coolness would have
put to shame the raost accorapUshed horseraen in Europe. In the
most critical raoraents he stiU found hiraself at Uberty to wave his
arras in token of triuraph ; and in spite of the indomitable humour
of his steed, he had sufficient coramand over it to keep it almost
always -within the circle of our -vision. At a signal from the prince,
two horseraen, who had kept as close as possible to the daring cen
taur, seized him -with amazing quickness, and galloped away -with
him before we had time to comprehend this new raanoeu-vre. The
horse, for a raoment stupified, soon made off at full speed, and was
lost in the raidst of the herd. These performances were repeated
several times without a single rider suffering hiraself to be thro-wn. .
. But what was our araazeraent when we saw a boy of ten years
come forward to undertake the same exploit 1 They selected for
him a young white stalUon of great size, whose fiery bounds and
desperate efforts to break his bonds, indicated a most violent teraper.
I -wIU not atterapt to depict our intense eraotions during this new
conffict. This cMld, who, Uke the other riders, had only the horse's
mane to cUng to, afforded an exaraple of the power of reasoning
over Instinct and brute force. For sorae rainutes he raaintalned his
difficult position- with heroic intrepidity. At last, to our great
reUef, a horseraan rode up to him, caught him up in his outstretched
arm, and threw blm on the croup behind hira.
-¦ The Kalraucks, as the reader -will perceive, are exceUent horse
men, and are accustoraed frora their childhood to subdue the -wildest
horses. The exercise we had ¦witnessed is one of their greatest
amusements: it. is even practised by the women,- and we have

174 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
frequently seen them -vielng ¦with each other in feats of equestrian
daring. The lateness of the hour recalled us to the palace where a. splen
did dinner was prepared for us. Two large tables were laid in two
adjoining rooms, and at the head of each sat one of the princes;
We took our places at that of the elder brother, who did the
honours in the most finished style.
The cookery, which was half Russian, half French, left ns
nothing to deare as regarded the choice or the savour of the dishes.
Every thing was served up in sUver, and the ¦wines of France and
Spain, charapagne especiaUy, were suppUed in princely profu
sion. Many toasts were given, foreraost. among which were those
in honour of the Emperor of Russia and the King of the French.
I remarked -with much surprise, that during tiie whcde dinner,
the princess seemed very IU at ease In presence of her brother-in-
law; she did not sit do-wn untU he had desired her to do so, and
her whole demeanour manifested her profound respect for the head
of her famUy; Her husband, tiie prince's younger brother, had
been absent upwards of two- months- The repast was very length
ened and great animation prevailed p whilst for our parts, we could
hardly reconcile to our minds the idea that the giver of so sump
tuous and so weU-appoInted an entertainment was a Kalmuck:
The prince put many questions to ua about France, and talked
¦with enthusiasra of his residence In our country, and the agreeable
acquaintances he had raade there. Thongh he did not much make
our current politics his study, he was not ignorant of our last
revolution, and he expressed great admiration for Louis PhUIppe.
After dinner we went in his carriage to visit the mysterious
pagoda which had so much excited our curiosity.
The moment we set foot on the threshold of the temple, our ears
were assaUed with a charivari, compared ¦with which a score or t-wo
of great beds set in motion promiscuously, would have been harmony
Itself. It alraost deprived us of the power of perceiving what was
going on around us. The noise was so piercing, discordant, and
savage that -we were completely stupified, and there was no posa-
biUty of exchanging a WDrd.
_ The perpetrators of this terrible uproar, in other -words the musi
cians, -were arranged ior two parallel Unes facing each other; at their
head, in the direction of the altar, the high-priest knelt quite '
motionless on a rich Persian ca-rpet, and behind them towards the
entrance- stood the ghepki, or master of the cereraonies, dressed in a
scarlet robe and a deep-yeUow hood, and having in his hand a long
staff, the erablem, no doubt, of his dignity. The other priests, aU.
kneeling as -weU as the musicians, and lookmg Uke-grotesque Chinese
m their features and attitudes, wore- dresses of glaring colours, loaded
¦with gold and sUver brocade, consisting of -wide tunics, with open
sleeves, and a sort of mitre -with several broad points, ilteir head-

KAL3IUCK RELIGIOUS MUSIC. 175
dress somewhat resembled that of the ancient Peruvians, except that;
instead of feathers they had plates covered -with reUgious paintings,
besides which there rose from the centre a long straight tuft of
black sUk, tied up so as to forra a series of Uttie balls, dirainishinw
from the base to_ the summit. Below, this tuft spread out into
several tresses which feU clown on the shoulders. But what sur
prised us most of aU were the musical instraments. Besides enormous,
timbrels and the Chinese taratara, there were large sea-sheUs used aa
homs, and two huge tubes, three or foiur yards long, and each sup
ported on two props. My husband ineffectually endeavoured to
sound these trumpets; none but the stentorian lungs of the vio-orous
Mandschis- could give thera breath. If there is neither tune, nor
harmony, nor method in the reUgious music of the Kalmucks, by
way of amends for this every one makes as much noise as he can in
his own way and accorcUng to the strength of his lungs. The con
cert began by a; jingUng of little bells, then the timbrels and tamtams
struck up, and lastly, after the shrill squeakings of the shells, the
two great trumpets began to beUow, and made aU the -windows of
the teraple shake. It would be impossible for me to depict aU the
oddity of this ceremony. Now indeed we felt that we were thou
sands of leagues away firora Europe, in the heart of Asia, in a pagoda
of the Grand Dalai Laraa of Thibet.
The teraple, Ughted by a row of large ¦windows, is adorned with
slender colurans of stuccoed brickwork, the lightness of which- reminds
one of the graceful Moorish architectm-e. A gaUery runs all round
the dome, which is also remarkable for the extreme deUcacy of itsi.
workmanship. Tapestries, representing^ a multitude of good and
e-vU genii, monstrous Idols and fabulous animals, cover aU parts of
the pagoda, and give it an aspect rauch more, grotesque than.
reUgious. The veneration of the worshippers of Lama for their
Images is so great, that "vre- could not approach these mis-shapen
gods without covering our mouths -with a handkerchief, lest we
.should profane thera -with an unhaUowed breath.
The priests showed how rauch they cUsUked our rainute examina
tion of every thing, by the uneasiness -with which they continually
watched all our movements. Their fear as we afterwards learned,.
was lest- we should take a fancy to purloin some of those mystic
images we scrutinised so narrowly; certainly they had good reason
to be alarmed, for the -wiU was not wanting on our part. But we
were obliged to content ourselves -with gazing at thera -with looks of
the most, profound respect, consoling ourselves, -with the hope of
having our revenge on a more favourable occasion.
When we returned to the palace, we found the old prince in a-
Ettle room, of which he Is particularly fond, and where he has
coUected a. great quantity of arms and curiosities. ' Among other
things, we admired sorae Circassian chaskas (sabres), richly adorned
¦with black enaraeUed silver; Damascus swords, no-lesa valuable for
the temper of the blades, than for the rich Incrastations of the hUta

176 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
and scabbards; Florentine pistols of the fifteenth century; a jaspar
cup of antique forra, purchased for 4000 rubles of a Persian noble
man; Circassian coats of mail, like those of our knights of old, and
a thousand other rarctles, the artistic worth of which testify the
good taste of a prince, whom many persons might consider a barba
rian. He also keeps in this cabinet, as a thing of great price, the
book in which are inscribed the naraes of those traveUers -who visit
hira. Among the naraes, most of them aristocratic, we observed
those of Baron Humboldt, sorae EngUsh lords, and sundry Russian
and Gerraan savans.
We finished our soiree with an exteraporaneous baU that lasted
aU night. The Armenian, who first proposed the scheme, had to
undertake the business of getting up an orchestra. I know not
how he set about it, but in a few minutes he brought us tri-
uraphantly a violin, a guitar, and a flageolet. Such instraments
araong the Kalmucks — is it not reaUy prodigious? We had
quickly arranged a soiree dansante, as complete as any dra-wing-
roora could earaibit; and the raerriraent soori became so contagious,
that the princess and her daughter, after much hesitation, at last
overcame- aU bashfulness, and bravely threw themselves into a
heady gaUop, in which, by the by, one of thera lost her cap.
The wondering and deUghted princess, stuck to me for the rest of
the night, Uke ray shadow, and incessantly assured rae, through the
Arraenian, that she had never in her life passed so pleasant aa
evening, and that she would never forget It. She expressed a
strong desire to hear rae sing, and found the French romances so
much to her taste, that I had to proralse I would copy out some of
thera for her. On her part, she gave rae two Kalrauck songs of
her own corapositlon, and transcribed ¦with her o^wn hand.*
According to Russian custora, the officers did ftdl justice to the
champagne, which was sent round aU night at a fearful rate.
We spent the next day In proraenades about the' Island, and
in hawking. This sport is a great favourite with the Kalmucks,
and they practise It In as grand a style as the ch^telains " of
* Here is a translation of one of these songs, which -will certainly not give a high
idea of the poetic talents of a Kalrauck princess: —
" Mon chevsdroux qui dispute le pris de la course au chameau, hrontelTierhe des
champs duDon. Dieu notre seigneur, tu nous feras la grace de nous retrouver dans
une autre contree. Et toi charmante herhette agitee par le vent, tu t'^tends sur Li
terre. Et toi, o cceur le plus tendre volant vers ma mJre, dis im: qu'eniiti <teiH
montagnes et des vallees, dans un vaUon uni demeurent cinquante hraves qni
s'approchent avec courage pour tner une outarde bien grasse. Et toi, tendre mSre
nature, sois no«s propice."
[It is with much hesitation and doubt, that I venture to translate this incompre
hensible translation : — 7r.]
" My bright bay horse, -which vies in svriftness -with the camel, bro-wsea on the
grass of the Don. God, our Lord, thou -wilt grant us of thy grace to meet in another
cojintry. -ind thou charming little grass shaken by the wind, thou stretchest thy
self out on the ground. .Ajid thou, O fondest heart, flying to my mother, tell her
that between two mountains and valleys, in an even strath, dwell fifty braves, -who
draw- togethw courageously to kill a very fat bustard. And thoii, fond Mother
Nature bejps^ious to us."

DEPARTURE FOR PRINCE TUMENE'S. 177
the middle ages. Prince Tumene has a veiy weU appointed falconry,
and his hawks are trained by the sarae methods as were adopted by
our ancestors. The hawk yve had that day was a small one, of
astonishing spirit. The Kalrauck who held it hoodwinked on his
fist had the utraost difficulty in restraining It when its head -v\-a3
imcovered. He let it fly at a magnificent grey heron, which it
struck down in less than a minute. Several Tvild ducks were also
killed by it -with incredible rapidity.
The succeeding days were filled up -with varied and novel amuse
ments; nor can I describe the assiduous efforts of our entertainers,
to let us see every particular of their manners and custom.s that
might be interesting to us. Every day sorae new surprise was
adroitly brought forward to delay our departure. But, alas ! every
thing raust have an end in this world, and we felt at last constrained
to bid adieu to those brilUant and varied scenes which we foimd
so much to our taste.
On the day fixed for our departure vre all breakfasted together,
whUe the final preparations were going on. The party was a sad
one, for aU were occupied with the same thought. Our host's
elegant four-in-hand equipage, Uned with white satin, was drawn
up before the door, -with an escort of fifteen horseraen. There was
a large crowd assembled, who looked up eagerly to the large bal
cony, where we were receiving the stirrup-cup from the old prince.
The whole formed a striking and splendid pictm-e. The refinements
of western luxury, mixed up with Kalmuck faces ancl costumes, the
officers in briUiant tmiforras, the handsorae horses champing the
bit, and, above all, the noble figure of the old prince wa-ving a last
farewell to us firora the balcony, left an indelible irapression on
our raeraories. Young Tumene put hiraself at the head of the
cavalcade, and continued during aU the while he was with us to
astonish us -with his feats of horsemanship. Tlie day was splendid,
and every thing concurred to awaken in us a throng of sensations,
such as we shaU never, perhaps, experience again.
Madarae Zakare-vitch and her daughter, whom we had carried off
from Prince Tumene, embarked with tis, opposite the posting sta
tion. In the boat provided for us. On the shore, too, we found our
carriages ready to receive us, horses having been ordered by an ex
press sent forward the day before by the prince.
• On finding ourselves again on that route which we had t-wice
already traversed within less than twenty-four hours, the recollec
tion of our past annoyances after recurred to us, and we could not
help thinking how un-wisely many travellers aUow theraselves to be
swayed by what they caU inauspicious ora ens; a person, for instance,
with a slight leaning to superstition, would have given up aU
thoughts of a visit which seeraed forbidden by such a run of un
lucky accidents, and would have lost the opportunity of seeing the
extraordinary things I have endeavoured to describe, and wliich so
much exceeded our expectations. N

178 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
CHAPTER XX.
HISTORlCAl NOTICE OF ASTRAKHAN — MIXED POPCLATIOIf ; -iKJIESTUiTS, XATAllS—
SINGCI-AE BESULTOF AanXTCKEOPRACES — DESCKIPTIOS OP THE TOWK — HISDIT
KELIGIOOS CEBEaiOXIES — SOCItTY.
The history of Astrakhan Is so weU known that the reader ¦wiU
no doubt thank us for not recapitulating the various poUtical revolu
tions that have taken place in the regions of which this to-wn has been
for so raany ages the brilUant raetropoUs. After ha-ving raade part of
the erapire of the Kaptshak, founded by Batou Khan, and after a long
series of intestine commotions, Astrakhan at last became an inde
pendent state in the beginning of the fifteenth century. One hun
dred and fifty years later there broke out between the Russians and
the Tatars that obstinate strife which was to end by deUvering the
country of the tsars frora the yoke of its oppressors. In 1554, Ivan
the Tenible, partly by treachery, and partly by force of arms, pos
sessed himself of the khanat of the Caspian, and was the first to assume
the title of King of Casan and Astrakhan. This valuable conquest was
incorporated with the erapire, and led to the submission or emigra
tion of aU the adjacent tribes. Astrakhan has ever since belonged to
Russia; but It soon lost the prosperity that had rendered it so cele
brated of yore under the Tatars ofthe Golden Horde. Fifteen years
after the Russian conquest, the Turks directed an expedition against
Astrakhan, in concert with the Tatars of the Crimea; but the effort
was abortive, and the bulk, of the Ottoman array perished in the
deserts of the Manitch. Towards the end of the seventeenth century,
Astrakhan again imderwent a brief but bloody revolution: the rebel
Stenko Razin, raade himself master ofthe to-wn, gave it up to horrible
massacres, ancl for a whUe caused serious alarm to Russia. At present
the ancient capital of the Tatar kingdom is merely the chief to-wn
of a government, which though presenting a surface of more than
4000 geographical square mUes, yet possesses only 285,000 inhabi
tants, of whom 200,000 are jiomades. It contains a great number
of squ£u-es, churches, and mosques. Its old embattied towers and its
walb, which still include a considerable space of ground, remind
the traveUer of Its ancient warUke reno-wn. Its population, a medley
of all the races of Asia, amounts in nuraber to 45,703, the buUr of
whora are Russians, Kalraucks, and Tatars. The Armenians are shop
keepers here, just as they are in aU countries in the world; notwith-.
standing their reUgion, wMch should make thera coalesce with the
Westerns, they retain In their raanners and customs e-very thing be
longing to the East. The Armenian carries everywhere -with him
that spirit of traffic which is common to him with the Jew; always
at work on some stroke of business, always ready to seize a flying
opportunity; discounting, computing, figuring, with indefatigable
patience. Meet hira where you wiU, in the fertile vaUeys of Arme
nia, in the snowy North, or beneath a.southern sky, everywhere he

REMARKABLE 3UXED RACE. 179
exhibits that intense selfishness which stands him in lieu of the
patriotic feeUngs so potent in most other branches of the huraan
family. This nation, dispersed over the whole -world Uke the Jews,
presents one of those distinctive types of feature characteristic of an
unmixed race, which are to be found in full preservation only araono-
jSastern nations. The brown mantle in which the Armenian woraen
wrap theraselves at Constantinople, is here replaced by long black
veUs that cover them from head to foot. This garment, which dis
plays the shape very well, and falls in graceful folds to the feet,
when weU put on, reralnds one of the elegant Unes of certain Grecian
statues; and vihat raakes the resemblance the more striking, is that
the Armenian woraen are particularly remarkable for their stately
carriage and the severe dignity of their features.
The Tatars, upwards of 5000 in number, are engaged in trade,
and chiefly in that of cattle. The numerous mosques and the cu
polas of their baths contribute to give Astrakhan quite an oriental
appearance. The Indians who were forraerly rather nuraerous in this city, have
long since abandoned the trade for which they frequented it, and
none of them reraain but a few priests who are detained by interrai
nable lawsuits. But from the old intercourse between the Hindus
and the Kalmucks has sprung a half-breed now numbering several
hundred individuals, Improperly designated Tatars. The mixed
blood of these two essentially Asiatic races has produced a type
closely resembling that of European nations. It exhibits neither
the obUque eyes of the Kalraucks, nor the bronzed skin of the
Indians; and nothing in the character or habits of the descendants of
these two races indicates a relationship with either stock. In striking
contrast -with the apathy and indolence of the population among
which they Uve, these half-breeds exliibit in all they do, the activity
and perseverance of the men of the north. They serve as porters,
waggoners, or sailors, as occasion may require, and shrink fi-om no
kind of employment however laborious. Their white felt hats, with
broad brims and pointed conical crowns, their tall figures, and bold,
cheerful countenances, give thera a considerable degree of resera
blance to the Spanish rauleteers.
This result of the crossing of two races both so sharply defined is
extreraely remarkable, and cannot but interest ethnologists. The
Mongol is perhaps above all others the type that perpetuates itself
-with most energy, andraost obstinately resists the influence of foreign
admixture continued through a long series of generations. We have
found it in aU its originaUty araong the Cossacks, the Tatars, and
every other people dwelling in the vicinity of the Kalmucks. Is It
not then a most curious fact to see it vanish iraraediately under the
influence of the Hindu blood, and produce Instead of Itself a tho
roughly Caucasian type ? Mght we not then conclude that the
Caucasian is not a priraitive type, as hitherto supposecl, but tiiat it
is simply the result of a mixture, the two elements of which we must
n2

180 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
seek for In Central Asia, In those mysterious regions of the great
Tibetian chain which have so much occupied the inventive genius
of ancient and modem -writers?
The Persians, like the Ind ans, are graduaUy deserting Astraklian.
The prohibitive system of Rjussia has destroyed aU their commercial
resources, and now only sorae hundreds of thera, for the most part
detained by penury, are to be found in their adopted country, '
employed in petty retail dealings. We went over the vast Persian
khans of Astrakhan, but saw none of those gorgeous stuffs for which
they were formerly so celebrated. The ware rooras are empty, and
it is but -with great difficulty the traveller can now and then obtain
cashmeres, silky terraalamas, or any other of those productions of
Asia which so much excite our curiosity, and which were formerly
a source of prosperity to the town.
Astrakhan has for sorae years had a lazaret on the raonths of
the Volga at seventy-five versts from Its walls. The history of this
establishment is curious enough. Before It was built on the site it
now occupies, building had been carried on to a considerable extent
at two other spots which were successively abandoned as unsuitable.
It was not until much time and money had been spent, that an en- -
gineer took notice of a little island exceedingly weU adapted to the
purpose, and on which the lazaret was finally erected. Some years -
afterwards there was found in the to-wn archives a manuscript note
left by Peter the Great at his departure from Astrakhan, and in
which he mentioned that very island as well suited for the site
of a lazaret. A glance had enabled the tsar to perceive the im
portance of a locaUty which many engineering coramissions disco
vered only after repeated search.
Pa-ving is a luxury quite unkno-wn in Astrakhan, and the streets are
as sandy as the soU ofthe environs. Though they are almost deserted
duriug the day, on account ofthe intense heat, few spectacles are more
Uvely and picturesque than that which they present in the evening,
when the whole town awakes frora the somnolency Into which'it had
been cast by a temperature of 100. Every one then hastens to enjoy
the refreshing air of the twiUght ; people sit at the doors amusing ;
theraselves with the sight of whatever passes; business is resumed,
and the shops are in a bustle; a numerous population of aU races
and tongues spreads rapidly along the bridges and the quays bor
dered -with trees ; the canal is covered ¦with caiques laden with fruit
and arbutus berries; elegant droshkies, caleches, and horsemen rush
about in aU directions, and the whole town wears a gala aspect that
astonishes and captivates the h-aveller. He finds there collected into
a focus aU the picturesque items that have struck him singly else- '^
where. Alongside of a Tatar dwelUng stretches a great btuldlng
blackened by time, and by its architecture and carvings carrying you
back. to the raiddle ages. A European shop displays its fashionable
haberdashery opposite a caravanserai ; the magnificent cathedral over
shadows a pretty mosque -with its fountain; a Moorish balcony con-

ASTRAKHAN. 181
ukiras a group of young European ladles who set you thinking of
Paris , wliilst a graceful white shadow gUdes mysteriously under the
gallery of an old palace. All contrasts are here raet together ; and
so it happens that in passing firora one quarter to another you think
you have but made a short proraenade, and you have picked up a
stock of observations and rerainiscences belonging to aU times and
places. The Russians ought to be proud of a town which did not
spring up yesterday, Uke all the others in their country, and where
one is not plagued with the cold, raonotonous regularity that meets
you -without end in every part of the empire.
The chm-ches in .Astrakhan are not built in the invariable Greek style
of all the other reUgious buildings of Russia : they have carvings, spires,
and balustrades, something to attract the gaze, and details to fix it.
The cathedral, built towards the end ofthe seventeenth century, is a
large square ecUfice, surmounted by five cupolas, gilded and starred
¦with azure, and presenting a style midway between those of Asia
and Europe. The interior is hung -with pictures of no value in point
of art, but attractive to the eye from the richness of their frames,
most of which are of massive silver curiously chased. The most
Interesting monument in Astrakhan is a small church concealed In
Peter the Great's fort. It is attributed to Ivan IV. Its architecture
Is purely Moorish, ancl it is fretted all over with details exceedingly
interesting to an artist. Unfortunately, it has long been abandoned,
and is now used as a warehouse.
The climate of Astrakhan Is dry, and very hot. For three raonths
the therraoraeter seldom falls in the day below 95. This great heat
enervates both mind and body, and sufficiently accounts for the ex
treme sloth of the inhabitants. But in consequence of its dryness
the atmosphere possesses a transparent purity that would enchant a
painter, gi-ving as it does to every object a warmth and lucidity
worthy of Italy. -
A very serious source of annoyance to the Astrakhaners, and stiU
more to the foreigner, is the swarm of gnats and other insects that
fiU the air at certain seasons. Their pertinacious attacks baffle aU
precautions; it is in vain you surround yourself with gauze at night,
and resign yourself to total darkness during the day, you are not the
less persecuted by them, and you exhaust yourself -with ineffectual
efforts against an invisible enemy.
They are sinking an artesian well in the upper part of the town.
They .had reached, when we were there, a depth of 166 yards;-
but instead of water there escaped a jet of carburretted hydrogen,
which had been burning for three weeks -with great brilliancy.
Astrakhan now contains 146 streets, 46 squares, 8 market-places,
a pubhc garden, 11 wooden and 9 earthen bridges, 37 chm-ches (34
of stone, 3 wooden), 2 of which are cathedrals; 15 raosques, 2 of
them of stone; 3883 houses, 288 of which are of stone, the rest of
wood. All narratives of travels teU of the gardens of Astrakhan, and
the magnificent fruit produced in them. Unfortunately, these are

182 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C. j'
pure fictions, for there are but 75. gardens or vineyards around tlae (
town, and it is only by means of irrigation -with Persian w/heels •
that they are rendered productive. All the fruit ofthe place, ignore-
over, is very poor, if not decidedly bad. The grapes alone- are
tolerable and of very various kinds, suitable for the table, but noneof
thera fit for raaking wine. As for the celebrated water-raelons, they
are held in very low esteem in the country, and the people of the
to-wn talk only of those of Khei-son and the Crimea. It is very
possible, however, that the fi-ult of Astrakhan -may have deserved its V
high reputation previously to the Muscovite domination. Here, as
everywhere else, the Russian population, in taking the place of the
Tatars, can only have destroyed [the agricultural resources of the
country. The Russian townspeople being exclusively traders and
shopkeepers, and never engaging in rural pursuits, the gardens al
most all belong to Tatars and Arraenians.
As for the govemment of Astrakhan, its- territory is one of the
most sterile in the empire. Agriculture is there wholly unproduc
tive; In general nothing is sowed but a Uttie maize and barley,
provisions of all kinds being procured from Saratof, by way of the
Volga. It is this that gives some little briskness to the na-rigation
of that river; for besides the com consuraed by Astrakhan, and the
towns dependent on Its jurisdiction, Saratof and the adjoining
regions send supplies also to Gourief, on the mouth of the Ural, to
the army cantoned on the Terek, and even to the Transcaucasian
countries. NeverthelesSj tiiere are no boats plying regularly on the
Volga; It is only at the period of the fair of Nijni Novgorod, that
the clumsy stearaer we saw proceeding to Prince Tumene's conde
scends to dawdle up the stream.
The day after our arrival in Astrakhan- we were taken to the
house of some Hindu brahmins, where we were to be present at
the evening prayers. We were received by the chief among them
in the raost courteous and obUging raanner. The room into which
he led us looked to the west, and had no other furniture than large
Turkish divans, and the only thing capable of attracting our atten-
-tion was a Uttie chapel let into the wall, and which two priests were
in the act of arranging for the ceremony. One of thera kept his
eyes constantly- turned towards the west, watching -with reUgious at
tention the descent of the sun's-disc to the horizon. These brahmins
were dressed in long brown robes, crossed in front by a white scarf,
the two ends of which swept the ground. Their bronzed and an- ^
tiquely moulded -visages were surmounted by white musUn turbans ^ -.
with large folds. The leader, who -was much less absorbed in his
devotions than the rest, was continually smiUng upon us, and waving
a raonstrous Persian fan that had the effect of a smart breeze. Mean
while the sun was fast decUning ; at last Its total disappearance was
announced by the harsh sound of a conch-shell, whereupon one of tfie
priests lighted several taperg and placed thera before an image in
the chapel. Another began to wash curiously-shaped vessels, fiUed

INDIAN RITES. 183
thera with water of lustration, and prostrated hiraself before them
with great unction. A large grey stone set in the waU, appeared to
be the principal object of their adorations. According to the expla
nation given to us by the chief priest, the soul of a celebrated saint,
grown weary of the world and of men, had retired within that mys
tical covering; hence the stone is sacred in the eyes of the Hindus,
and the mere sight of It, as they declare, is capable of working mira
cles. After worshipping in silence for some minutes, the chief priest
began to burn perfuraes, and the roora was soon fiUed witii a cloud
of sraoke, seen through -which every object assumed a vaguer and
more mysterious form, the pungent aromatic odour, combined with
-the heat and the strangeness of the scene before oiu- eyes, acted so
strongly upon us that we were soon unable to distinguish what
was real from, what was fantastic. In fact, our seml-ecstatlc con
dition was In remarkable accordance with the raoral state of our
brahrains. Their religious enthusiasra soon ceased to content itself
with mere prostrations. Hitherto every thing had passed in com
plete silence, but at a given signal two priests knelt down before the
holy stone and recited a prayer, in slow and guttural accents.
Another -with his arras crossed on his breast, stood a few steps off
frora the chapel, and now and then blew upon a shrill whistle. The
fourth, arraed with a conch-shell, stood upon one of the divans, and
added his voice to the sounds which his companions gave out with
increasing loudness. Presently their eyes kindled, the muscles of
¦fheir frames grew tense, the conch vibrated, a bell was rapidly agi
tated by the leader, and then began so strange andinfernal a din, a scene
so grotesque and wild, that one woidd really have thought the brah
mins were aU possessed by devils. Their attitudes and frantic gestures
conveyed the idea of exorcism rather than of prayer. What we felt
- it would be impossible to describe; it was a mixture of surprise, cu
riosity, disgust, and fright. Had not fatigue compeUed the actors in
this sabbat to stop after ten minutes' exertion, I doubt that we should
have been able to support a longer continuance of such a spectacle.
One would ahnostbe disposed to say that men take pains to worship
God in the least reUgious raanner possible. I have seen the whlrUng
and howling dervishes at Constantinople, whose strange and frightful
perforraances can be corapared only to those of the raedleval convul-
sionaries. The reUgious music of the Kalmucks is not behind-hand
¦with these aberrations of the huraan raind; and here is the Hindu.
worship, which seems to -vie -with whatever is raost deraented and ex
travagant in other reUglons.
: When the abominable concert was ended, the leader took a
handful of yeUow flowers, Uke marigolds, dipped thera in Ganges
water, and presented one to each of us. Then he kneaded a piece
of dough in his hands, and gave it a syrabolic form, stuck seven smaU
tapers in It, waved it in every direction before the chapel, and then
turning towards us, repeated the sarae ceremony. Lastly, he took a
smaU white sheU, which, had been lying imtO. then on the sacred

184 THE STEPPES OP THE CASriAJN BJi-a, Uii...
stone, fiUed it -with sacred water from the Ganges, and sprinkled us
¦with it very devoutly. Meanwhile, his corapanions were setting out
a table with a collation of fine fruit and pastry, of which the leader
did the honours to us with much poUteness and gallantry. So ended
a scene aa difficult to describe well as to forget.
Now let us leave the Indians and their odd ceremonies, and recur
to the European usages, which, to our great surprise we found in
many salons of Astrakhan.
A singular thing, ancl one which must strike the traveUer strongly.
Is the moral influence which France exercises in aU countries of the
world. Wherever you find any trace of cl^viUsatlon, you are sure to
discern the effect of that influence, whether in manners, dress, or
political opinions, and that, even among rulers the most distant.
Most of our romance-writers are probably not aware that their
works are read with a-vidity even on the banks of the Caspian, and
are criticised there with as rauch acuteness as in the great capitals
of Europe. All who call theraselves Russians, in Astrakhan, speak
French, and receive every raonth our newest pubUcations from
Brusseb. In many of the libraries I found Lamartine, Balzac,
Alexandre Dumas, Eugene Sue, George Sand, De Mosset, &c., and
many other names less known perhaps In Paris than in .Astrakhan.
The Russian ladles read a great deal; they are generally gifted
with natural talent, and . converse with tact and to the purpose.
Their only fault in this respect is, that they confine their reading to
romances and novels, which almost always Avarp their judgment, and
give them quite erroneous notions of our habits and our Uteratiue.
Paul de Kock and Pigatdt Lebrim are especial favourites throughout
the empire, ancl their pictures of low life are read rauch more eagerly
than the elegant and chastened pages of our best writers. I must
acknowledge, however, that many Russian ladies are capable of
appreciating the gravest works. I saw on raany a table in Astra
khan, "Les Dues de Bourgogne," "L'Histoire du Bas Erapire," " La
Conquete des Norraauds," and even treatises on geology. It is
needless to add, that our fashions and the prodigies of our civilisa
tion are adopted with the same avidity as our hterature.
I had sorae difficulty In belie-ving myself On the verge of the
Caspian, when listening to conversation on the fine arts, and on
industrial economy, just as in Vienna or Paris. Music, too. Is in
high vogue in Astrakhan, and many of Donizetti's pieces are sung
there by briUiant and cultivated voices. Our quadnUes, too, are aU
the rage there, and so are the charming melodies of Loiza Piiget
On the faith of sorae traveUers who have been, or are reported to
have been in Astrakhan, we expected to find a good many EngUsh,'
ItaUans, and even French in the town; but the fact is, it does not
even contain a single individual of those nations, and Its society
consists solely of Russians and Gerraans, sent thither as employes.
I could hear of but one Belgian, forraerly a prisoner of war, who
became a tailor, and now enjoys a very handsorae fortune.

ASTRAKH.AN. 185
Astrakhan pretends to have a theatre, but I have Uttie to say for it.
Imagine a very ugly and very black hall furnished -with sorae thirty
niches In double T^-vf; a pit adorned -with a few dirty caftans; an
orchestra composed of a paltry -rioUn and half-a-dozen trumpets, the
whole Ughted up by a row of candles on the proscenium, and you
have an idea of what presumes to call itself a theatre on the Caspian
shores. As for the pieces and the actors, they are altogether beneath
criticism. The govei-nor gave a grand ball and sorae soirees during our
stay in Astrakhan. Though the heat -ivas intolerable, the rooms
were every time filled -with a fashionable throng, always eager for
pleasure. The Russian governors of provinces play the part of petty
kings, and exercise over all classes an influence, wliich has its
source in the very constitution of the country. Under an absolute
governraent, every superior eraploye exercises unbounded authority
in his o-wn sphere. He has his courtiers, his favourites, his numerous
chancery, his orderly officers, and his etiquette raodeUed on that of
St. Petersburg, in short aU that constitutes the outward tokens of
power. But all these appearances of grandeur and might are but
relative, for above these petty kings stands a sovereign will, that
can by one word strip thera of their pri-vileges, and send them to
Siberia. We must not imagine that slavery exists in Russia only
for the people ; whether you go east or west, into the brilUant
salons of St. Petersburg, or into the isbas of the Muscovite peasant,
you find it everywhere; only it is commonly cUsguised under forms
that deceive raany travellers, whose judgraents are beguUed by the
gUttering varnish with which the Russian contrives to invest himself,
by his nuraerous staff, his princely abode, and the pomp of his
official life. And yet what is aU this in reality? Something Uke the
soap bubbles that gUsten with all the colours of the rainbow, but
vanish with the least breath.
The raagnificence of the governor's palace astonished us. On our
arrival for the baU, after passing through several rooms sumptuously
fumished, -vve were led into a boudoir, where we found Madarae
Timirasif, the governor's lady, surrounded by all the elite of the
place. She introduced me to several ladies who spoke French -very
weU, and ¦vvith whom I was soon engaged in a conversation as frivo
lous and varied as the chit-chat of the Parisian world of fashion.
But the music soon began, and we repaired to a very large ball-roora,
most splendidly Ughted, and already thronged with officers. The
orchestra, placed on a raised platforra, played French quadriUes In
exceUent style. I took advantage of an interrainable mazurka, to
leam the names of various personages: General Brigon, a Livonian,
hetraan of all the Cossacks; Count Pushkin, cturator of the univer
sity of Casan; Adralral Lazaref; the Kalrauck prince, Tondoutof;
the Princess Dolgoruky; and a young Persian, who occupied the
attention of aU the ladies during the baU. His handsorae Oriental
countenance, his rich costume, the grace with which he danced

186 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
French quadrilles and raazurkas,. and above aU, his title of traveUer,
gave hira an extraordinary eclat, which seeraed in no "wise to astonish
hira. I wUl say nothing of a collection of colqnels and aldes-de-
carap, an inevitable and always profuse, eleraent of every Russian
party, nor of a battaUon of excellencies loaded -with raore scars and
decorations than are coraraonly seen in the court balls of France or
England. The governor's ¦vrife is a speciraen of the Russian lady in the
highest perfection of the class. JElegant, lively, fascinating, and
pleine de distinction, she possesses all the quaUtles requisite in the
queen of a drawing-room. She did the honours of that remarkable
soiree with charming grace. The baU ended with a grand supper,.
which was prolonged until moming.
We passed fifteen well-spent days in Astrakhan. Notwithstand
ing the heat, we were iiraning about from raorning tiU night,
escorted by an aide-de-carap, whom his exceUency had assigned to
us as cicerone. This very obUging officer being perfectiy weU ac
quainted -with the country, and being incessantly on the look-out
fbr any thing that could interest 'us, it came to pass that in eight
days we had a much better knowledge of the town than the
governor hiraself. One thing alone escaped our search, namely,
one or twO famiUes of Parsees, who still inhabit Astrakhan, but
whom our guide could not succeed in ferreting out. It was In vain
he hunted about and questioned every body;- ho one could give
hira any precise inforraation on the subject. Soirees, cavalcades,
numerous dinners,^ and above all, a pleasing intimacy with many
agreeable faraiUes, filled up our tourist existence in the most charm
ing manner, and made us postpone as long as possible a departure,
which waste snap asunder such pleasing social ties.
It would be impossible to surpass the active kindness shown us
"by the governor and aU the best society tjf A^strakhan. During
our whole stay the governor put his caleche at our disposal, and was
imitated in this by many other persons. But not-withstanding aU
these temptations to prolong our abode, we were obUged at last to
set in earnest about arrangements for our journey across the Kalmuck
steppes. Our fii-st care was to provide aU that was Indispensable to
prevent our dying of hunger on the way. An expedition of this
kind is like a long sea -^oyage; the previous cares are the same;^
one must enter Into the same sort of details as the saUor who is
bound for a distant shore- ' "... -¦-::
We laid in a great stock of biscuits,- rice, oil, candles; dry fruit,
tea, coffee, and sugar, and sent them forward -with our escort to
Houidouk, a post station near the Caspian, where my husband was to
begin his series of levels. " -
This escort; consisting of ten caraels -with their drivers and some
Cossacks fully armed, had been selected by the governor- and M.
Fadiew, -with a carefulness that proved how much they were both
concerned for our safety. I cannot sufficiently express my grati-

COMMEECIAE POSITION OP ASTRAKHAN. 187
tude lor aU the kindness they showed us on this occasion; their
anxiety about the result of so hazardous a journey betrayed itself by
nuraberless precautions and recoraraendations, which might have
had some influence on our determination if it had not been irre
vocably fixed.
The governor chose from araong his best officers, a Tatar prince to
coraraand our escort. This young raan, who was an exceUent
sportsraan, had a hawk, from which he was inseparable, and to this
circumstance was ovring the orders he received to accompany us.
General Timirasif, always mindful of the privations that awaited
us, thought he could not do better than fumish us with so clever a
purveyor ; who, indeed, proved to be of imraense assistance to us.
When he presented the officer to us, with his hawk on liis fist, his
face bearaed -with satisfaction. " Now," he said, laughing, " ray
conscience is at ease; here I give you a brave soldier for°yoiir'chara-
pion, and a travelUng corapanion, who wiU not let you be starved to
death in the -wilderness."
Orders were sent forward in advance, along all the Une we were
to traverse as far _as Haidouk, that we should be suppUed -with
horses at every station without delay.

CHAPTER XXI.

COMITEBCIAI, POSinOK OF ASTP.AKHAJf — ITS IMPOBTASCE IN THE SnUDlE ACES— ITS
toss OP THE OVEEI.AND TRADE FBOM INDIA — COJIMERCIAL STATISTICS — ^FISHEEIES
OP THE CASPIAN — CHANCE OF THE MONETARY SYSTEJI IN EITSSIA — BAD STATE OF
THE PINANCB3 — ET7SSIAN POLlTICAI. EC0N03IT.
There Is no city, perhaps, of eastern Europe, which has played
a more important part than Astrakhan in the commercial relations
between Europe and Asia. Situated at the lower extremity of the
largest na-vigable river of Europe, it comraunicates on the one side
by the Caspian -with Turcoraania and the northern regions of Persia ;
on the other side, by raeans of the Volga and the Don, it is in
. direct intercourse -with the central pro-vinces of: the Musco-vite em
pire, and the whole coast of the Black Sea. With such faciUties
for traffic, Astrakhan would naturally be one of the chief points of
transit for Indian goods during the middle ages, when the passage
by the Cape of Gx>od Hope was unkno-wn, and European navigators
had not yet appeared in. the Persian Gulf. It was towards the mid
dle of the thirteenth century, after the foundation of the Kaptshak
empire, and of the kingdom of Little Tartary, that the Caspian Sea
becarae a highway for the Indian trade, -with wliich. In still earUer
times, the Petchenegues, the predecessors of the Tatars rathe Tauris,

188 THE STEPPES OE THE CASPIAN SEA, &C. '\^
appear not to have been altogether unacquainted. Astrakhan on
one side, and Soldai'a on the Black Sea on the other, became the
two great maritirae places of the Tatars, and exchanged between
thera the raerchandise of Europe and Asia, by means of the cara
vans of the Kouban and the Volga.* From Soldai'a tho Indian
goods were next conveyed to Constantinople, where they were sold
either for the pro-vinces of the empire, or to foreigners trading in
that capital. Afterwards, about 1280, when the Genoese took
possession of the coasts of the Tauris, Soldaia lost Its coraraerclal
iraportance, and the splendid colony of Cafia becarae the centre of
aU the Asiatic coraraerce. Mercantile relations -with India assumed
fresh acti-vity at that period,' particularly when, after the dissolution
of the erapfre of the Kaptshak, in the reign of Hadji Devlet Cherii,
the Genoese becarae masters of Tana, on tiie Don. The whole trade
in spices, aromatic and medicinal drugs, perfumes, sUks, and other
productions of the East in request in Europe, fell thus Into the hands
of those intrepid ItaUan speculators, whose- connexions byway of
the Caspian, the Persian Gulf, and the caravans, extended as far as
the Indies.
But soon a new terapest burst forth, raore terrible than any of
those which had before shaken the soil of the East. In 1453, Ma-
horaed II. seized Constantinople, and twenty years later aU the
Genoese colonies fell one after another Into the power of the Otto
mans. It was in vain the Venetians strove to appropriate the com
merce of the Black Sea and the East; their e-fforts were finitiess,
and the closing of the DardaneUes was peremptorUy declared. The
old coraraunlcations between Europe and Asia were thus severed,
and for raany years the precious comraodlties of the East ceased to
find their way towards Europe. But as they were In great demand,
and were very costly, merchants contrived to find a new passage for
them, and Smyrna became their entrep6t.- The situation of that
town, however, was far fi-om compensatmg for the disadvantage of
a long, perilous, and expensive land carriage. Hence the Indian
trade remained in a languid state, untd Vasco de Garaa's discovery
opened a new route for the people of the West.
Srayma retained the raonopoly of the Eastern trade for more than
* Not-57ithstandin'g the assertions of most geographers, we are of opiniou that
the communications between SoUiaTa, Kaff'a, and Astrakhan generally took place by
way of the Don aud the Volga. Many reasons seem to confirm this opinion. Had
it been otherwise, the Genoese would not have attached so much importance to the
possession of Tana, ou the mouth of the Don. furthermore, the route by the hanks
of the Terek and the Kouban, skirting the northern slope of the Caucasus, being
much longer as well as more dangerous, by reason of the neighbourhood of the
Caucasian tribes, preference would naturally have been given to the route by the
Don and the Volga, which passed only through Tatar countries, inhabited by
the same people as the traders, and subjected to the same government. It seems
confirmatory of this opinion that in the e.Kpeditioa of Sultan Selim against Astra
khan, in 1560, part of the Turkish army marched hy that very route. The line
of the Manitch must have heen little frequented oa account of its almost total
-want of drinkable water.

THE OVERLAND INDIAN TRADE. 189
250 years; aud until the middle ofthe seventeenth century, Persia
was the first entrepot for Indian productions, wliich arrived there
by way of the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Beloochistan. "They
-were partly consuraed in the country, and the rest was conveyed
either to Smyrna by Erzeroum and Bagdad, or into Russia by the
Caspian Sea and Georgia. In consequence of this great commercial
revolution, the regions now constituting the south-eastern provinces
of Russia, lost all their iraportance -with regard to the traffic between
Europe and Asia. The great entrepots of Cafia and Tana liaving
faUen into decay, all the routes leading to them were forsaken. The
great caravans of the Volga and the Kouban disappeared, the navi
gation of the Caspian was almost annihilated, and Astrakhan was
reduced exclusively to local comraerce with the adjoining districts
of Russia.
A hiradred years after the taking of Constantinople, Ivan the
Terrible planted -his -vrlctorious banner on the shores of the Caspian,
and the old city of the Tatars of the Golden Horde fell under the
Musco-vite sway. Ever since that event, historians have had to re
cord but a long series of disasters, mistakes, and decadence. It ap
pears, however, that under the reign of Ivan the Terrible and ms
next successors, Astrakhan still continued to supply Russia with the
productions of Persia, and with some of those of Central Asia. An
EngUsh company even attempted, about the year 1560, to open up
a commercial intercourse with Persia and Turcoraania by way of
the Caspian, but failed corapletely ; and subsequently the appearance
of the Dutch and British flags in the Persian Gulf, and the iraraeuse
development of the maritime commerce with India, for ever extin
guished, for Astrakhan, the hope of recovering its former position.
The navigation of the Caspian was completely abandoned, and the
few Asiatic goods which Russia could not dispense with were con
veyed to that country by expensive and perilous overland routes.
Accordingly, when Alexis Michaelovitz ascended the throne about
the middle of the seventeenth century, how to arrive at Persia by
sea was alraost becorae an unsolved problera. To this prince
belongs, however, the honour of the first effort made by Russia
to re-estabUsh the commerce of the Caspian. A maritime expe
dition was undertaken from Astrakhan in 1660, under the di
rection of Dutch seamen ; but it faded completely. In consequence
of the revolt of the Cossacks, and the successes achieved by their
leader, Stenko Razin. After this ineffectual attempt, things re
verted to their old state, and the coraraerclal history of this part of
the erapire presents nothing reraarkable until the accession of Peter
the Great. . - _
The trade ¦with Asia was not forgotten under that iUustrious
regenerator of the Musco^vite nation, who bent all the force of his
genius upon the affiiirs of the East. FUled with the grand design
of making the merchandise of Asia pass thi-ough his dominions, he

190 THE STEPPES OE THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
repaired In person to Astrakhan, Inspected the mouths ofthe Volga,
selected a site for a quarantine estabhshment, and set Dutchmen to
work to tum the shores of the Caspian to profitable account, untU
such tirae as poUtical circurastances should enable hira to found esta
bhshments by force of arras on the Russian coast. But the briUiant
expeditions beyond the Caucasus subsequently raade by Russia led
to no coramercial result. Central Asia continued as of old to com
municate ¦with Europe by way of Srayma and the Indian Ocean;
and after Peter's death Russia gave up aU her pretensions to the
southern shores ofthe Caspian, over which she had entertained strong
hopes of estabUshing her dominion.
Eventually the extension of the Russian possessions southward to
the Kouban and the Terek, and eastward to the Ural, was not ¦vrith-
otit its fruits. The safety secured to traveUers caused the trade with
Persia by way of Georgia to re-vive in some degree. Astrakhan was
again -risited by Persian and Hindu merchants, and by caravans from
Khiva and Bokhara; the western and eastern shores of the Caspian
Were again frequented by vessels, and the numerous' nomade hordes,
of Asiatic habits, that then occupied the steppes of the Volga and
the Kouma, contributed not a Uttie to give animation to the com
mercial interchange between Russia and the Transcaucasian regions.*
In the reign of Catherine II. the Russians reappeared once more
beyond the Caucasus on the Caspian shores; but it was not untd
AJexander's time that their sway was definitively estabUshed in those
Asiatic regions. Once mistress of a vast country conterminous with
Persia and Turkey, and -washed both by the Caspian and the Black
Sea, Russia e-vidently commanded every possible raeans for deve
loping to her own advantage a trade between Europe and most of
the western regions of Asia. By way of the Caspian and the
Volga she could supply all her central provinces -with Persian silks
and cottons, dye-stoSs, ancl drugs; besides which she could monopo
lise the profit on the transit of goods to the fairs of Gerraany and
down the Danube. . ¦ - ¦
At first the Russian govemment seemed disposed to favour the
estabUshraent of all these great raercantUe relations; but It did not
long persist in Its' Uberal course. It soon began to practise restric
tive raeasm-es, thus paving the way for the grand systera of proscrip
tion which it afterwards adopted. In the beginning of Alexander's
reign the old trade with. Persia stUL subsisted, and the Russians con
tinued to buy cottons of exceUent quaUty, at very low prices, in
• Among the various nomade hordes then encamped on the soU of Southem
Eussia, the Kalmucks alone numbered more than 120,000 families ; at the same
period the Crimea alone had a population of more than 600,000. But these regions
have undergone a remarkable change since Peter the Great's time. A. large portion
of the Kalmucks have emigrated to China, and the Mussulman tribes hare lost at
least nine-tenths of their population. It may easily be conceived how iiijurious to
the trade with Persia and Central Asia has been the disappearance of these Asiatic
races.

FALSE COMMERCIAL POLICT OF RUSSIA. 191
Mazanderan, a pro-vince situated on the Caspian.* The merchants
used then to raake their payments in ducats, that gold coinao'e beino-
a sine qua non in aU bargains. But the exportation of ducats waa
prohibited in 1812 and 1813, and thenceforth the Persians refused
to trade, not choosing to accept silver coin. The EngUsh merchants,
always prompt to seize advantageous opportunities, iraraediately en
tered the raarkets of Mazanderan, the cottons of which, purchased by
them at low prices, reached Europe by way of the Persian Gulf At
first they paid in ducats; but England soon substituted for specie
cloths, and aU other kinds of goods suitable to the inhabitants of that
part of Persia. It was especially during the war of 1813 that the
EngUsh led the Persians to adopt their various manufactures. The
Stop put to the Russian trade opened the eyes of the ministry, who
soon revoked the measure concerning ducats, but the mischief was
done; commerce had akeady run into a new channel. Severe as
was this lesson it produced no lasting effect. In order to favour a
. single Moscow manufacture, a duty equivalent to a prohibition was
imposed on foreign velvets in transitu for Persia, and thenceforth an
article for which there was so iraportant a demand, ceased to be an
Itera in the Russian -traffic -with Persia.
In 1821, the Russian governraent seemed to be disposed to ¦wiser
¦news, and aUowed European goods free entrance into the ports of
Georgia. Thereupoft, a great transit trade rapidly sprang up be
tween Turkey, Persia, and the great German fairs, by way of
Radzivilov, Odessa, Redout Kaleh, and Tiflis. This new and very
promising line of communication had but a brief duration, for ten
years afterwards, Russia, in her infatuation, destroyed aU these
magnificent commercial elements, as we have already shown. She
closed the Transcaucasian provinces against European goods, and
thus gave an immediate impulse to the prosperity of her formidable
competitors in Trebisond, whicli soon surpassed the estabhshments on
tiie Persian Gulf, and became the principal port in Persia and the
point of destination [for English goods, to the annual value at
present of more than two millions sterling.
The Trebisond route having been once adopted, the trade in
drags and dye-stuffs was Uke-wise lost for Ru.ssla.
It is scarcely conceivable -with what perverse obstinacy the
Russian govemment has persisted in its course, in defiance of aU
warning ; and whilst the people of Persia and Turkey in Asia, were
forsaking their old commercial routes for new markets, Russia has
gone on making her prohibitive system more and more stringent,
even to the extent of excluding the common pottery, an imraense
quantity of which was forraerly sent frora Khiva and Bokhara to
Astrakhan, for the use of the Tatars and Kalmucks.
* The best cotton of Persia is grown on the slopes of the Elbrouz. These re^ons
might easily supply Bussia annually Trith an average of 1,500,000 kilogrammes of
cotton, at 63 to 70 centimes the Idlogramme on the spot.

192 THE STEPPES or THE CASPIAN SEAj &C.
It was through the effect of such measures as these that
Astrakhan lost aU trace of its former greatness. In 1839 it con
tained only forty-eight merchants of the first guild. Including women
and children, and had but forty-eight vessels belonging to its port.
Of these forty-eight vessels, ha-ving a total tonnage of about nine
miUions of kilogrammes, eleven belonged to the cro-wn, twenty-five
were the property of private individuals, and were employed as
governraent transports ; there reraained, therefore, for trade only
twelve vessels, one-third of which were uneraployed. The vessels be
longing to the other ports of the Caspian In connexion -with As
trakhan, such as Baku and SaUan, were eight In nuraber, -with a
tonnage of 387,000 kUograrames, besides about sixty coasters, ton
nage unknown. Such is the deplorable condition to which the frade
and navigation of the Caspian have been reduced by an exclusive
government, which would never consent to understand tiie reciprocal
nature of traffic, but foolishly hoped to preserve Its commercial inter
course with nations whose productions it rejects, and to which it
refuses even the transit of the foreign goods they require. Do what
she will, Russia -will never succeed in adequately replacing for the
Mussulraans of the south of the erapire tiie manufactures of Asia,
which are pecuUarly adapted to their habits and th^ifwants, or in
inducing the Transcaucasian countries to adopt her own sorry ma
nufactures. The spread of EngUsh comraerce, moreover, in the
western regions of Asia Is now a historical fact, and Russia cannot
possibly check it unless she become mistress, some tirae or other, of
Constantinople. It Is true she may compete in some hardware
goods -with the higher-priced productions of England; but the Asiatics
are exceUent judges of such matters; they are seldom tempted by
mere cheapness; on the contrary, experience proves that they prefer
the EngUsh, goods, the soundness and high finish of which they fully
appreciate. But even though the Russian goods were as weU made
as the EngUsh, the prohibitive system of the empire, and the refusal
of transit to European merchandise, would stiU be sufficient to de
prive the country of aU export trade in the Caspian ; for the people
of Asia -wiU always give the preference to those commercial relations
which afford them opportunities for exchanges suitable to their wants,
along with the advantages of a more extensive demand.
The trade of the two Sussian poi-ts of the Caspian in 1835, -vras
as follows: — _.--.. , .i
Exports. Imports. Duties.
: rubles. rubles. rubles.
- Astrakhan  .....2,235,514 2,235,514 127,241
Baku  .  536,016 1,564,924 81,735

2,791,530 3,800,438 208,976
Which gives for the whole Caspian a general circulation of about
6,500,000 rubles. The trade has still continued to decUne since
1835. We find it stated in the journal of the ministry of the in
terior, that the whole ea^jorts of the Russian Transcaucasian pro-

JPALSE COMMERCIAL POLICT OF RUSSIA. 193
-vinces, by the Black Sea, the Caspian, and overland, amounted in
1839, to but 3,889,707 rubles,* whilst the imports by the Caspian,
did not exceed 2,896,008 mbles, nearly a million less than in 1835.
In the same year Persia suppUed, by the overland route, goods to
the amount of 8,545,035 i-ubles to the Caucasian provinces. Now
these goods consisted, according to the documents of the govern
ment itself, not of raw materials, but almost entirely in silk and
cotton fabrics. The fact is, that notwithstanding the nigh duties of
the imperial tariff, the people of Asia, who know nothing of the fan
tastic changes of fashion, always prefer the durable productions of
the Persian looms to the flimsy tissues which Russia offers thera, at
very high prices, in consequence of the great remoteness of Moscow,
the only seat of manufactures in the empire. Again, the Persians,
finding that Russia can supply them with but kvr articles suited to
them, keep aU the raw materials produced in their country, and those
which reach thera frora Central Asia, to exchange them for the
European goods, which are now briskly and abundantly suppUed in
Trebisond and Tauris. Thus the Ghllan-f- silks, the Mazanderan
cottons, the gall-nuts of Kurdistan, the tobaccoes of Shiraz, the gums,
dye-stufi&, safiiron, &c., have completely deserted the Caspian, and
the route from Tiflis to Redout-Kaleh, for that by way of Erzeroum -
and Trebisond. Another circumstance in favour of this new line is
the low rate of carriage and duties in Turkey ; the latter never ex
ceed three per cent, for Europeans, and four per cent, for Persians ;
but In reaUty raerchants seldom pay more than half that araount.
Altogether the transit frora Constantinople does not augraent the
first cost of goods by raore than ten per cent. Hence It is easy to
infer how difficult it is for Russia, whose manufacturing power is still
so inconsiderable, to contend with the other European states in the
markets of Persia, and how grossly it blundered when it voluntarily
annihilated all transit trade through its dominions, in the vain hope
of forcing Its own productions on the Transcaucasian countries.
One of the most curious things connected with the destruction
of all these elements of wealth is the petty artifices practised by the
ministry to make Europe, and the head of the govemment, believe
that the extension of commerce is nowhere raore sedulously pursued
than in Russia. For instance, the fort of Alexandrof has been built
on the north-east coast of the Caspian, under the pretence of provid
ing a receptacle for the imaginary caravans from Khiva and Bok
hara. Unfortunately, the locality affords neither fresh water nor
wood, nor any one necessary; accordingly, as raight have been fore
seen. It has not been visited by a single caravan. The garrison con
sists of 600 raen, and reqtures to be constantly renewed in conse-
• Among the articles exported by Eussia, the following are to be estimated at the
approximative values annexedto them: cotton cloths, 700,000 rubles; woollens,
40,000,; linens, 30,000; iron, 200,000 to 400,000; various metal wares, 200,000, and
wheat' 100,000.
tln.l836, Ghilan exported more than 9,000,000 rubles worth of silk to Trebismd.

194 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.\
quence of Its suffering by scurvy; the comraandant is obliged to
procure fresh water from the mouths ofthe Ural, which is conveyed
to him in packet-boats. The fort has not even proved of use for the
protection of the fishery which is carried on not far from- its site.
The soldiers cannot venture from their redoubts -without incurring
the risk of being carried off by the Khirghis. More than eighty
Russian fishermen were made prisoners in 1839 by those nomades,
and sold in Khiva and Bokhara.
It is weU known what; hopes Peter the Grreat btult on the Black
Sea, the Caspian, and the countries situated beyond the Caucasus. It
remains for us briefly to discuss the question, whether it -vriU ever be
possible for Russia to raake the Indian trade return to Its old route.
Now that na-vigation has made such araazing progress, now that
the estabhshment of steamboats on the Euphrates- and the Red
Sea, Is a solved problera, and the cost of -freight by sea Is exceed
ingly reduced, we think there is no longer a chance for Russia
to di-vrert the course of the Indian traded and make it pass through
her own dominions. . Russia is conterminous with the Chinese em
pire, and has long enjoyed certain and regular communication -vrith
It;^ and yet the EngUsh find it very profitable to sell in Odessa, and
aU the south of Russia, tea brought them by ships that double the
Cape of Good Hope. . It is e-vident that Russia Is in a stiU worse
position -with regard to India than to China. Should the Russians
ever become masters of the Sea of ALZof, they might, perhaps, pene
trate to Bokhara and Samarcand .by way of the rivers Sir Daria
(laxartes) and Araore Daria (Oxiis). This was one of Peter the
Great's grand conceptions;' But the reiterated attempts that have
been raade In Khiva, always to no purpose, prove plainly that con
quests are not easily to be made in those regions, and that such armies
as those of Our day are not fitted to traverse the steppes of the
lihirghis and Turcomans. And how were It possible, besides, to
establish as regular and cheap communications -with India, by way
of Persia or Bokhara, as those which now exist by sea ? It seeras, there- -
fore, evident that Peter the Great's projects are becorae chimerical ,'
at this day, and that all the efforts Russia can ever make by hersetf,
¦vyUl be unable to change the course of the Indian trade. It is only
In ease of a long maritirae war that die could hope to bring the
productions of Central .Asia to the Black Sea, thence to be distri-.
buted over continental Europe. But apart from this trade, there -was
stiU a vast field to be -wrought r in like maimer as the East Indies-
are become, commerciaUy speaking, dependencies of Great Britain,
so Persia and Turcoraania might have become tributaries to Russia,
had not the latter, blinded by her vanity and jealous ambition,
toadopt her deplorable system of prohibition, and destroyed the
whole European transit trade which was establishing itself by way
of the ports she possesses on the Black Sea.
Our facts and figures have clearly proved that tiie decay of tho
na-vigation of the Caspian has accompanied that of the Asiatic trade;

NA-VIGATION OE THE CASPIAN. 195
it Is Important, however, to give some notion of the nature and
employment of the vessels actuaUy in use on the Caspian and the
Volga. These -vessels are di-vided into five classes, according to the
character of their buUd. The first comprises ships that visit aU the
ports of the Caspian indiscriminately; the second, tiiose that ply
only in the neighboiurhood of Astrakhan; the third, those that con
fine themselves to the mouths of the Volga from Astrakhan to the
sea; the foiurth, the river boats that never quit the Volga; and the
fifth, those belonging to the Persian provinces.
The ships that visit the ports of the Caspian are caUed shkooutes,
and their hulls are not unlike those of Dutch vessels. They are
buUt of bad tiraber, and In defiance of all rules. Their nuihber,
though greatly exceeding the deraands of comraerce,. is not above
eighty; they gauge from 1000 to 2000 hectolit)-es. Shipowners
generally buy old huUa in Nijni Novgorod, and tum them into
shkooutes, without ever reflecting that their craziness and want
of regularity raakes them exceedingly dangeroua as sea-going ves
sels. -And then the coramand of them is given to ignorant pilots,
who fiU the office of captains in all but the name.. The crews con
sist of frora ten to sixteen, and these being chosen by the sole test
of cheapness, the result is that the navigation of the squaUy and for
midable Caspian is in very bad repute among, merchants, aud wUl
ine-vitably be abandoned altogether.
- -Tie shkooutes are employed in conveying Russian and Persian
goods, and the workmen, materials, provisions, and produce, belong-
mg to the fisheries situated between SaUan,* Siphitourinsk, Akhra-
bat, and A.3trabad,t and in carrying victuals and stores to the
garrisons in the eastern parts of the Caucasus.. ,
Of aU these -transports , those of the cro-wn alone afford the shi ppers
any chance of profit. The Russian authorities and merchants them
selves confess that there is no longer any thing to be got by conveying
merchandise frora ' Astrakhan to Persia. Twenty years, ago the
freights obtained for heavy goods were frora 1-30 rubles, to 3 per
Eood, and frora 6 to 10 rubles for Ught and bulky goods. Now the
eight for the former does not exceed from 40 to 70 copeks, and
that of the latter never amotmts to one ruble. The return charges
cannot be stated with accuracy, since thej depend on the quantity pf
goods to be shipped, and the number of vessels ready, to load. It
often happens that the captains put up their services to auction, and
end with losing instead of gaining. This diminution in the charges
for freight is evidently the consequence of the superabundance of
vessels, of the frequent shipwrecks which cause a preference for land
* Saliin is a port on the Caspian, at the mouth of the Couxa (the ancient Cyrus).
The roadstead is tolerably good, and the fisheries are important. An immense
quantity of sturgeons are caught.
t Astrabad on the southem coas-t of the Caspian, between Persia aild Turkistan,
- is in regular and easy communication -vrtth all the regions of Persia, Khiva, and
Bokhara. It is the true key to aJI the commerce of Asia by way of the Caspian;
hence it was an object of special attention for Peterthe Great, and Catherine IL '-
o2

'196 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPL4.N SEA, &C.
carriage, and of the smaU amount of Importation Into the Persian
'pro-vrinces. The vessels that ply on the Caspian in the vicinity of Astrakhan
are known in the country by the name of razchiva. They differ
very Uttie frora the shkooutes, and cost from 1500 to 4000 rubles.
Sailors distinguish them into two classes, manghishlaks and
aslams, the forraer of which take the narae frora the port* whence
they formerly carried to Astrakhan the goods brought by the Khiva
and Bokhara caravans. This traffic was monopolised by Tatars,
who alone had nothing to fear from the Khirghis and Turkmans,
when they landed. In 1 832, there were but eight manghishlaks, half
of which were unemployed. These Uttie vessels carry from 700 to
1200 hectrolitres.
The other class of razchivas, designated by the Tartar word aslant
(carrier — voiturier), are used to convey household vessels, victuals,
timber, and articles requisite for the fisheries. They ply to Ki3Uar,t
Gourief,! ^°^ Tchetchenze,§ and traverse aU the north-western parts
of the Caspian, frora the Vol^a to Terek, their piincipal cargoes
being commissariat stores for the troops in the Caucasian provinces.
They bring back ¦wine, rice, and Kisliar brandy, which is much
esteemed In the coimtry. The nuraber of these razchivas does not,
however, exceed fifty. They can make five trips In the year.
These vessels are much more profitable to their owners than are
shkooutes. In reaUty they are but coasters, and as they seldom ven
ture out of sight of the shore, they are much less exposed to wreck.
Moreover, in addition to their Astrakhan freights, they keep up an
exchange trade in eatable coramodities with the nomades of the Cas
pian shores. They are also employed ih the fisheries of the Emba
and of Tchetchenze, though the fishermen generally prefer smaUer
vessels. 
The vessels that ply in the mouths of the Volga are some of them
decked, some open. The former, which need to be of a certain
strength, carry goods directly on board the shkooutes in the offing,
whereas the latter stop a little distance from the mouth of the river.
Both are reaUy Ughters. - The water is so low near the mouths of
the Volga, as well as in all tiie northern part of the Caspian, that
the shkooutes are obUged to put-to sea empty frora the port of Astrak
han. About twenty miles frora the shore they take in haff tiieir
cargo, which 'is brought to them in open Ughters, nor can they
coraplete their loading until they are 100 or 120 mUes fi-om. the
* Mangliishlak is not a town but merely a port, at which vessels used formerly
to touch to trade with the nomades of that part of the const. It is now entirely
abandoned; the few vessels which still visit these parts, stop at TukKarakhan, near
the old landing place, whence .goods are conveyed on camels to Khira in twenty-
eight days.
t A town on the Caspian, at the mouth of Terek, celebrated for its brandy.
j A town at the month of the Ural. It belongs to the Cossacks of the Ural, and
contains upwards of a hundred houses.
§ An island not far from the Gulf of Agrakhan,  -

NAVIGATION OF THE VOLGA. 197
embouchure, where they are met by decked vessels whose draught of
water does not exceed thirteen feet. The lighters generally belong
to petty captains, who reaUse a good profit by them; but a large
proportion of them are lost every year.
The boats that float down the Volga to Astrakhan from the inte
rior, are of extreme diversity of construction. The raost reraarkable
are the kladnyas, which are distinguished above aU the rest by their
solidity and their Dutch build. They have but one enormously
tall mast -with tw-o sails, one of which is attached to a boora twice
as long as the hull of the vessel. Next after them come the
beliangs, flat boats buUt entirely of deal, ancl not pitched either
•within or ¦without. Besides these there are an infinity of smaller
boats, which it is unnecessary to describe. AU these boats convey
goods frora -Astrakhan to Nijni Novgorod, Saratof, and other places,
and vice versa, charging for freight frora ten to thirty kopeks per
pood, according to distance. They arrive at Astrakhan at stated
times, naraely, in May, July, and September. The steamboat that
makes one trip every year between Astrakhan and Nijni Novgorod,
takes from forty to fifty days to ascend the river, ancl a fortnight
to retum. The na-vigation of the Volga, appears by the sailoi-s'
accounts, to be growing more difficult every year; some parts of
the river are aheady impracticable for boats of a certain draught.
Indeed the fact seeras clearly ascertained that the Volga has under
gone a great cUrainution of volume within the last century.
The vessels belonging to the Persian provinces resemble the Rus
sian shkooutes, -with this difference, that no pitch Is used in their
construction, but their timbers are so accurately joined as to admit no
water. It is superfluous to say that the Persian shipping Is in a
StUl worse position than that of Russia. If to these statistical details
we add that aU the Russian goods are conveyed by land to the
Caucasian pro-vinces of the empire, no raore wUl be wanting to show
how deserted is the Caspian Sea.
The raanual industry of Astrakhan shares, of course, the decay
of its coraraerce. The raetropohs reckoned fifty -two manufacturing
estabUshraents in 1838, viz.: one for silks, two for cotton cloths,
twenjiy dyeing-houses, ten tanyards, two candle raanufactories, three
soap manufactories, twelve tile -manufactories, one taUow melting-
house, one rope-walk; 615 workmen were employed in all these estab
lishments. It was the fisheries of the Volga that in reality fumished
the population -with aU the means of subsistence ; they are stIU the chief
resource of the country, and it would seem as though nature had
-wished to corapensate Astrakhan for the sterility of its soil, by ren
dering the waters that wash it more proUfic than any othep in fish.*
The waters in which the fishing is carried on are private pro
perty, or farmed out by the crown and the towns, or they are free
*The particulars that follow as to the fisheries of the Caspian, were com
municated to us at Astrakhan. Neither the weather nor the season aUowed us to
be present at those interesting operations. - •

198 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
to aU coraers. The most productive spots belong to the princes
Kourakin, Youssoupof, Besborodko, &c. The crown fisheries were
forraerly coramercial property; they are now leased to one indi
vidual, along, with those belonging to the district capitals of the
govei-nraent of Astrakhan. Tlie waters of Astrakhan, though be
longing to Prince Kourakin, have nevertheless been gratuitously
conceded to the town. They yield for the most part only small
kinds of fish, which are consumed by the inhabitants theraselves.
The fisheries of the Emba have been free since 1803. They com
prise 300 mUes ofthe Caspian coast, from the mouth ofthe Ural to
Mentvol Koultouk, and take their name from the river Emba.
They belonged formerly to the counts Koutussof and Soltykov.
By -virtue of a decree, dated March 31, 1803, fishery of aU sorts,
Including that of seals, is free in the maritime waters of Tchetchenze.
The Island of that narae, lying not far frora the gulf and cape
of Agrakhan, contains vast estabUshraents for sraoking, salting, and
drjring fish, and nuraerous dwellings occupied by the fishermen.
The fishery here lasts all the year through^ and yields beluga,*
comraon sturgeon, salmon trout, silurus,t and two varieties of carp.
It has been the custom of the seal-fishers from time immemorial not
to destroy any of those animals before the 13th of ApiU ; whoever
Infringes this rule is deprived of all his booty by his comrades, who
divide It among theraselves. War is waged upon the seals in five
different ways. In suraraer they are hunted on the islands and
netted in the sea ; in winter they are shot, or killed with clubs
on the ice, or at the breathing-holes they break through It. In
suraraer the seals weigh thirty poimds, in autumn about sixty, and
in winter often ninety-six. ,
The permanent fisheries are caUed vataghis and outskoughis; the
places where they are temporary are caUed stania. An outshoughi
consists in a barrier of stakes planted across the river, and some
tiraes wattled. Below this barrier the apparatus caUed in Russian
samoloff, is placed in the current. It is a cord hung -with short
Unes and hooks, and the business of the fisherraan consists in ex-
araining the lines, and taking oft' the fish that are hooked. These
are iraraediately taken to a shed built on piles at the waterside,
where they are cut up; the roes, the fat, and tiie nerves are after
wards conveyed to places where they undergo the processes neces
sary to fit thera for comraerce.
As the Unes of stakes hinder the fish from ascending the river,
the governraent has for some time prohibited the use of outshou-'
ghis, and also of the Unes and hooks, by which it is found that
scarcely one fish is taken out of a hundred that swaUow the bait;
the rest escape though wounded, and thus perish uselessly.
* The beluga of the Russians is the great sturgeon (Piscis ichthyccoUa, Accipenser
Huso), its weight often amounts to 1400 lbs. .
t Silurus glanis, a fish unknown iu France. I have found it in the Danube, the
"Volga, aud the Dniepr, where its voragity and strength make it formidable to bathers.

FISHERIES OF THE CASPIAN. 199
The Invention of these barriers Is ascribed to the Tatars of the
khanat of Astrakhan. As fish was an. important article of com
merce between thera and the Russians, it maybe presuraed that
they adopted this raeans to keep the fish frora ascending to the upper
portions of the Volga.
The vataghis, usuaUy placed on the heights above the shore, are
ceUars in which fish is salted and dried. Before the door there is
always a platform sheltered by a screen of reeds, where the fish
are cut up and cleaned. Nets, some of them several hundred yards
In length, are exclusively used In these establishments. It is forbid
den, however, to stretch them across tiie entire Avidth of the river.
The fishing season is divided into several distinct periods. The
firstj which extends from March tiU May, tiiat is from the breaking
up of the ice to the tirae of flood, is caUed the ca-vriar season; it
is the raost important and most productive of the ca-vdar and
isinglass. The second occurs in July when the waters have sunk
¦within their ordinary bed, and the fish ha-vdng spa-wned, are return
ing to the sea. The third, from September to November, is the
season when the beluga, sturgeon, and se-vriuga* return to the
deepest parts of the river. These fish are also taken In -winter by
nets of a pecuUar form. At that tirae of year the fishermen of the
coasts often travel over the Ice for dozens of raUes from the land.
Every two men have a horse and sledge, and carry -with them 3000
yards of net, -with which they capture belugas, sturgeons, sllures, and
even seals under the ice. These expeditions are very dangerous.
The -wind often drives the ice-blocks on a sudden out to sea, and
then the loss of the fishermen is inevitable, unless the -wind chops
round and drives them back to land. Old experienced fishermen
aUege that the instinct of the horses forewarns them of these atmos
pheric changes, and that their uneasiness puts their masters on their
guard against the danger; according to the sanae authorities, the
moment the aniraals are yoked they turn of their o-wn accord to
wards the shore, and set off thither -with extraordinary speed.
- The fisherraen of Astrakhan reckon three classes of fish. The
first they caU red fish, which includes the beluga, the sevritiga, and
the sturgeon. The second consist-s of white fish, such as the salmon-
trout, the bastard beluga, the sterlet,! the carp or sazan, the sou-
dak,f and the silure. To the ttiird class belong aU those designated '
by the general narae of tcMstia, kovaya or riba, either on account
of the closeness of the nets eraployed to take them, or of their
habits of entering rivers in very dense shoals. They are- smaU fish,
which are Uttie prized, and are salted for the consumption of the in
terior of the empire.
The govemment fishing board has the general control of the
fisheries, grants the requisite Ucences, superintends the election of
the headmen, sends out inspectors to maintain order, and col-
* Accipenser stellatus. fA.ruthenus. JPercaasper.

200 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIjVN SEA, &C.
lects information as to the produce ofthe fisheries. In 1828,8887
men employed in fishing, and 254: in taking seals, with 3219 boats,
brought in 43,033 sturgeons, 653,164 sevriugas, and 23,069 be
lugas : these yielded 330 tons of caviar, and about 34 tons of isinglass.
There were also taken 8335 soudaks, and the enormous quantity of
98 ,584 seals. The sturgeon fishery alone produces about 2,000,000 of
rubles annually, but the expenses are very considerable. The re
venue derived bv the governraent frora the fisheries' of the Volga
- amounts to 800,000 paper rubles.
The celebrated imperial ukase appointing a uniforra monetary
system throughout the erapire, was promulgated during our stay
in Astraklian, and afforded us a fresh opportunity of beholding
the amazing impassiveness of the Russians, and their extreme
Incapability of self-assertion. The change was certainly exceUent
in itself, and loudly called for by the circumstances of the country,
but the manner of canying it into effect caused a loss of eighteen per
cent, to all holders of coin. In Astrakhan, the voice of the piibHc
crier sufficed at once, and -without warning, to reduce the 4 ruble
¦ piece to 3.5, that of 1.20 to 1.05, that of 1 ruble to 0.87, and that
of 0.62 to 0.52; and immediately after beat of drum, the law was
carried into fuU force on aU commercial transactions. It raust not be
supposed, however, that this inert resignation of the tzar's subjects
is raerely the result of their profound reverence for whatever ema
nates frora the omnipotence of their sovereign. Every one of them
is fully and keenly sensible of his loss, and if no voice is upUfted
against such ministerial spoliations, the cause abides in that total ab
sence of will and reflection which we have already had many occa
sions to point out as a distinguishing trait of the Russian character.
For our own part we cannot but highly approve of the idea of es
tabUshing a complete uniforraity in the value of coinage, forthe varia
tions of value which the sarae coin forraerly underwent in passing
frora one government to another were exceedingly injurious to trade.
We think, however, thatthe change might have been accomplished
by more legal and less violent means. It is tme, that by acting
as he did, Coirat Cancrine was sure of realising a gain of eighteen per
cent., and this, it may be--presuraed, was the principal motive that
actuated him. Be this as it may, this was not the first time the
Russian govemment took such a course; every one knows that in
1812, the silver ruble fell abruptly to the value of a paper rable, entail
ing a los3_ of seventy-one per cent, on aU holdei-s of govemment bills,
who received but a paper ruble for every silver ruble represented by
the blUs. This state of things lasted untd 1839, when the old sys-
tein was restored. The present governraent paper, having for its
basis a real coin, the silver ruble, worth 3.50 paper rubles (about
3s. 2d.)y consists of notes for 5, 10, 20, and even 10,000 rubles.
These notes are extreraely small, and the governraent raust Inevitably
reaUse a large profit annually by their wear and tear and loss. It is
Uke-wise very possible that the ministry of finance had no other mo-

FINANCES OF RUSSIA. 201 .
tive for creating these new notes, than that of preparing raeans to
repeat the bankruptcy of 1812; and seeing the actual stateof the
iraperial treasury, there is no doubt that such an act of bankruptcy
would be committed in case of war. Never was the state so op
pressed with debt as it is at this day. The war in the Caucasus, the
grand miUtary parades, ancl the payment of a countless host of diplo
matic agents, avowed and secret, all absorb imraense sums, and the
ministry is consequently reduced to miserable shifts to make up the
deficit, and restore the balance of the finances. The proposal of a great
mlUtary expenditure was discussed in the imperial council of 1841,
and was opposed with reason by Cancrine, on the too real ground of
want of money. The emperor, chafed by an opposition to his
-wishes such as he was not used to, ordered the grand treasurer to
produce all his accounts, that the matter might be investigated in
councU. Next day the accounts were examined In presence of the
tzar and his rainisters. One itera excited great surprise ; an enor
mous sura was set down as expended, but how or wherefore it was
spent was not stated. The eraperor yielding -without reflection to a
sudden irapulse of anger, coramanded Cancrine to explain what had
becorae ofthe raoney, and the rainister, who had taken his precau
tions beforehand, instantly laid before his master a note in which
were revealed sorae singular mysteries. It was, they say, after this
meraorable sitting that all public works were iraraediately stopped,
the stamp duties were quadrupled, the charge for passports cen
tupled, and new notes payable to the bearer, were issued for raore
tiian 100,000,000 of sUver rubles. Such are the expedients that con
stitute the-genius of the rainistry, and which Count Cancrine thought
it right to eraploy to augment the financial resources ofthe country. .
I recoUect an anecdote that exactly typifies the notions of that
statesman. I was once in the house of a Moldavian landowner of
Bessarabia, whose lands bring hira In about 10,000 rubles a year.
The conversation turned on agriculture. " What !" exclairaed a Rus
sian who was present, " your estate yields you but 10,000 rubles
a-year? Nonsense; put it into ray hands and I warrant you twice
as rauch." — " That would be a very agreeable thing, if it could be
done," said the landlord; " I flatter myself I ara tolerablywell versed
in these raatters, and yet I have never been able to discover any
possible raeans of increasing ray income." — ' ' How raany days do your
peasants work?" said the Russian. — " Thirty." — " Thatis not enough i
make them work sixty. What breadth of land do they till for
you?" — " So rauch." — " Double it." And so he went on through the
other items ofthe inquiry, crying, " Double it! double it I" We
could not help heartily laughing. But the Russian remained per
fectly serious, and I am sure he thought himself as great a man aa
Cancrine himself; I really regret that I did not ask him, had he
taken lessons in economics in the office of that Ulustrious financier.

202 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.

CHAPTER XXII.
DEPABTtTBE PKOaC ASTBJlKHAN — C0.iJ3T OF THE CASKCAN — HAWKING  HOCnXJCK—
THBEB STORMY DA ia PASSED ISA POST-HOUSE — ARMEXIAS MEBCHANTS — P.OB-
BERT COMjnTTEB BT KAEaTtTCKS — CAMELS — KOUSKAIA — ^AKOTHEB TEMPEST —
TABAKAN3 — A KEPOa-TED COLD MIITB.
We left Astrakhan at eight in the evening, and were ferried
across the Volga in a four-oared boat. It took us more than an hour
to cross the xivei, Its breadth opposite the town being more than
2000 yards. When we reached the opposite bank we might
have fancied ourselves transported suddenly to a distance of a hun
dred versts from Astrakhan. Kalraucks, sand, felt-tents, caraels, in
a word, the desert and Its tenants were aU that now raet our view.
We found our britchka waiting for us; our officer and the dragoman
got into a telega or post chariot, and tiie bells, began their merry
jlngUng. Nothing^can be more dismal than the route, from Astrakhan to
KIsUar. JFor two days and two nights our journey lay through a
horrid tract of loose sand, with nothing to be seen but sorae half-
buried Kalmuck kibitkas, serving for post stations, and a few patches
of wormwood, the melancholy foliage of which was in perfect har
mony with the desolate aspect of the landscape. The heaps of sand
we passed between ^exhibited the most capricious miraiciy of natural
scenery. We had before our eyes luUs, ra-vones, cascades, narrow
vaUeys, andtumuU ; but nothing remained in its place; an invisible
power was ceaselessly at work, changing every shape too quickly for
the eye to follow the rapid transformation. - .
On the evening of the day after our departure, we had an oppor
tunity of testing the prowess of our travelling companion, the hawk.
The first theatre of his exploits was a Uttie pond covered -with wld.
ducks and geese, that promised a rich booty.
At a signal frora ray husband the Tatar oificer unhooded the bird,
and cast him off. Instantly the hawk darted off Uke an arrow, dose
along the surface of the ground, towards the pond, and was soon
hidden from us araong the reeds, where his presence was saluted
¦with a deafening clamour, and a scared multitude of ¦wUd geese rose
np out of the sedges. Their screams of rage and terror, and their
be'wildered flight backwards and forwards, and In aU directions, were
utterly indescribable, untU the arrival of the officer put them to the
route, and deUvered their assailant from their obstreperous resent
ment. The moment the hawk flew off, the Tatar foUowed him at a
gaUop, aU the whUe beating a smaU drum that was fastened to
his saddle. ' When he reached the pond he found the bird planted
stoutly on the back of a most Insubraissive -victim, and waiting -vrith
philosophic patience tratil iia master should corae and release him
from his critical position.
The officer told usj that but for his presence, and the noise ofthe

POST-STATION AT HOUIDOUK. 203
drum, the geese would in aU probabiUty have pummeUed the hawk
to death -with their beaks, in order to rescue their companion. In
such cases, however, the hawk braves the storra -with irapertiirbable
.coolness, and adopts a curious expedient when the attacks are too
violent, and his raaster is too slow in appearing. Without quitting
hold of his ¦victim, he sUps hiraself under the broad ¦wings of the
goose, which then becorae his buckler. Once In that position he is
m-vinclble, and thfe blows airaed at hira fall only on the poor prisoner,
whose cruel fate it is to be forced to protect its mortal enemy. When
tiie falconer coraes up, the first thing he does is to cut off its head
and give the brains to the hawk. UntU that operation is cora
pleted, the latter keeps fast hold on the quarry, and no efforts of
its raaster can induce it to relax its gripe.
The hawk raade two or three more successful fUghts before we
reached Houidouk, and suppUed us -with a good stock of provisions,
which were not a Uttie needful to us In that miserable post station.
During this joumey we passed several times very close to the
Caspian, but -without percei-ving It.
At Houidouk, on the mouth of the Kouma, we found our escort,
which had been waiting two days for us. Every thing was ready for
our departure, but a violent faU of rain detained us three mortal days
in the raost detestable cabin we had yet entered. Two rooras, one
for traveUers, and the other for the raaster of the station and his
family, composed the whole dwelling. We installed ourselves as weU
as we could in the former, the whole furniture of which consisted of
a long table and two benches. The waUs of this wretched hole were
made of Ul-jointed boards, that gave admission to the -wind and the
rain, and to add to our discomfort, It served as an ante-charaber to
the other roora, and was thus common to the whole household. Hens,
chUdren, and the master of the house, were perpetuaUy passing
'tiirough It, and left us not a moraent's rest. Our situation was into
lerable; the violence of the tempest increased at such a rate, that -we
knew not how the miserable wooden fabric could stand againpt it.
AU the elements seemed confounded together ; there was no distin
guishing earth or sky; but the terrible disorder of nature appeared
to me more tolerable than the scene vrithin doors. Outside there
was at least something for the Imagination ; the mind was exalted In
conteraplating the swelling uproar that threatened a renewal of chaos;
but the scene -vrithin was enough to drive us to despair — chUdren
%hting and screaraing, fowls ' fluttering and perching on the table
and benches, squalor aU around us, and a frowsy atmosphere ! To
complete our distress, some Armenian raerchants on their way to
tiie fair of "Hflis, finding It Impossible to continue their joumey,
came to share with us the den in which we were already so uncom-
. fortable. - -i -l r
But this new Incident was a sort of lesson In phUosophy for us.
When we saw these men conversing quietly as they smoked their
tchibouks, -without the least show of Impatience, and taUring ofthe

204 THE STEPPES -OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
heavy losses the unseasonable weather might occasion them, as calmly
as if their own interests were not concerned, we could not help en
vying the stoic resignation of which the men of the' East alone pos
sess the secret. There is nothing like their fataUsm for enabUng one
to take aU things as they come ; is not that the acme of huraan
wisdom? Our escort passed the three days of this deluge in a comer ofthe
shed adjoining the house. Wrapped up in their sheep-skins, those Iron
men slept as qiuetly through wind and rain as If they had been in
a snug room. One raust have Uved among the Russians- to have
any idea ofthe apathy with which they bear all kinds of privations.
Their bodies, inured to the rigours of their cUmate, to the coarsest
food, and raost Spartan habits, grow so hardened, that what would
be mortal to others raakes no injurious irapression on them.
At last the rain ceased towards the end ofthe third day. . A west
¦wind followed it, and dispersed the dark threatening clouds that had
so long obscured the sky. Though the weather seeraed stiU un
settled, we determined to raake for the Casplaii, which lay but thirty
versts from us. My husband's anxiety to coraraence his surveying
operations, and our eagerness to quit our detestable abode, gave us
courage to risk the chance of another storta In the open steppe.
But a very unexpected incident threw the station into confusion,
just as we were departing, and delayed us sorae hours longer. A
Kalrauck Cossack, mounted on a camel, arrived in great haste and in
forraed us that the Arraenian raerchants, who had started the day
before, had been attacked sorae distance from the station by a band
of Kalmucks and plundered of the greater part of their raerchandise.
Our Cossack officer, after Ustening •with great Indignation to this
N story, asked permission of ray husband to pursue the robbers. The
' whole escort set off -with him at a hard gallop, but the pursuit was
ineffectual. The robbers, having had sorae hours' start, had already
reached the sedges ofthe Caspian. In consequence of this delay it
was the afternoon before we could make a start, and even then -we
had great cUfficulty in getting away, for the terrified postmaster en
treated us not to foi-sake hira at a raoraent so critical. His dismay,
for which Indeed there was Uttie reason, alraost infected rae too, and
it was not without sorae apprehension of disaster that I left the
station. .
The appearance of our caravan was curious and grotesque. Our
britchka was drawn by three caraels, taken in tow by a man on
foot, and several other aniraals ofthe sarae species, besides sumpter-
horses, were moimted by Kalraucks and Cossacks. Our escort
foUowed, and all the raen composing it, armed with sabres, guns,
and pistols, looked martial enough to scare away the most daring
thieves. The leader of the troop, the Tatar prince, rode -with his
falcon on his fist, every now and then showing off his skiU in
horsemanship and venery. Thinking no more of the morning
alarm, I gave myself up to the UveUest anticipations of the extra-

CAilELS. 205-
ordinary tilings which this excursion promised us. At last I was about
to behold that Caspian Sea which, ever since men have been en
gaged with geographical questions, has been the object of their
researches and conjectures. Besides, it had a much raore potent
interest foi- us, for it was in a raanner the sole aim and end of our
journey; it was to solve an irameraorial question concerning it, that
we had abandoned the comforts of civiUsed life, and encountered so
raany annoyances and privations. Notwithstanding my ignorance
of science, I felt that in sharing ray husband's toils, I was in some
sort a partner in his learned researches, and that I too, like him,
had my clairas upon the Caspian. I was, therefore, impatient to see
It; but our caraels, who had no such raotives for hurrylno- them
selves, crawled along at a provokingly slow rate. They did not at
at all correspond with what we had read of the ships of the desert,
creatures insensible to hunger, thli-st, and fatigue, and as obedient
to the vn\l of raan as the dry leaf is to the breath of the wind. In
spite of a thick cord passed through one of their nostrils, which
caused thera sharp pain whenever they were unruly, our caraels
scarcely raarched raore than two hours at a stretch -without lying
- down. Tlie men had to battle with them continually to rouse them
frora their torpor, or hinder thera firora biting one another. When
ever one of the drivers pulled the halter of his camel roughly, we
heard loud cries, the more hideous from their resemblance to the
human voice. In short our caraels behaved so badly during this
short trip, as largely to abate the good opinion of their species, which
we had conceived in reading the raore poetical than true descrip
tions of our great naturaUst.
At some distance from Houidouk we raet two caraps of Kal
mucks, iraproperly called Christians. These tribes are reputed to
be addicted to theft, and are generally despised by the other Kal
mucks. We wUl speak of thera again in another place. This whole
region, as far as the Caspian, is extremely arid, with only here and
there a few pools of brackish water, the edges of which swarm with
countless birds, the raost remarkable of which are the white herons,
whose plumage forras such beautiful aigrettes. Unfortunately, these
birds are so wary, that our corapanion could not take one of them,
notwithstanding aU his address and the power of his falcon.
A ludicrous misadventure that befel our dragoman, Anthony,
amused us a good deal. Curiosity prompting hira to ride a camel,
he asked one ofthe Kalraucks to lend hira his beast, ancl the request
being corapUed with, he bestrode the saddle, pleased with the
•novelty of the experiraent, and quite at a loss to know why
the Cossacks and camel-drivers laughed among themselves as he
mounted. But as soon as the beast began to move, a change came
over his face, and he speedily began to bawl out for help. The fact
is, one raust be alraost a Kalmuck to be able to endure the trotting
of a camel ; the shaking is so -violent as to amount to do-wnright
torture for those who are not accustomed to it. The unlucky

206 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
Anthony, left in the rear of the party, strove in vain to come up
with us, and was obUged, In. spite of himself, to continue his ride
to the Caspian, where we arrived two houra before him. I never
saw a man so cut up. He groaned so piteously when he waa
lifted down, that we began to be ready alarmed for hira.
There are in nature two opposite types, beauty and ugliness;
the elements of which vary infinitely, though Imagination always
erroneously supposes it can fix their boundaries. How often are we
fuUy persuaded we can never meet again an object so beautiful as
that before us; yet no sooner have we la-vrished aU our enthusiasm
upon it, than a raore charming face, a subUmer landscape, or a
more graceful form makes us forget what we had regarded as the
model of perfection; and itself Is soon. In tum, dethroned by other
objects which we declare superior to aU our forraer idols. Just so
it is with UgUness. It raatters not that we have before us the lowest
grade we- beUeve it c-an attain, we have but to tum our heads
another way. to be amazed and confounded by new -discoveries
revealing to us the inexhaustible combinations- of nature.. These re
flections occurred to me more, and more strongly as we approached
Koumskala. The aridity of the steppes round Odessa, the -vrilder-
ness of the Volga, the parched and disraal sod of the environs of
A.s'trakhan, in a word all we had heretofore seen that was least
engaging, seemed lovely in. coraparison with what met our view
on the banks of the Caspian.
A grey, sickly sky, crossed frora. tirae to time by heavy black
clouds,, threw an indescribably sad and revolting hue over the lonelyr
sandy plain, and low, broken shore. The sarae funereal paU seemed
to hang over the wooden houses, the ganga of Turkmans and Kal
mucks loading their carts with salt, and the camels that roamed
along the shore mingling their dismal cries -with the sound of the
waves. ^ , . ¦' -
Yet hideous as it seemed to usy this part of the coast is. not unim
portant in a commercial point of -view. It suppUes large quantities
of salt, and has a port where vessels unload their cargoes of com for
the army of the Caucasus. We counted at least a score of vessels
which had been driven- in there hy tiie late storm-
The population of Koumskala consists ofa Russian functionai-y, a
Cossack post,, and a few Kalrauck faraiUes, that appear very, misera
ble. The employe gave us the use of his house ; that is to say, of
two- dUapidated rooms -without glass windo-ws or fiimlture- One
can scarcely conceive how the raind can have strength to endure so"
very wretched an existence. An unwholesome cUmate, brackish
water, excessive heat in summer,, rigorous cold in -winter,, huts and
kibitkas buried in the sand, the Caspian Sea -vrith its squalls and
tempests.— aU these things, combine to make this region tiie most
horrible abode imaginable. The major,, who welcomed us to Koiuns-
kala, had a slow fever, which he owed still less perhaps to the
insalubrity of the climate than to the hardships and mortal ennui he

TAEAELANS. 207
had endured for eighteen months. His wife, more stout-hearted,
and amused in some degree by her household occupations, had still
preserveda certain cheerfulness, which was no less than heroic in
her situation. Their exile was to last in aU two years. The govern
ment, percei-ving that many employes died in Kouraskaia, has llraited
tiie tirae of service there to that short period, and as some compen
sation for what those suffer who are-sent thither, their two years are
counted as four of ordinary ser-vice.
The weather had been louring since we left Hoiddouk, and we
had a regular hurricane the evemng we reached the Caspian. It
lasted four-and-twenty hours, and such was the noise of the -wind
and waves, that we could hardly hear each other speak in our room.
We saw two or three kibitkas blo-wn away into the sea, and we
expected every moment to share the sarae fate, for our frail tene
ment creaked like the cabin of a ship ; the boarded window let in
such a current of air, as soon drove into the roora aU the garraents
with which we strove to stop the chinks.
But the saddest chapter of our history reraains to be narrated.
As soon as our servant had prepared the semovar, and Ughted the
candles, a multitude of black creatures crept out of the chinks of the
walls and ceUings, and dropped frora aU sides like a Having rain.
Iraagine our consternation at the sight of that legion of black
demons swarming around us, and lea'ving us no alternative but to put
out the candles that attracted them. These insects, caUed in the
coxmtry tarakans, though disgusting in appearance, are very inoffen
sive, and seldom climb on the person ;. but they are fond of Ught
and heat, and hence they are a grievous nuisance In these regions,
where their number is prodigious. I had aheady seen thera In
sorae post-houses, but in smaU nurabers, and though I had always
disliked thera, I had never been so horrified by them as in the
house ofthe major, where they kept rae awake aU night.
Next moming, the ¦wind having fallen somewhat, we went, in
spite ofthe rain, to gather shells on the shore. The vessels in the
harbour aU showed signs of ha^ving suffered severely by the storm.
The waters ofthe Caspian had aUvid, muddy colour I never observed
in any other sea in the raost boisterous weather.
When we returned to our cabin, the Cossack officer presented to
us a Tatar, who asserted he had foimd gold in a spot forty versts
from Kouraskaia. Having heard of our arrival, he had walked aU
that horrible night to ask ray husband to accompany Iiim to the
spot where he had made the. discovery. But in spite of llie^old
ear and finger-rings he exhibited as tokens of his veracity, my
husband was not tempted to lose four or five days in a search that
would have led to nothing, to judge from the nature of the ground
in which the Tatar reported that the precious ore was to be found.

208 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
CHAPTER XXin.
. AJfOTHEB KOBBEBY AT HOUIDOtJK — OOP. NOM^iDE LIFE — C.VJtELS — KALMUCK CltW
— QUARBEL WITH A TURCOMAN COSVOT, AND BECOSCILIATION — LOVE OF THE KAt-
MCCS.S FOBTHElE STEPPES; ASECDOTE — A SATZA — SELESOl SASTAVA — FLEECED
BI- A LIECTENAKT-COLONEL — CAMEL-DRIVEBS BEATEN BT THE KALMUCKS 
ALAR.-tt OP A ClECASSl-VN INCIJKSIOJt — SOnBCES OP THE MANITCH — THE J0CE5EY
AKRESTED — VISIT TO A KALMUCK LADT — H03PITALITT OF A EUSSIAN OFFICER.
On returning to Houidouk, we found the postraaster in stiU greater
perturbation than he had been cast into by the disaster of the Arme
nian raerchants. One of his postilhons had. been seized but two
versts frora the station by Turkmans, who, after robbing hira of his
sheep-skin and his tobacco, had beaten hira and left him half dead,
and then made off with the three horses he was taking back to the
station. The strangest part of the adventure was, that on the
morning of the next day, which happened to be that of our arrival,
the three horses returned quietly to their stable, as if nothing' extra
ordinary had befaUen. This proved, at least,"that the robbers were
not very confident, but chose rather to lose their booty than expose
themselves to the vengeance ofthe Cossacks.
Though such stories were not very encouraging to us, wc neverthe
less set out early next moming, entirely forsaking the post road we
had tlU then pursued, and striking across the steppes with a weak
escort, very Insufficient to resist a serious attack. My husband, who
had already begun his course of levels, resuraed his operations from
the station at Houidouk. Having to raake one every ten minutes,
he proceeded on foot, as weU as the Blalmucks and Cossacks who
carried the instruments, and measured the distances. AU the men
were occupied except-the camel drivei-s and the officer, who amused
himself with flying his falcon now and then at -wild ducks and geese.
Besides its positive and gastronomic results, this sport did me the
further service of -withdrawing my mind from the monotony of a
slow march across the desert, in which I had often no other pastime ,
than watching the grotesque moveraents of the three camels that
drew ray carriage, or the capricious evolutions of the flocks of birds
that were already assembUng for their auturanal eralgration.
Yet the Impression made on me by this fii-st day did not tend
much to akirm me at the prospect of wandering, Uke a veritable
Kalrauck, for several weeks across the steppe. . The novelty of my
sensations, and the secret pleasure of escaping for awhile from the
round of prescribed habits that make up the cuief part of civiUsed
Ufe, banished from ray raind every sorabre thought. The excursion
was an experimental gUmpse of those natural ways of Ufe which are
no longer possible in our thickly-peopled lands; and In spite of my
prejudices, a noraade existence no longer seeraed to rae so absurd or
wearisome as I had supposed it to Ibe. The quiet and tho im
mensity of space around us imparted a deep serenity to ray mind,
and fortified It against any remains of fear occasioned by the late
events at Houidouk.

FIRST HALT IN THE DESERT. 209
We made our first halt about noon, not at all too soon for our
Cossacks, a race not accustomed to long walking. They imrae
diately made a great fire, whilst our camel-drivers were busy settino-
up the tents _ and arranging a regular encarapment. The sun had
reappeared with more force than before, as usually happens after
violent storms. The heat of the vertical sunshine, increased by the
bare parched soil and by the extraorcUnary dryness of the air, had
so overcome us that we could scarcely attend to the picturesque
group presented by our halt in the desert, over which we appeared
to reign as absolute raasters.
The britchka, unyoked and unladen, was placed a Uttie way from
the tent, on the carpet of which were heaped portfoUos, cushions,
and boxes, in a manner which a painter would have thouo-ht worth
notice. Whilst we were taking tea our men were making prepar- ¦
ations for dinner, sorae plucking a fine wild goose and half-a-dozen
kourUs, others attending to the fire, roimd which were ranged two
or three pots for the pUau and the bacon soup, of which the Cossacks
are great adralrers ; and -Anthony with a Uttie barrel of brandy under
his arra, distributed the regular dram to every man, with the gravity
of a German raajor-domo. As for the officer, he lay on liis back
imder the britchka, for sake of the shade, amusing himself with his
hawk, which he had unhooded, after fastening it with a stout cord
to the carriage. Though the creature's sparkUng eyes were contin
uaUy on the look out for a quarry. It seemed by the continual
flapping of its wings to enjoy its master's caresses. The camels,
rejoicing in their freedom, browsed at a little distance frora the tent,
and contributed by their presence to give an oriental aspect to our
first essay in savage Ufe; wherein I rayself figured in my huge
bonnet, dressed as usual in -wide pantaloons, with a GauUsh tunic
gathered round my waist by a leathern belt. By dint of wondering
at every thing, our wonderment at last wore itself out, and ' we
regarded ourselves as definitively naturaUsed Kalraucks.
Three hours before we halted, the last kibitkas had disappeared
below the horizon : -vve were absolutely alone on the whole surface
of the vast plain. There was no vestige to tell us that other raen
had encaraped where we were. The steppe is like the sea; it retains
no trace of those who have traversed it.
At two o'clock Horaraalre gave the word to march : the tent was
struck; the camels knelt to receive their burdens; the officer -was
in the saddle -vrith his hawk on his fist; and I was ag.ain alone in
the carriage, slowly foUo-wing our little troop as it resumed its
operations. My first night under a tent proved to rae that I was liot so acclima
ted to the steppe as my vanity had led me to suppose. The felt cone
under which I was to sleep; theKalmucks moving about the fire; the
camels sending their plaintive cries through the immensity of the
desert; In a word, every thing I saw and heard, was so at variance
p

210 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPI.AN SEA, &C.
with my habits and ways of thought; that I almost fancied I was in
an opium dreara.
We spent part of the night seated before the tent, onr reveries
unbroken by any IncUnation to sleep. The moon, larger and more
briUiant than It ever appears In the west, Ughted the whole sky and
part of the steppe, over which it cast a luminous line Uke that which
a vessel leaves in Its wake at sea. Absolute silence reigned in the
air, and produced upon us an effect which no words can describe.
Hardly did we dare to break It, so solemn did it seera, and so in
harraony with the infinite grandeur of the waste. It would be in
vain to look for a stillness so coraplete, even in the most sequestered
soUtudes of our regions. There is always sorae murrauring brook
there, some rustUng leaves; and even In the silence of night, some
low sounds are heard, that give an object to the thoughts. But here
nature is petrified, and one has constantiy before him the Image of
that eternal repose which our rainds can so hardly conceive.
We marched for several days -without meeting one Uving creature.
This part of the steppes is inhabited only in Winter; for during the
rest of the year It is corapletely destitute of fresh water. At last,
towards the close of the fourth day, we saw a black object in motion
on the horizon. The officer instantly galloped off to reconnoitre,
waving his cap in the air, for a signal of coraraand. In a few
seconds we were sure he was perceived, for we distinguished the
forra of a Kalmuck mounted on a carael approaching us. He -vyas
haded -with shouts of joy by our raen, who soon fastened on him, and
overwhelraed him -with, questions. The eagerness of nomades to
hear news is unbounded, and It is wonderful -with what rapidity the
knowledge of the most trivial event is conveyed from one tribe to
another. The new comer told us that our journey was ah-eady
known all over the steppes, and that we should soon fall in -vrith an
encampment of Kalmucks, who had moved forward on purpose to
see us.
The presence of this man put all our men in the gayest humour.
Desirous of doing due honour to his arrival, they deputed Anthony
to solicit from u3 a double ration of spirits. They passed aU the
early part of the night sitting round the fire, sraolnng their tchi
bouks, and telUng stories, as grave and as entranced In the charms
of conversation as Bedouins.
Next day our Uttie caravan was in motion before sunrise; the
Kalmuck set off alone for the fair of KisUar, and we took the oppo
site cUrection, pursuing the invisible Une which science traced for us
across the desert, and which was to. lead us to the .sources of the
Manitch. It was on this morning I took my first ride on the back of _a
camel, and I vowed it should be the last. Decidedly the camel is
the raost detestable cfuadraped to ride in the world. From the
moment you mount until you descend from that murderous perch

A FOUL-MOUTHED CAMEL. 211
you have to endure an incessant series of shocks, so violent and
sudden, that every joint in your body feels dislocated. I could now
feel for the sufferings of our poor dragoman during his long trot
frora Houidouk to the Caspian. Though ray experiraent was Umited
to a trip of two versts at the most, I was totally exhausted when I
• dismounted. Not long afterwards I had an opportunity of observing a curious
Instance of the vindictive temper of these rough trotters. The camek
as every one knows, is a rurainating animal, but few, perhaps, are
aware that he has the cunning to make his rumination subservient
to his vengeance in a very extraordinary and ingenious manner.
I had noticed in the moming that one of our camel-drivers seemed
to be on very bad terras with his beast. In vain he strove to master
it by severity, and by puUing the cord passed through its nostril -
the brute was obstinate, and threw itself every raoment rebelUously
on the ground. At last the Kalrauck, incensed beyond endurance,
took advantage of a general halt, and aUghted to give the camel a
sound drubbing. But the creature, disdainfully Ufting up its long ;
neck, foUowed all its master's movements Vfitb. so spiteful an eye,
that I was sure it had some -wicked scheme in its head. It waited
patiently tiU the Kalmuck stood in front of it, and then, opening its
great mouth, It let fly a charge of chewed grass mixed -with mucus
and all sorts of nastiness, and hit the poor driver full in the face.
To tell -with what an air of satisfied vengeance the camel again
reared its neck and tumed its head from side to side, as if looking
round for applause, would be totally irapossible. But what aston
ished me the raost was the moderation of the master after such an
outrage. He wiped his face very cooUy, got into the saddle again,
and patted the neck of his ill-bred brute, as if it had played the
most amiable and innocent Uttie trick imaginable. Good feUowship
was thenceforth re-estabUshed between them, and they jogged peace
ably along together, -without thinking any raore of what had hap
pened. It happens by a rare good fortune, that no noxious insect is found
In the steppes between the Caspian and the Caucasus. Of course it
was not until I was quite sure of this that I could sleep in peace.
Our tent, made of felt Uke those of the Kalmucks, was at most five
feet high and as many -wide. It was supported by a bundle of
sticks tied toofether at the ends; the interior, furnished -vrith a caipet
and cushions laid on the ground, contained, besides, sorae boxes
belonging to the britchka. A flap of felt formed the door. As the
tent narrowed toward the top, we could not stand -vrithin it, but
were obliged to kneel. Such was otur dwelUng for sis weelis; and
I can aver, that notwithstanding the hardness of our bed on the
ground, and the strangeness of our situation, I never slept so soundly
as during that period of my Ufe. Nothing is better for the health
than U-ving in the open air; the appetite, the sleep, the unutterable
serenity of mind, and the free circulation of the blood which it pro-
P2

212 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
cures, sufficiently attest its liappy influence on our organisation. Few
functional maladies, I suspect, would resist a two or three months'
excursion Uke that which we accompUshed.
As the Kalmuck had foretold, we arrived at night in a Kalmuck
camp, consisting of a score of tents. ' AU the men came to raeet us,
took the caraels frora the britchka, and would not allow our people
to lend a hand; then having pitched our tent a Uttie way off from
their own, at the foot of a turaulus, they began to dance with their
women, in token of rejoicing. One of the latter went down on her
knees and begged some tobacco of my husband, and when she had
got it she becarae an object of en-vry to her corapanions, before whom
she hastened to display and sraoke it.
When night had fallen, the carap was lighted up -vrith nume
rous fires, which gave a stiU more curious aspect to the kibitkas,
and the dancing figures of the Kalraucks and Cossacks, whose ex
uberant gaiety was in part o-wing to an extraordinary distribution
of food and brandy. The women advanced In their tum, and
several of thera forraing a circle, danced In the sarae raanner as the
ladies of honoiur of the Princess Tumene. But they aU seemed to
me extremely ugly, though some of them were very young.
Two days afterwards we arrived at the edge of a pond, where we
arranged to pass the night. The sight of the water, and of the
thousands of birds on its surface, afforded us real deUght; there
needed but such a little thing, under such circumstances as ours, to
constitute an event, and occupy the imagination ! AU that evening
was spent in shooting and hawking, bathing, and walking round and
round the pool. We could not satiate ourselves with the pleasure
of beholding that brackish mud, and the forest of reeds that encom
passed it. No landscape, on the Alps or the Tyrol was probably
ever hailed -vrith so much enthusiasra.
Beyond tins pond, the appearance ofthe steppes gradually changed;
water grew less rare, the vegetation less scorched. We saw from
tirae to tirae herds of raore than five hundred caraels, grating in free
dom on the short thick grass. Some of them were of gigantic
height. I sliall never forget the amazement they manifested at be
holding us. The moment they perceived us they hurried towards,
then stopped short, gazing at us -vvith outstretched necks untd -we
were out of sight.
The eighth day after our departure from Houidouk our fresh
water was so sensibly diminished, that we were obUged to use
brackish water in cooking. Tins change in our kitchen routine
fortunately lasted but a few days ; but it was enough to give me a
hearty aversion for meats so cooked: they had so disagreeable a
taste, that nothing but necessity and long habit can account for theur
ordinary use. The Kalmucks and Cossacks, however, use no other
water during a great part of the year.
That sarae day we had a very singular encounter, which went
near to be tragical. Shortly before encamping, we saw a very long

AN AWKWAUD 5IEETING WITH TOEKStANS. 213
file of sraaU carts approaching us; our Kalmucks recognised them
as belonging to Turkraans, a sort of people held in very bad repute,
by reason of their quan-elsorae and brutal temper. Every untoward
event that happens in the steppes is laid to their account, and there
is perpetual warfare between them and the Cossacks, to whora they
give raore trouble than all the other tribes put together. As we
advanced, an increased confusion was manifest in the convoy, and
suddenly all the oxen, as if possessed by the fiend, exhibited the
most -violent terror, and began to run away in wild disorder, dash
ing against each other, upsetting and breaking the carts loaded
with salt, whoUy regardless of the voices ancl blows of their drivers.
Sorae raoraents elapsed before we could account for this strange dis
aster, and comprehend the raeaning of the furious abuse with which
the Turkraans assailed our escort. The camel-drivers were the real
culprits in this affair, for they knew by experience how rauch horses
and oxen are frightened by the sight of a camel, and they ought to
have raoved out of the direct line of raarch, and not exposed us to
the rage of the fierce carters.
The raoraent iraraediately after the catastrophe was really critical.
All the Turkmans, incensed at the sight ofthe broken carts and their
salt strew-ed over the ground, seeraed, by their threatening gestures
and vociferations, to be debating whether or not they should attack
us. A single impmdent gesture raight have been fatal to us, for they
were raore than fifty, and arraed with cutlasses; but the steady be-
liavlour of the escort gradually quieted thera. Instead of noticing
their hostile deraonstrations, aU our raen set to work to repair the
mischief, and the Turkmans soon foUowed their exaraple; in less than
an hour aU was made right again, and the scene of confusion ended
much more peaceably than we had at first ventured to hope. AU
parties now thought only of the comical part of the adventure, and
hearty laughter supplanted the tokens of strife. To seal the recon-
ciUation, Horamaire ordered a distribution of brandy, which cora
pletely won the hearts of the fellows, who a little before had been
on the point of murdering us.
The more we became accustoraed to the stiUness and grandeur of
the desert, the better we understood the Kalmuck's passionate love
for the steppes and his kibitka. If happiness consist In freedora, no
man is more happy than he. Habituated as he is to gaze over a
-boundless expanse, to endure no restriction, and to pitch his tent
wherever his humour dictates, it is natural that he should feel iU at
ease, cribbed, -cabined, and confined, when removed from his nati-v-e
wastes, and that he should rather die by his own hand than live in
exile. During our stay at Astrakhan, every one was talking of a
recent event which aff6rcled us an instance of the strong attachment '
- of those primitive beings to the natal soil.
A Kahnuck chief kiUed his Cossack rival in a fit of jealousy,
and instead of attempting to escape punishment by flight, he aug
mented his guilt by resisting a detachment which was sent to arrest

214 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
him. Several of his servants aided him, but numbers prevailed;
aU were raade prisoners and conveyed to a fort, where they were to
remain until their sentence should have been pronounced. A raonth
afterwards, an order arrived for their transportation to Siberia, but
by that tirae three-fourths of the captives had ceased to exist. Some
had died of grief, others had eluded the -vigilance of their gaolers,
and killed themselves. The chief, however, had been too closely
watched to allow of his making any attempt on his own life, but
his obstinate silence, and the deep dejection ofhis haggard features,
proved plainly that his despair was not less than that which had
driven his companions to suicide.
When he was placed in the car to begin his journey, some Kal
mucks were allowed to approach and bid him fareweU. "What
can we do for thee ?"' they whispered ; the chief only repUed,
" You know." Thereupon one of the Kalmucks drew a pistol from
his pocket, and before the bystanders had tirae to interpose, he blew
out the chief's bra.Ins. The faces of the two other prisoners beamed
with joy. " Thanks for hira," they cried ; '"as for us, we shaU
never see Siberia."
I have not yet spoken of the Kalmuck salzas, and the desire we
' felt to become acquainted -vrith thera. From the moment we had
entered the waste, we had never ceased to sweep the horizon in
hopes to discover one of these mysterious tombs, frora which the
, Kalmucks always keep aloof, in order not to profime them by their
presence. These satzas are small teraples erected on purpose to.
contain the reraains of the high priests. When one of thera dies,
his body is burned, and his' ashes are deposited -with great pomp in
the mausoleum prepared to receive them, along with a quantity of
sacred images, which are so many good genii placed there to keep
watch etemaUy over the dust of the holy personage.
Before we left Astraldian, we had taken care to coUectaU possible
inforraation respecting these satzas, in order to -visit one of them
during our journey through the steppes, and rifle it, if possible, of
its contents. But as the reUgious jealousy of our Kalmucks had
hitherto prevented us from making any researches of the kind,
we determined at last to trust to chance for the gratification of our
wishes. It was at one clay's journey from Selenoi Sastava that we had for
the first time the satisfaction of percei-vring one of these monuments.
Great was our deUght, not-vrithstanding the difficulty of approach
ing it, and eluding the keen watch of our camel-drivers ; nay, the
-obstacles in our way did but give the raore zest to our pleasure.
There were precautions to be taken, a secret to be kept, and novelty
to be enjoyed ; all this gave enhanced interest to the satza, and de
UghtfuUy broke the raonotony that had oppressed us for so many days.
Ail our measures were therefore taken with extreme prudence and
deUberation. We halted for breakfast at a reasonable distance from
the satza, so that oiu- camel-drivers might not conceive any suspi-

A KALMUCK SATZA. 215
cion; and during the repast Anthony and the officer, who had
received their instructions from us, took care to say that we intended
to catch a few white herons before we resuraed our march. The
Kalmucks, being aware of the value we attached to those birds,
heard the news as a raatter of course, and rejoiced at the opportunity
of indulgincr in a lonoer doze.
The satza stood in the midst of the sands, five or six versts from
our halting-place. To reach it we had to make a long detour, in
order to deceive the Kalmucks, in case they conceived any suspicion
of our design. .AU this was difficult enough, and extreniely fatigu
ing ; still I insisted on raaking one in the expedition, and was
araong the first mounted.
After two hours' marching ancl countermarching over the sands.
In a tropical temperature that qiute dispirited our beasts, we arrived
in front of the satza, the appearance of which was any thing but
attractive, and seemed far from deserving the pains we had taken
to see It. It was a smaU square budding, of a grey colour, -vrith
only two holes by way of -windows. Fancy our consternation when
we found that there was no door. We aU marched round and
round the impenetrable sanctuary in a state of ludicrous disappoint
ment. Some means or other was to be de-vised for getting in, for
the thought of returning without satisfying our curiosity never once
entered our heads. The removal of sorae stones frora one of the
"windows afforded us a passage, very inconvenient indeed, but
sufficient. , Like conquerors we entered the satza through a breach, Uke Ma
homet entering the capital of the Lower Empire ; but we had not
tiiought of the standard, which was indispensable for the strict ac-
compUshment of the usual ceremonies. Instead thereof^ Horamaire
had recourse to his silk handkerchief, ancl planting it on the summit
of the mausoleum, he took possession of it in the name of aU present
and future traveUers.
This cereraony corapleted, we raade a minute inspection of the
interior of the tomb, but found in it nothing extraordinary : it ap
peared to be of great antiquity. Some idols of baked clay, Uke
those we had seen at Prince Tumene's, were ranged along the wall.
Several sraall notches, at regular intervals, contained images half
decayed by darap. The floor of beaten earth, and part of the walls
were covered -with felt : such were the sole decorations we beheld.
Like generons victors we contented ourselves with taking two
smaU statues, and a few Images. According to the notions of the
Kalraucks, no sacrUege can compare ¦vrith that of which we
were now guUty. Yet no celestial fire reduced us to ashes, and
the Grand Llama aUowed us to return in peace to our escort.
But a great vexation befel us, for one ofthe idols was broken
hy the way, and we had to suppUcate the Boukhans of the steppe to
extend their protection to the other, during the rest of the jotu-ney.
' Anthony and the officer were questioned at great length by the
Kalmucks, who seemed possessed by some uneasy misgivings. On

216 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
awaking, they had seen us return in the direction ttat led from the
satza, and this circumstance had .much annoyed thera. The display
of some game, however, with which we had taken care to fumish
ourselves, and the peremptory tone of the officer, cut short all their
observations. On the day after this meraorable adventure, Anthony informed
us that there was no raore bread. The news obUged ray husband
to suspend his scientific operations, and proceed to Selenoi Sastava,
from which we were distant only thirty-five versts. I cannot express
the deUght with which the Kalmucks and Cossacks again took pos
session of their caraels. We need not wonder at any eccentricity
of taste when we see men preferring the dislocating torture of riding
those detestable trotters to the fatigue of walking fifteen or twenty
versts a day. Horaraalre, too, did not seera at aU dissatisfied at
taking his place again in the britchka. In short, we were aU Uke a
set of schoolboys that had got an unexpected hoUday.
Before reaching the salt-works, where we intended to ask for
hospitaUty, we passed sorae Kalmuck caraps ;. carts loaded -vrith salt
appeared in difierent directions. The desert was assuming a more
animated aspect, and we were no longer alone between the sky and
the steppe.
On arriving at Selenoi, we were taken to the house of the sub-
Inspector of the salt-works (the inspector was absent). We found
that functionary in a most miserable hole, compared with which the
hut at Houidouk was a palace. We had never seen such horrid
deficiency of aU needful accommodation even araong the poorest
Russian peasants. -
We were received by a Uttie weasel-faced man in a uniform so
old and tarnished, that neither the colour of the cloth nor the lace
was distinguishable. His manifestations of bewildered joy — his
volubility that savoured almost of insanity — and his Incessant im
portunity, corapleted our disgust. The house, a heap of ruins, kept
frora falling by a few half-rotten posts, was abomlnahly filthy. We
were assigned the least dilapidated charaber, but it took more than
two hours to clear away the clouds of dust raised by Anthony In
sweeping it. The windows were without frames, the doors were
broken, and furniture there was none. How we regretted that we
had not encamped as usual on the steppe. We tried to quit the
house, but the Ueu tenant- colonel (for our host bore that title in addi
tion to that of sub-inspector) made such an outcry, that we were
obUged, whether we would or not, to resign ourselves to his singular
hospitality. To make up for the want of furniture, we did Uke the
Turks, and made a carpet and cushions on the groimd serve us for a
bed and a divan.
Having completed these first arrangements, we proceeded to ask
our host if he had bread enough to spare us some. Having learned
from our escort the reason of our coming, he was prepared with his
ansvver. Our presence was too great a piece of good luck for a maa
. in his extreme state of destitution to aUow of our escaping out ofhis

EXTMOURS OF A CIRCASSIAN FORAl . 217
hands until he had raade the most of us. Accordingly, he protested
he coidd not possibly provide what we wanted In less than three or
four days, and we had every reason to think we should be fortu
nate enough if we got out of his clutches so cheaply. The event
proved that our suspicions were not unjust, and his conduct to
wards us, his Indecorous demands, his cupidity and his thefts suffi
ciently explained the raotives of his extravagant delight at our arrival.
On the first day of our sojourn with hira, tempted by a fine wild
foose which Anthony had roasted in the tent of his Kalmuck cook,
e sent to beg permission to dine with us, and presently arrived,
holding in his hand a plate of paltry crusts dried in the oven, which
he presented to us as exceUent zouckari. During aU the time of
dinner he diverted us exceedingly by his insatiable gluttony and
continual babbling : nor was it the least amusing part of the per
formance to see him despatch to his own share a half mouldy loaf
he had sold us that morning for a ruble and a half.
The camel-drivers proceeded, during our stay at Selenoi, to a
neighbouring camp to get fresh camels instead of their own, which
had been fatigued .by more than a fortnight's marching. They pro
mised to retum within twenty-four hours, but we did not see them
again tlU two days had elapsed, and then in a very sorry pUght.
According to the account given by one of them, who was the first
to amve in great tribulation, they had behaved rather roughly to
the Kalmucks who were to fumish thera -vrith the caraels, and the
latter had retaUated by beating thera, tieing thera hand and foot, and
carrying thera before oiie of their inspectors, who kept thera in
confineraent until the next day. I never saw a raore wo-begone
set than these unfortunate carael-drivers appeared on their retum:
one of thera had his head bandaged, another wore his arra in a
sUng, a third Uraped, and all had been very roughly handled. This
adventure, and the gross cupidity of the lieutenant-colonel, were
not the only things that occurred to arause or Interest us at Selenoi.
On the third day of our stay, a great number of Kalrauck faraiUes
. suddenly arrived in strange disorder, and announced that the Cir
cassians had just shown theraselves three versts frora the salt-works,
on the borders of the Kouraa.
Terrible was the consternation produced by this news. Both
Kalraucks and Cossacks were terrified at the thought of having the
Circassians so near thera. Our whole escort came and implored ua
on their knees not to set out until something positive was kno-wn
ofthe matter. But after many Inquiries we were satisSed that the
alarm was groundless, and we did not delay our preparations to
depart. Our host was surely the oddest being this world ever produced.
In spite of ourselves, he was the sole object of our thoughts every
raoraent in the day. Anthony, who had taken no Uttie aversion
to him, lost no opportunity of informing us of what he called his
.turpitudes. For instance, every morning he was sure to be seen

218 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
in ambush behind the door until our semovar was ready, when he
would corae In smiling with his cup and spoon In his hand, -vrithout
even waiting for an invitation, seat himself at the table, and wash
down his zouckaris with tiiree or four cups of tea.
One day he begged a few spoonfuls of rum of my husband,
for a sick person, as he said; but that evening his jolUty and the
redness of his face told us plainly what had becorae of our Uquor.
He even found It so much to his taste, that he entreated Anthony
next day to give him a few more spoonfuls on the sly, telling him
very seriously that the cat had spiUed the first cup.
He gave us no peace night or day. Not content -vrith deafening
us by his Incessant babbUng, not a word of which we understood,
the whim would soraetimes seize hira to sing aU the Malorussian
airs that came into his head. Long after we were in bed one night,
we heard him pacing up and down the corridor like a sentinel.
We tried hard to guess what might be the meaning of this new
freak ; but next day we discovered that It proceeded from his
excessive -vigilance and forethought. He failed not himself to tell
-us, that feeUng uneasy at the news that the Circassians were abroad,
he had kept guard over us with his musket shouldered, and that
he was ready to perform the same duly every night. .-, ¦
Could we remain untouched by such conduct? Could we refiise
such a man the parcels of cofiee, tea, and sugar he had been so
long soUcIting -vrith looks and hints? Unfortunately his requests
foUowed so close on each other, that our gratitude was worn out at
last. Anthony was furious every time we yielded to his impor
tunities, and ceased not in revenge to ' torment him in a thousand
¦ways. " '.---- .--,¦..-»- - -- - ¦ ^f
One. day the jealous dragoman, of his o-wn authority, served up
dinner an hour before the usual time, in order to baffle our host,
who accordingly did not arrive untd we were just quitting. the
table. I never saw a man raore disappointed ; he stood at the
door, not knowing whether to enter or not ; at last, doomed to
forego his dinner, he knew nothing better to do in his despair than
to go and cudgel his Kalrauck.
On the eve of our departiire we learned that he had charged us for
the bread he sold us raore than double the price paid at the barracks.
This occasioned a very Uvely altercation between hira and Anthony,
who was deUghted to have such an opportunity of speaking out
his raind. But the honourable functionary was not to be discon
certed by such a trifle; after listening -with Imperturbable coolness to
the dragoman's reproaches, he rephed In a very off-hand manner
that the thing was not worth talkmg about, for when people travel,
they must make up their minds to pay a ducat in most cases for
what Ig not worth more than twenty copeks. _ -
He became extremely sulky when he observed our preparations
to depart. He no longer talked, but contented himself -with rest
lessly watching aU that was going on In the room; peering at every

SOURCES OP THE JNIANITCH. 219
article of our baggage, as if he would look through and through it.
Whenever oiur men carried any thing to the carriage, he foUowed
them with angry looks, as if they were comraitting a robbery upon
him. At last, on the sixtii day after our arrival at Selenoi Sastava,
we had the pleasure to turn our backs on the Ueutenant-colonel
and his miserable cabin. I doubt if the fear of the Circassians
would have been able to detain, us longer lu such a spot.
The dryness of the atmosphere, which had lasted from the tirae
we left Houidouk, was succeeded by hea^vry rain when we reached
Selenoi, and this was the chief cause of our long stay there. Outhe day
of our departure the sky looked rather threatening, notwithstanding
which we stepped into the carriage with inexpressible deUght. I would
rather have taken ray chance of ten deluges in the open steppe,
than have spent twenty-four hours raore in Selenoi; but fortune
was pleased to compensate us in sorae degree for our recent vex
ations by affording us the most agreeable weather that traveUers
could desire. The rain had given the sand a pleasant degree of
soUdity, and had, besides, spread a radd and subdued tone over the
steppes that was pecuUarly agreeable. Auturan was now come, with
Its sharp morning air and its raelancholy tints ; and accustomed as
we had been to the scorching reverberation of the sunshine, we felt
as if an earthly paradise was opening before us. In one day more the
sky was cleared of its last vapours, and reappeared in all its azure
pmlty, streaked only -vrith a few rich and warm-coloured clouds,
that seemed to take away the aridity of the desert. But the sun
had lost rauch of its power, and though it shone do-wn on us with
out obstruction, we reached the sources of the Manitch -vrithout
being rauch inconvenienced by the heat.
These sources are formed by a depression of about twenty-five
versts in diameter, towards which converge several smaU ravines.
They were quite dry when we arrived at them, and all the -vicinity,
intercepted by sraaU brackish lakes, cUsplayed no kind of vegetation.
The total want of water and fodder hindered us frora proceeding to
the Don, as we had intended, and my husband was obUged to sus
pend his levelUng operations. It was not, of course, -without sore
regret that he put off the solution of his great scientific problem
until the following year. Our men were m good spirits, our health
exceUent, and we were by no raeans prepared to expect such an obstacle
as that which now stopped us in a course we had pursued with such
perseverance; but nature commanded, and we were forced to obey.
~ We passed the night near the sources in the midst of a total soU
tude, and early next moming we retraced our steps, and proceeded
towards the Kouma, distant about seventy -five versts; the men were
aU mounted agam on their camels, and seemed weU pleased t<) have
no more pedestrian labours in prospect; for with 3:11 theur wilhng-
ness, they had not been able to accustom their limbs to that sort^ of
service. We encamped for two nights successively araong Kal
mucks, for the steppes grew less lonely as we departed from our first

220 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &e.
course. These good people heard the story of our joumey through
their plains -with eager curiosity. As soon as swapper was over they
squatted themselves round our kibitka, lending a reUgious attention
to the raost improbable tales, for our men, who took upon them the
office of historiographers, paid very little respect to troth In their
compositions. One of our carael-drivers, especiaUy, had been en
dowed by Heaven with an iraagination of extraordinary fecundity.
It was his peculiar office to amuse the whole escort during the
bivouac, and when he had to do with a new' audience, his capti
vating eloquence attained the utraost Uraits of possibiUty, enchantino-
even those who heard hira every day.
The last encarapment in which we passed tiie night was one ot
the most considerable we had seen up to that time. The country.
Indeed, had entirely changed its aspect ; we had left the dreary
sands behind ua, with the Caspian and the Manitch. An abundant
vegetation, and undulations of the ground that became more and
more decided as we proceeded, gladdened the sight, and accounted
for the numerous encarapraents we discovered in all directions.
Herds of horses, caraels, and oxen spotted all the surface of the
steppe, and bespoke the wealth of the hordes to which they be
longed. We were not in the least molested by the latter. These,
good Kalmucks were deUghted to receive us in their tents, and
never attempted to steal the least thing from us. Their desires and
their wants are so very Umited ! To tame a wUd horse, to roam from
steppe to steppe on their camels, to smoke and drink kourals, to shut
themselves up in winter in the midst of ashes and smoke, and to
addict themselves to the superstitious practices of a reUgion they
cannot understand, — such Is the whole sura of their Uves.
I had the curiosity frequently to enter their kibitkas, but I never
saw in any of them the dirt I had been told ofi The Russian kates
are infinitely more untidy and squaUd that the interioi-s of these
tents. AmonCT other visits we raade one to the wife of a subaltem
chief, and as she had been warned of our coraing, she was dressed In
her best finery ._ She sat with her legs tucked under her on a piece ot
felt, with a child before her, and a servant-woman motionless at her
side. She was deUghted to receive us, and thanked us with much
cordiality. We compUmented her on the neatness and good order
- of her tent, at which she seem gratified in the highest degree.
We reraarked -with surprise that there was not one priest in aU
the camps we passed through, but we afterwards learned that they
were aU gone northwards to the Sarpa, where there were rauch finer
pastures, and where one was not tormented by the myriads of gnats
that abound in those countries In auturan. We ourselves had much
to endure from those terrible insects aU the way to Vladirairofka,
and we were often so annoyed by thera as to -wish oiu-selves back
araong the sands of the Manitch.
Even if the want of -water had not put a stop to our joumey,
tiie state of our prorisions -was such that I hardly know what we

HISTORT OP THE KALMUCKS. 221
could have done. Our bacon, riee, coffee, and biscuits had lon-^
disappeared; we had nothing left but a sraaU stock of tea and suo-a^
and for _the_ rest we were dependent on the hawk, which did won
ders daily In supplying the deficiencies of our coramissariat. Our
last repast imder the tent consisted only of game cooked In aU sorts
of ways. Anthony, who to his functions as dragoman, added those
of butler, cook, and sculUon, put forth all his powers on tliat occa
sion: but -we had_ been surfeited with game; we had Uved upon It
so long that the sight of a wild goose was enough to give us a fit
of incUgestion. It -was, therefore, with exceeding joy that on reach
ing the house of an inspector of Kalmucks, we found ourselves seated
at a table covered with vegetables and pastry.
The house of that officer (a very agreeable young Russian who
spoke Kalmuck Uke a native) was situated at a little distance from
the Kouma in a magnificent meadow. For a long while we had
beheld no such landscape, and though we were still on the verge of
the desert, that Uttie white house with green window blinds, and
the tyro or three handsorae trees around it, completely chano^ed the
physlognoray of the country in our eyes.
The inspector gave us a good deal of inforraation respecting the
proprietor of Vladirairofka, of -whom we had already lieard at
Astrakhan, and he offered to accompany us to the establishment,
which was barely ten versts distant. It was there we proposed to
rest and recruit ourselves after the fatigues of our joumey, and
to take a final leave of our escort.

CHAPTER XXIV.
EEVIE-\V OF THE HISTORY OF THE KALMUCKS.
The account we have given of our joumey on the b-anks of the
Volga, and the steppes of the Caspian, will have afibrded the reader
an idea of the strange and striking habits of the noraade hordes
that wander -with their flocks over those vast deserts, and worship
their Llaraite deities with aU the pomp and fervour of the nations of
Thibet. Our historical and poUtical sketch will serve as a comple
ment to those priraary notions. It is by no means our intention,
however, to give a complete history of the Kalmucks ; such a work
would be too extensive, and would require too lohg and arduous re
searches to be compressed -vrithin our Umits. At present we shall
only cast a rapid glance over the past history of the great Mongol
famiUes; we shaU dwell principally upon their actual condition, and
then comparing our own observations with the statements of pre-

222 THE STEPPES 'OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
ceding -writers, we shall try to cast sorae new Ught on the history of
the Asiatic races that occupy the south of Russia.
Pallas and B. Bergraann, the only traveUers who have taken pains
to investigate the history of the Kalraucks in the govemment of
Astrakhan, have left ua some valuable details respecting their raanners
ancl customs, and their reUgion. But PaUas travelled in 1769, and
circumstances have greatly changed since his day. B.Bergmann
-visited the Kalmucks in the early part of this century, and it is to
be regretted that his work, which contains such Important informa
tion respecting the languages and the reUgious books of the Mon
gols, takes no notice whatever of any matter connected with their
political adrainistration and organisation.
It is not surprising that so little is yet knovm of the Kalmuck
hordes, for excursions through the reraote Steppes of the Caspian
Sea present difficulties and hardships which few traveUers can -vrith-
stand. One must unquestionably be impeUed by a strong motive,
to traverse those Immense plains which are almost everywhere desti
tute of fresh water, where one often marches 100 leagues without
seeing a trace of human life, and where the sod, bare of vegetation,
offers no other variety than sands ancl brackish lakes. Yet In order
to forra an exact Idea of the inhabitants of these deserts, of their
character, and ways of Ufe, it is necessary to dweU beneath their
tents. It is In the vicinity of Sarepta that the traveUer arriving from
the north meets the first Kalmuck kibitkas. The caraps then
stretch away across the Manitch and the Kouma towards the foot
of the great Caucasian chain. We have explored aU that ex
tent of country, have visited the reraotest parts of the steppes, and
seen the Kalraucks in an advanced social stage at Prince Tumene's,
and in a priraitive condition beneath their tents. It Is thus we have
been enabled to collect our information respecting the history and
present condition of this unique people of Europe.
According to the unanimous opinion of all historians, the regions
adjoining the Altai mountains, and especially those south of that
great chain, appear to have been frora tirae iraraeraorial the cradle
and domain of the Mongol tribes. At first divided into two
branches, always at war -witii each other, the Mongols were at last
imlted into one great nation underthe celebrated Genghis Khan, and
thus was laid the basis of that fbrmldable power which was to invade
almost the whole of eastern Europe. But after the death of Gen
ghis Khan, the old discord broke out with renewed violence, and
only ended -vrith the mutual destruction of the two great Mongol
tribes. The Mongols proper were forced to submit to the Chinese,
whom they had formerly vanquished, and the four nations that
forraed the -DoerboenCEroet, scattered themselves over aU the north of
Asia. The Koites, after long wars, spread over MongoUa and Thibet;
tiie Touemmoites or Toummouts settled along the great waU of China,
where they remain to this day; the Bourga Burates, who already in

HISTORT OF THE KALMUCKS. 223
the time of Genghis Khan inhabited the mountains adjacent to
Lake Barkal, are now beneath the Russian sceptre; the Eleuthes,
the last of the four, are better known in Eiurope and Western Asia
under the appeUation of Kalmucks.
According to ancient national traditions, the greater part of the
Eleuthes made an expedition westward, and were lost in the Cau
casus, long before the time of Genghis Khan. It Is to that epoch
tiiat some historians refer the origin of the word Kahnuck, which
they derive frora kalimak, severed, left behind, and they suppose
this designation was appUed to all those Eleuthes who did not ac
company their brethren westward. AccorcUng to Ber<Tmann,
kalimak signifies likevrise unbeliever, and this name raay very natu
raUy have been given by the people of Asia who adhered to the
priraitive reUgion, to the Eleuthes, when they had become converts
to Buddhism. We leave to competent judges the task ofdecidinof
which is the more rational or probable explanation.
The Eleuthes or Kalraucks allege that they dwelt in old
times in the conntries lying between Koho Noor (Blue Lake) and
Thibet. Their di-vision into four great tribes, each under an inde
pendent prince, dates probably from the dissolution of the Mongol
power. These tribes, whose remains exist to this day, are the
Koshotes, Derbetes, Soongars, and Torghouts. The Koshotes,
whose chiefs conrider theraselves"to ' be lineally descended frora a
brother of Genghis Khan, were partly destroyed in intestine wars
-vrith the Torghouts and Soongars, and partly subjugated by China.
Only a smaU remnant of them accompanied the Derbetes to the banks
of the Volga.
The Soongars originaUy united -vrith the Derbetes, constituted the
most formidable tribe in Asia, in the beginning ofthe seventeenth
century. Their princes, who resided on the river Ily, had then
subdued all the other Kalraucks; they could bring 60,000 fighting
men into the field, and the Khirghis and Turkraans paid them
tribute. Their pride augmented -with their success, and a war they
undertook against the Chinese Mongols became the cause of their
downfal. The Soongars were enslaved or scattered, and a branch
of the Derbetes shared their fate. It was about this period that the
first emigration of ¦ Kalmucks took place into Russia; 50,000 Soon-
gar or Torgout famiUes encamped on the banks of the Volga, in
1630, and .Astrakhan owed its safety only to the death of their
prince Cho Orloek, who was slain in an assault on the town. Sub
sequently, however, about 1665, Daitchink, the son of Cho Orloek,
was forced to acknowledge himself a vassal of the empire, and to
swear fealty. His example was followed by his son. But this sub
mission was merely nominal, and did not at aU affect the real inde
pendence of the Mongol hordes.
The first Kahnuck emigrations towards the west were speedily
foUowed by others. The Derbetes and other Torghouts amved in
the steppes of the Caspian and Volga to the number of more tiian

224 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
10,000 tents. In 1665, AioukI Khan, grandson of Daitchink, an
enterprising and ambitious raan, succeeded, In defiance of Russia,
in extending his sway over aU the Kahnuck tribes. This chief
pushed his excursions up to the foot of the Caucasus, and being op
posed on his march by the Nogais of the Kouban, he corapletely de
feated them in a general engageraent. The bodies of his slain foes
were cast by his orders into a pit dug under a great tumulus, situated
on the field of battle, and stiU known In the country by the name of
Sairin Tolkon (Mountain of Joy), bestowed on it by the victorious
khan In memory of his triumph.
Aloukl's forces then took part in Peter the Great's faraous expe
dition against Persia, in which they rendered great services to
Russia. The Kalmuck prince had a brilliant interview on this occa
sion with the Tzar. Peter received him on board his gaUey on the
Volga, near Saratof, and treated hira and his wife ¦vrith aU the honours
due to sovereigns. AioukI was then at the height of his power,
and cared little for the oath of aUegiance to Russia taken by his prede
cessors. Peter required 10,000 men of him, ahd he fumished 5000.
It was about this period that an erabassy, under the special protec
tion of Russia, amved frora China, by way of Siberia, and waited on
AioukI Khan, ostensibly for the purpose of treating ¦with him forthe
restoration of one of his nephews, who was detained at the imperial
court for reasons unknown to us. But we beUeve that the principal
object of the embassy was to keep up political relations -vrith the
Kalmucks, whom the Chinese government wished to bring back
under Its own sway. AioukI, following the exaraple of his prede-
cesssors, had not broken off aU communication -with the celestial
empire, and had even sent rich presents to the emperor In 1698. It
was, therefore, important to cherish this favourable disposition, of
which the Chinese hoped to avail themselves sooner or later. Of
course it is not to be supposed that these views were avowed offi-
ciaUy ; and we cannot but wonder at the indifference ofthe Russian
govemment, or the adroitness -with wluch the Chinese availed them
selves of the aid of Russia herself to corapass their ends. But in the
various Interviews between AioukI and^TouUchen, the head of the
erabassy, the question of keeping up an intiraacy between the two
nations was krgely discussed, and aU necessary measiu-es were ar
ranged to avoid awakening the su^icions of Russia, and thus closing
the only means of communication that lay open to them.*
Alould reigned about fifty years. ALfter his death, in 1724, the
old dissensions broke out again araong the Kalraucks ; Russia made
good use of the opportunity to hreak down the Independence of the
hordes by directiy interfering In their doraestic affairs, and their
princes soon became subject to the imperial sceptre. Thenceforth the
• " Narrative ofthe Chinese Embassy to the Khan of Tourgouth Tartars, in the
years 1712, '13, '14 and '15, by the Chinese Ambassador, and published by the em-
peror's authority at Pekin." London. I am indebted to the kindness of Baron
'Walckenaer for an acquaintance with this ¦ff-ork. .

HISTOET OF THE KALMUCKS. 225
dignity of khan was conferred only by the Musco-rite tzars, and the
tribes were put under the special control of a Russian commander
called a pristof.
After a long series of contests and intrigues, Dondouk Ombo, the
son-in-law of Aiouki, was named khan, to the prejudice of Aloukl's
grandson. Under this prince Internal peace was restored among the
hordes, and the Kalmucks did good service to Russia in the cam
paigns against the Nogais, and other inhabitants of the Kouban.
But quarrels broke out again on the death of Dondouk Ombo in
1741. His cliUdren, who were minors, were set aside, and his am
bitious and intriguing widow contrived to have Dondouk DachI, her
youngest brother, and grandson of the celebrated AioukI, declared
¦rice-khan.- The new chief was entirely devoted to Russia, and his
submlsslveness was rewarded after the lapse of fifteen years by pro
motion to the rank of khan ; but he enjoyed that dignity only four
years. His son Oubacha succeeded hira as 'rice-khan in January,
1761. In Oubacha's reign new hordes arrived in Europe, and the Kal
mucks were reinforced by 10,000 tents, coramanded by Chereno-
Taidchi. The various tribes, which consisted of raore than 80,000
famiUes, and possessed innuraerable herds of cattle, extended at that
time from the shores of the Ja'ik to the Don, and from Zaritzin, on
the Volga, to the foot of the northern slopes of the Caucasus. Ou
bacha paid no tribute to Russia ; he waa regarded rather as an ally
than a vassal, and was only required to supply cavahy to the Im
perial arraies in tirae of war.
Oubacha -vigorously seconded the. Russians in their expedition
against the Turks and Nogais. His army amounted to 30,000 horse,
and one of its detachments figured even in the celebrated siege of
Otchakof. It was on the return ofthe Kalmucks frora these cam
paigns that their celebrated eralgration took place, when nearly half
a miUIon of men, women, and children, headed by their prince,
quitted the banks of the Volga with their cattle, and set out across'
the most arid regions in quest of their old country.
- The flight of the Kalmucks has been variously explained. B.
Bergraann attributes it solely to the vindictiveness of Zebeck Dorchi,
a relation of Oubacha's, who had been frustrated in his attempt to
raise himself to sovereign power. After fraitless attempts at the
court of the Empress Elizabeth, he had nevertheless been named
first sargatchi, or councillor at the court of his rival. The Imperial
governraent hoped by this means to curb the ambition of Oubacha,
whose power it had abridged in 1761 , by deciding that the sargatchis,
or members ofthe khan's council, should be attached to the ministry of
foreign affairs, -with an annual salary of 100 rubles. According to Berg
raann, Zebeck Dorchlmade no account of his new dignity, and unable
to forgive Russia for not having favoured his pretensions, he joined
the hordes with a full deterraination to tsfke signal vengeance. He
would induce the Kalraucks to go over to China, and thus deprive
Q

226 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
the empire of more than 500,000 subjects, and the army of the
greater part of its best cavalry, and make aU the neighbouring towns
feel severely the loss of their cattle. Such, according to Bergraann,
was Zebeck Dorchi's project, to reaUse which he counted solely on
the natural fickleness ofthe Kalmucks, and his own active intrigues.
This was certainly a very extraordinary scheme of vengeance, and
one we can hardly credit, notwithstanding Bergmann's assertions.
Zebeck Dorchi's aim being to secure the supreme power, it would
have been folly for hira to choose such means. It would have been
much more to the purpose to have inforraed against Oubacha at the
moraent when the latter was making his arrangements for quitting
Russia. Such a service would have had Its reward, and the in
former would undoubtedly have supplanted his rival. This whole ex
planation of the aflair given by Bergraann, rests on no one positive
fact, and can only have been de-vised by a man -writing under Russian
influence, and consequently forced to disguise the truth.
At the period of the Kalmuck emigration Catherine II. fiUed the
throne, and the Russian govemment was beginning to adopt those
principles of uniformity which so highly characterise its present
poUcy. Moreover, it was ready Impossible to aUow that the whole
southem portion ofthe empire should be given up to turbulent
hordes, which-, though nominaUy subjected to the cro-wn, stiU in
dulged their propensity to pillage -without scruple. Placed as they
were between the central and the southern pro-vinces, and occupying
almost aU the approaches to the Caucasus, the Kalmucks were des
tined, of necessity, to lose their Independence, and faU beneath the
iraraediate yoke of Russia. Catherine's intentions were soon no
secret, and Oubacha saw that he must escape by flight from the en
croachments of his powerful neighbours, if he would save what
reraained to him of the priraitive authority of the khans. If we
reflect, moreover, that the power of the Kalmuck princes had been
considerably abridged by the new organisation of their administra
tive council ; that Colonel Kitchinskoi, then grand pristof, had
excited the general indignation of the tribes by his harsh conduct;
that the poUtical and miUtary exigencies of Russia were continuaUy
on the increase; we shaU have no difficulty in comprehending the
real causes of the emigration of these Mongol tribes. Certainly it
required aU these corabined motives to induce the Kalraucks to un
dertake such a journey through desert regions, the inhabitants of
which were their natural eneraies. Nevertheless, we beUeve the
Chinese govemment was not altogether unconcerned In biinging
about Oubacha's deterraination; for, as we shaU see by and by,
the. eraperor had already, in Aioulri's time, sent the mandarin
TouUschin to the Kalmucks, to assure them of his protection. In
case they would retum to their native coimtry.*
•• The flight of the Kalmucks'has .ilso been attributed to Prince Chereng Taidchi,
of whom mention has been made above. This version of the matter seems to us

KALMUCK ElIIGEATIOiSr TO CHINA. 227
It was on the 5th of January, 1771, the d.a.j appointed by the
high priests, that Oubacha began his march, with 70,000 famiUes.
Most of the hordes were then assembled in the steppes on the left
bank of the Volga, and the whole multitude foUowed him. Only
15,000 fanuUes reraained In Russia, because the Volga reraained
imfrozen to an unusual late period, and prevented thera from cross
ing over to the rendezvous. Oubacha arrived, -vrithout impedi
ment, beyond the Ja'ik, but was afterwards -rigorously assaUed by
tiie Cossacks of the Ural and the Khirghis, and lost many men.
After two months' marching, the exhausted hordes encamped on the
Irguitch, which falls into Lake Aksakal, to the north of the sea of
Aral. Next they had to cross the fiightful desert of Chareh
Ousoun, where they were exposed to all the torments of thirst, and
suffered indescribable disasters ; after which they arrived at Lake
Palkache Nor, where many of them feU in a last encounter with the
Khirghis. Oubacha then forced a passage through the country of
the Burats, and at last reached China, after a march of eight
months. Strange to say, the Musco-vite government took no ener
getic means to arrest the fugitives, and detain them In Russia.
General Traubenberg, indeed, who was In command at Orenberg,
was sent in pursuit of them, but failed totaUy, whether frora inca
pacity or othervrise. Thus was accorapUshed the most extraordi
nary emigration of modem tunes; the empire was suddenly deprived
of a pastoral and warUke people, whose habits accorded so weU
-vrith the Caspian steppes, and the regions in which many thousand
- famiUes had fed their Innumerable flocks ancl herds for a.long series
of years, were left desolate and unpeopled.
We -vriU now extract that portion of the Memoirs of the Jesuits,
Vol. I., in which Father Araiot recounts the arrival of the Kal
mucks in China, dated Pekin, Noveraber 8th, 1772. I copy this
curious docuraent frora Father Amiot's original manuscript.*
" In the thirty-sixth year of Kien Long, that is to say, in the
year of Jesus Christ, 1771, aU the Tatarsf composing thenation of
the Torgouthsi arrived, after encountering a thousand perils, in the
plains watered by the Ily, entreating the favour to be admitted
among the vassals of the great Chinese empire. By their o-wn
improbable. Chereng had left China as an outlaw, and it is not to be supposed that
he was favourable to the emigration, not-vrithstanding the impatience with which
he endured the yoke of Eussia. It appears, on the contrary, that he never ceased
to protest against the resolution adopted by Oubacha.
• The MS. belongs to M. Ternaux Compans, who has obUgingly placed at my dis
posal all the rich stores of his valuable library.
t Here again we see that the Chinese give the name of Tatars tp the Mongols,
which confirms our opinion, that the denomination we give to the Mussulman sub
jects of Southern Eussia is incorrect. We have substituted Tatar for the word Tar
tar in the MS. ,- ^ . . -,- ,
t The Chinese doubtless adopted the name Torgouth, because the fugitive Ival-
mucks consisted, in a great measure, of that tribe. The Kalmucks that remamed
in Eussia are almost all Derbetes and Koschoots.
Q2

228 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPLVN SEA, &C.
account, they have abandoned for ever, and -without regret, the
sterile banks of the Vol^a and the Ja'ik, along which the Russians
had formerly allowed them to settie, near where the two rivers
empty themselves into the Caspian. They have abandoned them,
they say, to come and admire more closely the brilliant lustre of the
heavens, and at last to enjoy, like so many others, the happiness of
having henceforth for master the greatest prince in the ivorld. Not
withstanding the raany battles in which they have been obUged
to engage, defensively or offensively, with those through whose'
country they had to pass, and at whose expense they were neces
sarily corapeUed to hve; notwithstanding the depredations com
mitted on them by the vagrant Tatars, who repeatedly attacked and
plundered them on their march ; notwithstanding the enormous
fatigues endured by them in traversing more than 10,000 leagues,
through one of the raost difficult countries; notwithstanding hunger,
thirst, misery, and an almost general scarcity of coraraon neces
saries, to which they -w^ere exposed during their eight months'
journey, their numbers stiU amounted to 50,000 famiUes when they
arrived, and these 50,000 famiUes, to . use the language of the
country, counted 300,000 mouths, -without sensible error. Among
the Russians carried off by them at their departure, - were 100
soldiers, at the head of whom was a Monsieur Dudin, Doudin,-
or Toutim,* as the narae is pronounced here. This narae is pro-'
bably not unknown in our part of the world. It is not at all Uke
the coramon Russian naraes. Is it not that of sorae expatriated
Erenchraan, who had found employment among the Russians? Be
this as it may, had this officer been stiU aUve In last August, when
the eraperor gave e-ridence to the Torgouth princes whom he had
suramoned to Ge Ho, where he was enjoying the pleasures of the
chase, he would certainly have been sent back with honour to Mus-
co-vry. . His majesty did not disdain to inquire personaUy as to this
fact. ' Is it true,' said he to one of the chiefs of the nation, ' that
before your departure you plundered the possessions of the Russians,
and carried off one of their officers and 100 of their soldiers?' ' We
did so,' replied the Torgouth prince, ' and could not help doing
so, under the circumstances in which we were placed. As for the
Russian officer and lus 100 and odd soldiers, there is every reason
to think that they all perished by the way. I reraerabei- that
when the division was made, eight of tiiem feU to rae. I -will
inquire of my people whether any of these Russians are stiU aUve;
and if so, I "will send them to your majesty immediately on my
retum to Ily.'
" This year, 1772, the thirty-seventh ofthe reign of Klen Long,
those of the Eleuths who were formerly dispeised over the vast
* Russian documents confirm the fact, that a captain of this n.-une commanding
a Russian detachment was carried off by the fugitive Kalmucks.

KALMUCK EMIGRATION TO CHINA. 229
regions known by the general narae of Tartary, some hordes of
Pourouths, and the rest of the nation of the Torgouths, carae Uke
tiie others, and volimtarily subraitted to a yoke which no one sought
to impose on thera. They Avere in number 30,000 families, Avhich,
added to the 50,000 of the preceding year, make a total of 480,000
mouths, who wiU unite their voices with those of the other subjects
of the empire in proclaiming the marvels of one of the most glorious
reigns that has been since the foundation of the raonarchy.
" So extraordinary and unexpected an event, happening when
the erapress raother's eighty-sixth year -was celebrated here with a
porap becoralng aU the raajesty of him who gives law to this empire,
has been regarded by the eraperor as an infaUible mark of the good
ness of that supreme heaven, of which he caUs himself the son, and
from which he glories in ha-ring unceasingly received the raost
signal favours since his accession to the throne : it is in this spirit he
has caused the fact to be enrolled in the private archives of his
nation, archives which, in the course of ages, will, perhaps, contrast
in many points -with those which wUl be published by the Chinese
historians, and -with those, too, which some neighbouring nations
may pubUsh -vrith reference to the sarae facts. The latter will, per
haps, impute poUtical views and raanoeuvres which have had no
existence, whilst the forraer, in spite of certain appearances which
may suggest the probability of intrigues and negotiations practised
for the accorapUshment of a preconcerted design, nevertheless state
nothing but the truth, which will be soraewhat hard to beUeve. If
the testiraony of a contemporary, and, as it were, ocular witness,
who has no prejudice or interest in the matter, were necessary to
estabUsh that the fact I am about to speak of is among the nuraber
of those wliich are true in aU circumstances, I would freely give it
without fearing that any man, of the least information, could ever
acc-ase me of error or partiaUty. Be this as it may, until such time
as history shall acquaint posterity with an event which he regards as
one of the most glorious of his reign, the emperor has caused the
statement and the date to be inscribed on stone in four languages
spoken by the various nations subject to liim, viz., the Mantchous,
Mongols, Torgouths, and Chinese. This lapidary raonuraent is to
be erected at fly before the eyes of the Torgouths, that it may be
seen by all those nations I have named. Ha-ring had an opportunity
of procuring a copy from the original, taken by one of those who
were employed in making the Mantchou Inscription, I have ven
tured to translate it. It would doubtless be very acceptable even
as a Uterary specimen, had I been able to preserve in our language
tiiat noble simpUcity, that energy and precision, which the emperor
has given it in his own tongue. Its contents are nearly as follows:
" ' Records ofthe transmigration ofthe Torgouths, who voluntarily,
and of their own full accord, came bodily as a nation, and submitted
themselves to the empire of China.
" ' Those who, after having revolted, reflectbg uneasily on a cnrae

230 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
which they caimot yet be made to expiate, but for which they see
full weU that they wiU be punished sooner or later, beg perraission
to return beneath the yoke of obedience, are men who submit
through fear; they are constrained subjects ; those who ha-ring the.
option to undergo the yoke or not, yet corae and subrait themselves
to it volimtarily, and of their own full accord, even when there is
no thought of imposing It upon thera, are raen who have sub
mitted only because such is their pleasure ; they are subjects who
have freelv given themselves to hira whom they have chosen to
govern them.
" ' AU those who now compose the nation of the Torgouths, un
dismayed by the dangers of a long and toUsome joumey, fiUed -vrith
the sole desire of procuring for the future a better raanner of Ufe
and a happier lot, have abandoned the places where they dwelt far
beyond our frontier, have traversed -with unshakable courage a space
of more than ten thousand leagues, and have ranged theraselves, of
their own accord, araong the nuraber of my subjects. Their sub
mission to rae is not a submission Inspired by fear, but a voluntary
and free subraission. If ever such there was.
" ' After ha-ving pacified the western frontiers of my dominions,!
caused the lands of my domain which are on the Hy to be put under
tillage, and I dirainished the tribute heretofore Imposed, on the
neighbouring Mahometans. I enacted that the Hasacks and the .
Pourouths should together forra the external Uraits of the empire
on that side, and should be governed on the. footing of the foreign.
hordes. As regards the nations of the Antchlyen and the Badak-
chan, as they are stiU more remote, I determined to leave them free
to pay or not to pay tribute.
" ' No one needs blush when he can limit his desires ; no one has
occasion to fear when he knows how to desist in due time. Such
are the sentiments that actuate me. In aU places under heaven, to
the remotest comers beyond the sea, there are men who obey under
the naraes of slaves or subjects. Shall I persuade myself that they
are aU submitted to me, and that they o-wn themselves ray vassals ?
Ear frora rae be so chiraerical a pretension. What I persuade
myself, and what is strictly true, is that the Torgouths, -vrithout any
interference on my part, have corae of their o>vn fuU accord to Uve
henceforth under my laws. Heaven has, no doubt. Inspired them
with this design ; they have only obeyed Heaven in putting it in
force. I .should do -wrong not to commeraorate this event In an
authentic monument.
" ' The Torgouths are a branch of the Eleuths. Pour branches
formerly constituted the entu-e nation ofthe Tchong Kars.* It would
be difficult to explain their coramon origin, respecting which more-
• There is here, evidently, a confusion of names. The Soongars, or Tchong-
Kars, as the Chinese caU them, are a branch of the Eleuths, and are the very nation
who played the important part here attributed to the Eleuths in general.

KIEN LONG ON THE KALMUCK IMSIIGEATION. 231
over nothing very certain is kno-wn. These four branches separated
and each forraed a distinct nation. That of the Eleuths, the chief
of thera aU, gradually subdued the others, and continued until the
time of Kang Hi, to exercise over thera the pre-eminence it liad
usurped. Tse Ouang Raptan then reigned over the Eleuths, and
AloukI over the Torgouths. These two leaders, at variance with
each otiier, had disputes, to which Aiouki, the weaker of the two
feared he should be the unhappy victim. He conceived the desI'Ti
of -vrithdrawlng for ever from beneath the sway of the Eleuths!*
He took secret measures to secure the flight he meditated, and
escaped -with aU his foUowers to the lands under the sway of the
Russians, who permitted him to settle in the country of Etchil.f
"'Cheng Tsou Jin Hoang.Ty, my grandfather, wishing to be
inforraed of the true reasons that had induced Aiould thus to ex
patriate himseff, sent hira the raandarin Toulichen| and sorae
others to assure him of his protection in case he desired to retum
to the country where he had formerly dwelt. The Russians, to
whom TouUchen was ordered to apply for permission to pass
through their country, granted it without difficulty ; but as they
gave him no Information as to what he was in quest of, it took him
three years and some months to fulfil his comraisslon. It was not
until after his retum that the desired information respecting Aiouki
and his people was at last possessed.
" ' Oubacha, who is now khan of the Torgouths, is great grandson
¦of Aiouki. The Russians, never ceasing to require soldiers of hira
to be incorporated in their troops, ha-ving at last taken his own son fi-om
him as a hostage, and being besides of a different reUgion from
himseff, and raaking no account of that of the Lamas which the
Torgouths profess, Oubacha and his people finaUy determined to
shake off a yoke which was daily becoming more and more insup
portable. "'After having secretly dsUbera ted among themselves, they re
solved to quit an abode where they had to suffer so rauch, and
come and dweU in the countries subject to China, where the reUgion
of Eo is professed.
" ' In the beginning of the eleventh moon of last year, they began
their raarch with their woraen and children and all their baggage,
traversed the country of the Hasacks, passed along the shores of
. * This assertion seems totally erroneous. The Torgouths arrived in Russia in
1630, and Aiouki was not, raised to the dignity of khan until 1675 ; he could not,
therefore, have acted the part here ascribed to him. The relation of the Chinese
•embassy to Aiouki (1712—1715) likewise confirms in all points the inaccnracy
of the Emperor Kien Long's historical version. At that period China was a coun
try almost unknown to the Klalmucks, and Aiouki, in all his conferences with the
ambassadors, was continually asking for information of all kinds respecting the
celestial empire.
t The part of southern Eussia comprised between the Volga and the Jaik. The
Tatars also gave the name of Etchil to the "Volga.
t Here the emperor's words are altogether at variance with the report of the
Cmnese embassy, of which TouHschin was the leader. - .

232 THE STEPPES UJ!- 'int <^.aojrJiAit oi-.M., ^x.^.
Lake Palkache Nor and through the adjoining deserts; and towards
the close of the sixth moon of this year, after having corapleted
more than 10,000 leagues in the eight months of their wayfaring,
they at last arrived on the frontlei-s of Chara Pen, not far from the
banks of the Ily. I was already aware that the Torgouths were on
their march to submit theraselves to rae, the news ha-ving been brought
me shortly after their departure from Etchil. I then reflected that
Iletou, general of the troops at Ily, having already been charged
with other very iraportant af^Irs, it was to be feared that he could
not regulate those of the new comers with all the requisite attention.
'" Chouh^de, one of the general's councillors, was at Ouche, em
ployed in maintaining order among the Mahometans. As he was
at hand to attend to the Torgouths, I ordered hira to repair to Ily,
that he might use his best efforts to establish them soUdly. ]
" ' Those who fancy they see danger everywhere, failed not to
make their representations to me on this matter. ' Among those
who are come to raake their submission,' said they, -vrith one voice,
' is the perfidious Chereng, That traitor, after ha-ring deceived
Tangalou, put hira to death raiserably, and took refuge araong the
Russians. He who has once deceived raay do so again. Let us
beware ; we cannot be too much on our guard. To give welcome to one
who comes of his own accord to raake submission, is to give recep
tion to an enemy.' Upon these representations I conceived some
distrust, and gave orders that some preparations should be made
to meet every contingency. I reflected, however, -vrith all the
maturity required by an affair of such Iraportance, and my reiterated
reflections at last con-rinced me that what I was told to fear could
not possibly corae to pass. Could Chereng alone have been able
to persuade a whole nation ? Could he have put Oubacha and aU
the Torgouths, his subjects, in motion? What UkeUhood is there
that so raany men would -willingly have inconvenienced themselves
to foUow a private individual — would»have entered into his views —
and run the risk of perishing of hunger and -wretchedness with
hira? Besides this, the Russians, frora whose sway they have
ventured to withdraw theraselves, are like myself, raasters of a
great realm. If the Torgouths were come with the intention of
insulting my frontiers, and settUng there by force, could they hope
that I would leave them undisturbed there? Can they have per
suaded theraselves that I would not stir to expel them? And if
they are expeUed, whither can they retire? Can they dare to hope.
that the Russians, whora they have treated -with ingratitude in
abandoning them as they have done, wiU condescend to receive
thera back -with impunity, and allow them to resurae possession of
the ground they accorded to them formerly? Had the Torgouths
been actuated by any other motive than that of -wishing' to submit
sincerely to me, they would be -vrithout support on either side;
they would be between two fires. Of ten arguments for and
against, there are nine to show that tiiere is nothing iu their pro-

KIEN LONG ON THE KALMUCK IMSnGP^TION. 233
ceeding to excite suspicion. Among these ten arguments is there
one tencLing to prove that they entertain any secret -views ? If so,
the future wiU unmask thera, and then I wiU act as circumstances
shall rea.T^di'e. What was to happen at the time I made these reflec
tions, has happened at last. It has proved the accuracy of my
reasoning, and exactly verified what I had predicted.
-"-'Ntwertheless I neglected none of the precautions that seemed
to rae necessary. I ordered Chouhede to erect forts and redoubts in
the most important places, and have all the passes strictly guarded.
I enjoined him to exert himself personally in procuring necessary
pro-rislons of aU kinds in the interior, whilst fit persons, carefully
choseU by hira, should make every arrangement for securing quiet
-vrithout. " ' The Torgouths arrived; and at once found lodging, food, and
aU the conveniences they could have enjoyed each in his own
d.weUmg. Nor was this all ; the principal men among thera, who
were to corae in person and pay horaage to me, were conducted with
honour and free of expense by the imperial post-roads to the place
where I then was. I saw thera, spoke to them, and was pleased that
they should enjoy the pleasures of the chase with rae ; and after
the days allotted to that recreation were ended, they repaired in ray
suite to Ge Ho. There I gave thera the banquet of ceremony,
and raade thera the ordinary presents vrith the sarae pomp and state
as I ara accustoraed to eraploy when I give soleran audience to
fchering and the chiefs of the Tourbeths (the Derbetes of the
Russians), of whora he is the leader. |
'"It was at.Ge Ho, in those "charming scenes where Kang
Hi, ray grandfather, raade himself an abode to which he raight
retire durmg the hot season, and at the sarae tirae put himself in a
position to watch more closely over the weUare of the people beyond
the western frontiers of the empire; it was, I say, in that delightful
spot, that ha-ring conquered the whole of the country of the Eleuths,
I received the sincere homage of Tchering and his Tourbeths, who
¦alone among the Eleuths, had remained true to me. It is not neces
sary to go back many years to reach the term of that epoch ; the
memory of It is stUl quite recent.
" ' Who would have said it ! When I had the least reason to
expect It — when I was not even thinking of it — that branch of
the Eleuths which had been the first to separate from the trunk,
tiie Torgouths who had volimtarily expatriated theraselves to Uve
".under an aUen and remote dominion, those very Torgouths came
of themselves and submitted to me of their own free -wiU ; and
It was at Ge Ho,, near the venerable spot where rest the ashes of
.my grandfather, that I had the unsought opportunity of solemnly
admitting thera among the nuraber of ray subjects.
" ' Now, Indeed, It raay be said, without fear of overstepping the
.truth, that the whole nation of the Mongols is subject to our dynasty
of Tay Tsing, since it Is from It In fact that aU the hordes composing

234 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &0. /
it now receive laws. My august grandfather conjectured this
residt ; he foresaw that it would happen one day; what would have
been his deUght to know that that day was actually come \
" ' It is under the reign of my humble person that the conjectures
of that great prince are re'allsed, and what he had foreseen is fuUy
accompUshed. What token can I give him of gratitude propor
tioned to what I owe him ! What profound horaage, what respectful
sentiments can clear ray account -vvith Heaven for the constant pro
tection vrith which it deigns to honour me I I tremble under the
apprehension of not bearing sufficiently at heart those oblicpations
-with which I ought to be whoUy fiUed, or of not being sufftciently
attentive to fulfil them entirely. After aU I have no thouo-ht of
Imputing to my own virtue and merits the voluntary submission,
or the arrival of the Torgouths In my dorainlons. I wUl strive to
behave. In, this respect, as weU as I possibly can. No sooner -were
tiie Torgouths arrived than the representations began anew. ' These
people,' I was told ' are rebels who have -vrithdrawn from the sway
of the Russians; we are not free to receive them. It is to be feared,
that if we gave them a favourable reception It would occasion ani-)
mosities and some troubles on our frontiers.' ' Let not that alarm you/
I replied. - '^Chereng was formerly my subject; he revolted and toofe
refuge among the Russians, and they received- him. Repeatedly did
I request them to give hira up to me, but they would not. And
now Chereng, acknowledging his fault, comes and surrenders vo;
luntarily. What I here say, I have already said to the Russians i^
the fullest detail, and I have completely reduced them to silence.'
" ' What! was it to be supposed that for considerations no way
binding upon me, I should have suffered so many thousand hu-)
man beings to perish, after they had arrived on the verge of ourN
firontiers alraost half dead -vrith -wretchedness and faraine ! ' But,' it
was objected, ' they have plundered by the way; they have carried
off pro-visions and cattie.' And suppose they have, how could they
have preserved their Uves without doing so? "Who would have sup
pUed them -with the means of existence? ' Watch so weU,^ says an
old Chinese proverb, ' that you may never be surprised; keep such
careful guard that perfect security raay reign even in your deserts.'
'I ' With regard to the Ily countiy where I have aUowed thera to
take up their abode, though I have very recently caused a to-wn to be
built mere, that place is not yet strong enough to protect the fron
tiers in that direction, and hinder the brigands from continuing to
insult them. Those who Inhabit the country are employed only in
tilUng the ground and feeding' cattle. How could they protect
tiiemselves? How could they secure the peace of those deserts?
General Iletou being informed of the approach of the Torgouths,
failed not to acquaint me -with the fact If through fear of the tm-
certain fiiture, or considerations unsmted to tiie circumstances of
the case, I had determined to have the border strictly guarded, and
to have a stop put to the march of the Torgouths, what should I

^THE KALMUCKS IN EUSSIA AFTER THE EMIGRATION. 235
have gained thereby? Driven to despair, would they not have
rushed rato the most violent excesses? An ordinary private indivi
dual would be justly stigmatised as inhuman, were he to behold
strangers from a far coimtry exhausted with fatigue, bowed down
by wretchedness, and ready to breathe out their last gasp, and
not take the trouble to succour them; and shaU a great prince
whose first duty it is to try to imitate Heaven in his manner of go
verning raen, shaU he leave a whole nation that implores his cle
mency to pensh for want of aid? Far frora us be such vile thoughts I
fartiier stiU be conduct conforraable to them ! No, we wiU never
adopt such cruel sentiments. The Torgouths came, I received thera;
they wanted even the coramonest necessaries of Ufe; I provided thera
with every thing abundantly; I opened for them my granaries and
my coffers, my staUs and my studs. Out of the forraer I bestowed on
them what was requisite for their present wants; from the latter I
desu-ed that they should be suppUed with the means of provldino-
for theraselves in time to come. I Intrasted the management ol
tills important affair to those of my grandees whose dianterested-
ness and enUghtenraent were ahready known to me. I hope and trust
that every thing wiU be done to the entire satisfaction of the Tor
gouths. It is needless to say more in this place. My intention has
only been to give a summary of what has come to pass."*

CHAPTER XXV.

THE KALSnjCKS APTEK THE DEPABTXrilE OF OITBACHA — ^DIVISIOX OP THE HORDES,
UJUTS OF THEIB TEBKITOEY — THE TCEKOJIAN AND TATAR TBIBES TH THE OO-
-VEENJIENTS OF ASTBAKHAK AND THE CAUCASCS — CHRISTI.i.N KAXMCCKS — AOP.I-
CCTLTTOAI, ATTEMPTS — ^PHYSICAI,, SOClAt, AND MORAL CHABACTEEISTIC3 OF THE
KALHUOKS.
_: Aftee the departure of Oubacha, the Kalraucks that reraained
m Russia were deprived of their special jurisdiction, and for more
than thirty years had neither khan nor -rice-khan. It was not untd
1802, that the Emperor Paul, In one of his inexplicable caprices,
thought fit to re-establish the office of vice-khan, and bestowed It
on. Prince Tchoutchei, an Influential Kalmuck of the race of the
- —  p= 
• The emperor subjoins in a notes " The nation of the Torgouths arrived at Hy
in total destitution without victuals or clothing. I had foreseen this, and given
orders to Chouhede and others, to lay up the necessary provisions of al! kinds, that
they might be promptly succoured. This was done. The lands were divided, and
to each family was assigned a sufficient portion for its support by tillage or cattle
rearing. Each indi-ridual received cloth for garments, a year's supply of com,
household utensils, and other necessaries, and besides all this several ounces of
silver to provide himself with whatever might have been forgotten. Particular
places, fertile in pasturage, were pointed out to them, and they were given raen,
sheep, Sic., that they might afterwards labour for their own sustenance and wel-

236 THE steppes of the CASPIAN SEA, &C.
Derbetes. The administration of the hordes, which had been under
the control of the governor of Astrakhan since 1771, was again
made independent, the functions of the Russian pristofs were Umited,
and they could no longer abuse their power so much as they had
done. But upon the death of Tchoutchei, the Kalraucks again came
under the Russian laws and tribunals; they lost aU their privileges
irrevocably, and the sovereignty of the khans and of the vice-khans
disappeared for ever.
The coraplete subjection of the Kalraucks was not, however,
effected without some difficulty. Discontent prevailed araong them
in the highest degree, but their attempts at revolt were all fruitless.
Hemmed in on all sides by Unes of Cossacks, the tribes were con
strained to .accept the Russian sway in all Its extent. The only re
markable incident of their last struggles was a partial emigration
into the Cossack country. This insubordination excited the tzar's
utmost -wrath, and he despatched an extraordinary courier to Astra
khan, -vrith orders to arrest the high priest and the principal chiefs
of the hordes, and send them to St. Petersburg. Before lea-ring
Astrakhan, these two Kalmucks engaged a certain Maxiraof to act
as their interpreter, and plead their cause before the emperor.
But when the two captives arrived in St. Petersburg, the em
peror's fit of anger was quite over; they were received extremely
well, and Instead of being chastised, they rettu-ned to the steppes
invested with a new Russian dignity. They took leave pubUcly of
the tzar, and this audience was tumed to good accoimt by their in
terpreter. In presenting their thanks to his majesty, that very
clever person, knowing he ran no risk of being contradicted, made
Paul beUeve that the Kalmucks earnestly entreated that his imperial
majesty would grant him, also, an honorary grade in recompense for
his good services. The tzar was taken in by the trick, and Maxlmof
quitted the court with the title of major. The man stiU lived in
Astrakhan when we visited the tp-wn, and did not hesitate to teU us
the story with his own lips.
Though entirely subjected to the Russian laws, the Kalmucks
have an administrative committee, which is occupied exclusively
with their affairs. It resides In Astraklian, and consists of a presi
dent, two Russian judges, and two Kalmuck deputies. The latter,
of course, are appointed only for form sake, and have no influence over
the decisions of the council. The president of the committee is what
tiie Russians call the curator-general of the Kalmucks. In 1840,
this post had been fiUed for raany years by M. Fadiew, a man of
integrity and capacity, and the tribes owed to his wise administra
tion a state of tranquilUty they had not enjoyed for a long while.
To each camp there is also attached a superintendent, called a pristof,
¦with sorae Cossacks under his orders. AU raatters of litigation are
decided in accordance with the Russian code, but criminal cases are
extremely rare, owing to the pacific character of the Kalmucks, and
the interposition of their chlefi.

TERRITORY OP THE KALMUCKS. 237
The Kalmuck hordes are divided into two great classes, those be
longing respectively to piinces and to the cro-vvn; but all are amenable
to the same laws and the same tribunals. The former pay a tax of
twenty-five rubles to their princes, who have the right of taking from
among them all the persons they require for their domestic service, and
they are bound to maintain a police and good order within their camp.
Every chief, has, at his comraand, several subaltern chiefs called
zaizans, who have the iraraediate superintendence of 100 or 1-50
tents. Their office is nearly hereditary. He who fills it enjoys the
title of prince, but this is not shared by the other raerabers of his
family. The zaizans are entitled to a contribution of two rubles frora
every kibitka under their comraand.
The hordes of the crown corae under raore direct Russian sur
veillance. They paid no tax at first, and were bound to miUtary ser-
-rice in the same way as the Cossacks; but they have been exerapted
from it since 1836, and now pay merely a tax of twenty-five rubles for
each faraUy. The princely hordes, likevrise, used to supply troops for
the frontier ser-rice; but this was changed in 1825, and since then
the Kalmucks have been free from all miUtary service, and pay only
twenty-five rubles per tent to their princes, and 2.50 to the crown.
Besides the two great divisions we have just mentioned, the Kal
mucks are also distinguished into various oulousses, or hordes, be
longing to sundry princes. Each oulousse has its own camping-
ground for summer and winter.
The Kalrauck territory has been considerably reduced since the'
departure of Oubacha; it now comprises but a sraall extent of coun
try on the left bank of the Volga, and the Khirghis of the inner
horde now occupy the steppes between the Ural and the Volga;
The present Umics of European Kalmuckia are to the north and
east, the Volga as far as latitude 48 deg. ; a Une dra-wn frora that
point to the mouths of the Volga, parallel with the course of the
river, and at a distance from it of about forty railes; and, lastly, the
Caspian Sea as far as the Kouma. On the south, the boundary is
the Kouma and a line dra^wn from that river, below Vladirairofka,
to the upper part of the course of the Kougoultcha. The Egorllk,
and a line passing through the sources of the different rivers that .
faU into the Don, forra the frontiers on the west.
The whole portion ofthe steppes included between the Volga, the
frontiers of the govemment of Saratof and the country of the Don
Cossacks, and the 46th degree of north latitiude, forms the summer
camping -ground of the following oulousses : Karakousofsky, landi-
kofsky. Great Derbet, belonging to Prince Otshir Kapshukof ;'
Little Derbet, belonging to Prince Tondoudof, and Ikytsokourofsky,
wluch Is now ¦vrithout a proprietor ; its prince ha^vring died childless,
It is not kno-wrn who is to have his inheritance.
The whole territory comprises about 4,105,424 hectares of land;
40,000 were detached from it in 1838 by Prince Tondoudof, and
presented to the Cossacks, in return for which act of generosity the

238 • THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
crown conferred on him the rank of captain. He gave a splendid
baUon the occasion at Astrakhan, which cost upwards of 15,000 rubles.
We saw him in that town at the governor's soirees, where he raade
a very poor figure ; yet he is the richest of aU the Kalmuck princes,
ibr he possesses 4500 tents, and his incorae amounts, It is said, to
more than 200,000 rabies.
The Kalmucks occupy in aU 10,297,587 hectares of land, of which
8,599,415 are in the govemment of Astrakhan, and 1,598,172 in
that of the Caucasus. These figures which cannot be expected to
be matheraatically exact, are the result of my own observations, and
of the assertions of the Kalmucks, compared -vrith some surveys made
by order of the adrainistrative comraittee.
Besides the Kalraucks, the only legitiraate proprietors of the soU,
other nomades also intrade upon these "steppes. Such are the Tur
comans, called Troushmens by the Russians. They have their owm
lands in the govemment of the Caucasus, between the Kouma
and the Terek ; but as the cotratless swarms of gnats Infesting
those regions in summer render them almbst uninhabitable for
caraels and other cattle, the Turcomans pass the Kouraa of their ovra
authority, -with some No^i hordes, who are in the sarae predica
ment, encamp araidst the Kalmucks, and occupy during aU the fine
weather a great part of the steppes between the Kouma and the
Manitch. "This intrusion has often been strongly resented by the '
Kalmucks, and the authorities have been obUged to Interfere to ap
pease the strife. But as it is absolutely reqidsite to aUot a summer
camping-ground to the Turcomans, the govemment is not a Uttie
perplexed how to cut the gordian knot. An expedient, however,
was adopted during our stay in Astrakhan. It was determined to
take from the Kalmucks a portion of the territory they possess along
the Kalaous, and of which they make no use, and bestow It upon
the Turcomans. This ground being completely isolated, it was fur
thermore decided that there should be allowed a road six kUometres
¦wide (three railes six furlongs) for the passage of their flocks. No
thing can convey a more striking picture of these arid regions than
this scheme of a road nearly four raUes ¦vride, extending for more
than sixty leagues.
The Turcomans entered Rusria In the train of the Kalmucks,
whose slaves they appear to have been. They are now much mixed
up with the Nogais, Uke whom they profess Mohammedanism. They
reckon 3838 tents. The only obligation Iraposed on them is to
copvey the com destined for the army of the Caucasus. They re
ceive their loads at Koumskala, where the vessels from Astrsihan
discharge their cargoes, and thence they repair to the Terek and
often to Tiflis in Georgia. This service is regarded by them as very
onerous, and they have long requested perraission to pay their taxes
in raoney. They use in this business carts -with two wheels of large
diaraeter, drawn by oxen, for camels and horses are scarcely ever
eraployed. The Turcoraans have preserved the good old customs of

CHRISTIAN KALMUCKS. 239
their native country ; they are the greatest plunderers in the steppes,
and the only people whora there Is any real cause to regard -vrith
distrust. Before the end of summer, in the latter part o? Au<nist,
the Turcomans begin to retire behind the Kouraa, into the govern
ment of the Caucasus.
A Tatar horde called Sirtof Uke-wise encamps on the lands of the
Kalraucks, -within sixty nules of Astrakhan, on the road to IvisUar.
It reckons but 112 tents, and as the lands it occupies are of Uttie
importance, no one thinks of trotibUng It.
Lastly are to be enumerated 500 famiUes of Kalmucks, Improperly
called Christians, who occupy the two banks of the Kouraa, between
Vladimirofka and the Caspian. Some Russian missionaries attempted
tiieir conversion towards the close of the last century, but their pro
selytising efforts, based on force, were fruitless, and produced nothing
but revolts. Since then these Kalmucks, some of whom had suffered
themselves to be baptised, were caUed Christians, chiefly for the pur
pose of distinguishing them from those who are not botmd Uke them
selves to raiUtary service. They are chiefly eraployed in guarding the
salt pools, and belong, underthe denomination of Cossacks, to the re
giment of Mosdok. The govemment feeds thera and their horses when
tiiey are on actual service, but they stiU pay a tax for every head of
cattle, the amount of which goes into the regimental chest. These
Kalmucks ha-ring no camping-ground of their own, have long been
Eohciting to have one assigned thern. The government ofifered them
ground m the environs of" Sta-vropol, the capital of the Caucasian
governraent, but they refused it for fear of the incursions of the Cir
cassians. These nominal Christians are -vrith t'ne Turcomans the
most dangerous people in the steppes. Their attacks are not at aU
to be feared by day; but at night It Is necessary to keep a sharp look
out after one's camels and horses ; for in these deserts to rob a tra
veUer of his means of transport is almost to take his life.
As -wiU be seen from what we have stated above, the sumraer
encarapraents of the Kalrauck hordes are situated in the most north-
em parts ofthe country, where there Is the richest pasture, and where
¦ the cattle suffer least from flies in the hot weather. The emigration
to the north is almost general; only a few very needy famihes, who
have no cattle, reraain in the -winter carap, keeping as near as possible
to the post stations and Inhabited places, in hopes of procuring era
ployraent. In the beginning of the cold season the liordes return
to the south, along the banks of the Caspian and the Kouma, where
, they fix theraselves araong the forests of rushes tiiat supply them
¦vrith firing and fodder for their cattle.
In aU these reglons^ destitute of forests, reeds are of iramense im
portance, and nature has liberaUy distributed them along aU the
rivers ofthe steppes, and In aU the numerous bottom lands that flank
the Caspian. The inhabitants of Astrakhan make a regular and
systematic use of them, employing them not only for fuel, but also
for roofing their houses, and for thatching their waggons laden -vrith

240 - THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
salt or fish, which they send into the interior of the country. It is
in spring, before the floods caused by the melting of the snow, that
the reeds begin to sprout. Their stalks, which are as thick as a
finger, soon shoot up to the height of twelve or thirteen feet. Those
that grow on the banks of the Volga are never quite covered in the
highest floods. The beginning of winter is the season for laying in
a stock of reeds, and it is customary to burn all those that are not
cut and carried off, in order that the dead stalks may not hinder the
growth of the young shoots.
The ceremony attending the departure of the hordes in spring is
not without interest. The Kalmuck chiefs never begin a march
without raaking an offering to the Bourkhan, or god of the river,
as an acknowledgment of the protection vouchsafed to their camp
during the winter. To this «end they repair In great porap to the
banks of the Kouraa, accompanied by their faraiUes and ^ large
body of priests, and throw several pieces of stiver raoney into the
river, at the same tirae invoking its future favours.
According to the official docuraents coramunicated to me, the
Kalmuck population does not appear to exceed 15,000 families.-
On this head, however. It Is impossible to arrive at very exact
statistics, for the piinces ha-ring themselves to pay the crown dues,
have of coui-se an interest in raaking the population seem as sraaU
as possible. I ara inclined to beUeve, from sundry facts, that the
nuraber of the tents is scarcely under 20,000. At-aU events, it
seeras ascertained that the Kalrauck population has reraained sta
tionary for the last sixty years, a fact which Is ovring to the ravages
of disease, such as small-pox, and others of tho cutaneous kind.
The Kalmucks, aU of thera noraadcs, are exclusively engaged in
rearing cattle, and know nothing whatever of agriculture. They
breed caraels, oxen, sheep, and above all, horses, of which they have
an excellent description, sraall, but strong, agde, and of" great
endurance. I have ridden a Kalrauck horse often eighteen and
even twenty-five leagues without once dismounting. The Russian
cavalry is mounted chiefly on horses from the Caspian steppes j the
average price of a good horse is from 80 to 100 rubles. Eormerly
the Ilalmucks used to send their horses to the great fairs of Poland,
paying a duty of 1.75 rubles on every horse sold ; but the duty was
raised to 5.25 rubles in 1828, for every horse arriving in the
fair, and this unlucky measure imraediately destroyed all trade
with Poland. The business- -of hoi-se-breedlng has dirainished im
mensely ever since in the Caspian steppes. The governraent after- .
wards returned to the old rate of duty ; but the mischief was done,
and the Kalraucks did not again appear in their old markets.
It is impossible to know, even approximately, the araount of
cattle belonging to the tribes, for the Kalmucks are too superatitious
ever to acknowledge the number of their stock. From various data
I collected at Astrakhan, and from the superintendents of the
hordes,- we may estimate that the Kalmucks possess on the whole

THE KALMUCKS NECESSARILY NOMADES. 241
from 250,000 to 300,000 horses, about 60,000 camels, 180,000
kine, and nearly a mlUion sheep.
Prince Turaene is the only one of the Kalraucks who has engaged
in agriculture, and his attempts have been exceedingly favoured by
the character of the soil In his doraalns on the left bank of the
Volga. His produce consists of grain, grapes, and aU kinds of fruit.
He has even tried to manufacture Charapagne wine, but -with Uttie
success ; and when we -risited hira, he entreated rae to send him a
good ¦work on the subject, that he might begin his operations ao-aln
on an iraproved plan.
Prince Tondoudof is also stri-ring to foUow in Prince Turaene's
footsteps. He has lately marked out a large space in the steppes
for the fixed residence of a part of his Kalmucks, but I. greatly
doubt that his -srishes can ever be reaUsed. He has for many years
possessed a very handsorae dweUing, but he has not yet been able
to give up his tent, so strong is the attacbraent of aU this race to a
nomade life. But the raost potent obstacle to the estabUshraent of
a perraanent colony consists in the nature of the soil itself We
have traversed the Kalmuck steppes in alraost all directions, and
found everywhere only an argillaceous, sandy, or salt soil, generaUy
unsuited to agriculture. Where there is pasture, the grass is so
short and thin, that the ground exactly reserables theappearance ofthe
steppes ofthe Black Sea, when the grass Jjegins to grow again after
tiie conflagrations of -winter. Hence the Kalmucks are continually
on the raove to find fresh pasture for their cattle, and seldom remain
in one spot for more than a raonth or six weeks. But the raost
serious obstacle to agriculture is the want of fresh water. , The few
brooks that run through the steppes are dry during the greater part
of the year, and the summers are generally without rain. The cold,
too, is as intolerable as the heat : for four months the therraoraeter
is alraost always steady at twenty-eight degrees of Reauraur in
the shade, and very often it rises to thirty-two ; then when -vrinter
sets in it falls to twenty-eight degrees below zero. Thus, there is a
difference of nearly sixty degrees between the winter and the sumraer
temperature. If In addition to these changes of temperature we
consider the total flatness of the country, exposed without any
shelter to the -riolence of the north and east winds, it wiU easUy be
conceived how unfavourable It raust be to agriculture. A noraade .
Ufe seeras therefore to me a necessity for the Kalraucks, and until the
developraent of civiUsation araong them shall make thera feel the
need of fixed dwellings, they must be left free to wander over their
steppes. Moreover, In applying themselves exclusively to pastoral
pursuits, they renderrauch greater service to Russia than if they
employed theraselves in cultivating a stubborn and thankless sou.
No doubt there are nuraerous oases scattered over these iniraense
plains, just as in other deserts, and agriculture raight have sorae
success in the northem parts ; but these favourable spots are all ,
situated amid -wildernesses where the cultivators would find no
B

242 THE. STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
markets for their produce. In spite of aU these drawbacks, the
Russian govemment still persists in its endeavours to colonise the
Kalmucks, and strives ¦vrith aU its might to introduce amonw
them its system of uniforraity. But its efforts have hitherto been
quite fruitless ; the hordes are now, perhaps, more than ever attached
to their vagrant way of Ufe, in which they find at least a compensa
tion for the prl-rileges and the independence of which they have
been deprived.
' The Kalraucks, like most other nations, are divided Into three
orders, nobles, clergy, and comraons; the merabers of the aristocracy
assume the name of tvhite bones, whilst the comraon people are
caUed black bones. The priests belong indifferently to either class,
but those that issue from the ranks ofthe people do not easUy suc
ceed in effacing the stain of their origin. The prejudices of noble
bu"th are, however, much less deeply rooted at tins day than for
merly, a natural consequence of the destruction of the power of tiie
khans and the princes, and the- complete subjection of the hordea
to the laws and customs of the empire. Bergmann's account has
therefore become quite InappUcable to the present state of things,
and can. only give false notions, of the constitution of, the Kal
mucks, Araong the Asiatic races there Is none whose feattures are so dis-
tinctly characterised as those of the Mongols, Paint one individual
and you paint the whole nation. In 1815, the celebrated painter,-
Isabey, after seeing a great number of Kalraucks,.observed so strik
ing a reserablance between thera, that having to take the Ukeness of
Prince Tumene, and percei-ving that the prince was very restiess at
the last sittings, he begged him to send one of his servants in his
.stead. Li that way the painter finished the portrait, which tumed
out to be a most striking Ukeness,- as I myself can testify. AU
the Kalmucks have eyes set obUquely, vrith eyeUds Uttie opened,
scanty black eyebro-ws, nosea deeply depressed near the forehead,
prominent cheek-bones, spare beards, thiit moustaches, and a brown
ish yellow skin. The lipa of the men are thick and fleshy, but the
woraen, particularly those of high rank, have heart-shaped mouths
of no coraraon beauty. AU have enorraous ears, projectmg strongly
from the head, and their hair is invariably black. The Kalmucks
are generaUy smaU, but -with figmres weU rounded, and an easy car
riage. Very few deforraed persons are seen among them, for -vrith
more good sense than ourselves, they leave the devSopment of their
children's frames entirely to nativre, and never put any kind of ear- .
ment on them until the age of nine or ten. No .sooner are they
able to walk, than they mount on horseback, and apply themselves
-with aU their hearts to -wrestiing and riding, the cmef amusements
of the tribes.
The portrait we have drawn of the Kalmucks Is certainly not very
engaging; but their own notions of beauty are very different from
ours. A Kalmuck princess has been named to us, who, though

KAL3IUCK C0STU3IE. 243
frightfully ugly in European eyes, nevertheless, passed for such a
marvel of loveUness araong her own people, that after having had a
host of suitors, she was at last carried off by force by one of her
admirers. Like aU inhabitants of vast plains, the Kalmucks have exceedingly
keen sight. An hour after sun-set they can still distinguish d camel
at a distance of three railes or more. Veiy often when I perceived
nothing but a point barely visible on the horizon, they clearly raade
out a horseman arraed with his lance and -gun. They have also an
extraordinary faculty for wending their way through their pathless
-vrildemesses. Without the least apparent mark to guide them, they
traverse hundreds of miles -with their fioclcs, -without ever wander
ing frora the right course.
The costurae of the coraraon Kalraucks is not marked by any very
decided pecuUarity, the cap alone excepted. It is invariably of '
yeUowcloth trimmed -with black lambsKn, and is worn by be ''t
sexes. I am even tempted to think that there are some supersti
tious notions connected -vrith it, seeing the difficulty I experienced
in procuring one as a specimen. The trousers are "vride and open
below. Persons in good circurastances wear two long tunics, one -
of which is tied round the waist, but the usual dress consists only
of trousers and a jacket of skin -vrith tight sleeves. We have already
. described the garb of the woraen. "The raen shave a part of their
heads, and the rest of the hair is gathered into asingle mass,' which
hangs on their shoulders. The women wear two tresses, and this is
ready the only -risible criterion of their sex. The princes have almost
aU adopted the Circassian costume, or the uniform of the Cossacks of
Astrakhan, to which body sorae of them belong. The ordinary foot
gear is red boots with very high heels, and generaUy much too short.
The Kalmucks, Uke the Chinese, greatly admire small feet, and as
they are constantiy on horseback, their short boots, which would be
torturing to us, cause them no Inconvenience. But they are very
bad pedestrians; the form of their boots obUges them to walk on
their toes, and they are exceedingly distressed when they have not
a horse to motrat. -
They never set out on a joumey unarmed. They usuaUy carry a
poniard and a long Asiatic gun, generally a matchlock. The camel
is the beast they commonly ride, guiding it by a string passed
through Its nostrils, which gives them complete command over the
animal. They have long quite abandoned the use of bows and
arrows; the gun, the lance, and the dagger being now their only
weapons. Cuirasses, too, have becorae useless to them, I saw a few
admirable specimens at Prince Turaene's, which appeared to be of
Persian raanufacture, and were valued at from fifty to a hundred
horses. In spite of the precepts of buddhism which forbid them to
kill any sort of animal, the Kalmucks are skilful sportsmen -vrith
hawk and gun. They almost always shoot in the manner of the
e2

244 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
old arquebusiers, resting the gun on a long fork which plays upon
._an axis fixed at the extreraity of the barrel. )
The Kalraucks, like all pastoral people, Uve very frugally. Dairy
produce forms their chief aUment, and their favourite beverage ia
tea. They eat raeat also, particularly horse flesh, which they prefer
to any other, but very well done and not raw as sorae writers have
asserted. As for cereal food, which the natives of Europe prize so
highly, the Kalraucks scarcely know its use; It is only at rare inter
vals that some of them buy bread or oatcake from the neighbouring
Russians^ Their tea Is prepared in a very pecuUar manner. It
coraes to- them frora China, in the shape of very hard bricks com
posed of the leaves and coarsest parts of the plant. After boiling it
a considerable time in water, they add milk, butter, and salt. The
infusion then acquires consistency, and becomes of a dirty red-
yellow colour. We tasted the beverage at Prince Tumene's, but
must confess It was perfectly detestable,, and instantly reminded us
of Madame Gibou's incredible preparation. They say, however, that
it is easy to accustom oneself to this tea, and that at last it Is thought
delicious. At aU events it has one good qiiaUty. By strongly ex
citing perspiration, it serves as an exceUent preservative against the
effects of sudden chills. The Kalmucks drink their tea out of round
shallow little wooden vessels, to which they often attach a very high
value. I have seen several which were priced at two or tiiree horses.
They are generaUy raade of roots brought frora_ Asia. It is super
fluous to say that the Kalraucks, kno-wing nothing of tiie use of tea
kettles, prepare their infusion in large iron pots. Next to tea there
Is no beverage they are so fond of as spirituous Uquors.. They manu
facture a sort of brandy from raare's or cow's- nulk ; but as it is
very weak, ancl has Uttie action on the brain, they seek after Russian
Uquors with intense eagerness, so that to prevent the pernicious con
sequences of this passion, the governraent has been obUged to pro
hibit the estabUshraentr of any drara shops araong the hordes. The
women are as eager after the fatal Uquor as the raen, but they have
seldom an opportunity to Indulge their taste, for their lords and
masters watch them narrowly in this respect. The I^idmuck kitchen
is disgustingly filthy. A housekeeper would think herself disCTaced
if she washed her utensils -vvith water. When she has to clean a
vessel, no matter of what- sort, she merely empties out its contents,
and poUshes the inside -vrith the back of her hand. Often have I
had pans of milk brought to rae that had been cleansed in this in
genious raanner. However, as we have already reraarked, the in
terior of the tents by no raeans exhibits the filth with which this
people has been often charged.
Among the Kalraucks, Uke most Oriental nations, the stronger
sex considers all household cares derogatory to Its dignity, and leaves
them entirely to the women, whose business It Is to cook, take care
of the children, keep the tents in order, make up the garments and

MORAL AND SOCIAL CHARACTER OF THE KALMUCKS. 245
furs of the faraily, and attend to the cattle.. The men barely con
descend to groora their horses; they hunt, drink tea or brandy,
stretch themselves out on felts, and smoke or sleep. Add to these
daily occupations some games, such as chess, and that played with
knuckle-bones, and you havo a complete picture of the existence of
a Kalmuck pater familias. The women are quite habituated to-
their toilsome Ufe, and make cheei-ful and contented housewives;
but they grow old fast, and after a few years of wedlock become
frightfuUy ugly. Their appearance then differs not at aU frora that
of the men; their masculine forms, the shape of their features,
their swarthy complexion, and the identity of costume often deceive
the raost practised eye.
We twice visited the Kalmucks, and the favourable opinloa we
conceived of them from the first was never shaken. They, are the
most pacific people imaginable; in analysing their physiognomy, It
Is impossible to beUeve that a maUcious thought can enter their
heads. We invariably encountered the frankest and raost affable
hospitality araong them, and our arrival in a camp was always
hailed by the joyful shouts of the whole tribe hurrying to meet us.
According to Bergmann's book he seeras not to have fared so weU
at their hands, and he revenges himself by painting thera in a very
odious light. But it raust not be forgotten that Bergraann was,
above all things, clerical, and that he could not fail to be looked on
¦vrith dislike by the Kalraucks, who had already endured so many
attempts of missionaries to convert them. It is, therefore, by no
means surprising if he was not always treated -with- the deference
he had a right to exact. As for that pride of the great men and
that impudence of the vulgar, which so deeply stirred the Indigna
tion of the Livonian traveller, these are defects common enough in
all countries, and even among nations that make the greatest boast
of their UberaUty; it would be unjust, therefore, to visit thera too
severely In the case of the Kalmucks.
A very raarked characteristic of these tribes is their sociablUty.
They seldom eat alone, and often entertain each other ; it is even
their custora, before tasting their food, to offer a part of it to
strangers, or, if none are present, to children; the act is in their eyes
both a work of charity, and a sort. of propitiatory offering in ac
knowledgment of the bounty of the Delty.-
Their dwellings are felt tents, called kibitkas by the Russians.
They are four or five yards in diameter, cylindrical to the height of
a man's shoulder, -vrith a conical top, open at the apex to let the
smoke escape, "rhe frame is light, and can be taken asunder for the
convenience of carriage. The skeleton of the roof consists of a
wooden ring, forraing the aperture for the smoke,_ and of a great
number of smaU spars supporting the rin^, and resting on the upper
circuraference of \he cyUndricd frarae. The whole tent is Ught
enouorh to be carried bv two camels. A kibitka serves for a whole

246 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SKX, &C.
faraUy; men, women, and children sleep in It promiscuously -vrithout
any separation. In the centre there is always a trivet, on which stands
the pot used for cooking tea and meat "The floor Is partly covered
with felts, carpets, and mats; the couches are opposite the door, and
tiae walls of the tent are hung with arras, leathern vessels, household
utensils, quarters of meat, &c.l
Among the most important occupations of these people are the
distiUation of spirits, and the manufacture of felts, to which a certain
season of the year is appropriated. For the latter operation the men
theraselves awake out of their lethargy, and condescend to put their
hands to the -vvork. They raake two kinds of felt, grey and white.
The price of the best is ten or twelve rubles for the piece of eight
yards by two. The B^lmucks are also very expert in making
leathern vessels for Uquids, of aU shapes and sizes, -vrith extremely
smaU throats. The women tan the skins after a manner which the
curious in these matters wdl find described by the celebrated tra
veUer, PaUas. The priests, moreover, manufacture some very pecu
Uar tea-caddies; they are of wood,. their shapea truncated cone, with
nuraerous ornaraental hoops of copper. In other respects industry
has made no progress among the Kalmucks, whose wants are so
limited, that none of them has ever felt the need of applying himself
to any distinct trader Every man can supply his o-wn wants, and we
never found an artisan of any. kind among the hordes. At Astrakhan,
there are some Kalrauck journeymen engaged in the fisheries, and
many of them are in high repute as boatmen.. On the whole, it is
not for want of InteUigence they are without arts, but because they
have no need of them. ¦-¦._.
We frequently questioned the Kalmucks, respecting their winter
ing under a tent, and they always assured us that their kabitkas
perfectly protected them from the cold. By day tiiey keep up a fire
with reeds and dried dung; and at night, when there remains only
clear coal, they stop up aU the openings to confine the heat. Their
felts, besides, as I know from experience, are so weU raade, as to
shelter them completely from the most furious tempests.
We have Uttie to say of the education of the iLalmucks. Their
princes and priests alone boast of some learning, but it consists only
in a knowledge of their religious works. The mass of the people
grovel In utter ignorance. Nevertheless, a very notable inteUectual
movement took place among the tribes in the beginning of the
seventeenth century, at which period Zaia Pandity, one of their high
pri.ests, invented a new alphabet, and enriched tlie old Mongol lan
guage with many Turkish elements. Thereupon the luJmuck
nation had a hterature of its own, and soon, uncler the influence
of its numerous traditions, and its historical, sacred, and poUtical
books, it exhibited aU the germs of a hopeful, nascent civilisationj
nor was it rare in those days to find men of decided talent among
the aristocracy. . But Oubacha's emigration bUghted aU tiiese faic

BUDDHISiit. 247

hopes. The books were all carried off by the fugitives; the old tra
ditions, so potent araong Asiatic nations, gradually became extinct,
the natural bond that knitted the various hordes together was
broken, and the Kalraucks that reraained in Europe soon relapsed
into their old barbarian condition.

CHAPTER XXVL
HDUDHIS^t — KAJJICCS C0SiIOG0^¦T — KALMUCK CIEKGY — RITES AM5 CEREMONTES —
POLYGAMY — THS KKTUGms.
The Kalmucks, like most of the other offshoots of the Mongol
stock, are Buddhists, or rather Lamites. According to the opinion
of all -writers, Buddhism began in India, and Buddha, afterwards
deified by his foUowers under the narae of DchakdcharaounI, was its
founder and first patriarch. Opposed by the fanaticism of the chU-
. dren of Brahma, the new creed raade Uttie progress, and appears to
have been crueUy persecuted in the beginning. The learned
researches of M. Abel Rerausat have, however, demonstrated that
tiiere was a succession of twenty-eight Buddhist patriarchs in India.
It was not untd about a.d. 495, that Bodhidharma, impeUed no
doubt by the persecutions of the Brahmins, set out for China,
where the doctrines of Buddha had already raade considerable pro
gress, as weU as in Thibet and great part of Tartary. Eight cen
turies, nevertheless, elapsed before the successors of Bodhidharma
emerged from their, obscure and precarious condition: it was to the
grand fortunes of the celebrated Genghis Khan they owed that
royal splendour they afterwards enjoyed under the narae of Dalai
Lama. According to Klaproth, the first traces of Buddhism are recorded
iu .a Mongol book, entitled " The Source of the Heart," written in
the time of Genghis Khan. It is there related that the conqueror,
when about to enter the countries occupied by the Buddhists, sent
an embassy to their patriarch with these words : " I have chosen
thee for my high priest, and for that bf my erapire; repair to me;
I give thee charge over the present and future weal of my people,
and I -wIU be thy protector." The desires of Genghis Klian were
quickly fulfiUed; from that time forth the patriarchs often resided
at the conqueror's court, and their reUgion was at last adopted by
the greatest Mongol warriors. In the reign of Genghis Khan's
grandson, Buddhisra was aheady becorae a power; and then it was
that the high priests, assuraing the title of Dalai Lama, fixed their
residence ia Thibet, where they continued to be treated as actual
monarchs, tmtil dissensions and rivalries destiroyed aU the prestige

248 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
of their authority, and they became confounded -with the other
vassals of the erapire of Chma.
When Buddhism Installed Itself in Thibet, that country was
already peopled with Christians, and the Nestorlans had many
monastenes there. The reUgious tolerance of the Mongol mo
narchs was unlimited: aU creeds enjoyed equal protection in
their' capital. The Christians were especiaUy nuraerous In the im
perial city, where they had a church -with bells, and were long
presided over by an ItaUan Archbishop. The effect of tlus general
toleration, and of the potent action of the principles of Chris
tianity, must . necessarily have been to modify Buddhisra to an
important degree; and we beUeve, -vrith M. Remusat, that we must
refer to this period for the origin and explanation of the many points
of analogy between It and the doctrines of Christians.
PaUas and Bergraann have written much on the reUgious cos
mogony of the Kalmucks; we will follow them in their investigations,
and endeavour to complete them by raeans of our o-wn observations.
¦ There was in the beginning an iraraense- abyss, called Khoubl
Saiagar, exceeding in length and depth 6,116,000 berez (about
12,000,000 leagues), and out of this abyss the Taingalris, or aerial
spirits, existing from all eternity, drew forth the world. First
rose fiery-coloured clouds,, which gathered together untd they dis
solved Into a heavy rain, every drop of which was as big as a chariot
wheel, and thus was formed the universal sea. Soon afterwards
there. appeared on the surface of the waters an immense quantity
of foam, white as milk, and out of it issued all U-ving creatures, in
cluding the human race. We wiU say nothing of those hurricanes
which, arising frora the ten parts of the world, produced in the
upper hemisphere that fantastic column, as lofty as the ocean is
deep, round which revolve the various worlds of the Buddhist
universe. But we cannot forbear to mention the ingenious ex
planation by which the astronomers of Thibet accounted for the
periodical revolutions of the day. According to their sacred books,
the mystic column has four faces, of different colouis, argent, azure,
or, and deep red. Al sunrise the rays of the sun faU on the
argent side. In the forenoon they are reflected frora the azure,
at noon frora the gold, towards the close of day from the red sur
face, and the concealment of the orb behind the column is what
produces night. -. „
AU the books of the Kalmucks speak of four great lands, which
are sometiraes spoken of as belonging to the sarae whole, soraetimes
as forming separate worlds. The first of these, lying eastward, is
occupied by giants who are eight cubits high, and Uve for 150 years;
the second, towards the west, has Inhabitants eleven cubits high,
whose Ufetime Is 500 years; the third, placed in the north, is stiU
more favoured, for its inhabitants, though devoid of souls, Uve for
1000 years e.xempt from aU infirmity. Their stature is 230 cubits.
When the term of their existence Is arrived, they assemble their fa-

BUDDHIST COSMOGONT. 249
mlUes and their firiends aroimd thera, and expire -calmly at the caU of
a heavenly voice summoning thera by their name. The fourth earth
is that on which we dwell, and on which aU the favours ofthe Deity
are profusely lavished. It has four great rivers bearing the mystic
names of Ganga, Schllda, Baktschou, and Alpiira, which take their
rise in the heart of four gi-eat moimtains, where dwells an elephant
two leagues long, white as snow, and named Gasar Sakitschin
Koven (protector of the earth). This fabulous animal has thirty-
three red heads, each fumished with six trunks, whence spout forth
as many fountains, aU sitrmoiinted -with six stars. On each star sits
a virgin always young and gracefully attired. These virgins are the
daughters of the aerial spirits, one of whom, the raost potent of aU,
sits astride on the middle of the elephant's head, when the animal
tiiinks fit to change his quarters.*
In the beginning the inhabitants of this privUeged earth Uved
80,000 years, abounding in health, and incapable of forming a desire
that was not instantly fulfilled. "Their eyes shot forth rays of llo-ht
tiiat suppUed the place of the sun and the stars, and invisible grace
stood them instead of aU nourishment. It was during this golden
age that most of the secondary divinities were bom, and 1000
Boiurkhans' were taken up from the earth to the abode ofthe blessed.
But those blissful times carae to an end, for, as in Genesis, an un
lucky fruit, for which mankind iraprudently conceived aUking; was
the cause of their downfal. The human race lost aU its precious
pri-rileges; its -wings failed; physical wants tormented It; its gigantic
stature d-windled down, and the span of life was contracted to 40,000
years, whUst the luminous rays of the eyes, the only Ught of that
period, disappeared. Darkness then covered the face of the earth,
untd four powerful deities, touched with compassion, squeezed the
mountain hard, and forced from it the sun and the moon, those two
great luminaries which stiU exist in oiur day.
The e-ril did not stop here. To the physical woes that affUcted
man was soon added raoral depravation; adultery, horaicide, and
-riolence supplanted the priraitive virtues, and disorder reigned over .
the whole face of the habitable earth. During this long period of
decay the duration of Ufe underwent successive curtailments, and
many bourkhans descended on earth to correct and ameliorate man
kind. The bourkhan Ebdekchi (the perturber) appeared at the time
when the duration of life did not exceed 40,000 years. Altan
• After the cuiious researchesofM. Ferdinand Denis, respecting the cosmography
and the fantastic histories of the middle ages, we can no longer wonder at the sin
gular conceptions of the Kalmucks. The world of Cosmas has likewise its four great
sacred rivers, and he, too, like the followers of the Dalai Lama, miies tiie sun and
th§ stars rerolve ronnd a mystic column. We might point out many other analo
gies between the Mongol myths and those of the medieval -writers ; but we will
rather refer the reader to the enchanted world of M. Denis, to those elegant and
poetic pages in which the learned librarian of Sainte Genevieve has so ably demon-^
strated the historical importance of all those fabulous legends, which at first appear
to be only the idle ravings of an extravagant imagination.

250 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C,
Dchldakti, the bourkhan of incorruptible gold, appeared to the world
when men only Uved 30,000 years, and those whose years were but
20,000 were -visited by the bourkhan Gnerel SaHtchi (the guardian
of the world). After him came Massouschiri. Lastly, the term of
htmaan existence had been reduced to 100 years, when the celebrated
bourkhan DchakdcharaounI, the foimder of the existing sect, came
upon the earth and preached the faith to one-and-thlrty nations. A
great moral revolution then took place in the world; but unfortu
nately the new law was variously interpreted, and thence resulted
this great diversity of reUgions and languages.
Still, however, the degeneration of the human race is far from
having reached its utmost Umit. The life and stature of raan and of
all aniraals, -vriU undergo a further considerable diminution In ths
course of ages. There wiU corae a time when the horse -vriU be no
bigger than the present race of hares, and men but a few palms
high, ¦vriU Uve but ten years, and ¦vriU marry at the age of five raonths.
Thus the Buddhists have adopted notions diametricaUy opposed to
tiiose of certain modem philosophers, who think that we began as
oysters and wiU end vrith being gods. Which is the more absurd of
these two opinions? We shaU not attempt to decide the question,
but leave it to our neighbours beyond the Rhine, who are more com
petent than we to deal vrith such matters. The extreme limit, of
phy.=iical decay ha-ving been once attained,, most Uving creatures will
be destroyed by a mortal malady. But just when the world- seems
on the- point of relapsing into the chaos from whence It issued, the
voice ofthe celestial spirits wiU be heard, and some of the miserable
dwarfs stUlpeopUng the earth wIU seek refuge In dark caverns ;it
-wiU then rain swords, spears, and all sorts of deadly weapons ; the
grotmd -wIU be strewed ¦with corpses and red ¦with blood. EinaUy,
a horrible down-pour of rain -wdl sweep aU the corpses and aU the
filth into the ocean. This -wiU be the last act of the genius of
destruction, soon after which a fragrant rain wiU -vrivlfy the -earth.
AU sorts of garments and food wiU drop from the sky ; the dwarfs •¦
that have escaped destruction wiU come forth from their caverns,
and men, regenerated and virtuous, wiU at once recover tiieir gigantic
stature and their privdege of U^vring 80,000 years. There vnU then
be a new decay, and when the boturkhan Maidari appears on earth,
men wdl have again become dwarfs;. but at the voice of that prophet
tiiey wiU be fiiUy converted, and wIU attain a high degree of per
fection. We -vriU not foUow Laraism through Its systems regarding
the various epochs of the world. Tlie notions of the Kabnucks on
this head are so confused, that I have been unable to leam any tiling
in addition to what Is stated by the learned PaUas. Their sacred
books speak of forty-nine epochs, ending by fire, or deluges, or hur
ricanes. They are aU divided into four great periods. The first
comprises the space of. time in which human Ufe begins -vrith being
80,000 years long, and diminishes to 10,000; durmg the second
period man perishes ; during the third the earth remains desolate,

BUDDHIST DEITIES, GENII, &C. 251
and in the fourth occurs a hurricane which carries the souls from
hell to the earth.
We have already raentioned that happy epoch in which thousands'
of holy bein^ were raised to the heavens, and deified under the
name of bourkhans. These bourkhans do not aU hold the same rank,
but differ frora each other both in power and functions. The Kal
mucks, who hold them in great veneration, adore them aa the most
beneficent deities. Their images are foimd in aU the temples. The
mighty DchakdcharaounI is most especially worshipped. The bour
khans are supposed to inhabit different worlds ; some dweU in the
planets, others in the regions of the air, others again in the sky^
DchakdcharaounI stiU Inhabits the earth. There is an infinite mid-
titude of legends concerning these secondary divinities, especiaUy the
last naraed. The foUowing adventure is related of hira In all the
reUgious books of the Laraites, and is known to aU the Kalmucks :
One day three bourkhans were praying -vrith great fervour, and
whUe their eyes were piously cast down, an infernal genius deposited
his excreraent In the sacred cup belonging to one of them. Great
was the stupefaction of the bourkhans when they Ufted up their
heads. They consulted further what they shoidd do. If they dif-
fiised the pestiferous matter through the air, it would be the de
struction of aU the beings that people that element ; if they let it
faU on the earth, all its Inhabitants would, in Uke raanner, perish.
They resolved, therefore, for the good of raankind, to swallow the
dreadful substance. Dchakdchamotrai had the bottora of the cup
for his share, and the legend states that so horrible was the taste,
the poor bourkhan''s face suddenly becarae blue aU over. That
god has ever since been depicted with a blue -visage.
The aerial spirits are next In importance to the bourkhans ; some
of them are beneficent, others maUgnant. The Kalraucks wor
ship these rather than the others, because they alone can do harm.
to mortals, whilst nothing but good offices are to~ be expected from .
the beneficent spirits. These genu are not iraraortal, and their
power is rauch less than that of the bourkhans. The manner in
which their race is propagated Is very simple, but singular : an em
brace, an exchange of smiles, or of gracious looks is sufficient
-with thera to produce conception. AU these spirits have divers
abodes In the -world and in the air; to the raalevolent among them,
the Kalraucks attribute aU the disorders. of the atmosphere, and all
pestilential diseases; the evd genu are particularly active in storray
weather, wherefore the Klalraucks greatly dread thunder, and always
fire raany shots when a storm blows, in order to scare away the
demons. There are also in the Laraite reUgion a great many fabulous deities
represented by monstrous Idols, which appear to be old rerain
iscences of a primitive creed anterior to Buddhism. It is remark
able that these idols have generaUy feraale faces. They are almost
always decorated -with the scarf of honour, or the beU and sceptre, used

252 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
by the priests in their reUgious ceremonies, are placed in their hands.
The pnests are the raakers of aU these idols, some- of which are of
curious workraanship. The materials are baked earth, bronze,
silver, or even gold, _ . _
Though the Kalmucks address their worship alraost exclusively
to the host of secondary deities we have just mentioned, still they
acknowledge a suprerae being, to whom the bourkhans and the
good and evil genii are but vassals: if they have no Image or idol
representing him, it Is because the conception of the one eternal
creator passes aU the bounds of their Imagination, and they rather
apply their thoughts to beings less incomprehensible and less remote
from their own nature. PaUas seeras to think that the Kalmucks
foUow the system of Epicurus, but the conversations I have had
with many learned princes and priests, have con-vlnced rae of the
contrary. The Kalmucks and the Mongols believe, Uke the Hindus, in the
transraigration of souls ; but Bergraann errs greatly in asserting that
they have no other Idea of immortality. I have Investigated the
popular notions on this subject, and my con-viction Is that the Kal
mucks consider the transmigration only as a longer or shorter trial
which the soul of every man, not acknowledged a saint, must pass
through before appearing in presence of the supreme judge.
As for those who have been celebrated for their piety and their
virtues, Lamism teaches that they are raised to the rank of bour
khans, still preserving their forraer Individuality. -
ErUk Khan is the great judge of the Kalrauck heU, and before his
a-wful throne aU souls must appear, to be rewarded according to their
works. If they are found just and pure, they are placed on a
golden seat supported on a cloud, and so wafted to the abode of the
bourkhans ; if their sins and their good works seem to balance each
other, then Erlik Khan opens his great book in which aU the good
¦ and e-ril deeds of men are minutely recorded, and ha-ring cast the
dread balance, he finaUy pronounces sentence. On the whole this
king of hell seems a good-natured devil enough, for very often to
avoid condemning an unfortunate sinner who has sorae good quaUties
to recomraend him, he allows him to go back to earth and live over
again in his own form. The Kalraucks, always logical in their my
thological notions, aUege thatthey derive from raen thus resuscitated
aU the knowledge they possess of heU and the future Ufe. ¦
¦ The imagination of the-Lamite priests has outstripped that of the
Christians, and of all other nations ; indeed we know nothing "that
can be corapared with the Kalrauck heU. ErUk Elhan, the judge
of the dead, is Ukewise sovereign of the realra of the damned. His
palace, which always resounds -vrith the clashing of immense gongs,
is situated in a great town surrounded -with white waUs, withm
which spreads a vast sea of urine and excrement, in which waUow
the accursed. An iron causeway traverses this sea, and when the
guilty attempt to pass along it, it narrows beneath them to a hau's

BUDDHIST HELL. 253
breadth, then snaps asunder, and the ¦vricked souls, thus tested and
convicted, are straightway plunged into hell. Not far from this
place of horror is a sea of blood, on which float many huraan heads;
this is the place of torture for such as have excited quarrels and
occasioned murders among relations and friends. Further on is seen
the punishment of Tantalus, where a multitude of damned souls
suffer hunger and thirst on a white and arid soil. They dio- and
turn up the earth without ceasing ; but their unavailing labour
only serves to wear down their arms to the shoulders, after which
the stumps grow again, and their torments begin afresh. Such is
the punishment of those who have neglected to pro-ride for the
wants and the jovial habits of the clergy. It would be tedious to
pursue these details further ; suffice it to say, that in describing the
various torments of heU, the Lamites have employed every device
which the wildest Imagination could conceive. We raust, however,
give these priests credit for one thing: they do not adrait the eternity
of punishraent ;* but on the other hand, in the distribution of chas
tisement they have not forgotten the smaUest offence that can pos
sibly be coraraitted against theraselves. Hence they have iramense
power over the people, whora they can induce to beUeve what they
wiU. Their cupidity is equal to their influence, and they never
forego any opportunity of raaking thefr profit of the poor Kalrauck
Frora aU these particulars of the religious notions of the Kal
mucks, It Is plain that the popular mythology of Laraism is Uke
many other superstitions, only a potent instrument Invented by
priests to fascinate and command the multitude. By raeans of these
incredible fables, the Laraite clergy have made themselves masters
ofthe field, and hold great and small under their sway. It is to be
remarked that In aU reUgions ecclesiastical supremacy is Inseparable
frora the creation of a hell, and that the one never exists without the
other ; in fact among nations where the idea of eternal punishments
has been abandoned,. the ministers of religion have seldom exercised
an oppressive power over the people. This proves how large a part
selfishness and the lust of sway have had in the construction of many
reUgions ; but in none has the priesthood evermore possessed a
greater power than in Buddhisra ; In none has it more violently
opposed aU who have sought to shake its sway by proclaiming the
infinite mercy of God.
¦ ; As a natural consequence of the great prerogatives attached to
the priesthood, the clergy are become extreraely numerous araong
the -foUowers of Laraa. Prince Turaene, whose oulousse is very
* The priests, however, have endeavoured to persuade the people that there are
flve sins which inevitably draw down everlasting punishment : these are irreve
rence towards the gods, thefts committed in the temples, disrespect to parents,
murder, and, of course, offences against the clergy. These ideas are for all that ia
contradiction to the sacred books; but it is not surprising that the ministers of the
Grand Lama have sought to give them vogue amongst the multitude.

254 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
inconsiderable,hag at least three hundred priests attached to his
pagoda. During OUT stay in Astrakhan, we had opportunities of confirm
ing, by our own observation, the truth of what Pallas 'remarks, that
there is- much analogy between the religious ceremonies of the
Brahmins and those of the Kalraucks, Lideed, in studying the
theological system of the Laraites, It becomes clear that their doc-
trines have been partly borrowed from reUgions stiU in existence.
Who can fail to recognise the BibUcal aUegory in the fruit shime,
which the first men were imprudent enough to taste ? Again, that
period during -which man was only unhappy, but not criminal,
does it not represent the time that elapsed from Adara's expulsion
from Paradise to the murder of Abel ? The traditions of the Greek
mythology appear also to have been made use of, for the dread
ErUk Khan seems very Uke the Pluto bf the ancients ; and per
haps the loathsome sea that encorapasse? his palace is but another
form of the Styx, It Is unnecessary to reraark that aU these reU
gious notions are faraiUar only to the priests and some princes ; the
common people are content to beUeve, worship, and submit bUndly
to the exactions of their- spiritual guides. '
People begin, however, to observe a certain falUng off in the ob
servance of the precepts of Laraism, Thus, although a true fol
lower of Laraa has a right to destroy only the carnivorous creatures
that hurt his flocks, the E[almuck3, nevertheless, put to death do
mestic animals, and make no scruple of hunting. They urge, it
is true, in defence of these acts, that the prohibition against killing
was not made by the gods theraselves, but by one of their high
priests- who Uved several centuries ago. Nevertheless, there are
many priests who would think themselves guUty of murder if they
put to death the smaUest insect ; and very often it occurred when
we were sporting, that- several of them came and earnestly en
treated us to Uberate the bird we had just caught. In so doing
they thought they performed an act of charity, and saved a soul.
The modem Kalmuck clergy are di-vided into four classes. The
backshaus are the chief priests and reUgious teachers : in the Cas
pian steppes the eldest of .them is improperly styled the Lama. The
ghelungs are the ordinary priests, and may be compared in rank and
functiong to the French country cures. The ghetzuls, or deacons,
constitute the third class j and the- fourth consists of the mandshis,
or musicians. Above aU these grades stands the Dalai Lama of
Thibet, the supreme head of -the church. The Russian. Kalmucks
were formerly in constant communication -with him, but since
Oubacha's emigration, the government haa put a stop to this inter
course, which could not fail to thwart its -vriews by keeping up a
spirit of nationaUty^ among the Kidmncks^ and fostering their attach
ment to their reUgion.
Both the clergy and those in their service enjoy all posable inimu-

tAMITE CLERGT. 255
mties. They are exempt from aU taxes and charges, and the people
are bound to seethat they want for nothing. It is trae that the
priests are prohibited by the rules of their religion from possessing-
property, but the restriction is evaded to a great extent, and the
backshaus and ghelungs all possess nuraerous herds : if any one
wants to buy a good horse, he must apply to thera. The sloth and
insolence of these priests passes aU comparison ; exceptino- their
reUgious cereraonies, in which they chant sorae prayers and play on
their instruments, they do absolutely nothing but eat, drink, and
sleep. The meanest ghelung has always a retinue of some half
dozen of deacons, who look after his cattle, his table, and his ward
robe. The ghetzuls are Uke our deacons, aspirants for the priesthood,
and from-their body the chief backshaus select the ghelungs, always
having regard to the wealth of the candidates rather than to their
good character or capacity. The ordination generaUy takes place
towards the close of the great relimous festivals, at which period the
new ghelungs pass the whole night in marching round the priest's
camp, chaplet in hand, barefooted, and with their shaven crowns
uncovered. This is the last exercise preliminary to the commence
ment of their minlstiy,
AU the members of the clergy of every rank take vows of
chastity, which they are far from obser-ring ; for there are few
priests who do not indulge In iUicit intercourse with raarrie.d woraen.
The poor husband does what he can to prevent this, but when he
discovers the actual existence of the evil, instead of resenting it, he
appears to accept his mischajiceas an. honour, such Is his veneration
for his spiritual superiors. The priest, however. Is forced to -use
stratagera for the indulgence of his passion. The reverend personage
fisually goes by night and pushes against the kibitka of the woman
on whom his choice has faUen ; whereupon she pretends to believe
that sorae animal is prowUng about, gets up, takes a stick, and goes
out to drive it away. The priest then absconds -vrith her, and the
husband suspects nothing. "The princes share these privUeges -vrith
the priests, only they carry raatters -vrith a higher hand. When a
woman strikes their fancy, they take possession of her -vrithout
ceremony, and send her back when they are tfred of her company.
As for the husband, his resignation trader such cfrcumstances is almosfc
always exemplary. He Imo-ws, too, that he m^ cotmt thenceforth
on the patronage of the amorous prince, and commit sundiy pecca
diUoes on the strength of It vritb impunity. The marital policy
is the same with regard to the priests, PaUas, therefore, is -wrong
to express surprise at the fact that the Kalmuck. heU pro-vides' no
punishment for the sin of wantonness. This omission does honour
-to the sly sagacity ofthe Laraite priests, and proves how much they
distrust their- own -virtae. As marriage is forbidden them, they are
the more Uable to sin in thiffway, and therefore it was not reason*

256 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
able that in a reUgious system of their own making, they should
inflict punishment on their own souls.
We have already described the ceremonial garb of the priests,
their ordinary costume consists of a wide tunic with sleeves, and a
fiat broad-bnmmed hat of cloth. YeUow and red are their favourite
colours. The priests always pitch their tents at a certain distance from the
oulousse to which they are attached, and usually range them in a
circle rotmd a large open space. In the centre of which stand the
kibitkas that serve them for temples. Such a camp Is caUed a
khoiu'oul, and every evening the Kalraucks asserable there in great
numbers to perforra their rehgions duties. The teraples are generaUy
adorned with rich sUk hangings, and with a great nuraber of images.
Opposite the door stands the altar -with a Uttie bronze image of
Dchakdchamouni upon It, and a profusion of votive cups fiUed frith
grain and beans, as custoraary araong the Brahmins; and one vessel
of holy water in which several peacock's feathers are dipped. Holy
water plays an Important part in the reUgious ceremonies of La
raism ; the ghetzuls distribute it in the great festivals to the people,
who swallow some of It and wash their faces with the rest. It appears
to be an Infusion of saffron and sugar, but the Kalmucks attri
bute to It very marveUous properties. A lamp bums day and night
before the idol, which is generally clad in brilUant silks, the head
and hands alone reraaming uncovered. A silk curtain hangs before
the other iraages, and Is only raised at the time of prayer.
The priests practise in a most scandalous manner on the creduUty
of the people. The first thing a Kalmuck does when he falls iU, is
to have recourse to the prayei-s and invocations of his priest. If he
is poor he is usuaUy let off for a peUsse or a cloak, which the ghelung
carries off on the pretext that it is the abode of sorae evil genius
who has caused aU the patient's suffering. But when the sick man
is a prince, the proceedings are in accordance vrith his fortune. In
that case it is not in a peUsse or a cloak the demon abides; he Is
lodged in the very body of the prince, and the business Is how to
provide him with another dwelling. The backshau must be paid
handsomely for finding a man Avho wiU take the disaster upon him
self. This Is. usually sorae poor cle-vU who is brought by fair means
or by force Into the sick man's tent, where after a multitude of odd
cereraonies, he receives the name of the .prince, and so the evril spirit
passes into his body. He is then driven out of the oulousse with
his whole faraily, and forbidden ever to set foot ¦within it again.
Persons so treated are called Andin (fugitives). They may join
another oulousse, but are always obUged to set up their tents at a
distance from the general, camp. , \
The Kalraucks have three great annual festivals, -which they
always take care shall last at least a fortnight each. The chief of the
three called, Zackan Zara, is in celebration ofthe return of spring;
the second ( Urvs Zara), which faUs about June, consists in the be-

FEAST OP ZACKAN ZARA. 257
nediction of the waters; and the third (Soidoun Zara, or the feast of
the lamp) takes place in December. An altar is then erected in the
open air, and on it are set a gi-eat nuraber of sacred lamps and candles,
which are Ughted by the priests at the moment the new moon is
visible, in presence of the whole assembled clergy and laity. I borrow
from Bergraann a description of the feast of Zackan Zara at which he
was present.
" About noon,'" he says, " the sound of instruments gave token
that the ceremony was about to begin, and I hastened to the khou
roul, where the priests arranged in classes, and drawn up iu Une,
were ready to begin the procession. The persons who only carried
the Instruraents formed of themselves a considerable group. On the
flanks of all those batalUons of ghelungs, ghetzuls, and raandshis,
floated sundry kinds of flags, some formed of strips of silk of many
colours se-wn in a ring, resembled the Roman ensigns; others Uke
our banners were fixed to cross rods supported on long poles. We
had not long to wait ere the chief priests, carrying with thera laro-e
chests, came forth from a kibitka, ancl put theraselves at the head
of the multitude. They were closely foUowed by raany others
dressed in their richest attire, who eagerly pressed forward to assist
in carrying the chests, or even to touch them with the tips of their
fingers. As for the instruments, the timbrels were fixed on pieces
of wood, and the great trumpets were s-upported by rods carried by
some of the common people. The multitude that closed the pro
cession were scarcely more niunerous than the priests, and the old
women alone testified their piety by sighs dra-wn from the bottora
of their hearts. At sorae hundred paces frora the khouroul, a scaf
folding had been erected in the form of an altar thfrteen or four
teen feet high, braced with ropes before and behind. In front of
the altar was a circular space covered with cai-pets, and intended for
the priests, with an immense red silk parasol to shade the high
priest who fiUed the functions of Laraa. The procession ha-ring
reached the altar, the sacred chests were laid at its foot, and the
images it contained were unmuffied. Every thing was now ready to
begin the ceremony when the Laraa should arrive.
" I availed myself of this pause to examine the sanctuary. On
a yeUow cloth richly erabroidered -vrith sacred flowers of a red colour,
I saw several votive cups, and the gilded Iraages of some deities.
Right and left of the altar stood the banners, and In front of it, but
outside the cai-peted circle, were the instruraents. Suddenly, the
music struck up, and the Laraa arrived, borne in triumph in a pa
lanquin, from which he aUghted at a Uttie distance frora the altar. A
signal was then given; the curtain that hung before the iraages was
raised, and the priests, the piinces, and the whole people prostrated
themselves three tiraes.
"v " After this ceremony, the ¦vice-khan Tchoutchei, who was pre
sent ¦vrith his two sons, raarched thrice ¦with his whole suit roimd the
circular space where the priests were squatted, and at last took his

258 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
place beside the Grand Lama under the great parasol. His example
was foUowed by his ¦wife, only she took up her position outside the
clerical circle, under a reserved paviUon -vvhere tea was presented to
her. Large wooden vesseb filled with tea, and cakes, were then set
before the priests, and a great number of sheep intended for dinner
were slaughtered. The repast, often interrupted by prayers and
other cereraonies, was protracted until sunset. The images were
then roUed up again, and the chests carried back in prpcession to
the tents whence they had been taken. The same ceremonies were
repeated on the two following days, but other bourkhans were exhi
bited to the worshippers."
This feast of Zackan was instituted in honour of a victory achieved
by Djackdjaraouni over six false doctors with whora he contended
for more than a week. Besides thefr great festivals, the Kalmucks
have also three days in every month (the 7th, 15th, and 30th)
on which they kUl no sort of animal, ' but every faithful foUower
of Laraa must Uve only on milk diet. The priests spend those days
in the temple, praying from moming tUl night, and the people
generaUy attend.
The Kalmucks practise family devotions, consisting of prayers
chanted -with some degree of harraony, In an alternation of acute and
grave souncls and slow and quick raeasures. They pray -vrith a rosary
soraewhat like those used in CathoUc countries, but oftener they
perform that business by a mechanical process that does great honour
to the inventive -wit ofthe Laraites. To Invoke Heaven in this way
they have a drum or cylinder covered ¦vrith Tangout characters, and
containing several sacred ¦writings in its interior, and the whole ope
ration consists in making the cylinder revolve more or less rapidly
hy means of a cord. This very siraple method of praying leaves the
mind quite free, and does not hinder the Kalmucks frora chatting,
smoking, quarreUing, and abusing each other; pro-vided the cylinder
turns, the prayer is worked off of its o-wn accord, and the bourkhans
are quite satisfied. The foUowers of Lama beUeve this raanual oc
cupation to be highly meritorious, and Iraagine that the noise made
by the sacred -writings, when the cylinder revolves, rises to fhe
throne of the deity and brings do-wn ms blessing. The princes have
a stUl easier method of worshipping. Whenever they do not find it
convenient to repeat their prayers oraUy, they plant before thefr tent
a long pole to which is attached a flag inscribed -vrith sacred verses;
and thus they leave It to the -vrinds to carry their homage to the
throne of the bourkhans. -
Lucky or unlucky days are carefuUy observed by the Kalmucks.
If one of the coraraon people dies on a lucky day, he Is buried,
almost in the sarae way as among ourselves, and a smaU banner mth
a sort of epitaph is planted on his grave. On the contrary, if he
dies on an unlucky day his body is laid on the ground, covered only
with a felt or a mat, and the performance of his obsequies is left to
carrion beasts and birds. In this case the relations or friends ofthe

ElALMUCK CUSTOMS: BIRTHS, HAERIAGES, c^C. 259
deceased watch to see by what kind of creature the corpse is first
attacked, and from that fact they draw inferences as to how the soul
fares in the other world. The rale is different with regard to
princes, whose booties are never exposed above ground. If they die
ori an unlucky day they are buried ; otherwise they are burned vrith
great pomp, and _on the spot where they have expired a small
chapel is erected, in which their ashes are deposited. The priests
are still better oft' than the princes : die when they wlU they are always
granted the honours of burning, provided they have had some repu
tation for sanctity in thefr Ufetime; and tiieir ashes are moulded into
a Uttie statue which is carried with great pomp to one of those smaU
temples, called satzas, of which I have aheady spoken. The Kal
mucks who greatiy venerate the tombs of their priests, try as rauch
as possible to keep the lamp in each of them perpetually biurninw.
If it goes out, the first person who passes that way is bound to re-
Ught it.
The habits of private life araong the Kalmucks are of course ia
accordance -with their state of ci-rilisation and reUgious belief, and are
.strongly raarked by all their gross superstitions. Yet certain of thefr
customs are serious and affecting, and cannot fail to raake an im
pression on the traveUer. Others are curious for their patriarchal
rimpUcity. When a woraan is in labour, one or more priests are
sent for, and whilst the husband runs round the tent with a big stick
to drive a-way the e-vil spirits, the ghelungs stand at the door reciting
prayers, and invoking the favour of the deity on the child about to
be bom. When the babe is corae into the world, one of the relations
goes out ofthe tent, and gives it the name ofthe first object he sees.
Tills is the practice araong aU classes. I have known a prince Little
Dog, and other indi-riduals bearing the most whimsical names. The
women remain veded for many days after their delivery, and a cer
tain time must elapse before they can be present at the religious ce
remonies. The custoras observed in raarriages are more interesting-, particu
larly when the young couple belong to the aristocracy. The preU-
roinaries consist in stipulating the amount in horses, cameb, and
money, which the bridegroora is to pay to the bride's father ; this
being settled the young man sets out on horseback, accompanied by
tbe chief nobles of his oulousse, to carry off Ms bride. A sham re
sistance is always made by the people of her camp, in spite of which
she fails not to be borne away on a richly caparisoned horse, -with
loud shouts andfewe dejoie. When the party arrive at the spot
where the kibitka of the new couple is to stand, and where the trivet
supporting thefr great pot is already placed, the bride and bride
groom dismount, kneel do-wn on carpets, and receive the benedic
tion of their priests; then they rise, and, turning towards the sun, ad
dress thefr invocations aloud to the four elements. At this raoment
the horse on which the bride has been brought horae is stripped of
saddle and bridle, and turned loose for any one to catch and keep
S2

260 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
who can. The intention of this practice, -which Is observed only
araong the rich, is to signify to the bride that she Is thenceforth to
live only with her husband, and not think of returning to her pa
rents. The setting up of the kibitka concludes the whole ceremony.
The bride reraains veUed untU the tent is ready, and her husband
taking off her veil, hands her into her new home. There is one
curious incident in the marriages of the wealthy which deserves
mention. The bride chooses a bridesmaid who accompanies her in
her abduction ; and when they come to the place for the kibitka, the
bride throws her handkerchief among the raen; whoever catches it
must marry the bridesraald. For a year after marriage the trife
must confine herself to the tent, and during all that time can only
receive ¦risits on its threshold, even on the part of her parents. But
when the year is out she is free to do just as she likes.
All raarriages are not contracted in this peaceable manner among
the Kalmucks. When the relations cannot agree on the terms,
which is no unusual case, the question is very often settled by force.
If the yoimg man is reaUy enaraoured he calls together his comrades,
and by force or cunning carries off the girl, who, after she has once
entered his tent, cannot under any pretext be reclaimed by her
parents. Lamism seems iu the beginning to have forbidden polygamy and
divorce, but these prohibitions have long beconie obsolete, and both
practices are now legaUsed among aU the Kalmucks. In case of in-
fideUty on the wife's pait, the repudiation takes place pubUcly, if the
husband requfres it. The raost broken do-wn horse that can he
found is brought out, its tad is cut oft', the guUty woraan is raounted
on its bare back, ancl hooted out of the oulousse. But these scenes
occur very rarely ; for tiie offended husband usuaUy contents himself
with sending his wife away privately, after giving her a few head o^
cattle for her support. The Kalmucks of the Caspian indulge very
seldom in polygamy ; Indeed I never heard of more than one indi
vidual who had two wives. Tlie condition of women among them
is very different from what prevaib in Turkey and great part of Asia;
the restrictions of the harem are unknown, and both wives and maids
enjoy the greatest independence, and raay freely expose thefr faces
to view on aU occasions.
I have spoken of the efforts made by the Moravian brethren
of Sarepta to convert the- Kalraucks, and of the intolerant manner
in which the Russian clergy put a stop to thera. Though we are by
no means partisans of spiritual missions, and are of opinion that the
apostles of^our day often do more harm than good, stIU we caimot
but regret the decision adopted by the synod. By thefr position,
their industry, the simpUcity of thefr religious notions, and their
knowledge of the country, the Mora-vians are most favourably clr-
Gumstanced for effecting .the civiUsation and social iraproveraent of
the Kalraucks ; and tiiere are some men among them who really
understand thefr task. Buddhism, as practised among the Kalmucks

THE KHIRGHIS. 261
tends to cramp all intellectual growth. Consisting exclusively in
gross and burlesque superstitions, though liberality and equality were
its fundamental principles, tliat religion can now only serve to bru-
taUse the people, and retain them under the yoke of a graspino- and
fraudulent clergy. In this point of view a conversion to more rational
doctrines would evidently be for the welfare of the Kalmucks ; but
the change should not be accomplished under the influence of so
ignorant and superstitious a clergy as that of the Russian church ;
for It would be better to leave the Kalmucks to their old creed, and
trust to time for their emancipation from the control of their priests.
After all, the civiUsation of these tiibes Is a dilEcult problera. Looking
to the arid land in which they dwell, wc must confess that it would
be fatal to them were they subjected to our rules of life. I resided a
considerable time among them, and Inured myself in a great degree to
their habits; and when on returning to our civilised towns, I was .
again a witness of the struggles, passions, vices, and evib that tor
ment most of the nations of Europe, I could not but Avish from my
heart that the Kalmucks may long retain their native habits, and very
long remain safe from that ambitious civilisation that gnaws the
sonls of the various classes of our populations.
Oubacha's eralgration left the plains of the Ural unoccupied for
many years, and it was not until the beginning of this century that
some Khirghis tribes of the Little Horde entered on possession of
them with the consent of the Russian government. Few at first,
their numbers rapidly increased by new emigrations, and at last
Russia -confeired upon the Khirghis colony the entire and authen
ticated possession of about 7,075,700 hectares of land. More for
tunate than the Kalmucks, this people still enjoys a certain degree
of Independence, in appearance at least if not in reality. They have
their sovereign khan, pay no tax, and the only obligation imposed
on them is to furnish a corps of cavalry in time of war.
It is hard to know exactly the number of these Khirghis. The
Eussian govemment Is always solicitous to persuade the world of the
prosperity of its subject peoples, and to this end it publishes very
fallacious documents. Thus in a supplement to the journal of the
ministry of the interior, August 30, 1841, the population of the
horde is set down at 16,550 tents, whereas the real number is but
8000, as appears from an extract taken in my presence at Astrakhan
frora the official documents of tiie miUtary governor. But as the
editor of the St. Petersburg journal judiciously reraarks, the tribe
cannot but have augmented rapidly under the wise administration of
Eussia, and it is from his admiration for his govemment he deduces
the best proof in support of his statistical stateraents. Such argu
ments have not much weight with us, and we even suspect that the
number 8000 is an exaggeration, and that the Khirghis have re-
mained faithful to Russia only because they cannot do other-wise,

262 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
since the government has taken the precaution of irapiisoning them
between two lines of Cossacks, those of the Ural and the Volga.
Besides, if I raay judge frora the facts coramunicated to rae at
Astrakhan, the immigration of the Khirghis was not so free as the
governraent is pleased to proclaim it to have been. Both force and
fraud were employed to make them settle in regions from which
Russia derived no profit since the flight of the Kalraucks.
The IChlrghis are noraades, Uving iu felt tents, and employed In
cattle rearing, like the Kalmucks. But they profess the Mahometan
reUgion, belong evidently to the Turkish race, and have been from
aU time implacable foes to the Mongol hordes. Latterly, however,
they appear to have lived in harraony with the Kalraucks of the
Volga. Their khan often visits Prince Tumene, and in 1836 more
than 2000 Kliirghb encamped on the banks of the Volga, and took
part in the grand entertainments given by the Kalmuck chief to
the govemment authorities. But this state of peace Is only the
result of iraperious necessity; If the hordes were independent, thefr
old animosities would soon break out again. -
The present khan of the Khirglils is Clangour Boukevitch, who
Is reputed to be an able man, and desirous of introducing Eu
ropean ci-riUsation among his people. The Emperor Nicholas had
a handsome wooden house erected for hira at the foot of the sand-
hUb called Ryn Peski, but he seldora resides in it. A few paltry
buddings have been subsequently erected, through the strenuous
intervention of the Russian employes, but it would be extravagant to
behold in a score of cabins the eleraents of a future capital, as a .
certain St. Petersburg journal is pleased to do. The Khfrghls wiU
not so readily forsake thefr nomade ways. Their territory is hardly
better than that of the Kalraucks ; and then- khan himself, obUged
to camp out during the greater part of the year, in order to find
fodder for his cattle, only returns to his pretended capital when
the inclemency of winter drives him from his felt kibitka. It Is
necessary to exercise extrerae caution and rigid criticisra respecting
all things pertaln-lng to Russia, if we would arrive at the tmth; for
otherwise we shall be every moraent in danger of mistaking for au in
dication of improvement and Increased prosperity what is but the
result of arbitrai-y power.. We have repeatedly noticed instances of
such mistakes on the part of travellers who have recently visited
the southern portions of the erapire. Never was any power more
prodigal of outward decorations than the Lluscovlte; Russia is of
aU countries that wliich most lavishly expends its money to please
the eye. To Potemlrin belongs the honour of having been the first
to play off these raystiflcatlons, when he got up exteraporaneous
¦viUages and herds of cattie aU along the road traveUed by Catherine
II. in her journey to the Criraea. He has had no lack of succes
sors ever since. Alle3rs of acacias spring up by enchantraent ia
the new towns; churches and houses -vrith columns and porticoes;

FAT^U:, LOVE OP FALSE SHOW. 263
magnificent double eagles bearing the crown and the sceptre ; nu
merous bureaucratic sign-boards with gilded inscriptions, &c., are seen
on all hands. This raania of wishing to appear what one is not,
which has always characterised the Russians, seems to us one of
their greatest obstacles to all real improvement, and to be one of
the raost dangerous maladies of the empire. Certainly it is a defect
not easy to be avoided by a backward people who aspire to put
theraselves on a level with their more advanced neighbours; but in
Russia, unhappily, artificial ostentation has been systematlsed; not
only does it exist among individuals, but It forms the basis of aU
the acts of tiie government ; from one end of the empfre to the
other, in the towns and in the steppes of the Casplau, its costly
stage scenery is everywhere to be found; it has become the aim ancl
the fixed idea of every man, from the ministers of state down to
the lowest employe; and whibt miUions are uselessly expended to
adorn the drapery of the theatre, the framework ofthe social edifice
is allowed to go to ruin. The future welfare and the real progress
of the country are deemed of Uttie moment, pro-rided the vanity
of the day be satisfied, and the comedy be weU played before his
majesty and the strangers whom curiosity induces to visit Russia.
After the Khirghis, we have abo on the left bank of the Volga,
near its mouths, a small Tatar horde, called Koundrof, an offshoot
of the great tribe of the Kouban. These Tatars, who number
about 1100 tents, were forraerly bestowed by Russia as vassals upon
the khans of the Kalraucks, but they were aclrolt enough to escape
from taking part in Oubacha's famous emigration. Unavailing at
tempts have been subsequently made to colonise thera. The governor
of Astrakhan raade them build two villages thirty years ago; but they
soon abandoned tiiose fixed dwellings, and resuraed their old roving
habits. Lastly, there are the black Nogais, who occupy the banks of the
Terek, to the nuraber of 8432 tents. We shall speak of thera in
detail in the next chapter.
Table of tlie yomade Population of the Governments of Astrakhan and the
Caucasus. Faniilies.
Kalmucks  15,500
Khirghis  — . 8,000
Koundrof Tatars  11,000
Sertof Tatars  .'  -  112
Black Nogais...„  8,4.32
, Turcomans    ,  "  3,838
Total  36,082

264 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.

CHAPTER XXVIL
TIIE.TATAP.3 AND MO»fQOLS— THE KAPTSHAK. — HISTORT AND TP.ADITIONS OJ THE
KO0-AI3.
PERn.i.PS no people has given occasion to more discussions
than the Tatars and Mongob, nor Is the problem .of their origin
completely solved in our day, notwithstanding the most learned
investigations. Some adrait that the Tatars and Mongob formed
but one nation, others allege that they are two essentiaUy dif
ferent races. According to Lesveque d'Herbelot and Lesur* the
Tatars are but Turks. IQaproth,t while he asserts that the Tatars
and Mongols spring frora the same stock, ne-v'ertheless regards the
white Tatars, whora Genghis Khan conquered, as Turks. Lastly,
D'Ohson in his reraarkable history of the Mongols, treats the Mon
gols and Tatars as distinct races, but does not admit the theoiy of
the Turkish origin. The same tmcertainty that hangs over the
Mongol and Tatar hordes of the fourteenth century, prevaib vrith
regard to the people who, under the narae of Tatars, now dweU in
the southem part of the Russian empire; and they have been con
sidered sometiraes as descendants of the Turkish tribes that occupied
those regions previously to the twelfth century, soraetiraes as rem
nants of the conquering Mongol Tatars. Let us try to unravel
this tangled web of opinions, and see what may be the least proble
matical origin of these various nations.
The Chinese writers for the first time make mention of the
Tatar people in the eighth century of our era, tinder the name of
Tata, and consider them as a branch of the Mongob. Tlie general
and historian, Meng Koiing,! who died in 1246, and who com
manded a Chinese force sent to aid the Mongob against the Kin,
Informs us in his memoirs that a part of the Tatar horde, forraerly dis
persed or subdued by the IGiitan3,§ quitted the In Chan raountains,!!
where they had taken refuge, and joined thefr countryraen, who
dwelt north-east of the lOiItans. The white Tatars and the savage
or black Tatars then forraed the most important tribes of those
• regions. According to D'Ohson, the Chinese comprehended under the
narae of Tatars all the noraade hordes that occupied the regions
north of the desert of Sha No, either because the Tacai-s w-ere the
nearest, or because they -were the raost powerful of aU those tribes.
• HiJtoira de la Eussie, par Lesvjque. Bibliotheque Orientale, par d'Herbelot
Hist, des Cosaques, par Lesur. f Voyage .au Caucase, par Klaproth, en 1807 et
1803. t See Klaproth, Asia Polyglott-.i, p. 202. §The Kitans occupied
the country -north of the Chinese provinces of Tschy Li and Ching-Ching,
-watered by the Charamujn, or Li.-io Ho and its confluents. Ibid. llThe
chain of mountains called In Ch.in, begins north ofthe country ofthe Ordos, or of
the most northern curve of the Hoang Ho, or YeUow River, and extends east-w-ard
to the sources of the rivers that fall into the western part of the Gulf of Pekin.

TATARS AND MONGOLS. 265
The Intercourse of the Chinese with the west of Asia, would have
afterwards served to give currency to the general denomination by
which they designated their nomade vassals; and thus frora the
commencement of the power of the Genghis Khan, those tribes
would have been already known by the name of Tatars,* which
was propagated frora nation to nation until it reached Europe,
although it was repudiated with contempt by the conquerors them
selves, as that of a nation they had exterminated. It Is a fact estab
Ushed by the statements of many writers, and by D'Ohson himself,
that Genghis Khan annihilated the while Tatars, and thus it has
come to pass by a most curious freak of accident, that thb extin
guished people became celebrated all over the East by the conquests
of its very destroyers.
Jean du Plan de Carpin expresses hiraself still more "positively :
¦" The country of the Tatars," he says, '-' bears the narae of Mongal,t
and is inhabited by four different peoples, the Jeka Mongab, that
Is to say, the Great Mongab ; the Sou Mongab, or the Flimatile
Mongab, who call theraselves Tatars frora the name of the river that
flows through their territory; the IMerklt and the Mecrlt. All these
peoples have the same personal characteristics and the same lan
guage, though belonging to difierent provinces, and ruled by divers
princes."! He then goes on to speak of the birth of Genghis Khan
among the Jeka Mongab, and of his conflicts -vrith the Sou Mongab
and the other Tatar tribes.
On comparing this author with the Chinese -writers raentioned
and commented on In the works of cle Gulgnes, Abel Remusat -and
D'Ohson, it -vrill appear beyond all question that the Jeka Mongab
are none other than the black Tatars, and that the Sou Mongab are
* 'We have entirjy rejected from our discussion the -w-ord Tartar, -svliich o-w-es its
origin only to ajeji de mots, of which St. Louis was the author.
¦ 7 Mongalh. the most frequent reading in tl:e MSS. ; and -where the moreexact read
ing, Monja/, occurs, it is probably a correction by the copyists. MoTtgalis the form
prevalent among the Eussians; and we have already had occasion to remark, that
in transcribing proper names, Du Plan de Carpin generaUy adopts the Slavonic
pronunciation, as he had it from his companion and interpreter, Benedict of Poland.
(Extract from the interesting treatise of M. D'Avezao, on the travels of Du P. de C.)
t Terra quadam est in partibus Orientis de qua dictum est supra, quce Jlongal
nominatur. Hsec terra quondam populos quatuor habuit : imus 'i'eka Mongal,
id est magni Mongali vocabantur; secundus Su IMongal, id est aquatiei jilongali vo-
cabantur ; sibi autem se-ipsos Tartaros appellabant, a quodam fluvio qui currit per
"terram illorum qui Tatar nominatur. Alius appellabatur Merkit ; quartus Mecrit.
Hi populi omnes unam formani personarum et unam linguam habebant, quamvis-
inter se per proviucias et principes essent divisi.
In terra Jeka Mongal fuit quid.am qui vocabatur Chingis ; este incepit esse
robnstus venator coram domino: dedicit enim homines furari, rapeie prasdam.
Ibat autem ad alias terras et quoscumque poterat capere et sibi associare non de-
inittebat ; homines autem susb gentes ad se iocHnavit, qui tanquam ducem ipsum
seqnebantur ad omnia malefacta. Hie autem incepit pugnare cum Su Mongal sive
Tartaris, postquam plures homines aggregaverat sibi, et interfecit ducem eorum, et
multo bello sibi omnes Tataros subjugavit et in suam servitutem recepit ac redegit.
Post hffic cum omnibus istis pugnavit cum Merkitis, qui erant positi juxta terram
Tartarorum, quas etiam sibi bello subjecit. lude procedens pugnavit contra Me-
critas et etiam illos devicit.

266 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
the representatives of the white Tatars. As for the Merkit and the
Mecrit, we confess, with M. d'Avezac, that our knowledge of them
amounts only to conjecture; but, whatever was thefr origin, they
are of but little Importance with regard to the question we are now
discussing. The old Mohararaedan authors, such as Massoudi and Ebn
Haoucal, who treat of the nations of Asia, appear not to have
known the Tatars, for they never speak of them. Thefr name
figures, however, in a Persian abridgment of uni versal history, entitled
" JVIodjmel ut Tevarikh el Coussas;" and Reschyd el Dyn caUs the
Tatars a people faraous throughout the world; but it would be dif
ficult to extract frora these authorities any precise argument for the
solution of our problera. After all, as previously to the days of
Genghis Khan, the most Iraportant tribe of Mongob bore the name
of Tatars, it Is not surprising that the Mussulman writers included
the whole of that people under this denomination. The Chinese,
on the contrary, being in close intercourse -with the Tatars, thefr
vassals, must of course have kno^wn thefr generic name, and trans
mitted it to us.
Now let us recapitulate. If we reflect that Genghis Khan, though
born in the tribe especially designated as black Tatars, yet adopted the
denomination of Mongob for his people; that historians have been ¦
unanimous in calling Genghis Khan's soldiers Mongob; that the
Chinese chroniclers, De Guig-nes, and many others, have considered
the Tatars as only a branch of the Mongob; that Du Plan de
Carpin hiraself begins his history with these words : "¦ Incipit his-
toria Mongalorum, quos nos Tartaros appellamus,''' It ¦vriU not be
eaisy to deny, that pre-riously to the twelfth century, previously to
the great Asiatic invasions, the Tatars and Mongob were parts of
one nation, belonging to one race. If subsequentiy the hordes of
Genghis renounced their special nara^ this cfrcurastance must be
ascribed to the sanguinary contest which Jessoukal and his son,
Genghis Khan, had to sustain against their oppressors, the white
Tatars, then the principal tribe in those regions. But the term
Tatar still prevaUed in Europe, though it continited to be regarded
as synonyraous with Mongol by aU the Chinese writers, and by
most of those of other nations^
. The reUgious and poUtical constitution of tiie various Mongol or
Tatar branches before Genghis Klian, Is very Imperfectly knovvn to
ns, and afibrds us no manner of ground for presuming a positive
separation into two races. According to the Mongol work, " The
Source ofthe Heart," written in the beginning of the thirteenth cen
tury it appeara that Lambm was first adopted by Genghis Khan, and
that It becarae under his successors the prevaiUng religion of the
Mongols proper. Marco Polo's narrative seems nevertheless to
prove, that at the end of the thirteenth century the Mongob had not
yet entfrely adopted the creed and rites of Lambm ; we now find it
professed by aU the Kalmucks of Russia.

TATARS AND MONGOLS. 267
In later times, after the invasions by Genghis Khan and his
sons, the Europeans, tlurough ignorance or heedlessness, gave the
name of Tatars not only to the tribes who had figured m those
Asiatic irruptions, but abo to the Mahometans, who had once been
masters of the regions adjacent to the Caspian and the Black Sea,
and had been subjugated by tiiose conquerors; hence have arisen
in a great measure all the mistakes antl discussions respecting
the origin of the Tatars. After the Mongol torrent had sub
sided, Europeans persisted In giving the appellation of Tatars
to aU those Mussulman nations originally of Turkish origin, that
to this day occupy the territory of Kasan and Astrakhan, the
Crimea and the region called Turcoraania, situated between the
Belur Mountains, Lake Aral, and the Caspian Sea; and as aU
these nations exhibited a reUgious, poUtical, and moral character
pecuUar to themiselves, people were naturally led to distins;m3h
them from the Mongols, and to attribute to thera a special origin.
Thus Pallas and many other traveUers, after visiting the B'laho-
metans of Southem Russia, and comparing them with the Kal
mucks, have made of the Tatars and Mongob two distinct races;
and Malte Brun, in his geography, has given the name of Tatar
to all the tribes estabUshed in our day in Turkistan, applying that
of Mongol exclusively to the nations inhabiting the central table
land of Asia, from Lake Palcati ancl the Belur Mountains to the
great waU of China, and to the Siolky Mountains which separate
them from the Manchous, a tribe of the gi^eat race of the Ton-
gouses. AU these writers have failed to observe, that the appella
tion Tatar lost all signification in Asia under the destroying power
of Ghenghb Khan, and has ever since existed only in the Eu
ropean vocabulary.
Doubtless, Ghenghls Klian ancl his successors did not achieve
aU their conquests by the arms of the Mongols alone; and after
having subjugated all the Mahometan nations occupying the vast
regions of Turcoraania and a pai-t of Western Asia, they of course
Incorporated them with their hordes, and employed thera in thefr
European invasions.
What, then, are we to suppose is the origin of aU those tribes
who, under the narae of Tatars, now inhabit the south of Russia?
We agree entirely with the opinion put forth in Courtln's " En
cyclopedic Moderne," that these Tatars are nothing but Turks,
Comans, or Petshenegues, who having been at the coraraencement
of the thirteenth century masters of all the countries north and
west of the Caspian Sea as far the Dniepr, were afterwards sub
dued by the sons of Genghis Khan, and contributed towards the
foundation of a new empfre comprised between the Dniepr and the
Emba, to which was given the narae of Kaptshak, or Eaptshak,
a designation which appears to have been originaUy that of the
territory. The princes of this erapire were Mongols or Tatars, but the

268 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
majority of their subjects were Turks.. It appears even that the
latter formed a large portion of the armies of Genghis lOian in liis
late expecUtions. 'ilie Turkish language thus reraained predominant
throughout the Kaptshak, Little ancl Great Bokhara, and among
the Bashkirs and Tchouvaches. A few Mongol words are stiu
found in the Turlash dialect of the Russian Mahometans, but they
are extreraely rare, and this may be easily explained. The sol
diers of the Mongol army were of course bachelors, and when they
married Kaptshak woraen, their chddren adopted the language of
their mothers. The sovereigns themselves of this new empire soon
embraced Mahometanism. Bereke, the brother and successor of
Batou, set the first exaraple; Usbeck Khan, who reigned in 1305,
foUowed in his steps, and declared himself the protector of Islam,
which thenceforth becarae the creed of the conquerors as well as of
the conquered.
It must not be Inferred from the preceding statement that the
Turks and Mongols raay not. In more reraote tiraes, have belonged
to one and the sarae race ; we are not quite of that opinion ; we
have considered the Turkish race only under the conditions in which
it appeared In Europe and Aria about the twelfth century, that is to
say, modified by long contact with the Caucasian nations, and we
have left altogether out of view what it may pre-viously liave been.
Moreover, if De Gulgnes Is rightly inforraed, the inhabitants ofthe
Kaptshak are ready of Mongol origin, and the soldiers of Genghis
Khan took pains to prove to them that they were their countrymen.
Towards the close of the fifteenth century, tbe empire of the
Kaptshak was divided into several khanats— Kasan, Astrakhan, and
the Cri)nea, the rulers of which, descended frora Genghis, were all
Mongob ; but then they had no longer arraies drawn from the
interior of Asia, and the Turkish eleraent finally prevailed through
out the whole population. Still, It cannot be denied that the Ma
hometan hordes of Russia present some reserablance to the Mongols,
and this tends to confirm the ideas we have expressed above. But
then it is obvious that two nations that served so long under the
sarae banners, and Uved under the sarae government, must have in
termarried -with each other, and that their blood must have been
frequently mingled. Moreover, it Is a most reraarkable fact, -svitli
what pertinacity the Mongol type maintains its identity in spite of
the mixture of many generations ; a few mamages are sufficient to
spread traces of it in the course of a certain time, over a whole
nation. I have seen one example of this in the Cossacks, who have
been Uving amidst the Kalmucks for about two hundred yeare.
The Tatars in the raountains of the Crimea more rarely exhibit
Mongol features ; the Greek profile is frequently found -among
them. This difference is owing to their mixture ^rith the Goths,
the Greeks, and the remnants of other nations that have successively
oveiTun the peninsula.
The Nogais^ who Inhabit the plains of the Criraea, and the steppes

THE NOGAIS. 269
of the Sea of Azof, arc unquestionably the nearest iu appearance to
the Mongob of all the Tatars, and generally their physiofmomy is
such as cannot be attiibuted to any other origin. Moreover, accord
ing to thefr own traditions, they never made part of the Kaptshak,
nor did they anive in Europe tmtil subsequently to the death of
Genghis Khan, after having dwelt from time irameraorial, if not
with the Mongob, at least in thefr vicinity.
According to Lesveque, the horde of the Nogais, long the raost
celebrated of the west after that of the Kaptshak, was constituted in
the thirteenth century by Nogai, a Tatar general, vriio, after con
quering the countries north of the Black Sea, succeeded in forming a
State independent of the Kaptshak. The traditions I collected
among the Nogais themselves, make no raention whatever of a
general of that name ; their chronicles aUege that the name of the
nation is derived from neogai (which raay be translated by the
phrase, mayst thou never know happines.s) , and that it was bestowed
on them in their old cotmtry, on account of thefr precarious and
vagabond life.* I am inclined to adopt this opinion; for consider
ing the importance which the Nogais attach to nobility and to anti
quity of race, it would be very extraordinary that they should not
have preserved the narae of the founder of their power. The same
traditions relate that after the death of Genghis Khan, the horde
whence the Nogais of the Crimea are descended, arrived under the
command of Djanibek lihan on "the Volga, the left bank of which
it kept possession of for many years. Part of this horde afterwards
crossed the river, and advancing to the foot of the Caucasus, settled
on the Kouraa and the Terek. The piincipal tribe of these Tatars,
and the sarae of which we are about to speak, soon forsook those
regions, and after crossing the Don, the Dniepr, and the Dniestr,
finally settled in Bessarabia, in the country called Boudjak. There
it reraained raore than half a century ; but being continuaUy ha
rassed by the Turks and Moldavians, it abandoned its new country,
retraced its steps, and under the comraand of Jannat Bey, traversed
the Crimea and the Straits of Kertch. After reaching the banks of
the Kouban, the horde was broken up, by internal cUssensions, into
three branches, the largest of which remained on the Kouban, and
the others recrossed the straits. One of these tribes fixed itself on
the plains of the Criraea, and the other returned to Bessarabia, partiy
by land, partly by sea.
The Nogais of the Kouban again divided into several tribes, some
of which connected theraselves -with the Kalmuck hordes, others
¦vrith the mountaineers of the Caucasus. During all these emigra
tions, they were successively commanded by Jam Adie, Kani
Osman, and Kald Efiendi, the Tatar of the Crimea. The latter, at
• The name Nogai appears to me to have occasioned the same mistakes as Tatar;
misled by the conspicuous part played for some time by the Nogai hordes, most
writers have comprehended under that name all the Mussulman tribes of the pro
vinces of Astrakhan and Kasan.

270 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
the head of one of the principal tribes the Kouban, marched along
the eastern coast of the Sea of Azof, crossed the Don, and encamped
on the banks of the Moloshnia Vodi, where he died ; his tomb stUl
exists near the Nogai village of Keneges, on the Berda. He was
succeeded by Asit Bey, who ruled for seventeen years, and was the
last Tatar chief ; he died in 1824. But long before his death. In the
time of Catherine IL, these Nogai hordes were corapletely subjected
to the laws of the empire, and were under the manageraent of Rus
sian officials. Count Maison, a Erench eralgrant, was appointed
their governor in 1808, and he it was, who by dint of perseverance,
made them renounce their noraade ways, and settle in -rillages.
The Nogais now occupy the whole region between the Sea of
Azof and the Moloshnia Vodi. They are about 52,000 soub,
residing in seventy-six -villages. As long as they were vagrants they
reraained very poor, cultivating no grain but raillet, which was thefr
usual food, and of this they could hardly procure a sufficient supply.
Turbulent, fickle, and thievish, they had an insurmountable aversion
for all steady toil, and particularly for agritultural labour ; thefr
occupations were tending cattle, hunting, riding, music, and danc
ing. They were fond of assembUng and ritting In a ring, smoking
and hearing the traditions of their forefathers. AJl the cares of the
household fell upon the woraen. Thefr clothes, cooking utensib,
bread, &c., they procured in e3ichange for cattle. They seldom
remained raany months in one spot ; an hour was enough for them to
pack up wife, children, and goods in thefr araba,* and then moving at
random towards some other point of the horizon, they carried with
thera all they possessed. " Such is the order estabUshed by God
himself," cried the Nogai, " to us he has given wheeb, to other
nations fixed dwelUngs and the plough." There was Uttie wealth
among thera in those times, though there was a certain overbearing
aristocracy that monopoUsed aU the gifts of fortune and power to
the detriment of the other merabers of the coraraunity, raany of
whom, either through ignorance or sloth, became even slaves of the
shrewder and braver. Such w^s the origin of the authority of the
Mourzas, or noble chiefs ofthe aouk (villages, encampments).
The Nogais had for thefr emigrations, like the Kalmucks, cfrcular
tents of felt, three or four yards in diaraeter, and conical at top. In
winter, they constructed-earthern huts beside thefr kibitkas. Such
cold and damp dwellings were very prejudicial to health, as was
proved by the multitude of ddldren that died every year.
Under Count Malson's -wise and disinterested adrainbt-ration, aU
these old habits disappeared by degrees, and the Nogais began to
improve thefr condition. By dint of patience and zeal they ¦vyere
prevailed on to build commodious dweUings, and having once estab
Ushed theraselves in -viUages, thefr prosperity went on regularly in
creasing, and every man had the means of procuring subsistence for
• A large four-wheeled vehicle covered -with felt. The wheels are never greased,
and the noise they make can often be heard at a distance of several versts.

THE NOGAIS. . 271
his faraily by his o-vvn labour. Count Maison is stiU reraerabered
by the Nogals-with the most Uvely gratitude, but his honesty did
not protect hira from malevolence and intrigues ; it provoked
against hira all the subordinate functionaries whose pecidatlons he
prevented; and after enduring disgusts and annoyances -without
number, he sent in his resignation to St. Petei-sburg in 1821. Since
that time the Nogais have had no special governor, but are under
the control of functionaries attached to the ministry of the interior
who reside in their viUages. They have, however, preserved the
judicial authority of their cadis, and the Russian tribunals only
take cogiuzance of those crirainal and civil cases which the cadis
cannot decide. The Nogais are exerapt frora miUtary service, but
they pay raoney contributions to the crown, at the rate of thirty
rubles for each faraily.
For about fifteen years past a Mennonite of the Gerraan colonies
has of his o-vvn accord continued the work so judiciously begun by
Count Maison. M. Comies, one of the most remarkable men in
New Russia, deservedly exercises the greatest influence over the
Nogai.s, among whora his advice and exertions have afready pro
duced some excellent results. The raiserablc villages of former
days have been graduaUy superseded by pretty houses in the Ger
man style, surrounded with gardens, and agriculture has raade such
progress, that a large number of farmers are now able to export com.
The Nogais are rather strict observers of the precepts of Islam.
Thefr country contains eleven mosques, and each -rillage has several
houses for prayer. Thefr clergy are subject to the mufti of the
Crimea and of his representative, who resides in the aotil of Em-
maout; they consist of efiendi moUahs, raoUas, and cadis. The
moUahs take tithe of aU grain, and a fortieth of the cattle. Thefr
fimctions are to caU the people to prayer, to pray for the sick, write
taUsmans, preside at sacrifices, marriages, ancl funerals, and perform
aU the rites of pubUc worsldp. The effendl moUahs draw up articles
of marriage and divorce; and, in concert with the -viUage elders, they
decide all quarreb and suits between husband and -vrife, and aU
questions relative to the sale of the latter. They abo fulfil along
-vrith the cadb the duties of interpreters of the law, and preceptors
of the Koran. Cfrcumcision, which boys undergo at ten or twelve
years of age, is pertbrmed by the bab (father), whose office is here
ditary. Hadjis, or pilgrims, who have -visited the kaaba of Mecca,
though they have no official duties, stUl possess great authority, and
are consulted on alraost all occasions; they are distinguished by a
green or white shawl rolled round their wooUen caps. The pUgnm-
age to Mecca, b not quite obligatory on the Nogais, who generally
exempt themselves from it by raeans of ofierings and sacrifices.
The new measures adopted by the Russians render this joumey
very difficult, and the Tatars must soon renounce it altogether.
Every Indi-vridual Is bound before he sets out to prove that he takes
¦vrith him at least 120/.,; his passport costs him nearly 8/^ aud if he

272 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
does not retum, the whole village where he was bom b bound to
pay his quota of taxation until a new census of the population is
made. Expiatory sacrifices are very coraraon araong the Nogais : they
take place during the Kourbau Bairara, on the occasion of a death,
for the commeraoration of deceased persons, on the celebration of a
marriage, on return frora a joumey, and as an atoneraent for the
oraission of any religious duty. Those who ofier thera up invite
to their houses their friends and relations, and the poor of the -ril
lage, to whom they give a good portion of the -rictira, which is either
a sheep or a cow, according to the wealth of the indl-vidual, or the
importance of the occasion.
The great forty days fast of Raraazan is strictly observed only by
aged persons of either sex. Curiously enough the obligation of
prayer is imposed only on persons aged forty or fifty; the seventh day
of the Mussulraan week, which corresponds to our Friday, is celebra
ted only by the priests and some devout old raen. The prohibition
against wine b not at all regarded by the young, especiaUy in tra
velUng. In general the rising generation of Nogab pay very little
heed to the commandments of Mahomet, and by no means share this
reUgious fanaticism of the Asiatic Mussulmans. Long and hand
some beards are held in great veneration among them. Old men
shave the whole head, but the young leave a smaU tuft growing on
the top of the crown. Thb custom obUges them to wear woollen
caps in all seasons. ¦ v.
The Nogais have generaUy two wives, and sorae even three, but
this is a very rare case. The pluraUty and sale of wives frequentiy
occasion, quarreb, brawb, and acts of bloody vengeance.
Charity, which is regarded in the Koran as one of the greatest
virtues, extends only to the poor who beg from door to door, and
who are usually given a Uttie bread and mdlet. Orphans and old
people are left to the care of their fi-iends or relations, for the Nogab
have no piibUc estabUshraent for the indigent. The fideUty of the
Nogais Is proverbial ; even the most thle^vash of them would never
betray a trust reposed In them. As for the ancient hospitaUty, it b
now only exercised from habit, and very rai-ely from -vartue. StiU
they invariably afibrd the most cordial welcome to e-very aged Mus
sulman or hadjl, and in these cases thefr hospitaUty is quite patri
archal. Reverence for the aged is considered by them as a sacred
duty- . -. _._ _ - ¦¦ '
One of the most striking characteristics of these Tatars b thefr
excessive vanity -with regard to every thing that concerns the nobi
Uty of thefr ancestors. It shows itself not only towards sfrangers,
but abo in thefr deaUngs with each other. They profess Ukevrise
the most profoimd contempt for the Persians, tiie Turks, and even
for the mountain Tatars ot the Crimea, and deem it a dishonour to
intermarry with those nations, which yet are ofthe same creed. If not
of the same origin -with themselves.

THE NOGAIS. 273
The Nogai alternates between total suplneness and extraordinary
exertion, so that to make any profit of him he must be employed by
task work and not by the day. This sloth, however, is not so rauch
a vice inherent in the character of the nation as a result of its old
vagrant and precarious existence, and of its Uralted wants. On the
other hand, the noraade habits of other days have developed the
capacity of this people in a remarkable degree, and whether as arti
sans or joumeyraen, agriculturists or manufacturers, the Noo-ais
invariably give proof of great ability and skill.
The Nogai is of moderate stature, but well proportioned ; his
movements are free and unembarrassed, and hb attitude is never
awkward under any circumstances. The women are, like all those
of the East, comely when young ; but when old they are horribly
ugly. Neither sex exhibits any decided national physiognomy;
countenances both of the Cfrcasslan and the Mongol type are very
common araong thera.
The Nogai constructs his own cottage with bricks dried in the
sun, and whitewashes it regularly once a year within and Avithout.
Its dimensions are scarcely more than two or three-and-thirty feet
by thirteen. The roof consists ofa few rafters on which are laid
reeds and branches of trees loaded with earth and ashes. A dweUing
of this kind hardly costs more than 100 rubles ; others of a larger
size, with a floor and celUng of wood, cost from 400 to 500 rubles.
Each dwelling consists of two rooms, the kitchen, which is next the
entrance, and the faraily roora. The kitchen contains a fireplace,
an iron pot, wooden vesseb for milk and butter, harness and agricul
tural implements ; the second room, which serves as a donnitory, is
furnished with felt carpets, quilts, a pile of cushions, boxes contain
ing clothes, and a dozen of napkins embroidered with coloured silk
or cotton, according to the fortune of the family, and hung round
the room. When the Nogai has two or raore wives he constructs his
house in such a raanner that each of thera raay have her separate room.
The costurae of the Nogais is coramodious. It consists of wide
faousers, a cotton or wooUen shirt, and a short caftan, fastened
round the waist with a leathern girdle. Thefr head-dress Is a cyUn-
drical cap of lamb's-skin. In the winter they wear a sheep's-skln pver
the caftan, and in snowy weather they raufile theraselves in a
bashllk, or hood, which conceals their head and shouldere.
The women wear a shift, a cloth caftan, belted above the hips
with a broad gfrdle adorned -vrith large metal buckles, Turkish
trousers and sUppers. Their head-dress is a white veil fastened to
the crown of the head, -with the two ends hanging gracefully on
the shoulders. They wear Uttie silver finger and nose rings, and
heavy earrings often connected by a chain passing under the chin.
Young girls part their hafr into a multitude of tresses, and instead
of the veil wear a Uttie red skull-cap bedizened with bits of metal
and all sorts of gewgaws.
The Nogais eat mutton, beef, mares' flesh, &c., fish, and dairy
T

274 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
produce. They prepare koumbs from mares' milk,, and esteem it
above all other Uquors. They abo kiU- sick horses for food, and
very often do not dbdain the flesh of one that has died a natural
death. Mares' flesh, minced, forms the chief part of a national dbh
caUed tarama, which the men eat -with their friends in token of
sincerity and brotherhood. The women are not aUowed to partake
of these repasts. Their favourite dish b mdlet boiled in water, with
a little sour milk called tchourtzch. Kalmuck tea is abo much
esteemed, and since the improvement of agriculture, the use of
bread, which was forraerly tmKnown, is gradij^ly spreading among
them- Thefr most coramon diseases are fever, sraaU-pox, ulcers, itch,
and syphiUs- No one takes any means either to avoid or cure them.
Charms are the only medicine kno-wn to the Nogais, and they are
even quite indifferent to certain maladies which they attribute to
fataUty. They attribute great raedlclnal -rirtues to pepper, alum,
sugar, and honey. The mortaUty of infants is frightful among
thera, and accounts for the stationary condition in which? the popu
lation has long remainecL
No system of education as yet exists- among -the Nogais; their
chUdren grow up Uke the young of aniraab. Every village, indeed,.
possesses a cabin decorated -vrith the name of school, in which the
clergy give some imperfect lessons in the Tatar language and writing;:
but the rest of thefr teaching, which b exclusively reUgious, consbta
in the reading of Arabic books, which the teachers understand no-
better than the pupUs.
The rearing of cattle,, particularly horses, forms the chief occupa
tion of the Nogais. Thefr horses are of the Kalmuck Khirghb race,
nimble and robust, though of moderate size,, and usuaUy fetch from
100 to 120 rubles: they pass the whole year in the steppe, and
have to find thefr food under the snow In winter. The homed cattle
b smaU. The cows seU for twenty oir thirty rubles; they give
Uttie railk, and are generally unprofitable. Cameb are Uttie used
and seldora seen.
In Count Malson's tirae the Nogais were requfred to sow, at least,
two tchetverts of corn per head, which made a total of about 40,000-
tohetverts for the whole population. A year after the count's retfre-
ment, the seed sown In the whole territory did not exceed 19,000
tchetverts, and the quantity went on diminishing from year to year.
But since the dbastrous ¦winters, for cattie, of 1836 and 1837, the
Nogais have been induced, by M. Comies, to apply theraselves again
to agriculture, and the woraen have taken a part ¦vrith the men in.
field labours.
Thefr mode of cultivating the grotmd is extremely defective; they
have bad ploughs drawn by four or five pafr-of oxen, whibt their neigh
bours, the Germans, do infinitely more work -vrith but two. The har
vest generaUy takes place in July, and is a season of great joUity.
Gipsy musicians stroll over tiie country at that period,, and coUect

THE NOGAIS. 275
an ample store of wheat and iniUet. The com is trodden out by
horses in the open air : the best, -which is called arnaout, sells at from
seven to twelve rubles the tchetvert. The territory of the Noo-ab
is StIU common property, and the want of finite boundaries occa
sions raany quarrels, especiaUy at harvest time.
As usual, araong eastern nations, the Nogai woraen do aU. the-
household drudgery, for the men think it beneath them to take part
in it. The poor raother of the family is therefore obUged to prepare
the victuals -with her own hands, to wash the Unen, mUk the cows '
and raares, keep the house in repair, chum butter, &c., and take
care of the cliUdren. She must abo gather the firewood, prepare all
the drinkables, make candles and soap, and dress the .sheepskins to
make pelisses for all the faraily. This is hard drudgery, and a few
years of such raariied Ufe suffice to raake her old.. Under such.
cfrcumstances it is not surprising that the Nogai cannot content
himseU' -with, one- wife, and that the purchase of young glrb is so
important and costly an affair araong thera.
A raan usuaUy chooses his ¦vrife from a remote viUage ; for every
young raan makes It a point of honour not to have seen his wife
before marriage.. The only particulars he b anxious to leam indi
rectly is whether- the lady b plump and has long hair. When his
choice- is fixed, he bargains -vrith the- father or the relations of the
gfrl for the price- he is to pay for her. A handsome girl of good
family costs four or five hundred rubles, besides a. couple of score
of cows and a few other beasts. Young widows are cheaper, and
old women are to be had for nothing.. "The bride's price is- paid on.
the spot by the wooer, and a horse and two oxen are reckoned equi
valent to a couple of cows. The girl's inclinations are never con--
sulted, and she submits to her lot with stoical indifierence ; she is
• given dresses, m.attresses, and cushions by way of dower. Matches
are often made when the bride is still in her cradle, the bridegroom's
father paying down a part of the stipulated sum, and when fhe girl
has attained the age of thirteen or fourteen, the raarria^i^e takes
place without any opposition on the young raan's part. But this
traffic in glrb often occasions long lawsuits between famiUes.
Various accidents occur to prevent the espousals, such- as mutilation,
loss of health or beauty, and, above aU, bad faith, and hence arise
animosities that are often transmitted front one generation to
another. - The woraen of the mountain race of Tatars of the Criraea, and
the Kalrauck women, cost less than young Nogai- glrlS)- and are pur
chased by the poorer classes.
On the day appointed for the weddhig, the young people, who-
have not yet seen each other, choose each of them a deputy, who ex
change hands on thefr behalf, and thus the marriage rite Isaccora-
pUshed. The day is spent in raerriraent, and in the evening the-
bride is veiled, and escorted by a troop of woinen to the conjugal
abode, where she sees her husband for- the first tirae-.
t2

• 276 the steppes of the' CASPIAN SEA, &C.
Tlie young wife must remain shut up at home for a whole year,
and see no men, conversing only with her husband and his relations.
After this her emancipation Is celebrated by a grand banquet. The
Nogai women are very timid, for the jealousy of their husbands is
extrerae. When a raarried man dies, his brothers inherit his
widows, and may keep or sell thera as they please. A husband may
rSpudlate his wife whenever he chooses, but she is entitled to marry
again after the legaUsatlon of the divorce. When a Nogai has many
wives, the first retains peculiar privileges so long as she is young
and handsorae, but when her beauty fades, a younger rival always
gains the good graces of the husband. Hence arise interminable
quarrels, and domestic peace Is only maintained by the kantshouk
or whip of the lord of the raansion. On the whole, the women
endure a hard slavery ; but their ignorance ofa better state of things
makes thefr chains set Ught on them, and they are insensible ot
the degraded condition in which they are kept by thefr absolute
lords. It would be difficult to predict ¦with accui^cy the fate reserved
for all this Mahometan population. The Nogais have doubtless
made great progress within the last twenty years ; but thefr reU
gious notions and their moral and political constitution -vrill long
impede their complete reforraation, and it wiU need many a genera
tion to eradicate from araong them aU those prejudices and all those
old habits of a wandering Ufe, which so fataUy obstruct their pros
perity and their inteUectual growth. Besides, it Is now impossible
to mistake the tendency of the policy adopted by the Russian go
vernment towards the foreign races : there is every reason to think
that they will at last be entfrely absorbed by the Sla-ric population.

CHAPTER XXVin.
BAtniS op THE KOUSIA ; VLADialXRoriU — M. EEBROF's REPULSE OF A CntCASSIiX
J-OaiV — ^BOUttGON 3I.\.BJAB — JOURNEY ALONG THE KOITMA — VIE-iV OP THE CAUCA-
SIAX JIOTJNTAINS— CltmcAL SITCATIOX — OEOEGIEJ — ADVESTUBE -WTTH A KUS-
Sr.AJ* COLONEL — STOBT OF A CIECAS&Li» CHIEF.
Notwithstanding the dangers and hardships that had attended
our desert wanderings, it was not without some' degree of regret
-vve bade a final adieu to the Kalmucks, whose patriarchal simpU
city of life we had shared for more than a month. But as we
approached Vladimirofka, and beheld the clear waters of the
Kouraa, Its wooded banks, and the lovely scenery around, the
change was indescribably delightful to eyes long accustomed to the
blank and arid wilderness.
In front of us stood a handsorae dwelling ou a gentle slope,

VLADDIIEOFIvA. 277
flanked with two tm-rets, and surraounted by a belvedere rising above
the trees. Behind us lay the Kalmuck camps and their herds of
cameb, resembUng in the distance those effects of the mirage that
are so common in the desert. A little to tho left, the village, pic
turesquely situated at the foot ofthe mansion,, descended in terraces
to the raargin of the Kouraa, displaying its pretty -workshops, and its
houses parted from each other by pl-iutatlons of mulberries, hazels,
and Lombardy poplars, tinted with the varied hues of autumn. All
the enchantraents that opulence could call forth from a fruitful soil,
were there assembled, as a bountiful compensation fbr our past
fatigues. The camel-drivers and the Cossacks of our escort fully
shared our deUght, and remained Uke ourselves wonder-stricken
before that brilUant apparition.
Soon afterwards we entered the yard ofthe mansion, which was soon
crowded with emphyes and servants, all greatly puzzled to conceive
whence could have come so strange a caravan. Our appearance raight
weU excite thefr astonbhment. The britchka, drawn by three caraels,
preceded a Utile troop composed of four or five Cossacks, armed to
the teeth, and several Kalmucks leading other cameb loaded with
aU our noraadic gear. Our Cossack officer, with hb falcon on his
fist, and lib long rifle slung behind him , rode close to the door of
the carriage, ready, -vrith Russian precision, to transmit our orders
to the escort, and to gallop off at the slightest signal; whilst our
dragoman, lolUng on the box-seat with Italian nonchalance, looked
do-wn -vrith profound disdain on the bustling throng aroimd us, and
did not condescend to answer one -word to their thousand questions.
M. Rebrof, the proprietor of Vladimirofka, ha-ring been waited
on by our officer, came out and welcomed us in the most poUte
and cordial raanner, and showed us. into deUghtful apartments on
the ground floor, looking out on a large, handsome garden, ancl
containing a bilUard-table and several nurabers of the Revue Etran-
gire. Then, after empowering us to raake free use of his servants,
his garden. Ids horses, and aU lib property, our host left us to our
selves, with a delicate tact not always displayed even by well-bred
persons. WeU, after aU, It is a very good thing when one has long been
deprived of all the comforts and conveniences of life, to come upon
thera again in full measure, and sUde back into one's old habits; to
pass from the Kahnuck kibitka to a lordly mansion, — from the hor
rible fiat cake of unleavened dough to fresh bread every day —from
the wearborae march of the cameb to the repose of the cUvan— from
the monotony of the steppes to aU the comforts of civiUsed Ufe. It
is really a very good thing, especially if one has the rare good for--
tunc to enjoy, in addition to all these pleasures, the hospitaUty of a
most friendly and engaging faraily. In fact, what gives the most
racy zest to travelling is precisely these contrasts that await you at
every step, and which enable you to appreciate raatters justly by
comparbon ; for after aU: what is a good dinner to one who dines

278 the steppes of the CASPLVJST SEA, &C.
well every day ? Wliat are a divan, books, music, pictures, to the
privileged being who has them always before him ? More than
half his tirae Is spent In yawning at the chiraney corner ; music
wearies him ¦; reading makes his eyes ache ; his cook is a dull
blockhead, and has ng invention I Oh, the weary dreary lot ofthe
wealthy man ! But let some good genius suddenly whisk him off
Into the heart of the desert ; let him be forced to wash down his
biscuit with brackish water frora the standing pool, to count on his
falcon's quarry for hb dinner, to Ue on the hard ground, to bear
rain, wind, and dust, to hear only the cries of caraels, and see only
Kalmuck faces ¦; and afterwards, when he returns to all the good
-things he despised before, he wiU be heard exclaiming in the joy of
liis heart, " Oh ! what a pleasant thing it is to eat, sleep, and dream ;
what a very' comfortable Ufe this is !"
Vladirairofka is one of the finest properties I have seen in Rus
sia- The whole econoray of this raagnificent estabUshraent bespeaks
the enlarged and enlightened views of its master. It is about fifty
years since M. Rebrof laid the first foundatior.s of his colony, undb-
mayed by the obstacles and dangers he encountered in all shapes.
He wished to raake profitable use of the fine waters of the Kouma,
which had never before been bridled in their course by man ; and
now several railb, set up by him, enliven the whole neighbourhood
by their continual din. The mildness of the cUmate has aUowed
dura to make nuraerous pbntations of raulberries, which have per
fectly succeeded, and to establish factories, the productions of which
m.ay vie with the finest silks of Provence.
Another manufacture which he is carrying on -with great spirit
is that of Champagne wine. He sends every year at least 10,000
bottles to Moscow, and selb them at the rate of foiur rubles a bottle.
By dint of energy and perseverance he has called up Jlfe and abun
dance in a -wild uncultivated spot, -which before had served only for
the teraporary halts of the Kalraucks and Turcomans. Many
peasants whom he brought with him from Great Russia, and who
had been habituated to an ahnost savage state of existence, have been
transforraed by him into good workraen, industrious husbandmen,
and, on occasion. Into soldiers devoted to their raaster.
In 1835, sorae three-score Circassians, terapted by the hope of a
rich booty, raade a descent from their mountains to sack and pUlage
Vladirairofka, expecting to surprise the little viUage population by
night, and to find thera wholly unprepared. But though M. Re
brof had enjoyed coraplete security for raany yeais, he had never
deceived himself as to the dangers of his position, but always ex
pected to be attacked sooner or later ; and, therefore, he had from
the first taken all possible precautions against the designs of his
formidable neighbours. Two branches of the Kouma served as
fosses for the ¦village and tiie chateau ; there was a smaU redoubt
vrith two pieces of cannon comraanding the most exposed side, and
In a room on the ground-floor of the mansion there was a weU-

A CIKCASSLVN FORAY KEPULSED. 279
stocked armoury, ¦vrith all things reqiuslte for sustaining a siege.
With these means, M. Rebrof felt confident he coidd resist any
attack. Every night two sentinels kept watch until dawn, and it was this
seemingly superfluous measure that saved Vladimirofka from total
destruction. The Circassians, never reckoning on such extreme
caution, arrived one night in face of the village, and felt sure that
their approach was unsuspected. But the alarm had been already
given, and the whole population, suddenly aroused out of their
sleep, were ready for the fight. Arms were distributed to the work
people and servants, the drawbridges were raised, the two cannons
were loaded with grape, ancl the chateau was transformed into a
fortress. Ail thb was done with such rapidity, that when the Cir
cassians came to the banks of the river, they found the village in a
perfect state of defence. They attempted, however, to swim their
horses over the Kouma, but were repubed by a brisk fire. Three
or four other atterapts were equally unsuccessful ; all points were
so well guarded, and the men did their duty so well, that the Cfr-
cassians were obUged to retreat at break of day. But enraged at
thefr disappointment, they set fire to the vlUage and the surrounding
woods, and escaped unmolested, tinder cover of the conflagration,
without its being discovered what direction they took.
As an economist and adminbtrator, M. Rebrof may be compared
-vrith the most eminent men of Em-ope, and his manufacturing
enterprises are the more raerltorious, as he is destitute of the aid of
books. Kno-vring only his own language, which is very poor in
such practical works as would suit his purposes, he has nothing but
a few bad translations of French and German works, which -would
be of Uttie avad but for his own superior sagacity.
His garden.' arc filled with all the friuts of Europe, and with
several kinds of grapes,' from which he derives a large profit. Araong
these I particularly noticed the Scliiras grape, which has no
stones. Nor raust I forget his exceUent ceil de perdrix wine, which
he set before us every day after dinner, with the pride of a manu
facturer. Nothing could exceed his satisfaction on hearing us com
pare it with the best -vintages of France, as we did in aU sincerity
on our first arrival. Afterwards our enthusiasm cooled do-wn a Uttie ;
but it did not matter ; our host was stiU persuaded that his 'wine
could compete with the best made in Champagne.
It was painful to us to quit Vladirairofka. Had the season been
less advanced, we would wilUngly have reraained there another
week ; but we had stiU to -rislt the Caucasus, and Septeraber was
dravring to a dose. We had, therefore, to make haste and profit by
the fine weather that stiU remained for us. M. Rebrof s horses con
veyed us to Bourgon Madjar, a property belonging to General Ska-
glnsky. It b situated on the Eouraa, about thirty versts fi;om
Vladimirofka, Uke which, it possesses fine woods and beautiftd
scenery. It was our intention only to change horses there, but the

280 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
steward, who had been expecting us for two days, determined
otherwise, ancl to please him we were constrained to lose two days
In his company. Our complaisance would not have extended so tar
had our choice been fi-ee ; but the moment we entered his doors he
told us very positively we should have no horses until the day after
the morrow. It was to no purpose we raved and entreated ; we
were forced to submit to a tyranny that was raore flattering than
agreeable. The difficulty of understanding each other without an
interpreter added to our embarrassment and ill-huraour. The whole
conversation on the first day -was made up of two words mozhna
(you can stay), and nilza (it is impossible). But setting aside the
loss of two days, wliich were then very precious, I raust allow that
our time passed agreeably, and our host did his best to enter
tain us.
The first day was spent in seeing the buildings, gardens, -rine-
yards, mills, and all that Avas under the immediate raanagement of
the steward. Every thing was in as exceUent order as if the whole
of the fine property had been constantly under the master's eye. But
General Skaginsky hardly ever visits it, contenting himself -vrith
the receipt of the proceeds, which amount to about 20,000 rubles.
The stable contains some capital saddle horses, that tempted us to
make a long excursion through the forest. We abo saw antelopes
alraost tarae, and of exquisite beauty. Whole herds of them are
sometimes found in thb part of the steppes. The woods adjacent
to the Kouraa abo contain deer and wild boars. The steward pressed
hard for one day more that he might get up a hunt for us, but we
would not hear of it, aud answered with so pereraptory a nilza that
he was obliged to subrait to what he called our obstinacy.
Blis anxiety to retain us may be easily accounted for by the ex
treme loneliness in which he Uves. He is a Pole by birth, and has
known a different condition from that of a steward, as his tastes
prove. He is a poet, a musician, and a wit — three quaUties angu
larly at variance with his calling. But as he is alone, and has no
superior to control his tastes, he- m-ay raeditate, Virgil in hand, on
the charms of rural Ufe. A guitar, a few select books, and the visi
tations ofthe muse, enable him to nourbh an Intellectual existence
amidst all lib prosaic occupations.
After quitting Bourgon Madjar we passed through the place
where formerly stood the celebrated Rfadjar, whose past is stiU a
problem for hbtorlans. Nothing remains of it, not even a few bricks
to attest its former exbtence. The Russians have carried it aw.iy
pleceraeal to build their villages. We now rapidly approached the
Caucasus; tho Elbrouz (the highest mountain of the chain) from time
to time gave-us a gUmpse of its majestic head, almost always wrapped
in ralst, as if to concesil it frora profane eyes. Tradition Informs us
that Noah's dove alighted onlts summit, and there plucked the mystic
branch which afterwards becarae the Chrbtian symbol of peace and

¦WAYFAKING DISTRESSES. 281
hope. Hence the mountain is held In high veneration by all the
races of the Caucasus: Christians, idolators, and Mussulraans, all agree
in regarding it as holy.
We were now in an enchanted region, though but just beyond
the verge of the steppes. The faint lines discernible in the sky as
sumed graduaUy more distinct forra and colour; the mountains
ai)peared to us first as light, transparent vapours, floating upon the
wind; but by degrees this airy phantasmagoria changed into moun
tains clothed -vvith forests, deep gorges and clomes crowned with mists.
We met several horsemen in the Circassian garb, whose manly
beauty afforded us examples ofthe noble Caucasian race. Our minds
were almost overwhelmed with a raultitude of emotions, excited by
the exuberant natm-e before us, the magnificent vegetation, and the
varied hues of the forests and raountains, peaks, crags, ravines, and
snowy summits. It was beautiful, superbly beautiful, and then it
was the Caucasus ! The Caucasus, a name associated with so many
grand historic memories, with the earliest traditions and raost fabulous
creeds ; the abode, in the raorning of the world, of faraiUes whence
issued so many great nations. Round it hangs all the vague poetry
ofthe ages visible only to the iraagination, through the raysterious
veil of antiquity.
¦What a sad thing it was In the midst of all our ecstatic enthusiasm,
to be obliged to descend to the vulgar concerns of locomotion, ancl
to be crossed and thwarted at every step. We were more than ten
vei-sts from Georgief, when we were stopped in a -rillage by the per
versity ofa postmaster, who refused to let us have horses at any price.
It was raining in torrents, and the raud in the village was Uke a
quagralre. The Cossack and Anthony ran about among all the
peasants, trying to prevail on them to hire us horses ; but the Rus-
rians are so lazv that they ¦would rather lose an opportunity of earn
ing. money than qtut their sweet repose. At last, after lour hours
search, the two raen came back with three wretched hacks they had
carried off by force from different peasants. For want of a roof to
shelter us we had beea obliged to sit all that while in the britchka,
and when the miserable teara was yoked it could hardly draw us out
of the raud in which the wheeb were embedded. The road all the
way to Georgief was the most detestable that could be imagined.
The weather cleared up a little, but the rain had converted all the
low plains through which we had to pass into marshes, and had ren
dered the bridges all but impassable. Steep and very narro-vv de
scents often obliged us to alight at the risk of leaving our boots in the
mud, and for a long while we feared we should not reach Georgief
that day. FinaUy, however, by dint of dogging, our coachman-
forced the hoi-ses up the last hlU, and at seven in the evening we
reached a wide plateau, at one end of which towered the fortress
that commands the road to the Caucasus.
We had been told that we should find a fair going on in Georgief,
and thb accounted for the nuraber of horseraen we saw proceeding

282 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
like ourselves in that direction. I must confess in aU humility, that
I did not feel quite at my ease whenever one of these groups
passed close to our carriage. The bad weather, the darkness, the
bold bearing of these mountaineers, and their arms half concealed
under their black bourkas, made me rather nervous. We arrived,
however, safe and sound in Georgief^ where we enjoyed our repose
and sipped our tea with a zest known only to wayworn travellers.
Whilst we were thus enjoying ourselves, the tinkling of a pere-
clatnoy bell in the yard announced a fresh arrival. But we gave
ourselves very little concern about the event,for in order to be the raore
. at our ease, we had engaged the travellers' room for ourselves alone.
In traveUing, people grow selfish, in spite of theraselves; and in
Russia it is a very lucky chance indeed that enables you now and
then to display that quality. We therefore paid no heed to the
tinkUngs that seemed -with increasing veheraence to deraand shelter
for the late coming pilgrim. In a few moraents there was a loud
hubbub at our door, and we heard Anthony's voice stoutly refusing
admission into our sanctuary. The postraaster seeraed to play but
a negative part, venturing only to say now and then, in the hum
blest tone, " Ne mozhna polkovnich," (it is not possible, colonel).
A deluge of doitraks, and a few fistycuffs distributed right and left,
put an end to the cUscussion; the door was flung open, and a taU
individual, muffled up "to the nose, rushed in furiously, halted sud
denly, made an awkward bow, and skipped out of the room again,
without attempting even to profit by his victory. AraaSed at thb
sudden retreat, Anthony hastily closed the door he had so bravely
defended, and then told us that this officer had refused to Usten to
a word of explanation, and had threatened, if they provoked hira,
to turn us aU into the street, and take our places. 'Tliis did not in
the least suprlse us, for in Russia it Is a raatter of course for a colonel
to behave thus to his inferiors, and as this officer was not aware of
our being foreigners, he had behaved in the usual pereraptory fasliion ;
but he had been taken aback on discovering that we were something
ebethan -village pometchiks, and his tone became changed accordingly
in the comical manner aforesaid. We were highly diverted by his
discorafltiire, and to punish his blustering, we let hira go and seek a
lodging elsewhere.
He had not been gone half an hour when another officer drove
into the yard, and -with more moderation than hb predecessor, took
up his quarters In the kitchen, which was divided by a thin par
tition from our room. He was no sooner Installed, than the silence
was again broken by loud cracks of a whip, and the* poor post
master was at his -vrits'-encL We paid no attention to this incident
until otnr curiosity was excited by hearing sorae words of French,
accorapanied by peab of laughter; and on Usteiung we heard the
whole of our late adventure narrated in the most amusing manner,
the story being interspersed with keen reraarks on the unaccount
able propensity of sorae -woraen for travelUng, and filling up every

SrORT OF A CACCASL4.N NOBLE. 283
hotel. Of course we recognised in the orator the hero of the
adventure himself. Having knocked in vain at all the doors in
Georgief, he found he conld do no better than return to the con
founded station, and take hb chance of sleeping in the stable; but
hearing that a comrade had taken up his abode in the kitchen, he had
deterrained to beg leave to join him. All this, be it observed, was
said in French, to prevent our understanding it; this was amusing
enough ; but the conversation soon became so confidential, that we were
obUged to raise our voices, as a hint to our neighbours to speak Rus
sian. They did nothing all night but smoke, drink tea, and talk.
Next day. having ascertained that we were French, they sent
the postmaster to us, begging we would aUow them to come and
apologise for the inconvenience they had caused us. We found
them well-bred gentlemen, and we had a good laugh together at
the strange manner in which oiur mutual acquaintance had taken
place. We aU left the station nearly together. After breakfasting
with us, they set out, one of them for Persia, the other for the
north. Eor ourselves, as we intended to stop some days in Geor
gief, until the roads should have become drier, we accepted the in
vitation of the governor of the fortress to reside with him. The
mud was so deep in the yard of the posthotise, that we were obUged
to have a bridge of planks made for us to the carriage, and the
grooms and the persons who had occasion to enter the house, had
to cross the yard on horseback. In passing through the street we
saw an unfortunate peasant sunk up to his middle, and making pro
digious efforts to extricate his cart and oxen.
Our hospitable and obUgIng entertainer, the general, told us many
particulars respecting the tribes of the Caucasus, and we saw at
his table a great number of Kabardian chiefs whom the fair . had
brought to Georgief. There was one among thera whose hand
some, grave features, and somewhat wild appearance, excited our
curiosity; and the general perceiving this, told us all he knew about
the raan. 1 -vriU relate the stoiy as nearly as possible in his own
words- " About two years ago I was ordered to raake a tour of in
spection araong the friendly tribes of the Caucasus, and had nearly
¦completed it, when arri-ring one evening near an aoul situated on a
mountain, the summit of which you can see from here, I noticed
that the village was in great commotion. Being accompanied by
a detachment of Cossacks, IJiad no need to be apprehrasive about
the result, happen what might; still I thought itadvisable to take
some precautions, and settled with the commanding officer of the
detachment what was to be done if we were attacked. I then got
on a few hundred paces ahead of the party, and advanced softly,
like an eclaireur, to a place where the whole population was as
sembled. As it was rather dark, and I was covered with a bourka,
no one took any notice of me, and I was aUowed to make my ob-
-servations -vrithout impedlraent.

284 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
" When my eyes had gro-wn raore famiUarised with the objects
about rae, 1 perceived that the crowd was gathered round the
ruins of a house that seeraed to have been very recently burned
do-wn. Though Ignorant of what had happened, I felt certain
that the burning was connected with some deed of violence and
bloodshed, for 1 had long known these raountaineers, whose violent
passions are kept in constant exclteraent by the false position in
which they are placed both as to the Russians, whora they detest
while they submit to their power, and -vrith regard to the free tribes,
who cannot forgive them for their compulsory submission. Oa
inspecting the various groups more narrowly, I saw a Kabardian
lying on the ground, with his cloak drawn over hb face, while
every one gazed on him with a respectful pity. Puzzled stiU more
to know what this meant, and not seeing any reason why I might
not make myself known, I was about to put some questions to the
person next me, when the sound of approaching hoofs caUed off the
attentlon-of the crowd in another direction. It was ray party, who
had becorae uneasy about me, ancl had quickened their march. The
mountaineers all clustered round my soldiers, but without any such
hostile demonstrations as we had encountered in the other aoub.
Every body seemed under the influence of some unusual feeling,
that made him forget for the while the hatred which the mere sight
of a Cossack awakens araong these people.
" I issued the necessary orders for the encarapraent of ray party, and
when aU was made safe for the night, I returned to the spot where my
curiosity had been so strongly excited; and there lay the raoun-
taineer still stretched on the ground, looking Uke a corpse under
the black bourka that covered him. Several woraen sat round him,
and one of them, who was very young, and seemed less distressed
than the others, at last satisfied ray irapatience, and told rae a tale
which was confii'raed by the whole population of the vlUage.
" The person I saw stretched on the ground before the ashes of
his own house, was the chief of the aoul, ancl belonged to a princely
faraily, living independently araidst their own mountains. At the
age of twenty he unfortunately becarae his elder brother's rival, and
in order to possess the- wife of his choice, he had carried her off,
ancl settled under the protection of Russia. This latter act, the
most infaraous of which a mountaineer can be guilty when he
coraraits it of his own accord, reraained a long while .unpunished
during the wars between Russia and the tribes. Eor fifteen yeai's
nothing occurred to make the refugee suppose that hb brother
thought of him at all. Tlie -wife had died a few years after the elope
ment, leaving him a daughter, who grew up so beautiful, that the
whole tribe called her the Rose of the Mountain.
" Now on the day before- ray arrival in the aoul, four independent
mountaineers had visited the chief as friends, and told him that
his brother -w-as dead, and that he might now return horae without any
fear of danger. The strangers spent tiie night under hb roof, and did

EOAD FROil GEORGIEF TO PIATIGORSK. 285
aU they cotdd to persuade hira to accompany thera ; but next day, find
ing they could make no Irapression on his mind, they set fire to hb
house, stabbed hira in several places, and seizing his daughter, gal
loped away before any one was prepared to pursue them. Most ofthe
inhabitants were a-fielcl at the time, and when I came up at dusk
it was too late to think of overtaking the assassins. Although I was
assured that the man was dead, I had lum carried to a house, where
every possible care was bestowed upon him. In about an hour he
becarae conscious, and there appeared some hope of saring lura.
Our acquaintance, -which began in so dramatic a manner, after
wards became as intimate as it could be between a Russian general
and a Caucasian cldef
" But for a long while my influence over the mind ofthe unfor
tunate father was totally unable to overcome the despair and thfrst
of vengeance occasioned by the abduction of Ids daughter. At the
head of the raost deterrained raen of his aoul and of some Cossacks,
he thrice endeavoured to force his way into that part of the moun
tain where his kindred resided ; but these attempts led to nothing
but desperate conflicts and fierce reprisals. He was about making
a fourth attempt about two months ago, when we were informed by
a spy that the Rose of the Mountain had been sent to Trebboncl,
to become the ornament of sorae harem in Constantinople.
" Frora that tirae a gradual change took place in the savage
teraper of the Kabardian; the idea that hb daughter was no longer
In the hated raountains, was balm to his wounds. He attached
hiraself to the society of the officers of the garrison, who had become
warmly interested in Ids history. At his own request I have so-
Ucited an appointment for him in his majesty's iraperial guard,
and I hope he -will soon be far away from scenes that remind him of
such terrible disasters."

CHAPTER XXDC.

EOAD PE03I GEORGIEF TO THE -WATEKS OF THB CATJCASUSr-A POLISH LADY CARRIED
OPP BT CIBCASSIA>-S—PIATIGOKSK.— KISLOVODSK— HISTOBT OP THE StDTEBAL
-WATERS OP THE CAUCASUS.
From Georgief we set out for Piatlgorsk, the chief watering place
of the CaucasT^, and travelled for three hours over a dreary plam,
with nothing for the eye to rest on but here and there a long corneal
mound, tha" scarcely broke the duU monotony of the landscape ; and
even these were scarcely visible through the foggy atmosphere. We
felt, therefore, a depression of spfrits we had never known in our

286 THE STEPPES OF THE CASFIAN SEA, &a
pre-viotis journeyings, and it was still more increased by the thought
that we raight faU in with those Circassians whose very narae strikes
terror into the Russians.
The two Cossacks whom the commandant of Georgief had given
us for escort, were not the sort of raen to assuage our fears, for they
seemed theraselves very much possessed -vrith a sense of the dangers
we were incurring. Their visages grew very serious indeed when
we had left the plain behind us, and the road began to skirt along a
deep valley, with, the waters ofthe Pod Kouma brawling at the bottora.
They were constantly peering in every direction, as if they expected
every raoraent to fall into an arabuscade. Presently they stopped,
and called our dragoman to show hira a spot on which thefr eyes-
seeraed riveted. One of thera began to talk -vrith great voIublUty,
and from his expressive gestures it was e-rident he was relating some
tragic event of which that spot had been -witness. And so, indeed.
It was. Anthony informed us that on the very spot where we stood,,
a- young Polish lady had been assaded the year before hy several
mountaineers, who lay in wait for herin the bed of the torrent. She
was on her way to the waters of Kblovodsk, accorapanied by an
escort and two or three servants. Her followers were raassacred or
dispersed, her carriage was rifled, and she herself was carried off and
never heard of again, not-vrithstanding the most active exertions to
ascertain her fate. One ofthe Cossacks, who had escaped by miracle
from the baUs of the Circassians, gaUoped off to Georgief, and re^
tumed within a few hours to the scene of the catastrophe, accompa
nied by a detachment of ca-vah-y. They found the carriage broken-
to- pieces, and plundered of all its contents: ; and the ground was
strewed -with bodies horribly mutil-ated and stripped of their arms,
but neither the body of the yotmg lady nor that of her waiting-maid
was araong them. It Is to be presumed that the Circassians carried
thera ofl' to thefr aoul, as the richest spoib of their bloody expe
dition. The story of this recent tragedy, related on the very spot where
it had occurred, made no sUght impression upon us ; my dismay,
therefore, may be iraagined, when a sudden clearing up of the fog
enabled us to distinguish at a distance ofa liimdred yards frora the
road, what seeraed but too palpable a reaUsation of my fearful fan
cies. Tiiere was no room for doubt. The men before us were those
terrible Cfrcassians 1 had trembled at the thought of meeting. The
scream that escaped rae, when I caught sight of them, was fortu
nately heard by one of our Cossacks, who Immediately reUeved my
mind by the assurance that these were men of a friendly tribe. Ne
vertheless, in spite of my con-viction that we had no hostiUties to
apprehend, it -was not -vrithout some secret uneasiness I saw them
defile past us. Tlie troop was a smaU one, five or six at most, yet-
they looked dangerous enough. I shaU never forget the glances they
cast on onr Cossacks as they rode hy, though it was only in looks-

PIATIGORSK. Og^
they manifested the hatred that rankled in their hearts against every
thing belonging to Russia. They were aU lidly armed. Their pistols
and their damasked poniards gUttered from beneath their black
bourkas. _I confess I was best pleased with thefr appearance when
they were just vanisliiag from sight on the top ofa hUl, where thefr-
martial figures were reUeved against the sky. Seen through the
mist, they set me thinking of Ossiun's heroes.
We continued to wind our way slowly up a steep andnaiTow track,
and -for half an hour we cUd not see a cabin or a U\ing creature except
some vultures of the largest kind, fijing silently above cur heads.
At last we reached the culminating point of the road whence we
could look down, on the valley, Plarigorsk, the villas scattered over
the heights, and all the detaUs of a deUghtfid landscape, that seemed
as if it had dropped by chance among-st the stem and majestic scenes
of the Caucasian Alps. From thence we had a gentie descent of
about a. verst to the outskirts of Piatlgorsk.
_ It is only within the last ten or twelve years that it has been pos
sible to travel ia carriages to Piatigorsk -without extreme risk, partly
on account of the hostiUtj'- of the Circassians, ancl partly in conse
quence of the state of the roads. The latter have been improved,
and a great nuraber of military posts have been estabUshed on tiiera,
so that now the waters of the Ca',icasus are annuaUy frequented by
more than 1500 persons, who visit them from allpai-ts ofthe empire
for health or pleasure. Catastrop'iies have become more and more
rare, and since that which I have mentioned no other event of the
kind has occurred.
On arriving at Piatlgorsk -we took up our abode with the prin
cipal doctor, for whom -we had leircrs, and who received us in the
most obUging manner. Unliickilv we had aborainable weather dur
ing the whole tirae of our stay, and the mountains we had come
so far to see were hidden from our eves by an impenetrable veil of
mist. We could just discern from our -windo-ws the base of the
Bechtau, at a distance of but two versts. Our first -visit was to the
Alexandra spring, so caUed after the narae ofthe empress. The waters
are sulphurous, and their tempera-:ure is above 38 degrees Reaumur.
The bathing estabUshraent b on a very large scale, and contains every
thing requisite for the frequenters of the waters. Other thermal
springs are found on most of the lieights about Piatlgorsk, ancl the
works that have been constructed to afibrd access to them do credit
to- the govemment. On one of the hly-hest peaks there is an octa
gonal building, consisting of a cupola supported on light columns,
which are surrounded at thefr base by an elegant balustrade. The
interior, which is open to aU the -winds, contains an ffioUan harp, the
melancholy notes of which descend to the valley, mingled with aU
the echoes of the mountains. Doctor Conrad, our host, -was the
author of tltis pretty design. Being Uke most Germans passionately
fond of rausic, he felt assured that those airy sounds, coming as it

. 288 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
were frora tiie sky, would have a most salutary Influence on the
minds of his patients. The Uttie temple, surnamed the paviUon of
.ffiolus, must be a favonrite spot for those who are fond of reverie
and lonely contemplation of the sublime scenes of nature. The -view
from it is of great beauty, but in order to judge of It we should
have been more favoured by the weather; but the glowing descrip
tion given us by our good doctor made some amends for our mis
chance. I must own, too, that the trouble we took in ascending was
not altogether unrequited, for the vague and mysterious outUnes of
. mountains and forests clothed In mists were not -without thefr charms.
There are several natural and artificial grottoes in various parts of
the mountain, affording cool retreats in the sultry season, and an
amusing spectacle to those who sit and watch the company proceed
ing to and from the baths. The physiognomist may there behold
tiie most varied types of features, from those of the Tatar prince of
the' Crimea to those ofthe fair Georgian from Tiflis. Society in
Russia has one rare advantage, inasmuch as it is free from that
fatiguing- monotony which pursues us In • almost aU European
countiies. ^ -
The handsomest quarter of Piatlgorsk b at the bottom of the
valley, where there is a promenade, with fine trees and seats, flanked
on either side by a Une ,of handsorae houses backed against the
cUffi. The permanent population consists only of the civil servants
of the governraent, the garrison, and a few incurable invaUds. . The
crown buddings are nuraerous, including, besides the bathing estab
Ushraent, a Greek church, a very large hotel for strangers, a concert
haU, a charitable institution, a hospital for wounded officers from the
Caucasus, barracks, &c.
On the whole, Piatlgorsk is not so" much a town as a deUghtfid
asserablage of country-houses. Inhabited for sorae months of the year
by a rich aristocracy. Every thing about it Is pretty and trim, and
dispbys those tokens of affluence which the Russian nobles like to
see around them. There is nothing there to offend the eye or
sadden the heart, no poor class, no cabins, no misery. Tt b a for
tunate spot. Intended to exhibit to the ladles and princes, courtiers,
and generals of the empire,- none but pleasing Images, cuUed from
all that is attractive in nature and art. What wonder, then. If the
annals of the place abound in marvellous cures ! The doctor, who
b a shrewd man, having perhaps his doubts of the sole efficacy of
'the waters, has done his part to render Piatigorsk an earthly Para
dise; but it must be admitted that his views have been perfectly
understood and proraoted by the emperor, who b always disposed
to display magnificence in the most superficial things. Luxurious
refinement has here been pushed so far, that the fafr and exceedingly
indolent dames of Moscow and St. Petersburg raay repair to thefr
batlis without aUghting frora thefr styUsh equipages; and yet the
springs are almost aU of them several hundred yards above the vaUey.

KISLOVODSK. 289
What peasants' corvees, what an araount of toil and sufiering do
these comraodloiis roads represent ! None but the Russian govem
ment Is capable of such acts of gallantry !
Though the watering season was over when we arrived, the
doctor had stIU a few patients residing with him, who added rauch
to the pleasure of our evening meetings. Araong these was a young
officer, who had returned with two severe wounds frora an expedi
tion against the Circassians. The accounts he gave us of his cam
paign, and of the terrible episodes he had witnessed, often raade us
shudder. The Russians paid dearly for the conquest of some burnt
¦rillages. They lost half their men, and 120 officers. One of the
friends of our invalid picked up a pretty little Cfrcasslan girl, whose
mother had been klUed before his eyes. Pitying the fate of the poor
orphan, the officer carried her away on his horse, and on reaching
Piatigoi-sk, he placed her in a boarding-school kept by some French
kdies. We went to see her, and were charmed with her beauty,
which promised to sustain her country's reputation in that respect.
As the weather was not favourable to long excursions, we passed
a week of quiet social enjoyment in the doctor's house; but one fine
moming the sun, which we had completely forgotten, broke out
through the fog, and recaUed us, perhaps against our -will, to our
adventurous habits. Next day we set oiit for Kislovodsk, situated
forty versts frora Piatigorsk, In tho interior of the raountains,' and
possessing acid waters of great reputation.
-Theroad, 'on quitting Piatigorsk, passes at first along the wide
and deep valley of the Pod Kouma, which is bounded on the right
by rocks heaped on each other Uke petrified waves, and presenting.
In their outUnes and rents, -all the tokens ofa bouleversement ; whibt
on the left, beautiful wooded mountains ascend in successive stages
to the Imposing chain of the Kasbeck. At the distance of aboiit
two hours' travelling, the road leaves the vaUey, which has here
-become very narrow, and runs on a long sinuous level ledge, paraUel
with the course of the torrent, up to the point where it begins to
enter the raountains, and where the miry soil through which our
horses laboured with great difficulty, the grey sky and moist atmo
sphere that had hitherto accorapanied us, were at- once exchanged for
dryness, cold, dust, and sun. "This sudden contrast is a phenomenon .
pecuUar to ele-vated regions, and had been foretold us by our host,
who is very learned in all that concerns the atmospheric variations
of hb beloved mountains.
Nothing I have before atterapted to describe could corapare -vrith
the -vrild and picturesque scenery of this part of the Caucasus. At
certain intervab we saw conical . mounds of earth about sixty feet
high, serving as watch-towers, on which'sentiheb are stationed day
and night. Their outUnes, reUeved against the cloudy sky, pro
duces a singular effect araidst the solitude around thera. The sight
of these Cossacks, -vrith rauskets shouldered, pacing up and clo-wn the
-'smaU platform on the summit of each eminence, made us involun-
' - ¦ u

290 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
tarily own our gratitude to the Russian government for having
cleared this country, and rendered access to it so easy for InvaUda
and tourists.
Although it was the raiddle of October, the vegetation was stiU
quite fresh. Rich green swards, covering the steep slopes of the
mountains, afforded abundant pasture for the scattered flocks of
goats. Their keepers, dressed in sheep-skins, and, Instead of crooks,
carrying long guns slung at thefr backs, and two or three powder
and baU. cases at their gfrdles, gave a half martial, half pastoral com
plexion to the landscape. Gigantic eagles flew majesticaUy from
rock to rock, Uke the sole sovereigns of those solitary places. Here
we had ready before us what we had dreamed of in the Caspian
steppes, when, with eyes scorched by the hot sand,- and with no
arauseraent but the sight of our camels and the sound of thefr cries,
or the encounter of some E^lmuck kibitkas,; we tried to beguile the
discomforts of our situation by peopling the desert -with a thousand
fascinating images. -•:
Before we reached the gorge in which Easlovodsk b concealed,
we feU in vrith a second party of Cfrcassians ; but fortified by the^
safety with which we had pursued our joumey so far, and by our
stay in Piatigorsk, I indulged without apprehension in the pleasure
of admiring them. There were eight or ten of them reposing under
a projecting rock, and a very picturesque group they formed. Thefr
horses, saddled and bridled, were feeding at a Uttie distance from
-thefr masters, who ' had not disencumbered themselves of thefr
-weapons. Some had their heads entirely enveloped in bashliks, a
sort of hood made of cameb' hair, which is worn only in travelling;
others wore the national fur cap; their garments, of a graceful and
commodious form, gUttered with broad sdver lace; they aU had
bourkas, a kind of. mantle, indbpensable to the Cfrcasslan as hb .
weapons. When our carriage approached them, some of them sat
up and looked at us with an afr of scornful indifference, but showed
no disposition to molest us. -- ^ 
Our first business on reaching Kislovodsk was to visit the source
of the acid waters, to which tiie place owes Ita celebrity. It does not
.break out like most others from the side of a mountain, or from a
¦cleft in a rock, but at the bottom of a vaUey. Nature, who usuaUy
-cbnceab her treasures in the most inaccessible spots, has made an ex-
¦ ception in its favour. A square basia has been constructed for It,
and there it seems continually boiling up, though It has no heat.
It reserables Seltzer-TCatetin.-Tt3 sparkling and Its sUghtly acid
iaste. - .- - f >¦ ¦ - .
JKIslovodsk consbts of about fifteen houses, or rather Uttie Asiatic
-palaces, adorned with long open galleries, terraces, gardens, and
vestibules filled with flowers. AE the frequenters of Piatigorsk'
finish the watering season at Kblovodsk. Behind ^hi.g aristocratic
abode extends a narrow gorge, bounded on aU sides by vertical
mountain crags that seem to cut It off from tiie whole world. It

HISTORT OF THE CAUCASIAN IVIEDICAL WATERS. 291
would require several days to explore all the charraing scenes in the
neighbourhood. Among its natural curiosities Is a celebrated cas
cade hidden in the very heart of the valley. The way to It leads for
an hour along the bed Its waters have hollowed for themselves
through a thick Umestone stratum, over a winding path that nar
rows continuaUy up to the foot of the fall. At that spot you are
Imprisoned between cUffs so steep that no goat could find footing on
them, and you have before you a dazzling sheet of water descending
by terraces from a height of raore than sixty feet, breaking into
snowy foara where it raeets -vrith obstacles on its way, and disap
pearing for a moment under fragments of rocks, beyond which
it re-appears as a Umpid stream, flo-wing over a bed of moss and
pebbles. The position of Kislovodsk exposes It rauch raore that Piatlgorsk
to the assaults, of the mountaineers, and one never feeb quite safe
there, not-withstanding the Cossack detachment that guards the
heights. A Circassian aoul, perched like an eyrie on the highest
crest of the adjacent mountains, is a dangerous neighbour for the
water drinkers. Its Inhabitants, though nominally subdued, forego
no opportunity of -wreaking thefr hatred on the Russians.
. After our return to the doctor's roof, we went to see the Gerraan
colony of Karas at the foot of the Bechtau. Its thriving condition
does honour both to the colonists and to the governraent whose pror
tection they have sought. At first it was coraposed only of Scotch
men, and was founded by one Peterson, a zealous sectarian, whose
chief object was the conversion of the Cfrcassians. But hb preach
ing was whoUy ineffectual, and by degrees the laborious Gerraans
took the place of the Scotch raissionaries. The original intention of
the establishments b now scarcely remembered: the colonists are
simply agriculturists, and think only of enriching themselves at the
cost ofthe strangers who corae to drink the mineral waters.
A short sketch of the history of these waters may not be unac
ceptable to the reader. It was in the reign of Catherine IL, that
- Russia advanced her frontiera to the Kouban and the Terek, and
¦ forced the various tribes estabUshed near those rivers to retire into
the mountains. In 1780, Poterakin invaded, what at present forms
the territory of Piatigorsk, and advanced to the Pod Kouma at the
foot of -the Bechtau. The fortress of Constantinogorskwas erected
at that period, and Catherine constrained the neighbonring tribes to
acknowledge her sovereignty. But thb pacification- of the country
was hoUow and fallacious. The chiefs ofthe Bechtau had submitted
but In outward appearance; they kept up 'a secret understanding
¦with the inhabitants of Kabarda,' and often joined in their ma
rauding expeditions against the'common enemy. Hence arose con
tinual conflicts between them and the Russians.
General Marcof took command of the Caucasus In 1798, and
adopted the most rigorous measures against the petty tribes of the
Bechtau- Thefr country was invaded by a numerous army and
U2

292 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
-given up to pillage, and the raountaineers, driven from their vil
lages, were obliged to seek refuge beyond the Kouban and the
Terek. Thenceforth there was more quiet on the Une of the" Cau
casus, ancl the Kabardlans were less frequently seen in the vicinity of
Piatigorsk. It was about thb time the sulphurous waters were dis
covered by some soldiers of the 16 th regiraent of chasseurs In gar
rison at Constantinogorsk. It appears, however, that they had been
long known and used by the people of the country, as proved by some
old baths hollowed out of the rock.
The discovery made by the soldiers was quickly tumed to account
by thefr officci-s, and a sraaU house was erected near by the principal
spring at the cost of the regiment. The sulphurous waters were
soon known in the neighbourhood, and their fame was spread aU
over the empfre through the medium of raiUtary intercourse. Seve
ral persons of distinction repafred to them In 1799, at which time
medical advice was given by the regimental surgeons, and the pa
tients resided in tents given up for thefr use by the officers and sol
diers. The number of -risitors Increased every year up to 1804, and
the government repeatedly sent chemists and physicians to the spot
to study the compositioii and therapeutic qualities of the waters.
Unfortunately In 1804, a contagious disease, which soon proved to
be the plague, broke out in a Circassian aoul, seven versts from
Georgief. It spread rapidly through aU the adjacent countries, and.
caused a frightful raortality. The sanatory measures adopted in con
sequence, put an end to all communication between the Caucasus and
the Russian pro-vinces, and the ralneral waters were entfrely forsaken
even by the inhabitants -of the country. Such were the ravages of
the plague, that in the space of five years Little Kabarda lost, at
least, the twentieth part of its population. The Russkn govemment
omitted no means that could stay the contagion from crosring its
frontiers, and it was not- tmtil 1809, that free intercourse -vrith the
Caucasus was again permitted. Multitude of -risitors appeared in
the following year, the ordinary tents were not sufficient for thefr
accoramodation, and it was necessary to make huts for them with
branches of trees; several persona even made their abode in tiieir car- -
riages, and under felt and canvass awnings. The want of new
wooden bath-rooms was also felt, and several littie chambers were
erected round the springs.
In 1811, the concourse of -visitors was so great that the Kalmucks
of the Caspian were ordered to supply them -with 100 felt tents.
But even these were found insufficient in the foUowing summer, and
by this time the profits reaUsed by the soldiere, who let out thefr
quarters, having attracted the attention of some Individuab, con
siderable stone edifices were soon erected. In 1814, the celebrated
Greek, Warvatri, budt new bath rooms at his own expense, and
laid down two roads, one for pedestrians, the other for carriages,
both leading to the principal spring. Three hundred PoUsh pri
soners were placed at his disposal for the execution of these works.

SITUATION OF THE RUSSIANS AS TO THE CAUC.\SUS. 293
Thenceforth the place grew up rapidly, and under General Yermo-
loff's administration, nothing w-as neglected that could render the
various edifices as complete and commodious as possible. Thus
was gradually formed the pretty Uttie town of Piatigorsk, which now
contains seven principal bathing hotels, and eleven warm sulphur
ous springs, the temperature of which ranges from thfrty to thfrty-
eight degrees Reauraur.
The w-aters of Kislovodsk were discovered in 1790, during the
war waged by the Russians against the Kabardlans, and in 1792,
they were nuraerously frequented under the protection of the impe
rial troops. The danger was great, however, for attacks were often
made by the enemy, who even made repeated attempts to choke up
the spring, or divert the waters. It was not until a fart was built
in 1803, that the waters could be -visited -with some degree of se
curity. The first houses for the reception of invalids were budt in 1819;
before that time they resided in tents. A raagnificent restaurant
was built in 1823, and a handsorae alley of Undens was pbnted from
the spring to the cataract, the picturesque appearance of which we
so much adnalred. The fermginous waters, near the site of the
Scotch colony, were not made use of until long after the others,
in consequence of their remote position, and the woods by wliich
they were surrounded. It was not before 1819, that Yerraoloff
rendered them easy of access, and they began to be regukrly fre
quented by InvaUds.

CHAPTER XXX.
SITUATION OF THE EUSSIANS AS Ta THE CAUCASUS.
HISTOET OF THEIR ACQUISITTOS OF THE TKANS-CAtrCASIiS PEO-ViyCES— CE>-EEAI.
, TOPOOEAPHY OF THE CAUCASUS  AK3IED LEXE OF THE ROUBAS AXD THE TEKEK 
BLOCKADE OF THE COASTS — CHARACTER A>-D USAGES OP THE 3IOOXTA1-S-EEE3 —
ANECDOTE — -VISIT TO A CISCASSIAS PKINCE.
Among the various Asiatic nations which force and diplomacy
are striving to subject to the Musco-rite sceptre, there is one against
which the whole might of Russia has hitherto beeh put forth in
vain. The warlike tribes of the Caucasus have -victoriously main
tained their national independence; and in thus separating the trans-
Caucarian pro^vinces from the rest of the empire, they have pro
tected Persia and Asiatic Turkey, and postponed _ indefinitely all
thoughts of a Russian Invasion of -India. The cabinets of Europe
have generally overlooked the importance of the Caucasus, and the
part which its tribes are destined to pky soon or late m eastern
questions. Great Britain alone, prompted by her commercial instinct

294 • THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
and her restless jealousy, protested for a time against the encroaching
career of the tzars ; but the singular manifestation of the Vixen pro
duced no slackening of the operations of Russia. The war has now
been going on for sixteen years, yet few exact notions of Its charac
ter and detaib are as yet possessed by Europe. Let us endeavour
to coraplete as far as possible what we already know respecting the
situation of the Russians in the Caucasus, and to see what raay be
the general results, political and coramercial, of the occupation or
Independence of that region.
We know that one of Peter the Great's mcst cherished schemes,
the dreara of his whole Ufe, was to re-estabUsh the trade of the East
on Its old footing, and to secure to hiraself a port on the Black Sea,
in order to make It the link between the two continents. The
genius of that sovereign must surely have been most enterprising to
conceive such a project, at a tirae when its reaUsation required that
the southem frontiers of the empire should first be pushed forward
frora 150 to 200 leaguesj as they have since- been. Peter began hb
new poUtical career by the taking of Azof and the foundation of the
port of Taganrok In 1695. The fatal carapaign of the Pruth re
tarded the accompUshraent of his designs; but when circumstances
aUowed him to return to them, he began again to pursue them in
the direction of Persia and the Caspian. The restitution of Azof,.
and the destruction of- Taganrok, stipulated in the treaty of the
Pruth, thus becarae the primary cause of the Russian expeditions
against the trans-Caucasian provinces. > .
At thb period Persia was suffering aU the disorders of anarchy.
The Turks had possessed -theraselves of aU its western provinces up
to the foot ofthe Caucasus; -vvhibt the raountaineers, avaiUng them
selves of the distracted state of the country, made bloody Inroads
upon Georgia and the adjacent regions. - The Lesghis, now one of
- the most formidable tribes of the Caucasus, ravaged the plains of
Shirvan, in 1712, reduced the towns and viUages to ashes, and mas
sacred, according to Russian writers, 300 merchants, subjects of
the empire. In the town of Shamaki. These acts of violence afforded
Peter the Great an opportunity which he did not let sUp. Under
the pretence of piinishing the Lesghis, and protecting the Shah of
Persia against thera, he prepared to make an armed Intervention in
the trans-CaricasIan pro-vrinces. :_ A formidable expedition was fitted
out. A flotiUa, constmcted at Casan, arrived at the mouths of the
Volga, and on the 15th of May,-1722, the emperor began hb march
'at the head of 22,000 infantry, 9000 dragoons, and 15,000 Cossacks
and Kalmucks, The transports coasted the Caspian, whibt the
armyniarched by the Daghestan route, the great highway successively
followed by the nations of -the north and the south ia their inva
sions. Thus it was that the Russians entered the Caucasus, and the
vaUeys of those inaccessible mountains resounded, for the first time,
to the war music of the Muscovite. The occupation of Ghilan and
Derbent, and the siege of Bakou were the chief events of thb cam-

¦CONQUESTS OF RUSSIA IN THE 18tH CENTURY. 295
paign. Turkey, cUsmayed at the influence Russia -was about to ac
quire in the East, was ready to take up arras ; but Austria, taking
the initiative in Europe, declared for the poUcy of the tzai-, and
¦rigorously resisted the hostile tendencies of the Porte. Russia
was thus enabled to secure, not only Daghestan and Ghilan, but
also the surrender of those provinces in wliich her arraies had never
set foot. In the raidst of tiiese events, Peter died when on the eve
of consolidating his conquest!, and before he had corapleted his ne
gotiations with Persia and Turkey. His grand commercial ideas
were abandoned after his death; the policy of the erapire was di
rected solely towards territorial acquisition, and the tzars only obeyed
the strong impulse, that, as If by some decree of fate, urges their sub
jects towards the south. Thenceforth the trans -Caucasian provinces
were considered only a point gained for intervention in the affiifrs
of Persia and Turkey, and for ulterior conquests in the direction of
Central Asia. The rise of the celebr-ated Nadir Shah, who pos
sessed hiraself of aU the ancient dominions of Persia, for a whde
changed the face of things. Russia, crippled In her finances, with
drew her troops, gave up her pretensions to the countries beyond the
Caucasus, acknowledged the independence of the two Kabardas by
the treaty of Belgrade, and even engaged no longer to keep a fleet
on the Sea of Azof.
A religious raission sent to the Ossetans, who occupy the cele-,
brated defiles of Dariel, was the only event in the reign of Elizabeth,
that regarded the regions we are considering. HarcUy any conver
sions were effected, but the Ossetans, to a certain extent, acknow
ledged the supremacy of Russia : this satisfied the real purpose of
the mission, for the first stone was thereby laid on the line which was
to become the crreat channel of communication between Russia and
her Asiatic provinces.
Schemes of conquest in the direction of Persia were resumed with
vigour under Catherine IL, and were cairled out Avith more regularity.
The first thing aimed at was to protect the south of the empire
against the inroads of the Caucasians, and to this end the armed
Irae of the Kouban and the Terek was organised and finished in
1771. It then numbered sixteen principal forts, and a great num
ber of lesser ones and redoubts. Numerous miUtarjr colonies of
Cossacks, were next settled on the banks of the two-rivers_ for the
protection of the frontiers. While these preparations were in hand,
war broke out with Turkey. Victorious both by sea and land,
Catherine signed. In 1774, the raeraorable treaty of Koutchouk
Kainardji, which secured to her the free na-rigation of the Black
Sea, the passage of the DardaneUes, the entry of the Dmepr, and,
moreover, conceded to her In the Caucasus^ the sovereignty over
both Kabardas. . .
Peace being thus concluded, Catherine's first act was to send a
pacific raission to, explore the country of the Ossetans. The old ne
gotiations were skilfully renewed, and a free passage tiirough the

296 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
defiles was obtained with the consent of that people. In 1781, an
imperial squadron once more appeared in the Caspian, and endea
voured, but ineffectuaUy, to make some miUtary settlements on the
Persian coasts. This expedition Umited Itself to consolidating the
moral influence of Russia, and exciting, among the various tribes
and nations of those regions, dbsenslons which afterwards afforded
her a pretext for direct intervention. The Christian princes of
Georgia, and the adjacent principaUties, were the first to undergo the
consequences of the Russian poUcy. Seduced by gold and presents,
and doubtless abo, wearied by the continual troubles that desolated
their country, they gradually fell off from Persia and Turkey and
accepted the protection of Catherine. The passes of the Caucasus
were now free to Russia ; she lost no time in making thera practicable
for an army, and so she was at last in a condition to reaUse in part
the vast plans of the founder of her power.
At a later period, in 1787-, Russia and Turkey were again in arras,
and the shore of the Caspian becarae for the first time a centre of nu-
Htary operations. Anapa, which the Turks had built for the protec
tion of their trade with the mountaineers, after an unsuccessful asault,
was taken by storm in 1791. Soudjouk Kaleh shared the same fate,
but the Circassians blew up Its fortifications before they retired.
Struck by theso conspicuous successes, the several states of Europe
departed from the favourable policy vrith which they had previously
treated the -views of Russia, and the empress thought herself fortu
nate to conclude the treaty of Jassy in 1 792, by which she advanced
her frontiei-s to the Dniestr, and obtained the sovereignties of Georgia
and the neighbouring countries. But Turkey had Anapa and Soud
jouk Kaleh restored to her, upon her engaging to suppress the in-
Xiursions of the tribes dweUing on the left of the Kouban.
Aga Mahomed Khan marched against Georgia in 1795, to punish
it for having accepted the protectorate of Russia. Tiflis, was sacked,
and given up to fire and sword. On hearing of this bloody Invasion
Catherine II. Iraraediately declared war against Persia, and her
arraies were already In occupation of Bakou, 'and a large portion of
the Caspian shores, when she was succeeded by her son Paul I., who
ordered aU the recent conquests to be abandoned. Nevertheless, thb
strange beginning did not hinder the eccentric monarch frora doing
¦four years afterwards for Georgia what "Catherine had done for.the
Crimea. -Under pretext- of putting an end to intestine discord,
. Georgia was united to Russia by an imperial ukase. Shortiy after
the accession of Alexander; MingreUa shared the fate of Georgia ;
the conquests beyond the Caucasus were then regularised, and Tiflis
became the centre of an exclusive Muscovite administration, civU
and military. - .--n- . •. .. --- -
The iraraediate contact of Russia with Persia soon led to a rupture
between these two powers^-. In 1806, hostiUties began -vritii Turkey
also, and the carapaign -was marked like that of 1791 by the taking
¦of Anapa and Soudjouk Klaleh, and the estabUshraent ofthe Russians

BEGINNING OF THE CIRCASSIziN WAR. 297
on the shores of Cfrcassia. The unfortunate contest which then
ensued bet-vveen Napoleon and Alexander, and the direct intervention
of England, put an end to the war, und brought about the signature
of two treaties. That of Bukharest stipulated the reddltion of Anapa
and Soudjouk Kaleh; but Russia acquired Bessarabia and the left
bank ofthe Danube; and Koutousof's 80,000 men raarched against
Napoleon. The treaty of Gulbtan, in 1814, gave to the erapire,
among other countries, Daghestan, Georgia, Iraeritia, MingreUa,
the province of Bakou, Karabaugh, and Shirvan. This latter treaty '
was no sooner ratified than endless discussions arose respecting the
determination of the frontiers. War was renewed, and ended only
in 1828 by the treaty of Turkmantchai, which conceded to Russia
the fine countiies of Erivan and.Naktchivan, advanced her frontiers
to the banks of the Araxus, and rendered her mistress of aU the
passes of Persia.
It was duiing these latter wars that the people of the Caucasus
began to be seriously uneasy about the designs of Russia. The spe
cial protection accorded to the Christian populations, the successive
downfall of the principal chiefs ofthe country, and the introduction
of the Russian admlnbtration, with Its abuses and arbitrary proceed
ings, excited -riolent commotions in the Caucasian provinces, and the
mountaineers naturally took part in every coalition formed against
the coramon enemy. The arraed Une of the Kouban and the Terek
was often attacked,, and raany a Cossack post was massacred. The
Lesghis, the Tchetchenzes, and the Circassians distinguished thera
selves especially by their pertinacity and daring. Thenceforth Russia
might conceive some Idea of the contest she would have to sustain
on the confines of Asia.
We now approach the period when Russia, at last relieved from
all her quarrels with Persia and Turkey, definitively acquired Anapa
and SoudjoHk Kaleh by the treaty of Adrianople, and directed all
her efforts against the mountaineers of the Caucasus. But as now
the war assumed a totally different character, it will be necessary to
a full understanding of it that we should first glance at the topo
graphy of the country, and sketch the respective positions of the
mountaineers and their foes.
The chain of the Caucasus exhibits a pecuUar conformation, alto
gether different from that of any of the European chains. The Alps,
tiie Pyrenees, and the Carpathians, are accessible only by the val
leys, and in these the Inhabitants of the country find their subsistence,
and agriculture develops its wealth. The contrary is the case in
the Caucasus. Frora the fortress of Anapa on the Black Sea, all
along to the Caspian, the northern slope presents only iramense in
chned plains, rising in terraces to a height of 3000 or 4000 yards ¦
above the sea level. These plains, rent on all directions by deep
and narrow vaUeys and vertical clefts, often forra real steppes, and
possess on their loftiest heights rich pastures, where the inhabitants,
secure from aU attack, find fresh grass for their cattie in the sultriest

298 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
days of summer. The vaUeys on the other hand are frightful abysses,
.the steep sides of which are clothed -vrith brambles, whUe the bot
toms are fiUed -with rapid torrents foaming over beds of rocks and
stones. Such is the smgular spectacle generally presented by the
northem slope ofthe Caucasus. This brief description raay give an idea
of the difficulties to be encountered by an invading army. ObUged to
occupy the heights. It is incessantly checked In its march by impas
sable ra-vines, which do not allow ofthe employment of cavalry, and for
the most part prevent the passage of artUlery. The ordinary tactics
of the mountaineers is to fall back before the enemy, until the nature
of the ground or the want of supplies obUges the latter to begin a
retrograde movement. Then It b that they attack the invaders, and,
entrenched In. thefr forests behind impregnable rocks, they inflict the
most terrible camage on them with little danger to themselves.
On the south the character of the Caucasian chain b difierent
From Anapa to Gragra, along the shores of the Bbck Sea, we ob
serve a secondary chain composed of schbtous mountains, seldom
exceeding 1000 yards in height. But the natiire of thefr soil, and
of thefr rocks, would be enough to render them almost irapracticable
for European armies, even were they not covered with irapenetrable
forests. The inhabitants of thb region, who are caUed Tcherkesses
or Circassians, by the Russians, are entfrely independent, and con
stitute one ofthe most warUke peoples ofthe Caucasus.
¦; The great chain begins in reaUty at Gragra, but the. mountains
recede from the shore, and nothing is to be seen along the coast as
fer as MingreUa but secondary hills, commanded by imraense crags,
that completely cut off aU approach to the central part of the Cau
casus. This region, so feebly defended by Its topographical confor
mation, is Abkhasia, the Inhabitants of which have been forced to
subrait to Russia. To the north and on the northem slope, westward
of the miUtary road from Mosdok to Tiflb, dweU a considerable
number of tribes, sorae of them ruled by a sort of feudal system,
others constituted into Uttie repubUcs. Those of the west, depen
dent on Circassia aud Abadza, are in continual war -with the empire,
whilst the Nogab, who Inhabit the plains on the left bank of the
Kouma, and the tribes of the Great Kabarda, o-wn the sovereignty
of the-tzar ; but their .wavering and dubious subraission cannot be
reUed on. In the centre, at the foot of the Elbrouz, dwell the Sou-
anethes, an unsubdued people, and near them, occupying both sides
of the pass of D-ariel, are thelngouches and Ossetans, exceptional
tribes, essentiaUy different from th^ aboriginal peoples. FinaUy, we
have eastward of thegreat Tiflis road, near the Terek, Little. Ka
barda, and the country of the Koumicks, for the present subjugated;
and then those Indomitable tribes, the Lesghis and Tchetchenzes,
of whom Shamihl is the Abd el Kader, and who extend over the two
slopes ofthe Caucasus to the -vicinity ofthe Caspian.
In reaUty, the Kouban and the Terek, thaf rise frora the central
chain,' and faU, the one into the Black Sea, the other into the Caspian,

TOPOGRAPHT OF THE CAUCASUS. ' 299
may be considered as the nortiiem political Uraits of independent
Caucasus, It is along those two rivers that Russia has forraed her
armed line, defended by Cossacks, and detachments from the reotdar
array. The Russians have indeed penetrated those northern fron
tiers at sundiy points, an.d have planted some forts within the coun
try of the Lesghis and Tchetchenzes. But these lonely posts, in which
a few unhappy garrisons are surrounded on all sides, and generally
¦vrithout a chance of escape, cannot be regarded as a real occupation
of the soil on which they stand. They are in fact only so many
piquets, whose business is only to watch more closely the moveraents
of the mountaineers. In the south, frora Anapa to Gagra, along the
Black Sea, the iraperial possessions are limited to a few detached
forts, completely isolated, and deprived of aU means of coraraunica
tion by land. A rigorous blockade has been estabUshed on thb
coast ; but the Circassians, as Intrepid In thefr fiail barks as araong
thefr mountains, often pass by night through the Russian Une of
vesseb, and reach Trebisond and Constantinople. Ebewhere, from
MingreUa to the Caspian, the frontiers are less precisely defined, and
generally run paraUel with the great chain ofthe Caucasus.
Thus Umited, the Caucasus, including the territoiy occupied by
the subject tribes, presents a surface of scarcely 5000 leagues ; ahd it
b in this narrow region that a vfrgin and chivalric nation, amounting
at most to 2,000,000 of soub, proudly upholds Ita. independence
against the might of the Russian empire, and has for twenty years .
sustained one of the most obstinate struggles known to modem
hbtory. ' . : ..v;., .¦-.. . >. /,^-
The Russian line of the Kouban, which Is exactly similar to that
of the Terek, b defended by the Cossacks of the Black Sea, the poor
remains of the famous Zaporogues, whom Catherine II. subdued
with so rauch difficulty, and whom she colonised at the foot of the
Caucasus, as a bulwark against the incursions of the mountaineers.
The line consists of sraall forts and watch stations ; the latter are
merely a kind of sentry box .raised on four posts, about fifty^ feet
from the ground. - Two Cossacks keep watch in thera day and night.
On the least raoveraent of the enemy in the vast plain of reeds that
fringes both banks of the river, a beacon fire is kindled on the top
ofthe watch' box. If the danger becoraes more ;piressing, an enor
mous torch of straw and tar is set fire to. The signal is repeated
from post to post, the whole line springs to arras, and 500 or 600
men are instantly assembled on the point threatened. These posts,
composed generally ofa dozen men, are very close to each other,
particularly in the raost dangerous pbces. SraaU forts have been
erected at intervab with earthworks, and a few pieces of cannon j
tiiey contain each from 150 to 200 raen. _ "
But notwithstanding aU the ¦rigilance of the Cossacks, often aided
by the troops of the Une, the mountaineers not unfrequently 'cross
the frontier and carry their incursions, which are always . marked
with massacre and piUage, into the adjacent provinces. These axe

300 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
bloody but justifiable reprisab. In 1835 a body of fifty horsemen
entered the country of the Cossacks, and proceeded to a distance of
120 leagues, to plunder the German colony of Madjar and the Ira
portant viUage of Vladimirofka, (m the Kouma, and what is most
remarkable, they got back to their mountains without being Inter
rupted. The same year Kisliar on the Caspian was sacked by the
Lesghis. These daring expeditions prove of themselves how insuffi
cient is the armed Une of the Caucasus, and to what dangers that
part of southem Russia is exposed.
• The line of forts along the Black Sea is quite as weak, and the
Cfrcassians there are quite as daring. They carry off the Russian
soldiers from beneath the fire of their redoubts, and come up to the
very foot of thefr waUs to insult the garrison. At the time I was
exploring the mouths of the Kouban, a hostUe chief had the audacity
to appear one day before the gates of Anapa. He did aU he could
to irritate the Russians, and abusing them as cowards and woman-
hearted, he defied them to single combat. Exasperated by hb in
vectives, the commandant ordered that he should be fired on with
grape. The horse of the mountaineer reared and threw off hb rider,
who, without letting go the bridle, instantly mounted again, and, ad
vancing stiU nearer to the walb, discharged his pistol almost at point
blank distance at the soldiers, and galloped off to the mountains.
As for the blockade by sea, the imperial squadron Is not expert
enough to render it really effectual. It is only a few armed boats,
manned by Cossacks, that give the Circassians any serious uneasiness.
These Cossacks, Uke those of the-BJack Sea, are descended from the
Zaporogues. Pre-riously to the last - war -vrith Turkey they were
settled on the right bank of the Danube, -vvhere thefr ancestors had
taken refuge after the destruction of their Setcha. During the cam
paigns of 1828-9, pains were taken to revive their national feeUngs,
they were brought again by fair means or by force under the Iraperial
sway, and were then settled in the forts along the Caucasian shore,
the keeping of which was coraraitted to their charge. Courageous,
enterprising, and worthy rivab of their foes, they wage a most active
war against the skiffs of the mountaineers in their boats, which carry
crews of fifty or sixty men. The war not having permitted us to
visit the independent tribes, and Investigate thefr moral and poUtical
condition for ourselves,, we shaU not enter into long detaib respect
ing the manners and Institutions of the Circassians, but content our
selves -vrith pointing out the principal traits of their character, and
such of their pecuUaritles as may have most influence upon tiiefr
relations with Russians.*
• For fuller detalU -we refer our readers to the Travels of M. Taitbout de Ma-
rignyandof the English agent Bell, and to the works recentl/ published by MM.
Fonton and Dubois. There exists also another narrative by Mr. Spencer, which
has had the honovu' of a long analysis in the Seme des Deux Mondes-, but -w-e
know most positively that the honourable gentleraan only made a militaiy prome- ¦
nade along the coasts of the Black Sea, in company with Count 'Woronzof, and
that he never undertook that perilous excursion into Circassia, with which he hsi*
fiUed a whole volume. - ¦ ^

THE CIRCASSIANS. 301
Of all the peoples of the Caucasus, none raore fiiUy realise than
the Circassians those heroic quaUties with which iraafrinatlon de
Ughts to invest the tribes of these mountains. Courage, intelli"-ence
and remarkable beauty, have been liberally bestowed on them by
nature; and what I admired above all in thefr character is a calra,
noble dignity that never forsakes thera, and which they unite -with
the raost chivalric feelings and the most ardent passion for national
Uberty. I remeraber that duiing my stay at Ekaterinodar, the
capital ofthe Cossacks of the Black Sea, being seated one raomlnofia
front of a merchant's house in the corapany of several Russian officers,
I saw a very iU-dressed Circassian corae up, who appeared to belono-
to the lowest cbss. He stopped before the shop, and while he was
cheapening sorae articles, we examined his sabre. I saw distinctly
on it the Latin inscription. Anno Domini, 1547, and the blade ap
peared to me to be of superior teraper ; the Russians were of a dif
ferent opinion, for they handed the weapon back to the Circasrian
-vrith disdainful Indifference. The Circassian took it without utter
ing a word, cut off a handful of his beard with it at a stroke, as .
easily as though he had done It with a razor, then quietly mounted
hb horse and rode away, casting on the officers a look of such deep
scorn as no words could describe.
The Circassians, evermore engaged in war, are in general all well
armed. Their equipment consists of a rifie, a sabre, a long dagger,
which they wear in front, and a pistol stuck in their belt. Their
remarkably elegant costume consists of tight pantaloons, and a short
tunic belted round the waist, and' ha-ring cartridge pockets worked
on the breast ; their head-dress is a round laced cap, encircled -vrith
a black or white border of long-wooled sheepskin. In cold or
rainy weather, they wear a hood (bashllk), and -wrap theraselves in
an impenetrable felt cloak (bourka). Their horses are smaU, but of
astonishing spfrit and bottom. It has often been ascerta,ined by the
Imperial garrisons that Circassian marauders have got over twenty-
five or even thirty leagues of ground in a night. When pursued
by the Russians, the mountaineers are not to be stopped by the
most rapid torrents. If the horse is young, and not yet trained to
this perilous kind of service, the rider gallops him up to the verge
of the ravine, then covering the animal's head with his bourka, he
plunges, ahnost always -with impunity, down precipices that are sorae
times from ten or fifteen yards deep.
; The Circassians are wonderfuUy expert in the use of fire-arras, and
of thefr double-edged daggers. Arraed only ¦vrith the latter weapon,
they have been known to leap their horses over the Russbn
bayonets, stab the soldiers, and rout their squared battaUons. When
they are surrounded in their forts or -riUages, -vrithout any chance of
escape, they often sacrifice thefr -wives and children,' set fire to their
dwelUngs, and perish in the flaraes rather than surrender. Like all
Orientab, they do not abandon their dead and wounded except at
the last extreraity, and nothing can surpass the obstinacy with which

302 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
-tiiey fight to carry them off from the enemy. It was to thb fact I
owed my escape from one of the greatest dangers I ever encoun
tered. In the month of April, 1841, I explored the miUtary Une of the
Kouban. On my departure from Stavropol, the governor strongly
insisted on giving me an escort ; but I refused it, for fear of encum
bering my moveraents, and resolved to trust to my lucky star. It_
was the season of flood, too, in the Kouban, a period in which the
Circassians very seldom cross it. I accepted, however, as a guide,
an old Cossack, who had seen more than five-and-twenty years'
fighting, and was aU over scars, in short, a genuine descendant of
the Zaporogues. This man, ray Interpreter, and a postdUon, whom
we were to change at each' station, formed, my- whole suite. We
were aU armed, though there Is not much use in such a precaution
in a country where one is always attacked either unawares, so that
he cannot defend himself, or by superior forces against -which aU
resistance is but a danger the more. But what of that ? There
was soraething imposing and flattering to one's pride In these mar
tial accoutrements. A Tiflb dagger was stuck in my belt, a hea-vry
rifle thumped against my loins, and my hobters contained an excel
lent pair of St. Etienne pbtob. My Cossack was armed -with two
pistols, a rifle, a Circassian sabre, and a lance. As for my inter
preter, an ItaUan, he was as brave as a Calabrian bandit, and what
1 prized above aU in him was an imperturbable coolness in the most
critical positions, and a bUnd obedience to my orders. For five
days we pursued our way pleasantly along the Kouban, -vrithout
thinking of the danger of our position. The' country, broken up by
beautiful hiUs, was covered 'with rich _ vegetation. The muddy
•waters of the Kouban flowed on our left, and beyond the river we
saw distinctly the first ranges of the Caucasus. We could even db-
cem the smoke of the Cfrcasslan aoub rising up amidst the forests.
On the evening of the fifth day we arrived at a Uttie fort, where
we passed the night. The weather next morning was cold and .
rainy, and every thing gave token of an unpleasant day. The
country before us was qmte unlike that we were leaving behind.
The road wound tortuously over an immense plain between
marshes and quagmfres, that often rendered It all but 'Impossible
to advance^. Our morning ride -was therefore a duU and sdent oiie.
The Cossack had no tales to teU ofhis warlike feats ; he was in bad
-humour, and never opened his Ups except to rap out one of those
tiiundering oaths in which the Russians often indulge. A thin rain
beat in our faces ; our tired horses sEd at every step on the greasy
clay soil, and we rode in single file, muffled up in our bourkas and
bashUks. Towards noon, the weather cleared up, the road became
less difficult, and towards evening we were but an hour and a half
from the last fort on that side of Ekaterinodar. We were then
Eroceeding slowly, without any thought of danger, and I paid no
eed to the Cossack, who had halted some distance behind.. But

A BRUSH WITH A CIRCASSIAN PAETT. 303
om- quick-eared guide had heard the sound of hoofs, and in a few
seconds he rode up at full speed, shouting -vrith aU his micht, " The
Tcherkesses I the Tcherkesses 1" Looldng round we saw four
mountaineers coming over a hiU not far frora the road. My plan
was instanti_y formed. The state of our horses rendered any attempt
at ffight entfrely useless ; we were still far frora the fortress, and,
once overtaken, we could not avoid a fight, the chances of which
were all against us. The Cossack alone had a sabre, and when
once we had dbcharged our fire-arras, it would be aU over -vrith us.
But I knew that the Circassians never abandoned their dead and
wounded, and it was on this I founded our hope of safety. IMy
orders were quickly given, and we continued to advance at a walk,
riding abreast, but sufficiently -vride apart to leave each man's move
ments free. . Not a word was uttered by any of us. I had incurred
many dangers in the course of ray travels, but I had never been in
a situation of more breathless anxiety. In less thanten minutes we
distinctly heard the galloping of the mountaineers, and imraediately
afterwards thefr baUs whizzed past us. My bourka, was sUghtly
touched, and the shaft of the Cossack's lance was cut in two. The
critical raoraent was corae ; I gave the word, and we instantly
wheeled round, and discharged our pistols at arm's length at our
assalknts: two of them feU.' " Away now, and ride for your Uves,"
I shouted, " the Circassians -vriU not pursue us." Our horses, which
had recovered thefr wind, and were probably inspirited by the smeU
of powder, carried us along at a sweeping pace, and never stopped
tmtil we were vrithin sight of the fortress. Exactiy what I had
foreseen had happened. On the raorning after that memorable day
the garrbon tumed out and scoured the coimtry, and I accorapaiued
them to the scene of action.- 'There were copious marks of blood on
the sand, and among the sedges on the side of the road we found
a shaska, or Cfrcasslan sabre, which had been dropped no doubt by
the enemy. The coraraanding officer presented it to me, and I have
kept it ever since as a remembrance of my perilous interview with.
the mountaineers. It bears the mark of a baU.
It would be difficult to give any precise idea respecting the reU
gious principles ofthe various nations of the Caucasus. The charge
of idolatry has been aUeged against several of them, but we think.
without any good grounds. Paganism, Christianity, and Mohamraed-
anism, have by turns found access among them, and the result has
been an anomalous mecUey of no clearly defined doctrines ¦with the
most superstitious. practices of thefr early obsolete creeds. 'The
Lesghis and the eastern tribes alone are really Mohammedans. _ As
for the Ossetans, Cfrcassians, Kabardlans, and other western tribes,
they seem to profess a pure delsra, mingled ¦with sorae Chrbtian and
Mussulman notions. It is thought that Christianity was introduced
among these people by the celebrated Thamar, Queen of Georgia,
¦who reigned in. the latter part of the twelfth century; but It b much
more probable that thb was done by the Greek colonies ofthe Lower

304 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
Empire, and 'afterwa:rds by those of the repubUc of Genoa in the
Crimea. The Tcherkesses to this day entertain a profound reve
rence for the crosses and old churches of their country, to wluch
they raake frequent pilgrimages, and yearly offerings and sacrifices.
It seeras, too, that the Greek mythology has left numerous traces in
Circassia ; the story of Saturn for instance, that of the Titans en
deavouring to scale heaven, and several others, are found araong
many of the tribes. A very marked characteristic of the Circas
sians is a total absence of reUgious fanaticism. Pretenders to di-rine
Inspiration have always been repulsed by them, and raost of them
have paid with their lives for their attempts at proselytbra. This
is not the case on the Caspian side of the raountains, where Shamihl's
power is in a great raeasure based on his reUgious influence over the
tribes. -
When two nations are at war. It usuaUy happens that the one is
caluranlated by the other, and the stronger seeks an apology for Its,
own arabition in blackening the character of its antagonbt. Thus
the Russians, wishing to raake the Inhabitants of the Caucasus ap
pear as savages, against whora every means of exterinination b aUow-
able, relate the most absurd tales of the ferocious tortures inflicted
by thera on their prisoners. But there b no truth in aU tlib. I
have often met raiUtary raen who had been prisoners in the moun
tains, and they unanimously testified to the good treatment they had
received. The Circassians deal harshly only -with those who resist,
or who have made several attempts to escape ; but in those cases
thefr measures are fuUy justified by the fear lest the fugitives should
convey iraportant topographical inforraation to the Russians. . As
for the story of the chopped horsehair inserted under the skin of the
soles of the feet to hinder the escape of captives, it has been strangely
exaggerated by sorae travellers. I never could hear of raore than
one prisoner of war who had been thus treated, and this was an
army surgeon ¦with whom I had an opportunity of conversing. He
had not been previously iU-treated in any way by the raountaineers;
but, distracted -vrith the desfre for freedom, he had made three at
tempts to escape, and it was not until the third that the Tcherkesses
had recourse to the terrible expecUent of the horsehair. During oiir
stay at the -vvaters of the Caucasus, I saw a young Russian woman
who had recently been -rescued by -general Grabe's detachment.
Shortly after our arrival she fled, and returned to the mountains.
..Thb fact speaks at least in favour of the gaUantry of the Circassians.
Indeed, there b no one in the country but weU knows the deep
respect they profess for the sex.. It would be very difficult, if not
impossible, to raention any case in which Russian feraale prisoners
have been raaltreated by them.
The Circassians have been accustomed, from time immemorial, to
raake prisoners of all foreigners who land on their shores without
any special warrant or recommendation. This custom has been de
nounced and. censured in every possible way ; yet it Is not so bar-

CIRCASSIAN SLAVE-DEALING. 305
barous as has been supposed. Encompassed by enemies, exposed to
incessant attacks, and relying for their defence chiefly on the natiu-e
of their country, the jealous care of their independence has naturally
corapeUed the raountaineers to become suspicious, and not to allow
any traveUer to penetrate their retreats. What proves that this pro
hibitive measure is by no means the result of a savage temper is,
that it is enough to pronounce the narae of a chief, no matter who,
to be welcomed and treated everywhere with unbounded hospitaUty.
Reassured by thb slender evidence of good faith, the raountaineers
lay aside their distrust, and think only how they may do honour to
the guest of one of thefr princes. i
But another and still graver charge stIU hangs over the Circas
sians, narael_y, their slave dealing, which has so often provoked the
generous indignation of the philanthropists of Europe, and for the
aboUtion of which Russia has been extolled by all joumaUsts. We
are certainly far frora appro-ring of that hateful trade, in which
huraan beings are bought and sold as merchandise ;. but we are
bound In justice to the people of Asia to remark, that that there is
a -vride difierence between Oriental slavery and that which exists In
Russia, in the French colonies, and in Araerica. In the East,
slavery becoraes In fact a -virtual adoption, which has generally a
favourable efiect both on the moral and the physical weal of the
individual. It b a condition by no means implying any sort of
degradation, nor has there ever existed between it and the class of
freeraen that Une of deraarcation, beset by pride and prejudice,
which is found everywhere else. It would be easy to raention the
naraes of raany high dignitaries of Turkey who were originally
slaves ; indeed, it would be difficult to narae one young man of the
Caucasus, sold to the Turks, who did not rise to more or less dis
tinction. As for the woraen, large cargoes of whom still arrive
in the Bosphorus,in spite of the Russian blockade, they are far frora
bewaUing thefr lot ; on the contrary, they think theraselves very
fortunate in being able to set out for Constantinople, which offers
thera a prospect of every thing that can fascinate the imagination ofa
girl of the East. All this, of course, pre-supposes the absence of
those family affections to which w-e attach so rauch value ; but it
must not be forgotten that the tribes of the Caucasus cannot be
fairly or soundly judged by the standard of our European notions,
but that we must make due allowance for -their social state, their
manners, and traditions. The sale of woraen In Circassia is ob
viously but a substitute and an equivalent for the indispensable pre-
Umlnaries that elsewhere precede every marriage m the East; -vrith
this difference alone, that in the Caucasus, on account of its remote
ness, it is an agent who undertakes the pecuniary part of the trans
action, and acts as the medium between the girl's relations and him
"Vfhose lawful ¦vrife she is in most cases'to become. The parents,
it is true, part with their children, and give thera up to strangers
almost always unknown to thera ; but they do not abandon them
X

306 THE STEPPES OF THE .CASPIAN SEA, &C.
for all that - They keep up a frequent correspondence with them,
and the Russians never capture a single Circassian boat In which
there are not men and women going to or returning fi-om Constan
tinople merely to see their children. No one who has been in the
Caucasus can be ignorant of the fact that aU the famiUes, not ex
ceptino- even those of high rank, esteem It a great honour to have
their children placed out in Turkey. It b to aU these relations and
aUiances, as I may say, between the Cfrcassians and the Turks that
the latter owe the great moral influence they stiU exercbe over the
tribes of the Caucasus. The name of Turk is always the best
recomraendation among the mountaineers, and there is no sort of
respectful consideration but is evinced towards those who have
returned home after passing some years of servitude in Turkey.
Afrer aU, the Russians theraselves tmnk on thb subject precisely as
we do, and were it not for potent poUtical considerations, tiiey
would not by any means offer impedlraent to the Caucasian slave-
trade. This is proved most manifestly by the proposal made by a
Russian general in 1843, to regulate and ratify thb traffic, and
cai-ry It on for the benefit of Russia, by granting the tzar's subjects
the exclusive pri-vilege of purchasing Circassian slaves. Tlie scheme
was abortive, and could not have been otherwise, for It b a mon
strous absurdity to corapare Russian slavery -with that which pre
vails in Constantinople, r Nothing proves raore strongly how dlfi'
ferent are the real sentiments of the Cfrcassians from those imputed
to them, than the indlMiation with w-hich they regard slavery, such
as prevaib In Russia. 1 wiU here relate an anecdote which I doubt
not .-vrill appear strange to riiany persons ; but 1 can guarantee its
authenticity, since the fact occurred under my own eyes.
A detachment of mountaineers, destined to form a guard of
honour for Paskewitch, passed through Rostof on the Don, in 1838.
The sultry season was then at Its height, and two of the Circassians,
going to bathe, laid their clothes In the boat belonging to the cus
tom-house. , There was certainly nothing very reprehensible in thb;
but the employes ofthe customs thought otherwise, threw the men's
clothes into the river, and assaulted them -with sticks. Imraediately
there was a tremendous uproar; aU the mountaineers flocked to the
spot,; and threatened to set fire-to the to-wn, if the amplest satbfac-
tion were not given to thefr comrades. The inhabitants were seized
¦with alarm, and the dfrector of the customs went In person to the
coramander of the Circassians,, to beseech him not to put his threats
in execution; and he backed hb -entreaties -with the oflfer ofa round
sum of mone;^ for the officer and his men. " Money 1" retorted the
indignant -chieftain ; " money Ut is good for base-souled, venal
Russians I It b good for you, who sell men, women, and children
like -vile cattie; but among our people, the honour of a man made
in the image of God is not bought and sold. Let your men kneel
down before, my soldiers, and beg thefr pardon; that Is the only
reparation we insist on." The chiefs demand was compUed -vrith,

CIRCASSIAN WOMEN. 307
and the peace of the town was immediately restored. The words
we have reported are authentic; they prove that the Tcherkesses
do not look on the sale of their chddren as a traffic, and that in the
actual state of thefr- national civiUsation, that sale cannot be in any-
-vrise considered as incompatible with famUy affections, and the senti
ments of honour and huraanity.
The Circassian women have been celebrated by so many writers,
and their beauty has been made the therae of so many charming
descriptions, that we may be aUowed to say a fe-w words about
them. Unlbrtunately we are constrained to avow, that the reputa
tion of thefr charms appears to us greatly exaggerated, ancl that in
person they are rauch less reraarkable than the men. It is true we
have not been able to visit any of the great centres of the popida
tion: we have not been among the independent tribes; but we have
been in several aoub on the banks of the Kouban, and been enter
tained in a princely family ; but nowhere could we see any of those
perfect beauties of whom traveUers raake such frequent raention. The
only thing that really struck us in these raountain gfrls was the elegance
of thefr shape, and the inimitable grace of their bearing. A Circassian
woman is never awkward. Dressed in rags or in brocade, she never
fails to assume spontaneously the most noble and picturesque atti
tudes. In thb respect she is incontestably superior to the highest
efforts of fascination which Parisian art can achieve.
- The great celebrity of the women of the Caucausus appears to
have been derived from the bazaars of Constantinople, where the
Turks, who are great admirers of their charms, stiU inqufre after
them -vrith extreme a-ridity. • ' But as their notions of beauty are
quite different from ours, and relate chiefly to plumpness, and
tiie shape of the feet, it Is not at aU surpriing that the opinions
of the Turks have misled traveUers. But though the Circassian
beUes do not corapletely realise the Ideal type drearaed of by Euro
peans, we are far frora denying the briUiant qualities with which
nature has evidently endowed them. -They are engaging, gracious,-
and afiable towards the stranger, and we can well conceive that theur
, charming hospitaUty has won for them many an ardent admirer.
.Apropos of the conjugal and doraestic habits of the Cfrcassians;
I -will describe an excursion I made along the mUitary Une of the
North, eighteen months after ray joumey to the Caspian Sea.
"During my stay at Ekaterinodar, the capital ofthe country ofthe
Bkck Sea Cossacks, I heard a great deal about a Tcherkess prince,
allied to Russia, and estabUshed on the right bank of the Kouban, a
dozen versts from the to-wn. I therefore gladly accepted the pro
posal, made to me by the Attaraan Zavadofsky to -risit the chief,
under the escort of an officer and two solcUers. Baron Kloch, of
whom I have afready spoken, accompanied rae. We moimted our
horses, arraed to the teeth, according to the invariable custom of
the country, and in three hours we aUghted in the middle of fhe
aoul. We were Immediately surrounded by~ a crowd of persons.
X 2

308 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
whose looks had nothing in them of welcorae; but when the;
were informed that we were not Russians, but foreigners, and tha
we were corae merely to request a few hours' hospitaUty of thei
master, their sour looks were changed for an expression of th(
frankest cordlaUty, and they hastened to conduct us to the prince'i
dwelUng. It was a miserable thatched mud cabin, in front of which w(
found the noble Tcherkess, lying on a mat, in his shirt, and bare
footed. He received us In the kindest manner, and after corapU-
menting us on our arrival, he proceeded to make his toilette. He sent
for his most elegant garments and his most styUsh leg-gear, girded
on his weapons, which he took care to raake us admire, and then led
us into the cabin, which served as his abode during the day. The
interior was as naked and unfumbhed as it could well be. A divan
covered with reed matting, a few vesseb, and a saddle, were the
only objects ¦risible.' After we had rested a few moments, the prince
begged us to pay a ¦risit to his wife and daughter, who had been
apprised of our arrival, and were extreraely desirous to see us.
These ladies occupied a hut of thefr own, consisting, Uke the
prince's, of but one roora. They rose as we entered, and saluted
us very gracefuUy ; then motioning us to be seated, the mother sat
down in the Turkish fashion on her divan, whilst her daughter came
and leaned gracefuUy against the sofa on which we had taken om-
places. When the ceremony of reception was over, we remarked
¦vrith surprise that the prince had not crossed the threshold, but
merely put his head in at the door to answer our questions and
talk with his yn£e. Our Cossack officer explained the meaning
of this singular conduct, teUing us that a Circassian husband can
not, without detriment to his honour, enter his wife's apartment
during the day. This rule is rigorously observed in aU faraiUes
that make any pretensions to dbtlnction, -
The princess's apartments had a Uttie more air of comfort than
her husband's. We found in it two large divans with silk cushions
embroidered -vrith gold and silver, carpets of painted felt, several
trunks and a very pretty work-basket. A Uttie Russian rairror,
and the chlePs armorial trophies, formed the omaments of the walb.
Eut the floor was not boarded, the waUs were rough pbstered, and
two Uttie holes, fumbhed -with, skutters, barely served to let a little
air Into the Interior. The princess, who seemed about five-and-
thirty or forty, was not fitted to support the reputation of her coun
trywomen, and we were by no means dazzled by her charms. Her
dress alone attracted our iattention. .Under a brocaded pelisse -vrith
short sleeves, and laced on the seams, she wore a sUk chemise, .open
much lower do-wn than decency could approve. A velvet cap
trimmed -vyith silver, smooth plaits of hair, cut heart-shape on the
forehead, a white veil fastened on the top of the head, and crossing
over tho bosom, and lastly, a red shawl thrown carelessly ovet her
lap, completed her toilette. As for her daughter, we tfiought her

REVIEW OF THE WAR IN THE CAUCASUS. 309
charraing : she was dressed in a white robe, and a red kazavek con
fined round the waist; she had delicate features, a dazzUngly fair com
plexion, and her black hair escaped in a profusion of tresses from
beneath her cap. The affability of the two ladiea exceeded our
expectations. They asked us a multitude of questions about our
journey, our country, and our occupations. Our European costurae
interested thera exceedingly : our straw hats above aU excited their
especial wonder. And yet tRere was something cold and impassive
in their whole demeanour. It was not until a long curtain falling
by accident shut out the princess from our sight that they conde°
scendedto sraile. After conversing for a Uttie while, we asked per
mission ofthe princess to take her Ukeness, and to sketch tho interior
of her dwelUng, to which she raade no objection. When we had
made our dra-wings, a collation w-as set before us, consbting of fruits
and sraaU cheese-cakes, to which, for ray part, I cUd not do rauch
honour. In the evening we took our leave, and on coraing out of
the hut, we found all the inhabitants of the aoul assembled, their
faces beaming -vrith the most sincere good wUl, and every man was
eager to shake hands with us before our departure. A numerous
body volunteered to accorapany us, and the prince hiraself raounted
and rode with us half-way to Ekaterinodar, where we erabraced Uke
old acquaintances. The Tcherkess chief turned back to his aoul,
and it was not without a feeUng of regret that we spurred our
horses in the direction ofthe capital ofthe Black Sea Cossacks.

CHAPTER XXXL
RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF TIIE -WAR 1^ THE CAUCASUS — ^VITAL IMPORTANCE OP THE
CAUCASUS TO EDSSIA — DESIGNS OJf INDIA, CENTRAL ASIA, BOKHABA, KHIVA, ScC. —
KUSSLVN AND ENGLISH COMHERCE IJT PEESIA.
The treaty of Adrianople was in a manner the opening of a new
era in the relations of Russia with the mountaineers ; for it was by
¦rirtue of that treaty that the present tzar, already raaster of Anapa
and Soudjouk Kaleh, pretended to the sovereignty of Circassia and
of the whole seaboard of the Black Sea. True to the invariable
principles of its foreign policy, the governraent at first employed
means of corruption, and strove to seduce the various chiefs of the
country by pensions, decorations, and raiUtary appointments. But
the mountaineers, who had the example of the Persian provinces before
their eyes, sternly rejected all the overtures of Russia, and repu
diated the clauses of the convention of Adrianople; the poUtical
and commercial independence of their country became thefr rallying
cry, and they would not treat on any other condition. AU such
ideas were totally at variance -vrith Nicholas's schemes of absolute

310 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
dorainion ; therefore he had recourse to arras to obtain by force what
he had been unable to accompUsh by other means.
' Abkhasia, situated on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, and
easily accessible, was the first invaded. A Russian force occupied
the country in 1839, uncler the ordinary pretence of supporting one
of its princes, and putting an end to anarchy. In the same year
General Paskevitch, then governor-general of the Caucasus, for the
first time made an armed exploration of the country ofthe Tcherkesses
beyond the Kouban ; but he efiected absolutely nothing, and his
expedition only resulted in a great loss of men and stores. In the
following year war broke out In Daghestan -with the Lesghis and
the Tchetchenzes. The celebrated Kadi Moulah, giving himself out
for a prophet, gathered together a considerable number of partisans;
but unfortunately for hira there was no unanimity araong the tribes,
and the princes were continually counteracting each other. Kadi
Moulah never was able to bring more than 3000 or 4000 men toge
ther; nevertheless, he maintained the struggle -vrith a courage worthy
of a better fate, and Russia- knows what it cost her to put do-woi the
revolt of Daghestan. As for any real progress in that part ofthe Cau
casus, the Russians made none; they did no more than replace things
on the old footing. Daghestan soon became again more hostile than
ever, and the Tchetchenzes and Lesghis continued in separate de-
tachraents to plunder and ravage the adjacent provinces up to the
time when the ascendency of the celebrated Shamihl, the worthy
successor of Kadi Moulah, gave a fresh irapube to the warlike tribes
of the raountain, and rendered thera raore formidable than ever.
After taking possession of Anapa and Soudjouk Kaleh, the Rus
sians thought of seizing the whole seaboard of Circassia, and espe
ciaUy the various points suitable for the estabUshraent of raiUtary
posts. They made theraselves masters- of Guelendchik and the im-
. portant position of Gagra, which comraands the pass between Cfr
cassia and Abkhasia. The Tcherkesses heroicaUy defended thefr
territory, but how could they have "withstood the guns of the ships
of war that raowed them down whibt -the soldiers were landing and
constructing thefr redoubts? The blockade of the coasts was de
clared In 1838, and aU foreign coraraunication with the Caucasus
ostensibly intercepted - During the four foUowing years Russia
suffered heavy losses; and all her successes were Umited to the esta
bUshraent of sorae small isolated' forts on the sea-coast. She then
¦ increased her array, laid down the miUtary road frora the Kouban
to Guelendchik, across the last western off-shoot ofthe Caucasus, set
on foot an exploration of the enemy's whole coast, and prepared to
piish the war -with renewed -rigour. ¦"
In 1837 the Eraperor Nicholas -risited the Caucasus. He would
see for himself the theatre of a war so disastrous for his arms, and
try -vvhat irapression his Imperial presence could raake on the moun
taineers. The chiefs ofthe country were invited to various con
ferences, to which theyboldly repaired on the faith of the Russian

A RUSSIAN BULLETIN.

3n

parole; but instead of conciUating them by words of peace and mo
deration, the emperor only exasperated them by his threatenino- and
haughty l-anguage. " Do you know," said he to thera, " that I
have powder enough to blow up all your raountains?"
During the three foUo-wing years there was an Incessant succession
of expeditions. Golovin, on the, frontiers of Georgia, Grabe on the
north, ancl Racifsky on the Circassian seaboard, left nothin'^ untried
to accorapUsh their raaster's orders. The sacrifices incurred by Russia
were enorraous; the greater part of her fleet was destroyed by a storro,
but aU efforts failed against the intrepidity and tactics of the m'oim-
talneers. Sorae new forts erected under cover of the ships were aU
that resulted frora these disastrous campaigns. I was in the Cau
casus in 1839, when Lieutenant-General Grabe returned frora his
famous expedition against Shamihl. When the army marched it
had numbered 6000 raen, 1000 of whom, and 120 officers, were cut
off in three raonths. But as the general had advanced further into
. the country than any of his predecessors, Russia sang pceans,. and
Grabe becarae the hero of the day, although the imperial troops had '
been forced to retreat and entirely evacuate the country they had
invaded. All the other expeditions were similar to this one, and
achieved in reaUty nothing but the burning and destruction ofa few
¦viUages. It is true the raountaineers are far from being "rictorioua
in aU their encounters with the Russians, whose artdlery they can
not easily withstand ; but if they are obUged to give way to num
bers or to engineering, nevertheless, they reraain in the end masters
of theground, and annur"aItlKe~Sioiirentary~advantSge^
^eirjn^^rv^T"""^"^ '. '¦ "^ "^"^"^^ ""-"^ ''"T"'
^Ahe'yearl840 was stiU raore fatal to the arms of Nicholas. Al
most aU the'new forts on the seaboard were taken by the Circassians,
who bravely attacked and carried the best fortified posts -vrithout
artiUery. "The miUtary road frora the Kouban to Guelendchik was
intercepted. Fort St. Nicholas, which commanded it, was stormed ,
and the garrbon massacred Never yet had Russia endured such
heavy blows. The disasters were such that the official journals
themselves, after many months' silence, were at kst obUged to speak
of thera, and to try to gloss thera over by pubUshing turgid eulogiuras
on the lieroisra of the unfortunate Black S ea garrisons. The foUo-sring is
the bulletin pubUshed in the Russian liivalide ofthe 7th of August,
1840:* - ¦ . ^ ' :_ ' .
i ¦ ".The annab ofthe Russian array present a raultlttide of glorious
''deeds of arras and heroic actions, the meraory of which wiU be fbr
''ever preserved among posterity.. The detached corps of Jthe Can- -.;
^' casus has from its special destination raore frequent opportunities
" than the other troops to gather new laurels; but there had not yet
"been seen in Its- ranks exaraples of so brilUant a valour as that
" recently manifested by the garrbons of several canipalgning forti-

* M. Hommaire says he has copied thi
itt the Russian papers.

bulletin exactly as it appeared in French

312 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
" fications erected on tho unsubjugated territory of the Cossacks of
" the eastern shores of the Black Sea. Erected with a view to curb
" the brigandages of those semi-barbarous hordes, and particularly
" their favourite occupation, the shameful trade in slaves, these forti-
" fications were during the spring of this year the constant objects
" of their attacks. In hopes to destroy the obstacles raised against
" them, at a period when hy reason of tlieir position, and the insur-
" raountable difficulty of coraraunication, the forts on the seaboard
" could not receive any aid from without, they united against them
" all thefr forces and all their means. And indeed three of these
" forts feU, but fell with a glory that won for their defenders the
" admiration and even the respect of their fierce enemies. The vaUant
" efforts of the other garrisons were crowned with better success.
" They have all withstood the desperate and often-repeated attacks
" of the mountaineers, and held out unsubdued until it was possible
" to send them succours. "
" In this struggle between a handful of Russian soldiera and a .
" determined and enterprising eneray,' ten add even twenty tiraes
" thefr superiors in nuraber, the high deeds of the garrisons of the
" Veliarainof and Michael redoubts, and the defence of forts Nava-
".guinsky and Ablnsky, merit particular attention. Tho first of
•' these redoubts was taken by the raountaineers on the 29th of last
" February. At daybreak, taking advantage of the locaUties, and
" concealed by the morning mist, their bands, more than 7000
" strong, approached the entrenchments unperceived, and rushed
" impetuously to the assault. . Repeatedly overthrown, they returned
"each time furiously to the charge, and after a long conflict finally
" remained raasters of the rarapart. The garrison, rejecting aU pro-
"posals to surrender, continued with in-rincible courage a combat
" thenceforth without hope,. preferring to find in it a glorious death;
" and aU feU with the exception of sorae InvaUd soldiers, who were
" made prisoners by the mountaineers. The latter, in token of
"respect for the defenders of the redoubt, took home -vrith them .
" some of them whora there still appeared a chance of saving. The
" garrbon of the Veliarainof redoubt consisted of 400 raen of aU
"ranks. The loss of the mountaineera amounted, in killed alone,
"to 900 men. .->':-:.-:^- .— .: .,:. ^ .
" On the raominw of the 22nd of March, the' raountaineers, to the '
"number of raore than 11,000 raen, attacked the Michael redoubt,
" the garrison of which counted but 480 men under arms. Its brave
" coraraander, Second-captsun Lico, of the battaUon No. 5 ofthe Cos-
^ " sacks ofthe frontier Une of^the Black Sea, having learned the inten-
" tlpns ofthe enemy, had made' preparations for -vigorously resisting'
" his atterapts. Seeing theirapossibllity of receiving tiraely succour,
".he had nails prepared to spike his cannons, in case the rampart
" should be carried, and had a reduit constmcted in the Interior of
" the redoubt, with planks, tubs, and other suitable materiab. Then
" coUecting his whole garrbon, officers and soldiers, he proposed to'

A EUSSIAN BULLETIN. 313
" thera to blowup the powder magazine, if they did not succeed in
" repubin^the enemy. The proposal was received with an enthu-
" siasm_ which the subsequent conduct of the garrison proved to be
" genuine. The mountaineers were received with a raost destruc-
" tive fii-e by the artiUery of the fort, and could not make thera-
" selves masters of the rampart until after an hour and half of
" fighting, In which they suffered considerable loss. The heroic
" efforts ofthe garrison having forced them back into the ditch, they
"took to flight; but the mountain horsemen, who had reraained
" on the watch at a certain distance, fell with thefr sabres on the
"fugitives; and the latter, seeing inevitable death on either hand,
"returned to the assault, drove the gairison from the rampart, and
" forced it to retire into the reduit, after it had set fire to all the
" stores and pro-rislons of every kind that were in the redoubt.
" Sharp-shooting went on for half an hour; the firing then ceased,
". and the mountaineers were beginning to congratulate theraselves on
" their ¦rictory, when the powder magarine blew up.* The garrison
"perished in accomplishing this act, raeraorable in raiUtary annals;
" but with it perished all the mountaineers "who were in the redoubt.
" The detaib of the defence of the VeUamlnof and Michael redoubts
"have been divulged by the mountaineers theraselves, and by
" sorae soldiers who have escaped frora slavery araong them. The
" services of the heroes who died thus on the field of honour, have
"been honoured by his raajesty the eraperor, in the persons of
¦ " thefr faraiUeS; whose Uvellhood has been insured, and -vvhose chil-
" dren -vriU be brought up at the expense of the state. These re-
" doubts are now once raore occupied by the detachraent of troops
" operating on the eastei-n coasts of the Black Sea.
" The Navaguinsky fort has often been subjected to the attacks of
"the raountaineers; but they have always been repulsed with the ,
" same valour and steadiness. In one of these attacks, the moim-
" talneers, availing themselves of the darkness of night, and the ¦
" noise of a tempest, approached the fort without being perceived
" by the sentineb, surrounded it on all sides, sprang suddenly to the -
" assault -with ladders and hooks, made themselves raasters of part of
" the rampart, and got into the fort. . Captain Podgoursky, its brave
" comraandant, and Lieutenant Jacovlev, then advanced against them
" with a part of the garrison. Both -were killed on the spot, but
."their death in no degree checked the ardour of the solcUers, who
¦ " fell upon the eneray -vrith the bayonet, and drove thera into the
" ditch. The fight was maintained with the same enthusiasm on
" aU the other points of the fortifications, and the invaUds them-
" selves voluntarily tumed out frora the hospital and took part in it.
"At daybreak, after three hours hard fighting, the fort was cleared
* " Unfortimately the author of this heroic act is unknown. It is believed from ¦
" some hearsay accounts to hare heen performed by a private soldier of the Teu-
"guinisky regiment of infantry. The results of the inquiry instituted on the sub-
"ject-vriU be published hereafter.'' (^Nbte of the Eussian journalist.)

314 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
" of the enemy, who left In it a considerable number of kUled and
" -wounded. On the 26th of May, the Ablnsky fort, situated between the
" Kouban and the shore of the Black Sea, was surrounded at two in
" the morning by a body of raountaineers 12,000 strong, who had
"^ assembled lathe -vicinity, and. suddenly assaulted the fort -vrith
" loud shouts, and dbcharges from their rifles. The' hail of bullets,
" hand-grenades, and grape-shot with which they were received did
" not check their ardour. Full of temerity and contempt of death,
" they descended with marvellous promptitude and agility into the
" ditch, and began to scale the rarapart, thus bUndly seeking sure
"¦ destruction. The warriors, clad in coats of mail, penetrated re-
"peatedly into, the entrenchment, but were each tirae killed or
" driven back. At last, in spite of aU the efforts of the garrbon, a
*' numerous party found thefr way into the Interior of a bastion, and
"flung theraselves with flags unfurled Into the Interior of the fort.
" Colonel Vecelofsky, the commandant, retaining aU hb presence of
" mind at this critical moraent, charged the erteray at the bayonet
" point, with a reserve he had kept, of 40 men, and drove them out
" of the entrenchraent, after capturing two of thefr flags. Thb brU-
" Uant feat checked the audacity of the assailants, and Inflamed the
*' courage of the garrison to the highest pitch. The enemy, beaten
*' on aU points, took flight, carrying off thefr dead, according to the
" custom of the Asiatics. Ten of their wounded reraained in the
"hands of the garrison, who fotrad 685 dead in the Interior of the
" fort and in the ditches. The nuraber of those whom the raoun-
" talneers carried off to bury at home, was doubtless stdl more consi-
" derable. The loss on our side was nine killed and eighteen wounded
"At the time ofthe attack, the garrbon of tiie Ablnsky fort con-
" sisted ofa superior officer, fifteen officers, and 676 soldiers. The
"numerical weakness of thb force, proves of itself the extraordinary
" Intrepidity of all coraprised in It, officers and soldiers, and thefr
" unaniraous resolution to defend with unswerving firmness the ram-
" parts confided to their courage."
It seems to us superfluous to offer any comment on thb heroic
buUetin. We shall merely observe, that the most serious losses,
the destruction of the new road from the Kouban, the taking of
fort St. Nicholas, and that of several other forts, have been entfrely
forgotten In the official statement, and no facts mentioned, but
those which might be Interpreted In favour of Russia's miUtary
glory. _ --V . -- : _ .-
On the eastern side of the mountain the war was fully as disas
trous for the invaders. The Imperial ai-ray lost 400 petty officers
aud soldiers, and twenty-nine officers ih the battle of Vafrik against
the Tchetchenzes. The miUtary colonies of the Terek were at
tacked and plundered, and when General Golo-rin retired to hb
winter quarters at the end of the carapaign, he had lost more than
three-fourths of his men. . .. .. ..

CAUSES OF THE ILL-SUCCESS OP RUSSIA. 315
The Great Kabarda did not reraain an indifferent spectator x)f the
offensive league forraed by the tribes of the Caucasus; and when
Russia, suspecting -vrith reason the unfriendly disposition of sorae
tribes, made an armed exploration on the banks of the Laba in
order to construct redoubts, and thus cut off the subjuo-ated tribes
frora the others, the general found the country, wherever he ad
vanced, but a desert. All the Inhabitants had already retired to the
other side of the Laba to join their warlike neighbours.
Since that tirae fresh defeats have been made known throuirh the
press, and in spite of all the mystery in which the war of the Cau
casus is sought to be -wrapt, the truth has, nevertheless, transpired.
The last military operations of Russia have been as unproductive as
those that preceded thera, and pjg^ that no change has taken place
In the belligerents respectively.T Thus we see that in despite of the
resources of the erapfre, and of tke'Indomltable obstinacy of the era
peror, the position of Russia in the Caucasus has been quite sta-
^tionary for sixty -yearSv^|~l ; -
In considering this loitg series of dbasters and unavaiUng efforts,
we are naturaUy led to inqufre what have been the causes of this'
want of success? We have already mentioned the topographical
character of the country, and the difficulties encountered by an
invading army in regions not accessible by the valleys, and we have
given such detaib of the raanners and character of the mountaineers
as raay enable the reader to conceive the obstinate and forraidable
nature of thefr reristance. Nevertheless, seeing the absolute power of
Nicholas, and the intense importance he attaches to the conquest of
the Caucasus, It b difficult to admit that obstacles arising out of the
nature of the ground and the character of the population could not
have been overcome in a region so Uralted, if there were not other
and raore potent causes contin-aaUy at work to irapede the raiUtary
operations of Russia. These causes- reside chiefly in the deplorable^
state and constitution of the imperial armies. J
¦ -In Russia there b no distinct coramissariat departraent under dis
interested control, whether of the governraent or of superior officers.
It is the colonel hiraself of each regiraent who provides the rations,
and as he is subject to no control, but acts really -vrith despotic au
thority, both he and his contractors have the amplest possible oppor
tunity to cheat the government and enrich theraselves at the expense
of the troops. There are regiraents in the Caucasus that bring in
from 80,000 to 100,000 francs to the colonel. As for the subaltem
officers, miUtary submission on the one hand, and the scantiness of
thefr pay on the other, make them always ready to participate in thefr
^commander's infaraous speculations. What is the result of thb
¦wretched corraptlon? It is that, not-withstanding the high prices
paid by the fyovemment, the contractoi-s continue to send to the
. Caucasus the raost unwholesome stores, and grains alraost always
heated or quite spoded; for it is only in this way they can reaUse
sufficient profits to be able to satisfy the cupidity of thefr con-

316 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
federates, the officers. I knew several merchants of Theodosia in
the Criraea, men of honour, who refused to have any thing to do
with military supplies, because they found it impossible to make the
colonels and generals accept sound articles.
Thb official robbery is nowhere carried on in a more scandalous
manner than In the Caucasus. It is there regularly established, and
one may conjecture the hardships and privations of the soldier
from seeing the luxurious tables of the lowest officers, most of whom
have butfrora 1000 or 1200 rubles yearly pay. Certainly there are few
sovereigns who take raore heed than Nicholas to the physical welfare
of their soldiers, and we raust give full credit to his generous inten
tions in thb respect; but these are completely defeated by the cor
ruption of his officers and ci-ril servants, by the total want of pubU-
clty, and by that base serviUty which will always hinder an inferior
from accusing his superior. I have been present at several raiUtary
inspections raade by general officers In the Caucasus, but never
heard the least coraplaint made by the soldiers; and when the gene
ral, calUng them by companies ro'und hira in a circle, questioned
them respecting their victuab, they all invariably repUed in chorus,
that they had nothing to complain of, and were as weU treated as
possible. Their colonel's eye was upon them, and they knew what
the least word of coraplaint would have cost thera; yet they were
dying by hundreds of scurvy, and other diseases engendered by
imwholesome food. •
The government usually makes large purchases of butter in Siberia
for the array of the Caucasus; but this butter which would be of such
great utility in the military hospltab, and which costs as much as
sixty -five francs the twenty kilograraraes, very seldom passes further
than Taganrok, where it is sold in retad, and its. place supplied with
the worst substitute that can be had. Nor does the robbery end
there. The butter fabricated in Taganrok is again raade raatter of
speculation ' in the Caucasus, and finally not a particle reaches the
sick and drooping soldiers. The other good provbions undergo
nearly the sarae coui-se. : -- . :
When I was at Theodosia in 1840, there were in the mUitary hos- .
pital of the town 15,000'invaUds, who were aU dying for want of
attendance and good medicine. A Courland general (whom I
could name) justly incensed at these abuses, sent m a strong report
of thera dfrectiy to the emperor; and twenty days afterwards, a
superior officer, despatched by the eraperor hiraself, arrived on the
spot. But the people about the hospital were rich; they had taken
their raeasures, and the -result of thb mission, which looked so
threatening at first, was a report extreraely satisfactory as to the
zeal of the managers and the sanatory condition of the estabhsh
ment. The general was severely repriraanded, almost disgraced,
and the robbers continued to merit official encomiuras. I did not
hear that they were rewarded by the govemment.
The most frightful mortaUty prevails among the troops in the,

EEAL MILITAET ^VEAKNESS OF EUSSIA. 317
Caucasus; whole divisions disappear in the space of a few months
and the army b used up and whoUy renewed every three or four
years._ It Is especially in the sraaU forts on the seaboard, where the
mbchiefs of badfood are increased by ahnost "total Isolation, that
diseases raake frio-htful havoc, paiticularly scurvy. In the sprino-
of 1840, the t-yvdfth division marched to occupy the redoubts on
the coasts of Cfrcassia, and its effective nuraber was 12,000 men
quite an extraordinary circurastance. Four months afterwards it
was recaUed to take part in the expedition at that time projected
against the Viceroy of Egypt. When, it landed at Sevastopol it was
reduced to 1500 raen. In the sarae year the commander-in-chief
in visiting the forts of the seaboard, found but nine men fit for ser
vice out of 300 that composed the garrison of Soukhoum Kaleh.
According to official returns, the average deaths on the seaboard of
Cfrcassia in 1841 and 1842, were 17,000 in each year.
Is it to be wondered that with such a miUtary administration,
Russia makes no progress in the Caucasus? What can be expected
of armies In which want of all necessaries and total disregard fbr the
lives of men are the order of the day? The di-vrisions and regiments
in the Caucasus are in a state of perraanent disorganisation, and the
courage and activity of the ti-oops sink altogether under the influ
ence of the diseases by which they are Incessantly mowed do-wn.
It needs all the force of dIscipUne, aU the stoic self-denial of the sol
dier, and, above all, the incessant renovation of the garrisons, to
hinder the Rusrians frora being driven out of all thefr positions.
.; People often ask with surprise why Russia does not take the field
with 200,000 or even 300,000 raen at once. We have afready
given sufficiently circurastantial detaib on the topography of the Cau
casus, to enable every one to perceive immediately how difficult it
is to employ large arraies in regions so inaccessible, and so wonder
fiilly defended by nature. Is or, on the other hand, must it be
forgotten that the official strength of the army of the Caucasus Is
always at least 160,000 men. Its real strength, indeed, very seldom'
exceeds 80,000; but Its proportion to the grand total of the impe
rial forces, paid as if they were at the ftdl, still reraains the sarae,
and it is iniposrible, under existing circumstances, that the govem
ment should augment the number of its troops without most se
riously increasing the afready erabarrassed condition of the finances.
Another consideration of still greater weight is, that the raoveraents
of large armies are attended with extrerae difficulty in Russia, to a
degree unknown in any other country of Europe. In all the dbcus-
slons that are held on the subject of the war in the Caucasus, the
immense difficulties of the transport of men, miUtary stores, and
pro-rislons, have never been taken into account, and people have
always reasoned as if the Caucasus was situated in the midst of the
tzar's dominions. A glance at the raap of Russia -wiU suffice to
show, that those raountains lying on the most southern verge of the
empire, are separated by real deserts frora the great centres of the

318 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
Russian population, and that to repair to the banks of the Kouban
from the first govemraents where troops are recruited, they must
traverse more than 150 leagues of country inhabited by Cossacks
and Kalmucks, in which the nature of the soil and ofthe Inhabitants
forbids any cantonment of reserves.
Moreover we must not forget the difficulties of the cUraate. The
fine season barely lasts four raonths in Russia. The roads are im
passable for pedestrians in spring and autumn, and timing the -winter
the cold is too severe, the days too short, the snow-storms often too
prolonged to aUow of putting regiraents on the march, not to say
sending them to the Caucasus across the uncultivated and desert
plains that sfretch between the Sea of Azof and the Caspian. The
route by sea is equaUy Irapracticable. No use can be raade of the
Caspian on account of the arid and unproductive steppes that belt
it on the Russian side. Astrakhan, the only town situated on that
part of the coast. Is obUged to fetch its pro-rislons from a distance of
200 leagues. TThe Black Sea is. Indeed, more favourably cfrcum-
stanced; but it only affords coraraunication with the forts on the
Cfrcasslan side; and the mountaineers always wait to make thefr
attacks in the season of rough weather, during which navigation is
usuaUy suspended, and it is exceedingly difficult toreinforce and -victual
the garrisons. .The tedlousness and difficulty of conveying stores b
the same by land. With the exception of the forts of Circassia,
suppUed directiy from the ports of Odessa, Theodosia, and Kertch,
aU the garrisons of the Caucasus receive thefr suppUes from the
nearly central pro-rinces of the empfre. Thus the materiab destined
for the army of the Terek and of Daghestan arrive first in As
trakhan, after a voyage of more than 200 leagues down the Volga ;
and then they are forwarded by sea for the most part to Koumslrab,
on the raonth of the Kouma, where they are taken up by the Turco
mans on their Uttie ox-carts, impressed for the service, and reach thefr
final destination after fifteen or twenty days' travelling. The mode
of proceeding Is stiU more-tedious and expensive for -the Implements
and materiel of war which arrive from Siberia only once a year,
during the spring floods of the Volga, the Don, and the Dniepr.
Such obstacles render it impossible to -augment the forces employed
on the Caucasus.. France b infinitely better cfrcumstanced -vrith
regard tb Algeria. We -have nothing to prevent .our keeping up
steong raiUtary stations -on the Mediterranean shore. We can at
any moraent command the means of rapidly transporting to Africa
whatever forces may be required by ordinary or unforeseen cfrcum
stances. We -vvUl by and by return to the war In Algeria, as com
pared ¦vrith that which the Russians are carrying on in the Caucasus.
We have yet to speak of another cause of weakness to the Rusrian
arms, and one which is the more serious as It operates exclusively
on the moral of the soldiers. Russia has made the Caucasus a place
of tran,sportation, a. regular Botany Bay for aU the rogues in the
empire,, and for those who by thefr acts or thefr poUtical opinions,

PENAL SERVICE IN THE CAUCASUS. 319
have incurred the ¦wrath of the tzar. In reference to this subject,
we -wiU mention a fact which may seera hard to beUeve, but which
I attest as an eye-witness. In 1840, the fifteenth division, com
manded by Lieutenant-General S  , received orders to march to
the Caucasus. On lea^ving Taganrok, it was about 1200 short of its
compleraent, and Its deficiency was suppUed frora the prisons of
Bouthem Russia. Robbers, pickpockets, vagabonds, and soWiei-s that
had been flogged and degraded, were raarched into Taganrok, and
incorporated -vrith the regiraents which were about to beo-in the
campaign. These singular recmits were put under the keeping
of the soldiers, and each of thera, according to his supposed degree
of rascaUty, was guarded by two, three, or four raen. Surely the moral
of the Rusian troops b sufficiently jeopardised by the social and
miUtary institutions of the erapire, and it cannot be prudent so
deeply to debase the soldier by associating him with thieves and
highway robbers, and to change the toibome wars of the Caucasus
into a means of punishraent, I raay say of destruction, for political
offenders and real crirainals. Furtherraore, a conffict so prolonged,
so disastrous, and that for so raany years has been -without any
tangible result, must ine-vitably have the worst effect on the minds
of troops who are not actuated either by the sense of glory or honour,
or by the feeling that they are defending the right. We have vbited
the Caucasus at various times, and never did we meet one officer who
was heartily attached to the service in which he was engaged.
Despondency b universal, and raany expeditions against the raottn-
taineers have been marked by a total absence of dbciphne. The
soldiers have often refused to march, and have suffered themselves
to be massacred by thefr officers, rather than advance a foot.
The Caucasus bas abo becorae a place of exUe for a great number
of Poles. After the revolution of 1831, the Russian government
committed the blunder of sending to tiie Kouban most of the regi
ments compromised in that Ul-fated effort. The result was very
easy to foresee; desertion soon began in the ranks of the outlaws,
' and it is now known beyond a doubt that the Tcherkesses have Poles
among them, who instruct them in the art of war, endeavour to
create an artillery for them -vrith the pieces captured from the Rus
sians, and labour actively to aUay the dissensions between the
various tribes. General Grabe himself assured rae that he had seen in
several places fortifications which he recognbed as quite modem.
He had abo in his campaign of 1840 remarked a more corapact and
better concerted resbtance on the part of the Cfrcassians, and often
a reraarkable degree of combined action In thefr attacks. :
We have not much to say about the raiUtary tactics employed
by Russia in thb war; in point of science it presents no very striBng
features, but on the contrary, cannot but give a very low Idea of
tiie merit of the Imperial generals. At first It was expected that
the conquest would be effected by heraming in the mountaineers
¦with miUtary lines, and graduaUy encroaching on their territory;

320 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPLiJiT SEA, &C. '
but this very costly system seems to me quite impracticable in a
country In which the forts are always solitary, and cannot protect
each other, or cross their fires. I do not know, however, whether
it has been quite given up.
Attempts were raade in 1837 to set fire to the forests of the Cau
casus by means of pitch. Three years afterwards it was hoped to effect
their destruction by arming the men ofthe 15th division with axes;
but these strange expedients only produced useless expenditure.
I know a general of the highest personal courage, who calb in the
aid of natural philosophy to beguile or awe the mountaineers. When
ever he receives a visit from chiefs whose fidelity he b incUned
to suspect, he sets an electrical machine In play. His visitors feel
-violent shocks, they know not how, their beards and hair stand on
end, and in the bewilderment caused by these mysterious -rislta-
tions, they sometiraes let out an Important secret, and betray them
selves to thefr eneray.
An officer of engineers told me an anecdote of this sarae general
which Is worth recording. . A mosque which the Russian govem
ment had built at its- o-wn expense for a tribe of Little Kabarda
was to be inaugurated, and as usual there was a grand miUtary
parade in honour of the occasion. When the Kabardlans had db-
played aU their address in horseraanship and shooting, the Russian
general proceeded to give a sample of. what he could do, and to
strike the assembled tribes -vrith araazeraent. He called for his
double-barrelled gun, and having himself charged one of the barreb
with baU, he ordered a pigeon to be let loose, which he instantiy
brought down, to the astonishment of the beholders. " That is not
aU," said he to the chiefs near hira; " to shoot a pigeon flying b no
very extraordinary feat; but to cut off his head -vrith the baU Is
what I caU good shooting." Then turning to hb servant, he said
soraething to him in German. The man went and picked up the
bfrd, and when he held it out to -view. It was seen to be beheaded just
as the general had said. Unbounded was the admiration of the
simple raountaineers; they looked on the general as a supernatural
being, and nothing was talked of for many a day in the aoub, but
the beheaded pigeon and the wonderful Russian marksman.
Now to explain the enigma. The inhabitants of the Caucasus
are ignorant of the use .of small shot, and It was with thb the
general had accorapUshed his surprising exploit, ha-ring previously
loaded one barrel with It As for the pigeon's head, It was adroitly
whipped off by the servant, who had received his 'orders to that
effect in German. ..--..- - - .
But it would be idle to expect that the shrewd good sense of the
mountaineers -will long be iraposed on by the scientific accompUsh-
mentsof the Russian generab; on the contrary, these curious expedients
only give thera increased confidence In thefr own strength. Yermoloff
appears to us to have been the only governor who understood the
nature of the war in the Caucasus, and who conducted affairs -vrith

INCP.EASING DIFFICULTIES OF THE CONQUEST. 321
the dignified and inflexible vigour which were fitted to make an
irapression on the tribes. Several coraraanders in-chief have suc
ceeded hira in turns; Rosen, Golovin, Grabe, Raiefsky, Anrep,
Neughart ; but the govemment has gained nothing by aU these
changes. After the details we have given, coraraents and arguraents would
be alraost superfluous : it Is easy to conceive how critical is the situa
tion of the Russians in the Caucasian regions. For twenty years the
Emperor Nicholas has expended all the mihtary genius of his empire,
shiinking from no sacrifice of men or raoney, and employing* ge
nerab of the highest reputation, and yet the raight of his sovereion
will has broken down before the difficulties we have pointed out.
TThe tribes of the mountain are, on the contrary, grovring strono-er
every day. They are making progress in the art of war; success
fires their zeal; the old intestine discords are graduaUy disappearing,
and the various tribes seem to feel the necessity of acting in concert,
and uniting under one bannerTTNow can Russia, under existing
cfrcumstances, increase her cKa:Hces of success? We think not,
and the facts sufficiently corroborate our opinion. With his systera
of war and absolute dominion, the tzar has entangled hiraself in a
hopeless maze, and- the Caucasus wIU long reraain a running sore
to the erapire, a bottoraless pit to swallow up raany an army and
much treasure. It has often been proposed to renounce the present
systera, but the emperor's vanity -vriU not admit of any pacific coun-
seb. Besides, even if Russia were now -vriUlng to change the nature
of her relations -with the independent tribes, she could not do so.
Her overtures would be regarded as tokens of weakness, and the
mountaineers would only becorae so ranch the raore enterprising.
In Alexander's time, when warUke ideas were less in favour. It
was proposed to estabUsh a commercial intercourse vrith the Tcher
kesses, and bring them gradually by pacific means to acknowledge
the supremacy of Russia. A Genoese, named Scassi, proposed m
1813 to the Due de Richeheu, governor of Odessa, a plan for a
commercial settlement on the coasts of Circassia. His scheme was
adopted, and a merchant vessel touched soon afterwards at Gue
lendchik and Pchiat, -without meeting with any hindrance on the
part of the inhabitants. A trade was soon established, but the dis
orderly conduct of the Russians aroused the jealousy of the Cir-
casskns, who soon bumed and destroyed the factory at Pchiat, and
the govemment, whether justly or not, treated Scassi as a culprit.
Since that time there has been no thought of coraraerce or pacifica
tion, and the tribes of the Caucasus have been regarded only as
rebels to be put do-wn, not as a free people justly jealous of their
privileges. Frequent conferences have taken place between the
Russian generals and the mountain chiefs; but as the one party
talked only of Uberty and independence, and_ the other of nothing
but submission andlrapUcIt obedience, hostiUties always broke out
again -vrith fresh vehemence. It appears, however, from facts re-

322 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
cently coramunicated to me, that the eraperor is at last disposed to
give up his warUke systera, and that his generals have at last re
ceived orders to act only on the defensive.* But as the govemment,
whibt adopting these new measures, stiU loudly proclaims its rights
of sovereignty over the Caucasus, it follows that this change of policy
is quite iUusory, and cannot effect any kind of reconciliation be
tween the Russians and the mountaineers.
We now come to the point at which we may advert to a question
which set the whole EngUsh press in a blaze in 1837; naraely, the
blockade of the Cfrcasslan coasts, and the pretensions of Russia as
to that part of the Caucasus. It is e-rident that the tzar's govem
ment bemg at open war with the mountaineers, raay at its pleasure
intercept the foreign .trade -with the eneray's country. This b
an incontestible right recognbed by aU nations, and the capture
of the Vixen was not worth the noise that was made abOut it. Aa
to the proprietory right to the country -vvhlch Russia affects to have
received from Turkey, through the treaty of Adrianople, It is
totally fallacious, and is unsupported by any historical document or
positive fact. It is fuUy deraonstrated that Turkey never possessed
any right over Cfrcassia; she had merely erected on the seaboard,
-vrith the consent of the Inhabitants, the two fortresses of Anapa and -
Soudjouk Kaleh, forthe protection of the trade between the two
countries. Russia herself. In the beginning, pubUcly acknowledged
thb state of things; and the e-vidence of her ha-ving done so b to
be found In the general depot of the maps of the erapfre. Chance
threw into my hands a map of the Caucasus, drawn up by the
Eussian engineers, long prior to the treaty of Adrianople. The
Turkish possessions are distinctly marked on it, and defined by a red
boundary line ; they consist solely, as we have just stated, of the
two fortresses on the coast. This map, the exbtence of which one
day sorely surprised Count Voronzof (governor-general of New
Russia), was sent to England, and deposited in^the Foreign Of
fice during Lord Palmerston's adrainistration. ^ Atfter aU, I hardly
know why Russia tries to avail herself of the treaty of Adrianople
as a justification in the eyes of Europe of her schemes of conquest in
the Caucasus. < She b doing there only what we are doing in Al
geria, and the Englbh In India, and Indeed with stOl greater reason;
for, as we shall presentiy see, the possesaon of the Caucasus is a
question vitally affecting her Interests In her trans-Caucasian pro-
"rinces, and her ulterior projects respecting the regions dependent
on Persia and Central Asia.'-— -, -.
Here are the terms In which this subject is handled in a report
printed at St. Petersburg, and addressed to the emperor after tiie
expedition of General Emmaneul towards the Elbrouz, in 1829:
" "The Tcherkesses bar out Russia from the South, and may at
thefr pleasure open or close the passage to the nations of Asia.
; * This -w-as -vrritten in 1344.

CIECASSIAN INDEPENDENCE DANGEEOUS TO RUSSIA. 323
" At present their Intestine dissensions, fostered by Russia, hinder
" thera from uniting under one leader; but It must not be foro-otten
"that according to traditions reUgiously preserv-ed araong them, the
" sway of thefr ancestors extended as far as to the Black Sea. They
"beUeve that a raighty people, descended frora their ancestors, and
" whose exbtence is corroborated by the ruins of Madjar, has once
«' afready overmnthe fine plains adjacent to the Danube, and finally
" settled in Pannonia. Add to this consideration thefr superiority
" in arras. Perfect horseraen, extreraely -well arraed, inured to war by
" the continual freebooting they exercise against their neighbours,
" courageous, and disdaining the advantages of our ci-vUbation, the
"Imagination b appaUed at the consequences which their union
•-•-under one leader might have for Russia, which has no other
" bulwark against their ravages than a mihtary Une, too extensive
" to be very strong."
Reflections Uke these, printed in St. Petersburg, can leave no
doubt as to the dangers to which the southern provinces are exposed.
'They are not to be mistaken, and the gOyemment sees them clearly:
the aggressive independence of the Caucasus is perilous to all Russia.
Armed, courageous, and enterprising as they are, the mountaineers
need only sorae degree of union araong their chiefs, to carry the
flaraes of revolt over a vast portion of the tzar's dominions.
' Let any one look fairly and impartiaUy at the iramense region
comprised between the Danube and the Caspian, and what will he
' behold ? To the east 40,000 tents of Khirghis, Turcoraans, and
¦ Kalraucks, robbed of aU thefr ancient rights, or threatened -vrith the
loss of the remnant yet left -them of their independence ; in the
centre 800,000 Cossacks bound to the most onerous miUtary service,
torraented by the recollection of their suppressed constitutions, and
detesting a governraent whose efforts tend to extinguish every trace
of thefr nationaUty ; in the south and west the Tatars of the Crimea
and the Sea of Azof, and the Bessarabians, who are far frora being
favourable to Russia ; and lastly, beyond the Caucasus, in Asia,
restless populations, iU-broken as yet to the Russian yoke, and posses
sions -vrith which there exists no overland coraraunication except
that by way of Mozdok, a dangerous route, which carmot be tra-
; versed without an escort of infantry and artillery, and which the
mountaineers raay at any moment Intercept.* Here, assuredly, are
causes enough of disorganisation and ruin, that want only a man of
'genius to set them in action. What wonder is It that -with such
contingencies to apprehend, the empire recoils frora no sacrifice !
•; -No one, we beUeve, -will deny the schemes of conquest which the -
Muscovite govemment entertains regarding Turkey, Persia, and
• There is indeed a load by -w-ay of Daghestan along the Caspian ; but it is still
more impracticable than that by Mozdok, and besides it is too long to be of use to
Enssia in her dealings -with the Asiatic governments. As for the maritime routes
-by the Caspian and the Black Sea, their utility is greatly limited by the intense
frosts -which block np the ports of Odessa, Kherson, Taganrok, Kertch, and Astra
khan dnring four months of the year.
T2

324 - THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
even certain regions of India : these schemes are Incontestible, and
have long been matter of history. The fact being admitted, what
Is the position most favourable for these vast plans of aggi-andise-
ment ? We have but to glance at the map to answer imraediately:
the regions beyond the Caucasus. There It is that Rusoia is in
contact at once with the Caspian and the Black Sea, -vvith Persia
and Turkey ; from thence she can ¦vrith the same army dictate laws
to the Sultan of Constantinople, and to the Shah of 'Teheran ;_ and
there her diplomacy finds an ample field to work, and continual
pretexts to justify fresh encroachments. But this formidable posi
tion will never be tmly and securely possessed by the tzars until
the tribes ofthe Caucasus shall have been subjugated.
When the empire acquired aU those Asiatic pro^srinces, its situa
tion as to the Caucasus was far from being so critical as it now is.
It b, in fact, only within the last fourteen or fifteen years that the
fierce struggle has raged between Musco-rite doraination and the
freedora of the mountain. I therefore much doubt that Russia
would now venture to act to-vvards Persia as she did in the time of
Catherine II., and her successors. Her hostde attitude has been
strikingly modified since she- has had in her rear a foe so active and
dangerous as the Caucasians. This b a consideration that may ease
the rainds of the EngUsh as to their possessions In India, for the
road by Herat and AjB^hanistan wIU not be so very soon open to
their rivals. There can be no question then respecting the great
Importance of the Caucasus to Russia. The independence of the
mountaineers is perilous to her southern govemraents, compromises
-the' safety and the future destiny of the trans-Caucasian provinces, .
and at the sarae time fetters and corapletely paralyses the ambition
of the tzar. It is in this sense the question is Uke-vrise regarded by
the court of Teheran, which now builds Its whole hope of safety on
the entangleracnts of Russb in the Caucasus. .
And now let us ask what is the work which Russia is doing
beyond the Caucasus for the advantage or detriraent of raankind?
What, independently of her ambition and her tendencies, is the
influence she is caUed to exercise over the actual and future lot of
the nations she has subjected to her sway ? It raust be admitted
that when the imperial armies appeared for the first tirae on the
confines of Asia, the trans-Caucasian provinces were abandoned with
out defence or hope for the future to aU the sanguinary horrors of
anarchy. Turkey, Persia, and the mountain tribes rioted in the
plunder of Georgia and the adjacent states. The advent of the-
Russians put an end to this sad state of things, and introduced a
condition of peace and quiet unknown for many centuries before.
The Iraperial govemment, It Is true, brought -vrith it Its vices. Its
abuses, its vexations, and Its hosts of greedy and plundering func
tionaries ; and then, when the first heyday of delight at the enjoy-
raent of personal safety was past, the inhabitants had other hardships
to deplore. Nevertheless, the depredations coraraitted by its func-

EUSSIAN DESIGNS ON INDIA. 325
tionarles -vriU never prevent the inevitable tendency of the Musco
vite occupation to bnng about an intellectual developraent, wliich,
soon or late, ¦wiU act most favourably on the future condition of
those Asiatic regions. Christian populations, so active and enter
prising as are those of the trans-Caucasian provinces, will Infallibly
begin a career of social Iraproveraent frora the raoment they find
themselves released frora the engrossing care of defending theu-
bodily exbtence. Of course it will need many years to mature a
raoveraent which derives no aid frora the too superficial and corrupt
cl-nhsation of Russia ; nor has any thing worth raentioning been
done as yet to proraote the industry, commerce, and agriculture of.
a country, which only needs some share of freedom to be produc
tive. Tiflis is far from having fulfilled the prophecy of Count
Gamba, in 1820, and become a second Palmyra or Alexandria ; on
the contrary, every raeasure has been adopted that could extinguish
the very gerras of the narion-al wealth. But huraanity, raysterious
in its ways, and slow in its progress, seldora keeps pace vvith the
impatience of nations ; and notwithstanding the new evib that in
our day afflict the trans-Caucasian populations, we are con-vrinced that
it was a grand step in advance for them to have been -vrithdrawn
from the anarchical sway of Persia and Turkey, and to have had the
personal safety of thefr inhabitants secured by the intervention and
authority of Russia.*
- The conquest of India by the Russians has often been the theme
of long discussions and elaborate hypotheses. England was very
uneasy at the atterapts on Khiva, and never raeets- -vrith a single
difficulty in Affghanlstan without ascribing It to Muscovite agents.
It is, therefore, worth while to consider -what are the raeans and
faciUties at the coraraand of Russia for the estabUshraent of her
dominion In the centre of Turkbtan and on the banks of the Indus
and the Ganges.
Three points of departure and three routes present themselves to
Russia for the invasion of Central Asia. On the eastern coast of
the Caspian Sea, Manghislak, Tuk Karakhan, and the Bay of
Balkhan, coraraunicate with Khiva by caravan routes ; Orenburg
to the north is In pretty regular coraraunication with Khiva and
Bokhara ; and to the south the Caspian -provinces trade with
Affghanlstan either by way of Meshed, Bokhara, and BaUsh, or by
Meshed, Bokhara, and Candahar.'
£'The first line that was taken by a Russian expedition was that
. from Tuk Kharakhan to Khiva. Prince Alexander. Bekovitch was
sent by Peter the Great to explore certain regions of the Khanat of
Khiva, which were supposed to contain rich gold mines, and landed
on the Caspian shore with about 3,000 men. The result was db-
•¦.•¦Wedo not mean these remarks to apply in any respect to theMussuhnan
tribes, of whom we will speak hereafter. The Christian and the Mahometan popu
lation balance each other in the trans-Caucasian proymces; they both numoer ntxna-
400,000 males.

326 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
astrous ; but the details are too weU known to need repetition here.
No new demonstration has since been made In that direction, and
it appears to have been -vrith good reason abandoned entfrely. The
eastern shores of the Caspian have been sufficiently explored to make
It clear that they cannot be made the starting point of -military
operations against Turkistan. From the mouth of the Emba to the
-vicinity of Astrabad, the shore is -without a river ; and the whole
seaboard, as weU as the regions between the Caspian and Kduva,.
with the exception of a "very sraaU tract occupied by the Balkhan
mountains, presents only barren desert plains, vrithout water, occu
pied by noraade Turcoraans, and afforcUng no resom-ces to an invad
ing array. "Thb country," says Moura-vief, " exhibits the Image
of death, or rather of the desolation left behind by a raighty con-vul-
sion of nature. Neither bfrds nor quadrupeds are found in it ;
no verdure or vegetation cheers the sight, except here and there ai;
long intervab sorae spots on which, there grow a few sickly stunted
shrubs." It is reckoned that on an average a caravan employs from
twenty-eight to thirty-five days of camel-mafching to complete the
distance of about two hundred leagues that divides Tuk Karakhan
from IChlva. The joumey Is not quite so long from the Bay of
Balkhan. This was the route taken by Captain Monravief when
he was sent by Yerraolof to the Khan of Khiva, to propose to him
an alUance -vrith Russia. It wotdd certainly be hard to conceive
any conditions raore unfavourable for an expedition towards the
interior than are presented by this part of the coast. On the one
side is the Caspian Sea, the na-rigation of which is at aU tiraes difiS.-
cnlt, and In -vrinter Irapossible ; on the, other side' raore than a
month's march through the desert ; and then on the coast Itself
there Is a total irapossIbiUty of cantoning a reserved force. Under
these circumstances, aU schemes of conquest in this dfrection must
be chimerical. The Russians no doubt might, by a clever coup-de^
main, push forwards some thousands of inen on Khiva, and take the
town ; but what would they gain thereby ? How could they
-victual thefr troops ; or how could they estabUsh any safe Une o£
¦transport across deserts traversed by flying hordes of warUke plun
derers ? Russia could not possibly dispense -vrith a series of fortified
posts to keep up a regular communication -vrith her army of occu
pation, and how could she erect and maintain suck posts in a naked
and wholly unproductive country ? The govemment has already
tried to establish sorae smaU forts on the north-eastern shore of the
Caspian, for the protection of its fisheries, against the Khirghis p
but to this day It has effected nothing thereby, but the useless de-s
struction of raany thousands of Its soldiers,, who have perished under
the most cruel hardships. -Furthermore, the Khanat of Khiva, the
state nearest the impenal frontiera. Is but a very smaU part of Tur
kbtan ; nor would its occupation help in more than a very limited
degree towards the conquest of Bokhara, and a /ort/on towards that
of Affsrhanistan. • . . - .

EUSSIAN EXPEDITION AGAINST KHIVA. 327
After the Une from the eastern coast of the Caspian, that frora
Orenburg to Khiva and Bokhara appears to have attracted the
particular attention of the tzars. But General Perofsky's fi-uitiess
pcpedition against Khiva, in 1840, has demonstrated that thb Une
Is quite as perilous and diffictdt as the other. The steppes that Ue
between Russia and the two khanats are exactly sirailar to those
situated north and east of the Caspian, presenting the same naked
ness and SteriUty, an alraost total want of fresh water, and noraade
tribes perpetuaUy engaged fri rapine. Wlien State CouncUlor Negri
was sent on an embassy to the Khan of Bokhara, In 1820, he set
out accorapanied by 200 Cossacks, 200 infantry, twenty- five Bashkir
horseraen, two pieces of artiUery, 400 horses, and 358 caraeb. The
govemment afforded him. every possible faciUty and means of trans-
port, and he took with hira raore than two months' rations for hb raen
and cattle. Yet though he raet vrith no obstruction on the part of
the hordes whose steppes he traversed, he was not less than seventy-
one days in corapleting the joturney of 1600 kilometres (1000 raUes}
from Orenburg to Bokhara.
-Perofsky, who marched at the head of 6000 infantry, with
10,000 baggage cameb, could not even reach the territory of Khiva.
The dbastera suffered by his troops obUged him to retrace hb steps
¦vrithout having advanced further than Ac Boulak, the kst oncost
erected by the Russians in 1839, at 180 kilometres from the Emba.
The obstacles encountered by his small array were beyond all de
scription. The cold was fearfid, being 40 degrees below zero of
the centigrade therraoraeter ; the cameb could scarcely advance
through the snow; and the movements of the troops were constantly
impeded by hurricanes of extraortUnary ¦violence. Suck an expedi
tion, undertaken in the depth of vrinter, solely for the purpose of
having fresh virater, raay enable one to guess at the difficulties of a
march over the sarae ground in suraraer. Spring b a season un
kno-wn in aU those iraraense plains of southem Russia; Intense frost
b there succeeded abruptly hy tropical heat, and a fortnight is ge
nerally sufficient to dry up the sraaU strearas and the stagnant waters
produced by the melting of the snows, and to scorch up the thin
coating of pasturage that for a brief while had covered the steppes.
What chance then has Russia of successfully invading Turkistan
from the north, and reigning supreme over Bokhara, which b se-
-parated from Orenburg by 400 leagues of desert? All that has been
done, and all that has been- observed up to this day, proves that the
notion Is preposterous. As for any compact and amity between
Eussia and the numerous Kirghis hordes, such as might favour the
march of the imperial armies in Bokhara, no such thing is to be
expected. A great deal has been said of the Emperor Alexander's
joumey to Orenburg in 1824, and the efforts then made by the
govemment to conciUate the Klrghb; but these proceedings have
been greatly exaggerated, and represented as much more important
than they reaUy were. They have not produced any substantial

328 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
result, and I know from my own experience how hostile to Russia
are all the roving tribes of the Caspian, and how much they detest
whatever raenaces their freedom and independence.
We have now to consider In the last place the two great Persian
routes, which coincide, or run parallel, -with each other, as far as
Meshed, where they branch off to Bokhara on the one hand, and on
the other to Cabul by Elerat and Candahar. The former of these
routes, travelled over by Alexander Bumes, seeras to us totally im
practicable. The distance to Bokhara from Teheran (which we ¦wiU
assume for the starting point, though it b stUl the capital of Persia)
Is not less than 500 leagues ; and It cannot reasonably be supposed
possible to effect, and above aU to preserve, a conquest so remote,
when in order to reach the heart of the coveted country. It b neces
sary to traverse the vast deserts north of Meshed, occupied by no-
made hordes, which are the more forraidable, inasrauch as no kind
of raiUtary tactics can be brought to bear on them. Moreover, it
must not be forgotten that the occupation of Bokhara by no raeans
infers that of Affghanlstan. The distance from the former to Cabul
is raore. than 250 leagues. The regions between the two to-wns are
Indeed less sterile and easier to traverse; but, on the other hand, an
army raarching towards India would have to penetrate the danger
ous passes of the high mountain chain between Turkbtan and
Affghanlstan, which are defended by the most -Indomitable tribes
of Central Asia. Here would be repeated those struggles in which
Rusria has been vainly exhausting her strength for so raany years in
the Caucasus.* In truth, in presence pf such obstacles, of ground,
cUraate, population, and distance, all dbcussion becoraes superfluous,
and the question raust appear decided in the negative by every Im
partial man who possesses any precise notions as to the regions of
Western Asia. - .
There reraains the route by Meshed, Herat, and Candahar. Thb
is Incontestibly the one which presents fewest difficulties ; yet we
doubt that It can ever serve the arabltlous views attributed to Russia.
Along the Une from Teheran to Hei-at Ue Iraportant centres of agri
cultural populations; viUages are found on It surrounded by a fertile
and productive soil. But these advantages, besides being very
Umited, are largely counterbalanced by uncultivated plains destitute
of water which must be traversed in. passing from one Inhabited
spot to another, and by the obstacles of all kinds which would be
subsequently encoimtered in a march through the deserts of Affghan-
btan, the warUke tribes of which are much more forraidable even
than the Turcoraans who infest the route from Teheran to Herat.
Besides, as it is nearly 600 leagues from the capital of Persia to' the
centre of Affghanbtan, it b exceedingly unlikely that Russia -vriU
• The mountains that divide Turkistan from Affghanlstan are covered with
perpetual snow- ; some of their iieaks aro 6000 yards high. Eadjigak, which was
crossed by A. Enrnes, is -1000 yards above the sea.

EUSSIAN INFLUENCE IN CENTRAL ASIA EXAGGERATED. 329
ever succeed In subjugating a country in which Its armies could only
arrive by a raiUtary road maintained and defended throuo-h so huo-e
a space. No doubt the way would be considerably sraoothed for Russia
along both the Candahar and the Bokhara lines, if by gradually ex
tending the circle of her conquests she had brought the inhabitants
of Khorasan and Turkistan to obey her. But there are obstacles
to the achieveraent of this preUrainary task which the erapire is not
by any raeans corapetent to surmount, nor will It be so for a very
long time to conae. To say nothing of cUmate, soil, and distance,
all the tribes in question are animated with a hatred and aversion for
Russia, which -vriU long neutraUse the projects of the tzars. We
often hear of the great influence exercised by the cabinet of St.
Petersburg at Khiva, Bokhara, and Cabul ; but we beUeve it to be
greatly exaggerated, and the history of the various Muscovite em
bassies proves raost palpably that it is so. What did Negri and
Mouravief effect at Khiva and Bokhara? They were both received
-vrith the most insulting distrust, prevented frora holding any com
munication with the natives, and watched -with a strictness which Is
only employed against an eneray. Moura-rief even went near to pay
for his erabassy with his head. Was Russia more fortunate at
Cabul? We think not. The reraoteness of her dorainlons may cause
her agents to be received -vrith some degree of favour, especially at
a time -when the sovereign of Cabul finds hiraself exposed to the
hostiUty of Engknd. Yet it is not the less true that any serious
attempt of Rusria on Turkistan and the eastern regions of Persia
would suddenly arouse the animosity of the Afighans and aU their
neighbours. We readily admit that the imperial govemment has
It In its power, by Its advice and Its intrigues, to exercise a certain
influence at Cabul, to the detriraent of England: but that thb In
fluence can ever serve the extension of the Musco-rite sway is what
we utterly deny, knowing as we do the intense and unraitigable
aversion to Rusla which is felt by all the natives of Asia.
The conquests of Alexander the Great and of Genghis Blhan have
often been appealed to as proving how easy it would be for the tzara
to foUow in the footsteps of those great captains. Such knguage
bespeaks on the part of the writers who have put it forth the most
profound ignorance of the actual condition of the places and the
inhabitants. When Alexander raarched towards Bactriana to sub-
• jugate the kst possessions of Persia, he left behind hira rich and fertUe
countries, iraportant Greek colonies, and nations entfrely subdued ;
moreover, he marched at the head of an array consisting of natives
ofthe south, possessing aU the quaUfications necessary for warfare in
the ktitudes of Central Ask. Furtherraore, at that period the pro-
-rinces of the Oxus contained numerous rich and flourishingtowns,
¦vrith inhabitants Uving in luxury, and little capable of resistance.
Nevertheless, in spite of aU the faciUties and all the suppUes which
tiie country then offered to an invading army, its physical confor-

330 ... THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
mation, broken and bounded by deserts both on the north and on
the south, seems to have aided the efforts of Its defenders to a re
markable degree. It was in fact in thb remote part of Persia that
the conqueror of Darius had to fight many a battle for the establish
ment of his transient sway. The sarae cfrcumstances marked hb
march to India. Invasions have become stiU more difficult since hb
day, for all those regions once occupied by wealthy and agricultural
nations have been ravaged and tumed into deserts; scarcely do there
exist a few traces of the ancient towns,, and the popuktions subdued
by Alexander have been succeeded by hordes of Khirgis, Turcomans,.
and Afighans, who would be for the Russians what the Scythians
were for the King of Macedon and the other conquerors who tried
to enslave their country^ - .
The Mongol Invasions can no more than Alexander's be regarded
as a precedent for Russia. . Inured to the fatigues of emigration,.
cai'rying all thefr ordinary habits into the camp, changing thefr
country -without changing thefr ways of life, unburdened by any
materiel of war, and never -retarded by the slo-vv and painful march of
a body of infantry, the hordes of Genghis Kb an and Tamerlane were
singularly fitted for occupying and retaining possession of the Im
mense pkins of Turkistan, and reaUsing the conquest of India.
Russia, on the contrary, is totaUy devoid of tkose grand means of
away which Alexander and the Mongob enjoyed. The Russians
have nothing in common -with the soldiers of antiquity and of the
middle ages^ and are placed In very different cfrcumstances: they
are natives ofthe coldest regions of the globe; they have no pos
sible opportunity of pre-vious accUraation,, and they are .separated
from the frontiers ca India by raore than 500 leagues of almost
desert country, in which the eraployraent of infantry, wherein alone
consists the real superiority of Europeans over QriMitab, b im
practicable. ,v.- • . . . - - .; " ;
, And now, if we look to Indk, and to the people from whom the
tzars propose to wrest Its empfre, we see Great Britain ocoupying-
aU the to-wns on the coast and in the interior, mbtress of the great
rivers of the country, controlUng niilUons: of inhabitants by her
irresistible poUtical ascendency, ha-ving the richest andraost pro
ductive countries ofthe world -for the basb of her raiUtary opera
tions, coramanding accUmated European troops, and a powerful
native array habituated to follow her banners; in a word, we see
Great Britain pkced in tiie most admirable position for defending
her conquests-, and repulsing any aggression of the northem na
tions, foreign to the soil of Hindustan and Central Asia.. The fears
. of the English and the schemes of the Russians appear to us, there
fore, aUke chimericaL Undoubtedly, as we have already said, the
intrigues of the govemment of St. Petersburg, may, like those of
any other influential power, create difficulties and annoyances in
AJfffhanistan and ebewhere; but the EngUsh rule -vrill never be
really in danger, untU the time shaU come when national ambition

IMPORTANCE OF THE CAUCASUS TO GREAT BRITAIN. 331
and a desfre of resistance shaU have been kindled In the Hindu
populations themselves.
Let us tum_ back to the Caucasus, of which we have not spoken
in this discussion, though the independence of its tribes is in our
opinion one of the most important obstacles to the aggiandisement
of Russia in Asia; and let us imagine what are the immediate
palpable interests which are at stake in the Trans-Caucasian regions
for certain powers of Europe. Every one knows that Persia is be
come of late years the point of contact between England and Rus
sia, the scene of competition between the two nations for the db-
posal of their merchandise. Our readers are aware, that since the
suppression of the transit trade and free comraerce of the Caucasian
provinces, the EngUsh have estabUshed a vast depot for their manu
factures at Trebisond, whence they have not only acqufred a
monopoly in the supply of Arraenia, Eastern Turkey, and the greater
part of Perria, but also supply the Russian pro-rinces themselves by
contraband. Hence it raay be conceived -vrith what wakeful jealousy
Engknd must watch the proceedings of Russia beyond the Cau
casus, -and what an interest she has in irapeding any conquest that
would close against her the great commercial route she has pursued
by way of Erzeroum and Tauris. She cannot, therefore, be indif
ferent to the Independence of the Caucasus, which, while servino' as
a bulwark to the frontiers of Turkey and Persia, affords also a most
effectual protection to her mercantile operations in Trebisond. It
may perhaps be said that this b a raerely English question, very
interesting to the raanufacturers of London and Manchester, but of
Uttie concern to France. But where our neighbours find means to
dispose annuaUy of raore than 2,000,000/. sterUng worth of manu
factures, there abo we think our own political and commerclEd in
terests are concerned. Have not we, too, an influence to keep up
In Asia? Do not we, too, possess raanufactories and a numerous-
working popuktion, and is it not carrying indifference and apathy
too far, to let other powers engross all those regions of Asia where
we could find such ready and profitable markets? Whose faidt is
it if. the French flag b so seldom seen on the Black Sea, if Trebisond
Is becorae an English town, and if the coraraerce of Asia is raonopo-
Used hy our rivab? There is rauch to blame in the indifference o£
our country, and In the incapacity of some, of our consular agents.
But if our coraraerclal poUcy is often -vicious, if our trade is mis-
dfrected and mismanaged, and we are often outstripped by our
neighbours across the channel, is that any reason why we should,
in bUnd selfishness, express our approval of conquests which wonld
only end in the destruction of all European coraraerce in the Black
Sea? Certainly if Russia, modifying her prohibitive system, and
.firankly abandoning all further designs against Turkey and the coasts of
the Black Sea, would seek to extend her dorainlons solely on the side
of Persia, we think it would be good policy not to thwart such a-
moveraent; for in case of a struggle between that power and Eng—

332 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
land, France would unquestionably be called on to act as a me
diator, which would give her an admirable opportunity for dic
tating conditions favourable to her poUcy and her influence In the
East. The detailed considerations Into which we have entered re
specting the situation of the Russians, the war In the Caucasus,
and the poUtical iraportance of that region, clearly indicate the dif
ferences between the conflict In the Caucasus and that which we
have been carrying on for fourteen years in Algeria. The aggres
sive pohcy of Russia once adraitted, and her possessions north, south,
and east ofthe Caucasus not allo-wing of contestation, the submis
sion of the mountaineers becomes for her a vital question, -with
which is connected, not only the fate of her Asiatic provinces,
but abo that of all the governments that lie between the Danube
and the Caspian. In Algeria, on the contraiy, we are not urged
by any Imperious motive to extend our conquests. Our political
influence in Europe, and our real strength could at present gain
nothing thereby; and it Is probably reserved "to another generation
to derive a grand and useful result from our African conquests.
. Of late years' sorae public writers, taking the defeats of Russia
jEbr their text, have founded on tkera an argument agaiiat the
estabUshraent of French supremacy In Algeria. This reasoning
appears to us unsound, and it is even at variance with historical
facts. In Asia, Russia has had to deal -vrith two very distinct
regions; the trans-Caucasian pro-rinces, and the Caucasus proper.
The forraer, easy of access, and coraprising Georgia, Iraeritia,
MingreUa, and the other pro-rinces taken frora Persk and Turkey,
were occupied by disorganised natious, at variance within them
selves, and differing frora each other in race, manners, and reU
gion; accordingly the Muscovite sway was estabUshed over them
without difficulty, and without any conflict w-orth raentioning with
the Inhabitants. The case has not been the same in that immense
mountain barrier erected between Europe and Asia, the inacces
sible retreats of which extend from Anapa to the shores of the Cas
pian. The dweUers in those regions present no analogy -vrith the
inhabitants south of the chain. There has never been a moment's
pause in the obstinate strife between thera and Russia; and aU the
sacrifices, and all the efforts of the tzars against them, have for
sixty years been wholly In vain. "
Our situation in Algeria is e-ridently very different. We have
tiiere had for our portion neither the bootless strife of the Caucasus,'
though having most warUke tribes for - adversaries, nor the easy
conquests of the trans-Caucasian provinces. It b but fourteen years
since our troops landed in Africa, and we possess, not only all the
to-wns of the seaboard, but Ukewbe all those of the interior; nu
merous bodies of natives share actively iu our operations; we are
masters of aU the lines of communication; our forces comraand the
¦ country to a great distance from the coasts : and in the opinion of

ALGERIA AND THE CAUCASUS. 333
aU weU-inforraed officers the pacification of the regency of Al friers
would, perhaps, have by this time been accompUshed, If the go
vernment had set Its face against the passion for buUetins, and the too
martial humour of raost of our generals, and tried to pacify the tribes,
not by arras and violence, but nuraerously raraified coraraerclal rek-
tions which shoidd caU into play the natural cupidity of the Arabs.
Nor can the topographical difficulties of Algeria be corapared with
those that defend the country of the Lesghis, the Tchetchenzes, and
the Tcherkesses. Intersected by vast plateaux, nuraerous rich and
fertile valleys, and parallel mountain ranges, almost everywhere
passable and flanked by long Unes of coast of which we possess the
principal points, and wltich present at Alglei-s, Oran, PhiUppevUle,
and Bona, wide openings affording admission into the interior, our
possessions afford firee course to our armies, and nowhere exldbit that
¦ strange and singular conforraation in which has consisted ft-ora time
immemorial the safety of the Caucasian tribes.
There are other circurastances Ukewise that faciUtate our progress in
Africa, and enable us to exercise a direct influence over all the tribes
south of the Tel of Algiers. As has been very ably demonsteated by M.
Cai-rette, captain of engineers, it is enough to occupy the extrerae liraits
of the cultivated lands, and the markets in which theiidiabltantsof the
oases exchange their produce for the corn and other indispensable com
modities of the north, to oblige all the populations ofthe Sahara, fbced
or noraade, Iraraediately to acknowledge the sovereignty of France.
It is only in case our governraent, irapeUed by iU-dlrected vanity,
should decide on the absolute conquest of the raountains of the
Kabyles, that we might encounter In the country, and In the poUti
cal constitution of those mountaineers, sorae of the obstacles that
characterise the Caucasian regions. And again, -what coraparbon
can there be between KabyUa, the two portions of which east and-
west of Algiers coraprise but 1000 or 1200 square leagues of sur
face, and the great chain of the Caucasus which extends -with a raean
breadth of fifty or sixty leagues, over a length of raore than 250
leagues? We say nothing of the superiority of our arraies and our raiUtary
systera. It is enough to recaU what we have said as to the de
plorable situation of the troops In the Caucasus, to be aware how
much France has the advantage over Russia In this respect.
The diseases and the frightful mortaUty Incident to our armies
have been abo dwelt on ; but here again aU the statistical returns
are in favour of France. Out of a force of 75,000 men, our raean
- annual loss, is 7000 or 8000. In 1840, indeed, the most fatal year,
it appears to have risen to 12,000; but in that same year, and Uke-
-vrise In the foUo-wIng year, Russia lost njore than 17,000 on the
coasts of Cfrcassia alone. Thus physically, as weU aspoUticaUy, there
b a total difference between the war In the Caucasus and that in
Algerk; and Instead of suffering ourselves to be dbheartened by
fourteen years of unproductive occupation, and despairing before

334 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
hand, because the actual results do not keep pace with our unrea
sonable impatience, we ought to take exaraple by that indefatigable
perseverance -with which Russia, in spite of her disastera and the
fruitlessness of her efforts, has gone on in the purstut of her purpose
for upwards of half a century.

CHAPTER XXXII.
A STORM IN THE CAUCASUS — ^NI&HT JOITRSEY ; D..VSCEES AUD DrrFICT7I.TrE3 —
STAVKOPOL — HISTORICIL SKETCH OP THE GOVEHNJIENT OF THE CAUCASUS AHD
THE BLACK SEA COSSACKS.
At four o'clock on a duU moming we left Pktigorsk of charming
meraory, to strike once more Into the mountains, where by the by,
in less than an hour, we were met by one of flie, grandest and most
violent storras I reraeraber ever liaving -vritnessed. We had to en
dure its force for two long hours; and our situation was the raore
critical, since our yemshik (coachraan), though quite fiimlUar with
the road, seemed almost at his -wits' end. It was only by the gleam
of the lightning he was able to make such brief observations of the
ground as enabled him to guide his horses. This was certainly a
very precarious resource, but there Is a special providence for tra
veUers. Lost In the raidst of the mountains, and our sole hope of
safety resting on the coolness and skiU of a peasant, we escaped, we
scarce knew now, from a seemingly ine-vitable catastrophe. A furious
burst of rain, the last expiring effort of the storm, at last cleared the
sky, which became coloured towards the west with purple bands,
that contrasted gloriously -vrith the darkness of the rest of the fir
mament. A magnificent rainbow, -with- one end springing firom the
highest peak of the Caucasus, whibt the other was lost in the mists
of eveiung, gleamed before us for a few moraents, and graduaUy db-
solved away.
At half-past seven we reached the station, wet, weaiy, stupified,
and very rauch surprised to find ourselves safe and sound after having
passed through so raany dangers. Nevertheless, this recent alert by
no raeans made us forego our original pkn of travelling aU night in
order to reach Sta-vropol the next day. Nothing is so soon forgotten
in travelling as danger. One is no sooner out of one scrape than he b
ready to get into another, and a worse one, -without gi-ring a thought
to hb past akrms. You must get o-ver the ground : that b your ruhng
thought. As for taking precautions, calcukling the good' or the bad
chances of the joumey, or troubUng oneself about dangers to
come, by reason of those already incurred, aU this is quite out of the
question. We were quite bent on traveUing aU night, but the idea
was totaUy discountenanced by the postmaster and the Cossacks

JOUENET TO STAVROPOL. 335
whom we feU in -with at the station. They told us there was a fafr
at Stavropol, and that the road was always soraewhat dangerous on
such occasions, particularly after sunset. A night or two before,
several persons returning frora the fair had been surprised and plun
dered by the Circassians, In spite of the many raUitary posts alono-
the road. Several other ugly stories were told us, in a tone that at
last shook our resolution, and we were beginning very reluctantly to
give up our project, when an unexpected incident raade us recur to
it again. A PoUsh officer, who untd then had kept aloof in a dark comer,
seeing the annoyance we felt at thb unforeseen delay, joined in the
conversation, and offered to set out at once -vrith us. If his company
would be sufficient to restore our confidence. He, too, -was going
to Stavropol, and It was aU the sarae to hira whether he traveUed
that night or next day. The proposal, which was made -vrith the
most obUging frankness, agreed too weU -vrith our -vrishes to aUow of
any further hesitation, and we at once accepted it. The Pole had
¦with hira a servant very well arraed, and the two together were -such
a relnforceraent to our littie troop as almost Insured our safety.
With great exultation we set about our preparations for departure,
but the raore experienced postmaster gave with reluctance the order
to put the horses to, and could not help crossing himself repeatedly
when he saw us get Into the britchka, whibt the two yemshiks faded
not to imitate hb exaraple, and to lift their fur caps several times in
token of devotion. The Russians always find means to mingle cross-
ings with aU the other acts of their hands, by which process they
set their consciences entirely at rest I am satbfied they cross them
selves even when thieving, partly from habit, and partly in the
hope of escaping without detection. . . -
Once out of the yard, tiie pleasure of travelUng on a mild and
dim night tiirough an unkno-wn country, that presented itself to our
eyes under vague and mysterious forms, so engrossed our minds that
we thought no raore of Circassians, or broken ground, or danger of
any Mnd. The Pole's carriage preceded ours, and his Cossack
began to sing in a low tone one of those sweet raelancholy airs
which are pecuUar to the Malomssians. The plaintive melody,
mingled -with the tinkUng of the horses' beds, and the motion of
the carriage luUed me into a drearay repose, half way between
sleeping and waking, I know not how long thb state of haUu-
dnation lasted; but I was startled out of it by a pistol-shot fired close
to me, and before I could collect my senses a second ¦was fired, but
at sorae dbtance. The carriage had stopped., the night was very
dark, and my companions were quite sUent, I was a good deal
frightened, until my husband expkined to me that the PoUsh
officer had lost his way, and that our dragoman had fired hb pistol
as a rignal to him, and that the second shot was an answer to the
first Being now satbfied that we had not half a -dozen Cfrcassians
about us, I recovered courage enough to kugk at my first dismay.

336 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C,
Anthony left us to look for our travelling companion, after arranging
-vrith us that a third shot should be the token of his ha-ving found him.
We passed half an hour in a state of painful anxiety, teasing oui-selves
¦vrith a thousand alarming conjectures, and dreading lest the report of
fire-arms should bring down on us some of the Cfrcassians who might
be prowling in the neighbourhood. What would I not have then
given to be far away from that road which we had been told was so
terrible, and of which my' imagination stiU more magnified the
dangers !
At last the preconcerted signal was heard, and Anthony soon
afterwards returned, but alone, and told us that we must go on
without the Pole, whose perecktnoi had stuck fast in a bad spot,
and could not be extricated until daylight. The night was so dark,
and the ground so dangerous, that notwithstanding his wish to ease
our minds, the officer could not venture to come to us. This news
was not calculated to abate our anxiety; we might in a moment be
in the same predicament as the officer, supposing nothing worse
should happen. The road, as the yerashik told us, wound round a
rock, and what proved that it was dangerous was that It was flanked
In places with slight posts and raib. Such a precaution is so rare In
Russia, that it may be taken as a certain indication of no common
danger. We debated awhile whether it -would not be more prudent .
to remain where we were until daybreak; but the coachraan was so
terrified at the thought of passing a night In the mountains, that he
fave us no peace tdl we moved forward. The prospect of tumbUng
o-wn a precipice was decidedly less terrible to hira than the thought
of having to do with the Cfrcassians. Alighting and leading his
horses, he foUowed Anthony, who carefully sounded one side of the
road. As we advanced on our perilous descent, the sound of a
toiTent roaring at the bottom smote our ears, as if to increase our
perplexity; but in an hour's time we found ourselves safe and sound
on the pkin, and soon afterwards we reached the station, where our
arrival excited great astonishment. The postmaster was enraged
against his coUeague, and could not conceive how he had corae to
f.ve us horses at night, in defiance of the strict rules of the poUce.
or his part he assured us that his duty forbade hira to do any such
thing, and that it was useless to ask hira. I need not say, however,
that this declaration itself was usekss, for we had had quite enough
of the road for that night. I never enjoyed the most comfortable
chamber In a French or German hotel so much as I did the mi
serable lodging in which I then ky do^vn on a bench covered only
with a carpet. - .--,,. . , ;
" We did not quit the station next day untd the arrival of our fra-
veUing companion, whom we had reluctantly left In so unpleasant a
predicament. He was severely bruised by hb fall, but laughed
heartily at his mishap. We set out together, very glad to get away ,
from those fine mountains that were then gleaming in the rays of
the morning. The events of the preceding night, though after all

STAVROPOL. 337
not very draraatic, had left so painful an irapression on our mind, that
the very sight ofthe raountains still caused us a secret dread. Instead,
therefore, of quitting -vrith regret so picturesque a region, the more
homely and coraraon-pkce the country became, the more we admired
it. We were just In the humour to be delighted with tiie steppes
ofthe Black Sea; so much does the appreciation of scenery depend
on the state of the mind.
During aU this day's joumey the road was covered with car
riages, horseraen, and pedestrians, repairing to the fair of Stavropol,
and affording saraples of all the motley popuktion of the vicinity,
Circassians, Cossacks, Turcoraans, Georgians, and Tatars; sorae m
brilUant costume, caracoUng on thefr high-bred Kalrauck or Perriau
horses, others stowed away -with their faraiUes in carts covered with
hides; others driving before thera iramense flocks of sheep or swine,
that encorapassed the carriages and horseraen, and occasioned sorae
very comical incidents. Among all those whom business or plea
sure was calling to the fafr, we particularly noticed a very handsome
young Cfrcasslan mounted on a ricHy caparisoned horse, and riding
constantly beside a pavosk of more elegance than the rest, and the
curtains of which were let do-vra. This was enough to stimulate
our curiosity, for in these romantic regions the sUghtest incident
affords raatter for endless conjectures. I would have given sorae
thing to be aUowed to Uft one of the curtains of the mysterious
pavosk, or at the least to keep It In view until our arrival in Sta-
-vropol, but our postiUon did not partake in our curiosity, and
putting his horses to a gallop, he soon made ua lose sight of the
group. The last low range of the Caucasus, which graduaUy di
minishes In height to Sta-vropol, formed an irregukr Une on our
left, in which we caught many hasty gUmpses of charraing scenery.
The vegetation stiU retained a great degree of freshness, in conse
quence of the raildness of the teraperature, which at this season
would have appeared to us extraordinary even in more southem
countries. -It was late in the evening when we reached Stavropol, so that
we could not avail ourselves of our letters of introduction, and were
obUged to hunt for a lodging in the hotels of the principal street.
But they were aU full, and with great difficulty we succeeded, with
the help of our Polish friend, in getting adrabsion to the Great Saint
Nicholas, a shabby Inn, the coramon roora of which was afready
tenanted by a dozen traveUers. Nevertheless, we secured a Uttie
comer, and there we contrived to form a tolerable sort of divan
with our cushions and peUsses. I had now an opportunity of re
marking how little notice traveUers take of each other in thb country.
Iri this room, fiUed with people whose habits were so different from
ours, we were as much at our ease as If the apartment belonged to
US alone; and neither our language, beha-vlour, nor dress, appeared
to attract any undue attention. _'-. -" -' '.
c Sta-wropol, the capital of the whole Caucasus, is a very agreeable-

338 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
town, and appeared to us so much the more so frora the aniraatlon
lent it by the fafr. But I perceive that in the course of these traveb
I have not naraed one town without iramedktely joining the word
fair to it. It must be owned that chance was most bountiful to us
in throwing In our way so many occasions for conceiving a high
idea of the commerce of Russia. At Stavropol, however, the fair
occupied our attention much less than General Grabe, who was just
a week returned from an expedition against the Cfrcassians. His
staff filled the whole town with the noise of their martial deeds.
Every officer had his story of some glorious exploit, whereof of course
he was hiraself the hero. Though so recently returned. General
Grabe was already in busy preparation for another carapaign, on
which he built the greatest hopes. The good gentleraan even pressed
my husband very strongly to accompany him, as if It were a mere
party of pleasure. He offered hira hb tent, Instruraents, and every
. thing necessary to render the excursion beneficial to science. Under
any other circurastances my husband would no doubt have yielded
to the temptation of visiting the tribes of the Caucasus^ In the very
heart of their mountains, under the protection of a whole army, but
it- would have been madness to undertake such a joumey after those
we had but just completed.
Before we finaUy take leave of the Caucaskn regions, it wiU not
be amiss to give some historical account of that part of the empfre,
and of the Cossacks of the Bkck Sea, to whora is coraraitted the
perilous task of protecting the frontiera against the incessant at
tacks of the formidable mountain tribes. .
It was by -virtue of an ukase promulgated by Catherine H. In 1783,
that Russia took fuU and entfre possession of aU the countries north
of the Kouban and the Terek, which, of yore formed the almost ex
clusive dominions of numerous hordes of black Nogab, some of
thera independent, others acknowledging the authority of the Tatar
khans of the Criraea. But previously to this period the tzars were
afready in raiUtary occupation of the country, for It was in 1771
that they completed the arraed Une of the Caucasus, begun by
Peter the Great, at the mouth of the Terek.,
At first the new conquest was put under the dfrection of the
miUtary governor of Astrakhan; but the state of the southern fron
tiera soon became so serious in consequence of the war -vrith the
mountaineers, that it -was found ad-risable to form aU the provinces
conquered, by Catherine U. north of the Caucasus, into a distinct
province. The govemment of the Caucasus thus constituted, b
bounded, on the north by tiie Kouma. and tiie Manitch, which
divide it from the territory of Astrakhan, and from tiiat of the Don
Cossacks; on the west by the country of the Bkck Sea Cossacks;
on the east by the Caspian, and on the south by the armed line of
the Kouban and the Terek. ,-  - . !
• At tiie foot of the Caucasus, as everywhere ebe, the Russian
occupation occasioned great migrations. All the black Nogab of

FRONTIER COLONIES. 339
tiie right bank of the Kouban, who had fought against Russia, with
drew beyond the river araong the tribes of the mountain. Tlie
Kabardlans forsook the environs of Georgief, and sought refuge
deeper In the Caucasian chain, and it was only the black Nogais of
the barren plains between the Terek ancl the Kouma that remained
in thefr old abodes. Cut off from the independent tribes since the
erection ofthe fortresses of KisUar and Mosdok, they took no part
In the events of the war, and so they remained In peaceable posses
sion of thefr territory. As for the Kalmucks, who had been very
bold and active auxIUaries of Russia, they preserved intact all the
pasturages they now possess in the government of the Caucasus.
The Muscovite sway once established, and the frontiers put in a
state of defence, the next step was to occupy the country along the
northem verge of the Caucasus in sorae other way than by light
troops. It was therefore deterrained to forra nuraerous colonies of
Musco-rites and Cossacks, a project which the absolute power of the
tzars enabled them quickly to fulfil. The present villages in the
centre of the pro-vince along the banks of the Kouban, the Terek,
the Kouma, the EgorUk and the Kalaous, were erected, and the
nulltary colonies of the Black Sea Cossacks were founded; several
brge proprietors seconded the efforts of the government, and
, prompted either by the spirit of speculation, or by the superabund
ance of thefr slaves, forraed krge estabUshraents on the lands that
had been gratuitously conferred upon them. Attempts,- too, were
made to settle some of the German famiUes of Saratof on the Kouma.
- But the results were far from realising the hopes of the govemment.
. Compressed between the narrow limits in the districts of Stavropol and
Georgief, bounded on the north and east by the uncultivated lands of
the Turcomans and Kalmucks, on the south by the armed lines, con-r
tinually attacked and overrun by the mountaineers, the colonies
soon ceased to wear a thri-ring appearance; raany sacked and burnt
villages never rose again frora their ashes, the Gerraan colony on
the Kouraa was destroyed, and now there reraains no hope that
fhe nuraber of agricultural inhabitants -wiU ever become sufficient to
lend any real aid to the projects of the tzars. We have been in a
great many vilkges on the Kouma, and the confluents of the Ma
nitch, and found them scarcely able to supply their own wants.
Their contributions to the coramissariat are almost nothing, and the
armies are always obUged to procure their stores from the -central
provinces of Russia. ... ; ¦ .-- ,-
'Some settlements, indeed, such as Vladirafrofka and Bourgon
Madjar on the Kouma, dfrected by able men, have attained a high
degree o.f prosperity; but these are exceptions, and they owe their
.wealth to the cultivation of the mulberry and the pine, and thefr
numerous com-mUb, which constitute for them a -virtual monopoly.
The cultivation of com has had no share in the welfare of these
colonies, the nature of the cUraate having always been unfavourable
to it: the people of Vladlmfrofka and the neighbouring vUkges
z2

340 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
think themselves fortunate if they can raise corn enough fbr their
own consumption.
Thus, while we cordlaUy approve of the principle that suggested
the foundation of these advanced posts of the Sla-ric population,
and that strives to enlarge thefr growth, we are nevertheless con
vinced that in the present state of things, with the war in the Cau
casus becoming every day more formidable, these colonies can never
be conducive to the progress of Rusria; unless, indeed, that should
happen, which -we think most unlikely, namely, that the government
should so extend its conquests as to becorae undisputed possessor of
the fertile regions beyond the Kouban, where the colonist could
coramand sufficient natural resources.
The Cossacks better fulfilled the purpose for which they were
settled on the frontier. Active, enterprising, ahd accustomed to
partisan warfare, they were admirably adapted for resisting the
incursions of the mountaineers. If they have been less efficient of
late years, the blame must be kid on the inordinate demands of the
govemment, the extreme contempt -with which they are treated by
the Russian generals, and, above aU, the extinction of the pri-ri
leges which had been wisely conferred on them in the beginning,
and which alone could guarantee to the empfre the maintenance of
their -rigorous raiUtary organisatioiu.
The Black Sea Cossacks, as every one b aware, are descended
frora the Zaporogues of the Dniepr, whose faraous raiUtary corpora
tion appears to have been established towards the end of the fifteenth
century. Continually engaged against the Tatars ofthe Crimea, the
Ukraine Cossacks founded at this period a sort of colony near the
mouths of the Dniepr, consisting exclusively of unmarried men,'
whoso special avocation It was to guard the frontiers. Their num
bers rapidly increased, deserters from aU nations being attracted to ¦
them by the hope of booty, and thefr setcha, or head-quarters, on
an island of the Dniepr, became famous throughout the knd for the
miUtary services and the valour of Its inhahitants. In 1540, such
was the importance of these colonies to Poknd, that King Sigis- :
mund granted a large tract of land above the cataracts to the Zapo
rogues, in order to strengthen the barrier erected by them between
his dominions and the Tatars. ¦ -^
The new settlements on the Dniepr for a long tirae foUowed the
fortune of the Cossacks of Litfle Russia. But as thefr strength aug
mented continuaUy, they at last detached themselves firom the raother
country, and became an Independent raiUtary state. The supremacy
ofthe tzars was Imposed on Little Russia in 1664, and frora that
tirae the Zaporogues, deprived of thefr alUes, and left entirely to
their own resources, o-wned allegiance, according to circurastances,
to the Turks or the Tatars, to Poland or Russia, imtd the rebeUion
of Mazeppa, in which they took part, led to the total destruction of
their power. Some years after-wards we find them a^n roUIed
under the protection of the khans of the Crimea; but Russia soon

THE BLACK SEA COSSACKS. 341
assuraed so forraidable an attitude in those parts, that they were at
last constrained, in 1737, to acknowledge themselves vassals of the
erapire. But the poUtical decUne of the unfortunate Z-aporo<nies did not
stop there. During the war that preceded tho treaty of Koutchouk
Kainardji, a strong desire for independence was excited aniono- them
by the arbitrary acts of Russia. Many of their detachraents fouo-lit
even in the ranks of the Turks. Then it was that Catherine deter
mined on completely rooting out the military colony of the Dniepr.
The Zaporogues were expelled by force from their territory, which
' was given to other cultivators ; and sorae of thera eraigrated beyond
the Danube, whde others were transported to the neighbourhood of
Bielgorod. Ten years afterwards, -when war broke out again with
Turkey, a great nuraber of the latter volunteered into the Russian
arraies. After the peace of Jassy, Prince Potemkin, who had
formed thera into regiraents, was so pleased with their valour and
fidelity, that he induced Catherine to settle them beyond the strait
©f the Kertch, and intrust thera with the defence of the Circassian
border. They wereabo granted, along with the peninsula of Taman, the
whole territory coraprised between the Kouban and the Sea of A^of,
and extending eastward to the confluent of the Laba, and north
ward to the'river Eia. The Zaporogues then took the appeUation
of Cossacks of the Bkck Sea, and their organisation was assimilated
to that of thefr brethren of the Don. . They had an attaraan, nomi
nated for life by the eraperor, out of a Ust of candidates chosen by
themselves; and the civil and miUtary affairs of the coraraunity
were directed, under this supreme chief, by two perraanent fimc
tionaries, and four assessors changed every three years. Other pri
vileges were Ukewise accorded to thera, consbting chiefly in exerap-
tion frora aU taxes, the free use of the salt-pools, the right of terral-
natlng all Utigations -vrithout having recourse to the St. Petei-sburg
courts of appeal,, and in the pledge given to thera by the govern
ment, that their- regiraents should never be required to serve beyond
their own territory.
. Under the influence of Catherine's liberal institutions, the miU
tary colony completely fulfiUed the hopes of the govemment, and
made rapid progress. The rich pastures of the Kouban were co
vered -vrith iramense multitudes of cattle, and agriculture, too,
attained sorae degree of iraportance. The population also aug
mented considerably. The lands of the Kouban, as formerly those
of the Don, becarae an asylum for a great nuraber of ftigitives, and
the neighbouring provinces had often to coraplain of the escape of
fliefr slaves. But for the last twenty years the Black Sea Cossacks
have been suffering frora the effects of the new raeasures for equaUsa-
tion and uiuforralty, and, Uke the Cossacks of the Don, they are
now on the eve of being subjected to the ordmary laws and institu
tions of the provinces of the empire. The first encroachment on
thefr privileges, was their eraployraent on active service during the

342 THE STEPPES 0;P IHE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
kte wairs ¦vrith Turkey and Persia. They were obUged to fumish
four regiraents, which lost an enorraous number of men, and nearly
aU their horses. Thb first step taken, the governraent advanced
rapidly In Its course of reforra, and In a few years the Cossacks
were deprived of their right of electing their own functionaries, who
were thenceforth nominated by the emperor alone. These adrainis
trative changes, conjoined ¦with the military duties, which have in
creased to a most onerous extent In the course of the war against
the mountaineers, have had a very depressing effect on the' spirits of
the popuktion ; and at this day the Cossacks of the Kouban are far
different men frora those fiery Zaporogues, whose vigorous aid was
so eagerly sought by Rusria, Poland, and Turkey. The.military life
is become a loathsorae burden to thera, and they now only fight by
constraint or in self-defence. The Russians, accordingly, accuse
them of cowardice; but the governraent, by destroying their privi
leges, and the coraraanders-In-chlef by the scorn -vrith which they
treat theoi and the continual activity they impose on them, do all
that In them lies to dishearten and debase them. It b they who
.-are always put foremost In every expedition; every comraanding
officer sacrifices them without scruple, and makes targets of them
for the baUs of the mountaineers. Is it reasonable, then, to expect
alacrity and high courage on the part of men for whom mUitary
service is the breaking of every family tie, the destruction of aU
domestic prosperity, and who have not been left, in exchange for
so raany sacrifices, even the -shadow of national independence?
. At the time of my last journey to the Caucasus in 1840, the Cos
sacks of the Bkck Sea numbered about 112,000 soub, of whom
. 68,000 were males, residing in sixty-four -viUages, and'on 36,000,000
hectares of land held In coramon property, like the country of the
Don in former tiraes. The colonial army counted at that period
according to the registers, eleven regiments of cavalry, ten of in
fantry, of 800 men each, and two batteries of artiUery, one of them
mounted, making altogether a total of 20,000 men, nearly the thfrd
of the male population. "No doubt, the army can never in any case-
reach the official araount of force, Its ranks being continuaUy thinned
by disease and -war; and although young men are forced to enter
the service at the age of seventeen, and-are often kept in it thfrty or
forty years, stiU it would be quite impossible to brifig more than
12,000 or 14,000 into the field at once, without endangering the total
destmction of the population. In a pecuniary point of -view, no
men could weU be more unfortunate than the Cossacks of the Kouban,'
whether In campaign against the mountaineera, or merely cantoned
as reserves in thefr -villages, they receive absolutely nothing for thefr
services. The regulations. Indeed, declare that the regiments ac
tually caUed out shall receive pay at thd rate of six rubles annually for
each private, thirty-five rubles for every non-comrabsioned officer,-'
and 250 for every subaltern officer; but infalUble means have been
found, for preventing these] moderate aUowances from ever reaching

THE BLACK SEA COSSACKS. 343
those to whora they are promised. The posting estabUshraent through
out the Cossack country costs the governraent just as Uttie as the
maintenance of the troops, since horses, harness, hay, and com are
aU furnished gratis by the colony. The postilions even receive no
pay whatever; they are only aUowed a Uttie flour and groats, and
for every thing else they and thefr families raust shift for theha-
. selves during their whole terra of service. As for the progon (the
posting-money paid by traveUers), It belongs to the Cossack exche
quer, and composes, with the proceeds of the farm of brandy, salt,
and the flsheries, the sole revenues of the country.
When I was at Ekaterinodar, the capital of the country, during the '
season of field-work, and in-a tirae of quiet, they reckoned fourteen
regiraents on active service. Accordingly, as might have been ex
pected, agriculture had been long neglected, and the country was In a
miserable state. Nothing was to be seen in the viUages but infirm
old men, invalids, -vridows, and orphans; and the existence of the
colony depended on the toil ofthe women alone. The dbtress then
became so great as to- excite the uneasiness of the governraent, and
commissioners were sent to examine into the state of things; but
imfortunately the mission, Uke every thing of the kind, did no good.
The truth reraained corapletely concealed from the eraperor. The.-
blame was cast entirely on the Cossacks theraselves, and nothlng'-
W33 done to reraedy the sufferings of the popuktion.
- We do not know what raeasures have been adopted since our
departure by the imperial government -with respect to the present
'and future situation of the radltary colony of the Kouban. For our
own parts, having had opportunities of appreciating the good quaU
ties of the Tchomomorskie Cossacks, and all the capabiUties whick
a vrise administration would find in them, we cannot but heartily
•vrish that the government may, with a better undei-standing of its
own true interests, at least adopt towards them a Une of conduct
more in accordance -vrith thefr wants and their laborious services.

CHAPTER XXXin.

BAPtD JOUBITET PROM STAVBOPOI.— RUSSIAN -VVXDIinjC— PEBII.0U3 PASSAGE OF THE
DON r AIX SORTS Or DISASTERS BT NIGHT— TAGANROK ; COMMENCEMENT OF THB
COLD SEASON — THE GEBJitAN C0I/ONIE3 RE-VI3ITED.
¦ It would have been impossible to travel more rapidly than we
did from Stavropol to the Don. The steppe is as smooth as a
mfrror, and the posting better conducted than in any other part.
We no sooner reached a station, than horses, which had been brought
out the moraent we were descried, were put to, and gaUoped
away -vritk us -without a moment's check to the next station. A

344 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
temperature of at least. 20° Reaumer, the beauty of the sky, and
soraething light and joyous in the atmosphere, kept us in the highest
spirits. In no country have I ever seen such multitudes of gossamer
threads. The carriage, the horses, and our clothes were covered
with those gUstening prognostics of fafr weather.
As we advanced towards the abodes of civiUsation, our thoughts
were aU about the pleasure of arriving at Taganrok, to find our
letters, our friends, our European habits again, and the coraforts of
which for raany months we had enjoyed but casual snatches. We
rejoiced, therefore. In the speed with which we got over theground,
and scarcely cared to bestow a glance on the stanitzas that fled
away behind us. In passing through a Russian vilkge, however,
we were constrained to bestow some attention on outward objects,
our carriage being stopped by a wedding party that filled the whole
street. We counted a dozen pavosks fiUed -vrith young people of
both sexes. The gfrb, -with their heads bedizened -vrith ribbons,
screamed alraost Uke savages, and rivaUed the young raen in impu
dence and coarseness. It was a dbgusting spectacle. The bride
differed from the rest only by the greater profiision of ribbons and
flowers that formed her head-gear; her face was as red, her gestures
as IndeUcate,- and her voice as loud and shrill as those of her com
panions. ,.,-,-• . - .•-;;.<;,-¦ -; - ¦-'¦
It raay seem scarcely credible, but we were but two-and-tvventy
hours travelling 316 versts, between Sta-vropol and the Don. We
ate and slept in the carriage, and only aUghted at the- river side,
where aU sorts of tribuktions awaited us. . I cannot at thb moment
- think of that memorable night without wondering at the pertinacity
¦with which ill-luck clings to us when once It has fastened upon us.
At ten at night, when we were some Uttie way frora the Don, we
were told that the bridge was in a very bad state, and that we should
probably be obUged to wait tiU the next day, before we could cross
it. Such a deky was not what we had bargained for, especkUy as
we had reckoned on enjoying that very night a good supper and a
food bed under a friendly roof In Rostof. Then the weather, which
ad been so mild, had suddenly -turned chill, and this was another
motive to haste; so we went on -without heeding what was told us;
-but when we came to the river, the tokens that the bridge was out
of order, were but too manifest. Several carts stood there imyoked,
and peasants ky beside them, patiently waiting the dayUght. These
men reiterated the bad news we had already heard; but then It
was only eleven o'clock; if we waited we should have' to pass nearly
seven houra in the britchka, exposed to the cold night air, whereas
once on the other side, we should reach Rostof in two hours. This
consideration was too potent to aUow of our receding from our pur
pose. At the same tirae we neglected no precaution that prudence
required. The coachman and the Cossack were sent forward with
a lantern to make a reconnaissance, and returning in half an hour,
they reported that the passage was not quite Impracticable, only it

NIGHT TRAVELLING : DANGERS. 345
woidd be necessary to be very cautious, for sorae parts of the brido-e
" were so weak, that any iraprudence might be fatal to us.
Without calculating the risks we were about to run, we at once
aUghted, and foUowed the carriage, which the coachman di-ove
slowly, whibt the Cossack went ahead with the lantern, polntlno-
out the places he ought to avoid. I do not tldnk that iu the whole
course of my traveb we were ever in so alarming a situation. The
danger Was imminent and indubitable. The cracking of the wood
work, the darkness, the noise of the water dashing- throur'-h the de
cayed floor, that bent under our feet, and the cries of akrm uttered
every raoment by the coachraan and the Cossack, were enouo-h to
fiU us -vrith disraay: yet the thought of death did not occur to ra.e,
or rather ray mind was too confused to have any distinct thought at
aU. . Frequently the -wheels sank between the broken planks, and
those were moments of racking anxiety; but at last by dint of per
severance we reached the opposite bank in safety. The passage
had lasted more than an hour; It was time for it to end, for I cotdd
hold out no longer; the water on the bridge was over our ancles.
It may be iraagined with what satisfaction we took our places aoain
In the carriage. The dangers we had just incurred, and which we
were then better able fuUy to understand, almost made us doubt
our actual safety. For a long while we seemed to hear the noise of
the waves breaking against the bridge ; but this feeling was soon
dispeUed by others; for our nocturnal adventures were by no raeans
at an end.
- At sorae versts frora the Don our unlucky star put us into the
hands of a drunken coachraan, who after losing his way, I know not
how often, and buraping us over ditches and ploughed fields, actually
brought us back in sight of the dreadful bridge which we stIU could
not think of -vri.thout shuddering. We tried in our distress to per
suade ourselves we were mistaken, but the case was to.o plain; there
was the Don in front of us, and there stood Axai, the viUage we had
passed through after getting into the britchka. Fancy our rage after
floundering about for two hours to find ourselves just at the point
from which we started. The only thing we could think of was to
pass the night in a peasant's cabin ; but our aborainable coachraan,
whora the sight of the river had suddenly sobered, and who had
reason to expect a soimd drubbing, threw himself on his knees and
so eamestly iraplored us to try the road to Rostof again, that we
yielded to his entreaties. The difficulty was how to get back into
the road, and we had raany a start before we fotmd it. The carriage
was so -riolently shaken in crossing a ditch, that the coachman and
Anthony were pitched from their seats, and the latter feU upon the
pole, and became entangled in such a way that he was not easily
extricated. His shouts for help, and his grimaces when my husband
and the Cossack had set him on his legs were so desperate, that one
¦would have thought half his bones were broken, though he had only
a few trifling bruises. As for the yemshik , he picked hiraself up very

346 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
coolly, and cUmbed into his seat again as if nothing extraordinary
had happened. To see the quiet way in which he resumed the
reins, one would have supposed he had just risen from a bed of
roses ; such b the usual apathy of the Russian peasants.
It was four in the morning when we came in sight of Rostof,
which is but twelve versts distant from the Don. Thus we spent a
great part of the night In wandering about that town, Uke con
demned ghosts, without deriving much advantage frora our rash /
passage of the river. It was weU worth while to run the risk of
drowning, when our calculations and efforts could be baffled by so
•vtdgar a cause as the drunkenness of a coachman ! But the sight of
Rostof, where good cheer and hospitality awaited us, consoled us for
aU our mishaps. Yet even here, when we almost touched the goal,
our patience was put to further trial; for aUghtIng at the post station
two versts from the town, our rascally coachman positively refused
to drive us a foot beyond it. This was too much for the Cossack's
endurance, so drawing out a long knout from his belt, he paid the
feUow on the spot the whole reckoning he had intended to settle
with hira at the journey's end. The yerashik's shouts brought aU
the people of the station about us, and the vrife of the post-master
carae and scolded hira at such a rate, that at last he was forced to
drive us to the to^wn ; but it was more than an hour befisre he set us
do^wn at Mr. Yeams's house. His drunkenness had now passed Into
the sleepy stage, and he could only be kept to hb work by constant
thumping. The house where we intended to lodge contained a com store be
longing to Mr. Yearas, EngUsh consul at Taganrok, who had obUg
ingly invited us to use it when -we quitted that to-wn, and had sent
orders to that effect to his clerk, M. Grenier: and so pleased were we
-vrith our quarters on our first -visit to Rostof, that now the thought
of going anywhere else never entered our heads. To have done so
would have seeraed an affiront to Mr. Yearas's cordkl hospitaUty.
While we were unpacking the carriage, Anthony went and knocked
at the door, and the coachman, unyoking hb horses, in a trice -went
off as fast as he cotdd, -vrithout even waiting to ask for drink money.
Some minutes elapsed; Hommaire, losing patience, knocks agaln,when
at kst out comes Anthony -vrith a very long face, and teUs us that M.
Grenier, clerk and Provencal into the bargain, refused of hb own
authority to receive us, pretending that he had not a room for us-
Una.ble to comprehend su(di conduct, and beUeving that there was
some mistake in the case, my husband went himself to -the man, who
putting hb nose out from under the blankets, told him Impudentiy,
we must go and look for a lodging elsewhere.
All comment on such beha-riour would be superfluous. To shut
the door at night against one's own country people, and one of
thera a woraan, rather than incur a Uttie personal trouble, was a pro-<
ceeding that could enter the head of none but a Provencal. The'
Kalmucks might have given a lesson in poUteness to thb boor, who;

APPROACH OP -WTNTER. 347
roUed himself up snugly to sleep, whilst we spent the nio-ht, be
nurabed and shivering, under his windows in his court-yard. °It may
be conceived in what a state I passed the night; drenched with wet
worn down -with mental and bocUly fatigue, hungry, sleepy, and
chilled by the sharp cold that at that season precedes sun-rise, I was
really unconscious of what was passing around me. As soon as it
was Ught the Cossack procured horses, and took us to the best hotel
\in Rostof, where a warra room, an excellent bowl of soup, and a
large divan, soon set us to rights again. On our arrival at
Taganrok all the Yearns family were indignant at the behaviour of
our Proven5al, and, had we been disposed to pay him in his own
coin we raight have done so. They would have sent hira his discharo-e
forth-vrith, had we not interceded for hira ; the French consul
-wrote him a threatening letter, and -vrith this our vengeance remained
satisfied. We learned at Taganrok that the strangest rumours had gone
abroad respecting us. Sorae said that the Circassians had raade us
prboners, others that we had perished of himger and thirst In the
Caspian steppes. In short, every one had had his o-wn raelodramatic
version of our supposed fate. I cannot describe all the land interest
that was shown on our safe retum from so hazardous a joumey. In
spite of our -wbh to arrive as soon as possible in Odessa, we could
not refirain from bestowing a week on friends who received us -vritk
such warm sympathy.
The winds from the Ural swept away In one night all that October
had spared. The weather was still sunny when we arrived on the
shores of the Sea of Azof; but on the next day the sky assumed that
sombre chdly hue that always precedes the metels or snow-storms.
The whole face of nature seemed prepared for the reception of -win
ter, that eternal sovereign of northern knds. The sea-beach covered
with a thin coating of ice, the harah -vrinds, the ground hardened by
the frost, and the increasing U-ridness ofthe atmosphere, aU betokened
its coming, and made us keenly apprehensive of what we should
have to suffer on our way to Odessa, where we were to take up our
winter quartera, and from whence we were stiU 900 versts distant.
With the rapidity of the Russian post the joumey might be accom
pUshed in ten days, if the weather were not unfavourable; but after
the threatenino- symptoms I have mentioned, we might expect soon
to have a faU of snow, and perhaps to be kept prisoners by it in
some vilkge. ' .^- ;
-¦'Unfortunately for us It was the most dangerous season for travel
ling In Russia. The firat snows, which are not firm enough to bear
a sledge, are much feared by travellers, and almost every year cause
many accidents. At this period, too, the winds are very- -violent,
and produce those firightful snow-storms which we have afready
described. It was a very cheerless prospect for persons so way-worn
and weary as we were, to have incessantly to fi^ht against the ele
ments and other obstacles. I remember that in this kst joumey our

348 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
need of rest was so urgent, that the poorest peasant seated by hb
stove was an object of envy to us.
We once more passed through aU the German colonies I had so
much admired a few months before. But the pleasing verdure of
May had disappeared beneath the icy -vrinds of the north, and all was
dreaiy and dull of hue. Even the houses, no longer glistening in
the sunshine, had a sorabre appearance in harraony with the withered
leaves of the orchards. A metel that broke out one night forced us .
to pass two days In a German viUage, in the house of a worthy old:
Prussian couple. The wife had lost the use of one side, and could
not leave her chafr, but her husband supplied her place In aU the
doraestic concerns with a skUI that surprised us. As in aU the
Gerraan houses, the principal room was adorned ¦vrith a handsorae
porcelain stove, and a large tester bed which our hosts insisted on
giving up to us. Frora moming tiU night the husband, aided by
a stout servant gfrl, exerted all his culinary powers for our benefit.
The table was laid out aU day untd dinner hour with coffee, pastry,
bottles of ¦vrine, hara, and other appetising coraraodities.
There is nothing I think more deUghtfid in travelUng than to
-watch the proceedings of a' soraewhat rustic ctuslne. In such cases
all the marveb of Careme's art fade before two or three simple
dbhes prepared under your own eyes. The ear is pleasingly titU-
kted by the tune of the frying-pan, the smell of good things stimu-
ktes desire and qtuckens the iraagination, and the very preliminaries
are so agreeable, that the traveUer would not exchange them for the
most raagnificent banquet In the world.
. The quantity of snow that had fallen during those two days
retarded our speed. A man rode on before the carriage and care
fully sounded the ground, for the metel had filled up the holes and
ditches, and obUterated aU kndmarks. Nothing can be raore fiight
ful than those snowy wastes recently swept and tossed by furious
-winds. AU trace of man's exbtence and his works^ have dbap-
peared beneath those white blUows heaped upon each other Uke
those of the ocean in a storm. How well we could appreciate, in
those long days we spent In plodding through tke snow, the horrible
sufferings of our poor soldiers, perishing by thousands in the fatal
retreat of 1812 ! The thought of their misery smote upon om-
hearts, and forbade us to complain, warmly clad as we were, drawn
by stout horses, and ha-ving all we required done for us by others.
As we approached Kheraon post-sledges began to show themselves;
several of them shot by us with travellera -vrrapped up to the eyes
in their fur cloaks. These sledges are veiy low, and hold af m.ost
two persons. It very often happens that the body part upsets without
the driver's perceiving It; the accident is not at aU dangerous; but
it must be exceedingly annoying to the traveUer, as he rolls in the
snow, to see his sledge borne away frora hira at fuU speed, leaving
hira no helj) for It but to foUow on foot If the driver does not take
the precaution to look back from time to time, tke traveUer may:

DEPARTURE FOR THE CRIMEA. 349
. chance to run all the way to the next station, and It may be Ima-
ghied in what a pUght he arrives there. When the accident hap-
pens by night the case is stiU more serious. Many Russians have
told us that they had thus lost their way, and only after a day or
two's seai-ch had found the station where their sledge had arrived
empty. Nothing, indeed, is raore common than to lose one's way
m the steppes, nor b it at aU necessary to that end that one should
fad out of his sledge. We ourselves were once in danger of roaraino-
about all night m the neighbourhood of Kherson in search of our
road, which we could not find, xi very dense fog surprised us at
sunset, scarcely five versts from the town. For a long tirae we went
on at randora, not kno-vring whether we were going north or south,
and Heaven knows where we should have found ourselves at last, if
we had not caught the sound of horses' beUs. The travellers put' us
on the right way, and told us it was ten o'clock, and we had twelve
versts between us and Kkerson.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

DEPABTUKE POB THE CBLHEA — BALACLAVA — VISIT TO THE MONASTERY OP ST.
GEOBGE — SEVASTOPOL — THE IMPERIAL PIEET.
After a -vrinter spent In the pleasures of repose, we left Odessa
at the end of Aprd to -virit the Crimea, on board the Julia, a hand
some brig, o-wned and comraanded by M. Taibout de Marigny. Our
departure was extreraely brUUant. The two cannons of the Julia,
and those of the Little Mary, that was to sail in corapany -with us,
announced to the whole town that we were about to weigh anchor.
Our passage could not fail to be agreeable under such a captain as
ours. M. Taitbout de Marigny, consul of the Netherlands, joins to
the varied acqulreraents of the man of science all the accorapUsh-
ments of the artist and man of the world.
The voyage was very short, but full of chances and incidents; we
had sea-sickness, squalls, clear moonUght nights, and a little of all
the pains and pleasures of the sea. On the second moming, the sun
shining brightly, we began to discern the coast of that land, sur
named inhospitable by the ancients, by reason of the horrible cus
tom of its inhabitants to massacre every stranger whom chance or
foul weather led thither. The woes of Orestes alone would suffice
to render the Tauris celebrated. Who Is there that has not been
moved by that terrible and pathetic drama, of which the brother
and rister were the hero and heroine on this desert shore ! As soon
as I could distinguish the line of rocks that vaguely marked the
horizon, I began to look for Cape Parthenike, on which tradition

350 THE steppes op THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
pkces the temple of the goddess of whora Iphigenia was the priestess,.
and where she was near immokting her brother. With the cap
tain's aid I at last descried on a point of rock at a great^ distance
firora us a soUtary chapel, which I was informed was dedicated to
the Virgin. What a contrast between the gentie worship of Mary
and that of the sanguinary Taura, who exacted for offerings not the
siraple prayers and ex voto of the mariner, but human victims ! AU
this part of the coast is sterile and desert: a waU of rock extended/
before us, and seeraed to shut us out frora the peninsula so often
conquered and ravaged- by warUke and coramercial nations.. Richly
endowed by nature, the Tauris, Chersonese, or Crimea, has always
been coveted by the people of Europe and Asia. Pastoral nation^
have contended for possession of its mountains; comraercial nations
for its ports and its renowned Bosphorus ; warUke peoples have
pitched their tents araid its raagnificent vaUeys; aU have coveted
a footing on that soil, to which Greek civiUsation has attachedsuck
brilUant raeraories.
During a part of the day the -wind was contrary, and obUged us
to make short tacks in ¦riew of the rocky. waU;.. but at four o'clock a
change of -vrind aUowed the brig to approack the coast. The sea
was Uke a raagnificent basin refiecting in Its transparent waters the
great cakareous masses that; overhung It.. It was a fine spectacle;
but our captain's serious expression of countenance, and the Intent-
ness -vrith which he watched the sails, and directed the manoeuvres,
pkinly showed that our situation was one of difficulty. If not of
danger. A boat was manned and sent off to explore the coast, and
as Its white sail gleamed, at a distance In the sun, it looked Uke a
seabird in search of Its nest in the hoUow of some rock.. The Little
Mary imitated aU our evolutions, skimming over the waves like a
sea swaUow.. She shortened her trip at every tack, and kept closer
and closer to us; and our captain's face grew more and more grave,.
imtd aU atpnce to our great surprise the rock opened before us like
a scene in a theatre, and afforded us a passage which two vesseb
cotdd not have entered abreast. Having got fafrly through the
channel, M. Taitbout was hiraself again. Thb entrance he told us
is very dangerous in stormy weather, and often impracticable even
when the. wind is but moderately fresh. The scene, however, on
which it opens is extreraely^ beautiful. The port b surrounded -vritk
mountains, the highest of which still bear traces of the old Genoese
dominion, and in front of the- en trance is the pretty Greek town of
Bakckva-, with its balconied bouses and trees rising in terraces one
above tke otker- A ruined fortress overlooks the to-wn: frora that
elevated point the Genoese,- once masters of this whole coast, scanned
the sea like bfrds of prey,, and woe- to the-foreign vesseb tempest
driven -vrithin thefr range! Bakckva, -vritk its Greek population,
its gfrdle of rocks, and Its mdd cUmate,. resembles tkose littie towns
of the Archlpekgo that are seen specking the horizon aa one sails
¦towards Constantinople^ .- ; .; . ¦- • ;..

BALACLAVA. 351
TVTUle we remained on board waiting for the corapletion of the
custora-house forraalties, we were entertained with the most pic
turesque and animated scene iraaginable. It was Sunday, and the
whole population was scattered over the shore and the adjoining
heights. Groups of saUors, Arnaouts, and girls as gracefully formed
as those of the Grecian isles, were ascending the steep path to the
fortress, or were dancing to the shrill music of a bakkika. AU the
balconies were fiUed -vrith spectators, who were busy, no doubt, dis
cussing the apparition ofa brig in thefr port; for the trade of Bakckva,
so flourisliing under the Genoese, is now fallen to such a degree that
the arrival of a single vessel is an event for the whole to-wn.
Bakckva, the Cembalo of the Genoese, is now the humble capital
of a Uttie Greek colony founded in the reign of Catherine II., and
now numbering several -viUages with 600 faraiUes. During her wars
-with the Porte, the empress thought of appealing to the national
seatiments of the Greeks, and thefr hatred of the Turks. The result
answered her expectations, and Russia soon had a large naval force that
displayed the most signal bravery In aU its encounters with the
eneray. When the campaign agauist Turkey was ended, the Greek
auxUiaries took part in the military operations in the Criraea; and
after the conquest of the peninsuk, they were eraployed In suppress
ing the revolts of the Tatars, and striking terror into thera by the
sanguinary cruelty of thefr expeditions. It was at that period the
Mussulraans of the Criraea gave thera the narae of Arnaouts, which
they have retained ever since.
- The peninsuk having been finaUy subjugated, the Greeks were
formed into a regimental colony, with the town and territpry of
Bakckva for thefr residence. They now number 600 fighting
men, who are only employed in guarding the coasts. The colonist
b only Uable to be caUed out for active ser-vice during four months
in the year; the other eight he has at his own disposal for the cul
tivation of hb knds. Each soldier has twenty-eight rubles. yearly
pay, and finds his o-wn equipment.
Tlie day after our arrival at Bakckva we made a boating excur
sion to examine the geology of the coast, and knded in a beautiful
Uttie cove Uned -with flowering trees and shrubs. On our return the
boatraen made themselves coronab of hawthorn and blossoming
apple sprays, and decorated the boat -vrith garknds of the sarae, and
in thb festive style we made our entry into Balackva._ In our poetic
enthusiasm as we looked on the lovely sky, the placid sea, and the
Greek mariners, who thus retained on a foreign shore, and after the
kpse of so many centuries, the cheerful customs of thefr ancestors,
we could not help comparing ourselves to one of the numerous de
putations that used every year to enter the Pyrseus, -vrith thefr ves
seb' prows festooned -with flowers, to take part in thebriUknt festivab
of Athens. '. . ¦
-; We bade adieu that day to our excellent friend M. Taitbout de
Marigny, who continued hb crube to lalta, where we were again to

352 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
meet hira. We set out for the convent of St. George, our minds
fiUed with ckssical rerainiscences, which fortified us to endure the
horrible buraping of our perecktnoi. Thb vehicle Is a sort of low
four-wheeled cart, so narrow as barely to accoramodate two persons,
who have nothing to sit on but boxes and packages laid on a great
heap of hay. It is no easy matter to keep one's balance on such a
seat, especiaUy when the frail equipage b gaUoped along frora post ,
to post" at the full speed of three stout horses. Yet this is the/
manner in which most Russians travel, and often for a week to
gether, day and night. /
The road from Bakckva to the monastery presents no striking
features; It runs over a vast pkteau, as barren as the steppes. A
Uttie before sunset we were quite close to the convent, but saw no
thing indicative of its exbtence, and were, therefore, not a Uttie
sui-prised when the driver j uraped do-wn and told us to aUght. We
thought he was making game of us, when he led the way Into an
arched passage, but when we reached the further end a cry of admi
ration escaped our Ups, as we beheld the monastery with its ceUs
backed against the rock, Its greeh-doraed church, its terraces and
blooraing gardens, suspended several hundred feet above the sea.
Long did we reraain wrapt in contemplation of the magic effect pro
duced by man's kbour on a scene that looked In Its savage and
contorted aspect as if it had been destined only to be the doraain of
solitude. - .>.,..
The Russian and Greek raonasteries are far frora dlspkying the
monuraental appearance of the western convents. They consist only
of a group of smaU houses of one story, budt without symraetry,
and with nothing about thera denoting the austere habits of a reli
gious coramunity. Those poetic soub who find such food for medi
tation in the long gaUeries of the cloisters, could not easily be recon
ciled to such a disregard for form. The monks received us not like
Christians, but like downright -pagans^ The bishop, for whora we
'had letters, happening to be absent, we feU into the hands of two or
three surly-looking fnars, whose- dfrty-dress and red faces indicated
habits any thing but monastic Tliey confined us m a dbgustingly
filthy hole, where a few crazy chafrs, two or three rough planks on
tressels, and a nasty candle stuck in a bottie, were aU the accoramo
dation we obtained from thefr munificence. Our dragoraan could
not even get coab to boil the kettie without paying for it double
what it was worth. When we reraonstrated with the raonks their
invariable answer was, that they were not bound to provide us with
any thing but the bare furniture of the table. Such was their notion
of the duties of hospitality.
With our bones aching frora the perecktnoi we were obUged to
content ourselves -vrith a few cups of tea by way of supper, and to Ue
down on the execrable pknks they had the assurance to call a bed.
Fortunately, the bishop returned next day, and we got a cleaner
roora, mattresses, pillows, plenty to eat, and more respectful treat-

ANCIENT KHERSON. 353
ment on the part of the monks ; but aU thb could not reconcile us to
men who had such a ciuious way of practising the precepts of the
gospel. The few days we spent araong thera were enough to enable
us to judge of the degree of ignorance and raoral degradation in
which they hve. Religion which, fri default of instraction, ou"-ht
at least to moidd their soub to the Christian virtues, and to love of
thefr neighbours, has no influence over them. They do not under
stand it, and thefr gross instincts find few impediments in the statutes
of their order. Sloth, drunkenness, and fanaticbra, stand them in
stead of faith, love, and charity.
The great steepness of this part of the coast renders the descent to
the sea extreraely difficult. We tried it, however, and with a good
deal of hard work -vve scrarabled down to the beach, which is here
only a few yards -wide. Magnificent volcanic rocks form In this
pkce a natural colonnade, the base of which is constantly washed by
the sea,_ whibt every craggy point is tenanted by marine bfrds, the
(mly Uving creat-jres to be seen.
On our retum to the convent we found it fuU of beggars who had
come for the annual festival that was to be held on the day but one
foUo-vring. Cake and fruit-seUers, gipries and Tatars, had set up
thefr booths and tents on the plateau ; every thing betokened that
the solemnity would be very brilUant, but wehad not the curiosity to
wait for it. We set out that evening for Sta-vropol, glad to get
away frora a convent in which hospitaUty is not bestowed fre^y,
but sold.
On lea-ving the monastery we proceeded first of all in the direction
of Cape Khersonese, the most westem point of this classic land, where
flourished, for raore than twelve centuries, the celebrated colony of
Kherson, founded by the Heracleans 600 years B, c. At present the
only reraains of all its greatness are a few heaps of shapeless stones ;
and strange to rekte, the people who put the last hand to the de-
sfruction of whatever had escaped the barbarian Invasions and the
Mussulraan sway, was the same whose conversion to Christianity In
the person of the Grand Duke Vladinur, was celebrated by Kherson
m 988. When the Russians entered the Criraea. some considerable
architectural remains were stdl standing, among which were the
principal gate of the to-wn and its two towers, and a large portion of
the waUs; besides which there were shafts andcapitab of colurans, nu
merous Inscriptions and three churches of the Lower Empfre, half
buried under the soU. But Musco-rite vandaUsm quickly swept away
aU these remains. A quarantine estabUshraent for the new port of
Sevastopol was constructed on the site of the ancient Heraclean to-wn,
and aU the existing vestiges of Its monuments were rapidly derao-
Ibhed and carried away stone by stone ; and but for the direct inter
ference ofthe Emperor Alexander, who caused a few Inscriptions to
be deposited in the museum of Nicolaief, there would be nothing
remaining in our day to attest the existence of one ofthe most opu
lent cities of the northern coasts of the Bkck Sea.
2 A

' 354 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
At a short distance frora Cape Khersonese begins that succession
of ports whick render this point of the Crimea so iraportant to Rus
sia; one of thera is Sevastopol, whence the iraperial fleet coramands
the whole of the Bkck Sea, and incessantly threatens the existence
of the sultan's erapire. Between Cape Khersonese and the Sevas
topol roads which coraprise three iraportant ports, there are six
distinct bays running inland paraUel to each other. Ffrst corae the
Double Bay (Dvoinaia) and the Bay of the Cossack ( Cozaicliaia);
between wmch the Heracleans founded thefr first estabhshment, no
trace of which now exists. Then coraes the Round Bay (Krug-
laia), that of the Butts (Strelezkaia), and that of the Sands (Pest-
channaia). These five are aU abandoned, and are only used by
vesseb driven by stress of weather to seek shelter in them. It was
in- the space between, the Bay of the Sands and that more to the
west where the quarantine b established, that the celebrated Kherson
once stood. . - -
A Uttie beyond the quarantine cove, the traveUer dbcovers
Sevastopol, situated on the slope of a hlU between ArtiUery and South
bays, the first two ports on the right hand as you enter the main
roads. The position of the town thus built in an amphitheatre,
renders Its whole pkn dbcemible at one -view, and gives it a very
grand appearance fi-om a distance. Its barracks and stores, the ex
tensive buUdings of the adrafralty, the nuraerous churches, and vast
ship-building docks and yards, attest the iraportation of this town,
the creation of which dates only from the arrival of the Russians in
the Crimea. The interior, though not qtute corresponding to the
briUiant panorama it presents from a distance, b yet worthy of the
great naval station. The streets are krge, the houses hamdsome,
ancl the popuktion. In consequence of an Imperial ukase which ex
cludes the Jews from Its territory, is much less repulsive than that
of Odessa, Kherson, lekaterlnoslav, &c.
The port of Sevastopol is unquestionably one of tke most remark
able in Europe. It owes aU Its exceUence to nature, which has here,
-vrithout the aid of art, pro-vided a magnificent roadstead with rami
fications, forming so raany basins admirably adapted for the requfre-
ments of a naval station. The whole of thb noble harbour may be
seen at once fr-om the upper part of the town. The great roadstead
first attracts attention. It Ues east and west, stretching seven
kilometres (four railes and three-quarters) inland, -with a mean
breadth of 1000 yards, and serves as a station for all the active part
of the fleet. It forms tiie rmedium of communication between
Sevastopol and the interior of the peninsula. The northem shore
presents only a Une of clifis of no Interest, but on the southem shore
the eye b detained by the fine basins formed there by nature. To
the east, at -tke very foot of the IdU on which the to-wn stands, b
South Bay, in length np wards of 3000 metres, and completely
sheltered by high Uraestone cliffi. It b here the vesseb are rigged
and unrigged; and here, too, lies a long range of pontoons and

PORT OF SEVASTOPOL. 355
vesseb past service, some of which are converted Into mao-azines,
and others into lodgings for some thousand convicts who are em
ployed in the works of the arsenal. Araong these numerous veterans
of a naval force that is alraost always idle, the traveUer beholds -with
astonbhment the colossal ship, the Paris, formerly mountino- 120
guns, and which was, down to 1829, tho finest vessel in the trape-
rial fleet.
Beyond South Bay, and communicating with it, b the Uttie creek
in which the govemment is constractmg the raost considerable works
of the port, and has been engaged for many years in formino- an
Immense dock witli five distinct basins, capable of accommodatlno-
three ships_ of the Une and two frigates, while simultaneously unde;^
going repairs. The original plan for this great work was de\ised by
M. Raucourt, a French engineer, who estimated the total cost at
about 6,000,000 rubles. The magnitude of tliis sum alarmed the
government, but at the instance of Count Voronzof, they accepted
the proposals of an EngUsh engineer, who asked only 2,500,000,
and prombed to coraplete the whole -within five years. The work
was begun on the 17th of June, 1832; but when we visited Sevas-.
topol, sorae years after the first stone hsid been laid, the job was not
hdf finished, and the expenses already exceeded 9,000,000 rubles.
The execution ofthe basins seeras, however, to be veiy far from cor
responding to the enormous expenses they have afready occasioned,
and it is strange. Indeed, that a weak and friable limestone should
have been eraployed in hydraidic constructions of such iraportance.
The angles of the walb, it is true, are of granite or porphyry-, but
thb odd association of heterogeneous materials conveys, in itself, the
severest condemnation of the mode of construction which has been
adopted. Highly favoured as is the port of Sevastopol -vrith regard to the
forra and the security of its bays, it yet labours under very serious
inconveniences. The waters swarra with certain worms that attack
the ships' bottoms, and often make them unserviceable in two or
three years. To avoid thb incurable evil, the government de
termined to fiU the basins -with fresh water, by changing the course
of the little river, Tchernoi Retchka, which falb into the head of
the main gulf. Three aqueducts and two tunnels, buUt like the
rest of the works in chalk, and forraing part of the artificial chan
nel, were nearly completed in 1841; but about that period the en
gineers endured a very sad dbcomfiture, it being then deraonstrated
that the worras they wanted to get rid of were produced by nothing
else; than the muddy waters which the Tchernoi Retchka pom-s into
the harbour.*
.Artillery Bay, which bounds the town on the west, is used only
by trading vesseb. This and Careening Bay, the most eastern of
aU, are not Inferior in natural advantages to the two others we have
* See notes at the end ofthe volume..
.2 A. 2

356 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
been speaking of; but we have nothing more particukr to mention
respecting them;
After discussing the harbours and the works belonging to them,
we arc naturaUy led to gknce at the war-fleet, and the famous forti
fications of which the Russians are so proud, and which they regard
as a marvel of modem art. In 1831, when the Jidy revolution was
threatening to upset the whole status quo of Europe, a London
joumal stated in an article on the Bkck Sea and Southem Russia,
that notking could be easier than for a few well-appointed vesseb to
set fire to the Imperial fleet in the port of SevastopoL The article
alarmed the emperor's council to the highest degree, and- orders
were immediately issued for the construction of immense defensive
works. Four new forts were constructed, making a total of eleven bat
teries. Forts Constantine and Alexander were erected for the de
fence of the great harbour, tke one on the north, tke other on the
west side of ArtiUery Bay; and the Admiralty and the Paul batteries
were to pky on vessels attempting to enter South Bay, or Ships'
Bay. These four forts, conslstmg each of three tiers of batteries,
and each mounting from 250 to 300 pieces of artiUery, constitute
tke chief defences of the pkce, and appear, at first sight, tmly
formidable. But here again, tke reaUty does not correspond -vrith
the outer . appearance, and we are of opinion that aU these costiy
batteries are raore fitted to astonish the -vulgar in tirae of peace, than
to awe the eneray in war. In the first place their position at some
height above the level ofthe sea, and thefr three stories appear to us
radically bad, and practical men -wiU agree -with us tkat a kostile
squadron might make very Ught of the three tiers of guns which,
when pointed horizontaUy, could, at most, only hit the rigging of the
ships. Tlie Internal arrangements struck us as equaUy at variance
-with all the rules of miUtary architecture : each story consists of a
suite of rooras opening one upon the other, and coramunicating by a
sraall door, with an outer gaUery that runs the whole length of the
biulding. All these rooms, in which tho guns arc worked, are so
narrow, and the ventiktion is so Ill-contrived, that we are warranted
by our own observation in asserting that a few discharges would
make it exfreraely difficidt fbr the artiUerymen to do their duty.
But a StiU more serious defect than those we have naraed, and
one which endangers the whole existence of the works, consists in
the general system adopted fbr their constmction.
Here the impro-vldence of the governraent has been quite as great as
with regard to the dockbasins : for the Imperial engineers have thought
proper -to eraploy sraaU pieces of coarse liraestone In the raasonry of
three-storied batteries, mounting from 250 to 300 guns. The works,
too, have been constructed -vrith so Uttie care, and the dimensions of
the waUs and arches are so insufficient, that It is easy to see at a
glance, that aU these batteries must inevitably be shaken to pieces
whenever their numerous artUlery shaU be brought into pky. The
trials that have been made in Fort Constantine, nave afready demon-

THE SEVASTOPOL FLEET. 357
strated the correctness of thb opinion, wide rents having been there
occasioned in the walb by a few discharges.
Finally, aU the forts labour under the disadvantage of beino-
utterly defencekss on the knd side. Tlilnking only of attacks by
sea, the govemraent has quite overlooked the great faciUty -vritk
which an eneray may knd on any part of the coast of the Kher-
spnese. So, besides that the batteries are totaUy destitute of ar
tiUery and ditches on the land side, the town Itself is open on aU
points, and is not defended by a single redoubt. We know not
what works have been planned or executed since 1841 ; but at the
period of our visit a force of sorae thousand raen, aided by a mari
time demonstration, would have had no sort of difficulty in forcin"-
their way Into the interior of the pkce, and settrag fire to the flee't
and the arsenab.
We have now to speak of the offensive strength of the Port of
Sevastopol, that faraous fleet always in readiness to sail against Con
stantinople. The effective of the Black Sea fleet, in 1841, was as
foUows : — Ships of the line  13, 2 of 120 guns, the rest of 84
Frigates  6 mounting 60 guns
Corvettes  6 „ 20
Brigs  .'lo „ 10 to 20
Schooners  5
Cutters  ,  10
Steamers  5
Tenders  25
The krgest tenders are of 750 tons' burden, the smallest thirty.
The crews, raaking togetker fourteen battaUons, ought to be 14,000
strong. But we know that in Russia official figures are always much
higher than the reality. We think we c-annot be far wrong in
setting down the actual strength at 6000 or 8000 men.
Like every thing else in Russia, the ships of war look very impos
ing at first sight, but -will not bear a very close scrutiny. After
what we have stated respecting the venaUty of the adminbtrative
departments. It b easy to conceive the malvei-sations that must abound
in the naval arsenab. In vain raay the govemraent la-rish its raoney
aud order the purchase of the needful materiab; Its intentions are sure
" to be baffled by the corruption and rapacity of its servants. The
vesseb are generaUy built of worthless raaterkb, and there is no kind
of pecuktion but is practised in their constmction. We have men
tioned the Paris as an instance of the short duration of Russian
ships : and aU the vessels of the same period are In nearly as bad a
pUght A single cruise has been enough to make them unser-rice-
able. We must, however, admit that the naval boards are not
alone to blame for this rapid destmction. According to the informa
tion we have received, it appears that the ships are built generaUy
of pine or fir; but every one knows that these kinds of wood, pro
duced in moist places and low bottoms, cannot possess the soUdity
required in naval architecture.

358 THE STEPPES OF' THE CASPIAN" SEA, &C.
Before quitting Sevastopol we made an excursion to- the head of
the great bay, to ¦risit the- remains of a once celebrated to-wn, of
which nothing now reraains but sorae- ruins known under the name
Inkermann. We explored -vrith some interest a long suite of crypts;
some of which seem to belong to the remotest antiquity, while
others evidently date from the Lower Empire. Araong the latter
we particularly noticed a large chapel, excavated whoUy m the rocky
and presenting in its interior all the characteristics of the Byzantine
churches. Above all these subterraneous edifices, on the highest
part of the rocks, stand sorae fragments of waUs, the sole reraains of
the castle and to-wn that forraerly crowned those heights. The ruins
appear to occupy the site of the ancient Eupatorion of Strabo, which
afterwards, under the narae of Theodori, became the seat of a Uttie
Greek principaUty dependent on the Lower Erapire. It was taken
by the Turks in 1475, and soon after-wards totally destroyed.

CHAPTER XXXV. .^ _
BACTCHE SEBAI — HISTOHICAI, BEVOUTTIONa OP THE CEDIEA^-THE PALACE OP
THB KJHASS — COtSTESS POTOCKI.
After our excursion to Inkermann we left Sevastopol the same-
day, glad to quit the Russians and thefr naval capital for Bagtche
Serai, that ancient city, which pre-riously to the Musco-rite conquest"
might stUl -vie in power and opulence with the great cities of the
East. Even now, though much decayed,. Bagtche Serai is the most
interesting town In the Criraea.
The road which leads to it runs parallel -with a raountain chain,
and commands very beautiful scenery, which we beheld in aU the
fresh luxuriance of May. The liilb and vaUeys were clothed -vritk
forests of peach, almond, apple, and apricot trees in fiiU blossom, and
the south wind carae to us loaded -vrith thefr fragrance. We had
many a flying glimpse of landscapes we would wiUingly have-
paused to admire in detail, but the perecktnoi whfrled us along,
and towns, hiU-sides, -winding brooks, farras, meadows, and Tatar
vilkges shot past us ¦vrith magic rapidity.
Notwithstanding a temperature of 25-° Reaumer, the day appeared
to us very short. Yet we were impatient to see Bagtche Serai, Its
palace and its fountains which have been sung by. Pushkin, the
Russian lughtingale ; and this Irapatience, which mcreased as we ap
proached our journey's end, prevented us frora -visiting different
spots which less hasty traveUers woidd not have disdained. Every
mountain, vaUey, or viUage has sorae pecuUar interest of Its ovrnv
There were aqueducts, old bridges, and half-ruined towers in every

HISTORICAL REVOLUTIONS OF THE CRrjIEA, 359
dfrection. to teU of an ancient civiUsation ; but all these Interested us
less, perhaps, than the raodest dweUing in which PaUas long rerided,
and where he ended hb ckys.
Bagtche Serai has corapletely retained its national character in
consequence of an ukase of Cathetlne II. , erapowering the Tatars to
retain Exclusive possession of their o-wn capital. You wotdd fimcy
yourself in the heart of the East, in walking through the narrow
streets of the town, the mosques, shops, and cemeteries of which so
much resemble those of the old quarters of Constantinople. But it
. b especially in the co-arts, gardens, and kiosks of the harem of the
old palace, that the traveller raay well believe himself transported
into some deUcious abode of Aleppo or Bagdad.
It was In 1226, that the Mongol or Tatar . hordes led by Batu
Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, after invading Russia, Poknd,
¦ and Hungary, made their first appearance in the Crimea, and laid
the foundations of the Tatar kingdom, which was soon to' attain a
high degree of power> The Genoese about the same time took pos
session of several important points on the southern coast, and founded
Cafia- and other towns, which becarae extreraely fiourbhing seats of
coraraerce. Thefr prosperity lasted until 1473, when the Turks,
akeady raasters of Constantinople, clrove the Genoese out of the
'Criraea,, and took under their protection the Khans of Uttie Tatary,
who becarae -vassab of. the Porte, whibt retaining their absolute
sway over the Criraea-. From that tirae untd the eighteenth cen-
¦ tury, the history of the peninsiik is but- a long series of contests be
tween the Ottomans-, the Tatars, and the Muscovites.
- ..-. Russk, coveting this fine- country, took advantage of Its continual
'revolutions, and sent a large array thither In 1771, for the -purpose of
putting the young prince , Saheb Guerai on the throne. By this
stroke of poUcy, she took the Crimea out of the hands of the Porte,
and brouo-ht It under her own sole protection. In retum for the em
press's good offices, S-aheb Guerai ceded to her the towns of Kertch,
Yeni Kaleh, and Kalbouroun, very advantageously situated on the
-Dniepr. In tiiis way Russia took the first steps towards the cele
brated treaty of Kainardji of 1774, which conceded to her the free
navigation of aU the seas dependent on the Turkish dorainlons. But
It was not until 1783, that her sway was irrevocably established in
¦ tke peninsula, and the Tatars submitted to a yoke against which they-
'had so often andso boldly straggled. - . ¦ . .,
'""-During the briUiant period in which the khans reigned in tbe
Crimea, the seat of govemment altemated between Esld Krim and
Tchoufout Kaleh, untd the beginning of the sixteenth century, when
Bagtche Serai -was made the capital.
One would hardly recognise in the simple and orderly Tatars of
the present day, the descendants of those fierce Mongols^ who im
posed their sway on a part of westem Europe. There is a great
difference betwfeen the Tatars of the coast and those of the moun
tains.. The former have been rendered covetous, knavish, and

360 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
treacherous by their continual intercourse with tke Russians; whlbfc
tkeIr mountain brethren have retained the patrkrchal manners
that distingubh the Asiatic peoples. Thefr hospitaUty is most ge
nerous. The Tatar's best room, and the best which his house and
his table can afford, are offered to hb guest with a cordial akcrity
that forbids the very Idea of a refusal; and he would deem it an
insult to be offered any other payment than a friendly grasp of the
hand. The Tatar women, without being handsome, display a timid grace
that makes thera singukrly engaging. In pubUc they wear a long
white veil, the two ends of which hang over thefr shoulders, and
they are particularly remarkable for their coraplete freedora from
every appearance of vulgarity. We saw none at Bagtche Serai, but
those of the poorer classes; the .woraen of the mourzas (nobles),
and beys (princes) Uve quite retfred and never show theraselves in
public. But to retum to the palace of Bagtche Serai. It Is no easy task
to describe the charm of this mysterious and splendid abode, In
which the voluptuous khans forgot all the cares of life: it is not to
be done, as In the case of one of our palaces, by analysing the style,
arrangeraent, and detaib of the rich arehitecture, and reading the
artist's thought In the regularity, grace, and noble simpUcity of the
edifice : aU tub Is easy to understand and to describe: such beauties are
more or less appreciable by every one. Bnt one must be something
ofa poet to appreciate a Turkish palace; Its charras must be sought,
not in what one sees, but In what one feeb. I have heard persons
speak very conteraptuously of Bagtche Serai. " How," said they,
" can any one apply the name of pakce to that assemblage of wooden
houses, daubed with coarse paintmgs, and fumbhed only -with divans
and carpets ?" And these people were right In their way. The po
sitive cast of their minds disabling them from seeing beauty In any
thing but rich materials, weU-defined forras and highly-finished work
manship, Bagtche Serai must be to them only a group of shabby
houses adorned -vrith paltry ornaments, and fit only for the habita
tion of raiserablc Tatars.
Situated in the centre of the town, . In a valley enclosed between
kilb of unequal kelghts, the palace (Serai) covers a considerable
space, and is enclosed within walb, and a small stream deeply en
trenched. The bridge which afibrds adrabsion into the principal
court is guarded by a post of Russian veterans. The spacious court
is planted with poplars and Ukcs, and adorned -with a beautiful
Turkisk fountain, shaded by willows; its raelancholy murmur har
monises well -with the loneliness of the pkce. To the right as you enter
are sorae buildings, one of which b set- apart for the use of those
travellers who are fortunate enough to gain admittance into . the
pakce. To the left are the mosque, the stables, and the trees of the
cemetery, which Is dmded from the court by a wall.
We first -visited the pakce properly so called. Its exterior db'

PALACE OF THE KHANS. 361
plays tke usual irregidarity of Eastern dwellings; but its want of
syraraetry is more tkan compensated for by its -vride galleries, Its
brigkt decorations, its pavdions so ligktly fashioned that they seem
scarcely attached to the body of the. budding, and by a profusion
of krge trees that shade it on aU sides. These aU Invest it. -vrith a
charra, that In my opinion greatly surpasses the systematic regu
larity of our princely abodes. The interior is an embodied page out
of the Arabian Nights. The first haU we entered contains the cele
brated Fountain of Tears, the therae of Pushkin's beautiful verses.
It derives Its raekncholy name from the sweet sad murmur of its
slender jets as they fall on the marble of the basin. The sombre and
mysterious aspect of the haU, further augments the tendency of the
spectator's raind to forget reality for the drearas of the Imagination.
The foot falb noiselessly on fine Egyptian mats ; the walb are in
scribed -with sentences frora the Koran, written in gold on a bkck
ground in those odd-looking Turkish characters, that seera raore the
caprices of an idle fancy than vehicles of thought. From the haU
we entered a krge reception-room with a double row of windows of
stained glass, representing aU sorts of rural scenes. The ceiling and
doors are richly gilded, and the workmanship of the latter is very
fine. Broad divans covered -with crimson velvet run aU round the
roora. In the middle there Is a fountain playing in a krge por
phyry basin. Every thing Is magnificent in this room, except the
whirasical raanner in which the walls are painted. AU that the
most fertUe iraagination could conceive in the shape of isles, villages,
harbours, fabulous castles, and so forth, is huddled together prorais-
cuously on the walb, -without any more regard for perspective than
for geography. Nor is tins all : there are niches over the doors in
which are coUected all sorts of children's toys, such as wooden
houses a few inches high, fruit trees, modeb of ships, Uttie figures
of raen t-wlsted Into a thousand contortions, &c. These singular
cmioslties are arranged on receding shelves for the greater faciUty of
inspection, and are carefully protected by gkss cases. _ One of the
kst khans, we were assured, used to shut hiraself up in this room
every day to adraire these interesting objects. Such childishness,
comraon araong the Orientab, would lead us to form a very un
favourable opinion of their InteUigence, if it was notredeeraed by their
instinctive love of beauty, and the poetic feeUng which they possess
in a high degree. For ray part I heartily forga-ve the khans for
having painted thefr waUs so queerly, in consideration ofthe charra-
" ing fountain that plashed on the raarble, and the Uttie garden filled
-with rare fiowers adjoining the saloon. ¦
The hall ofthe divan is of royal magnificence; the mouldmgs of
the ceiUng, in particular, are of exquisite deUcacy. _We passed
through other rooras adorned with fountains and glowing colours,
but that which most interested us was the apartment of the beau
tiful Countess Potocki. It was her strange fortune to inspire with
a violent passion one of tke kst khans of the Crimea, who earned

362 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
her off and raade her absolute mistress of hb pakce, In which she
Hved ten years, her heart divided between her love for an infidel,.
and the remorse that brought her prematurely to the grave. The
thought of her roraantic fate gave a magic charm to every thing we
beheld. The Russian officer who acted as our cicerone pointed out
to us a cross carved on the chiraney of the bed-room. The mystic sym
bol, pkced above a crescent, eloquently interpreted the eraotions of
a life of love and grief What tears, what inward straggles, andv
bitter recollections had it not witnessed I
We passed through I know not how raany gardens and inner
yards, surrounded with high walls, tO' -visit the various pa-vdlionsr
kiosks, and buildings of aU sorts coraprised -vrithin the Umits of the
palace. The part occupied by the harem contains such a profu
sion of rose-trees and fountains as to merit the pleasing name of The
Little Valley of Roses. Nothing can be raore charraing than thb
Tatar building, surrounded by blossoming trees. I felt a secret
pleasure in pressing the divans on whick kad rested the fair forms
of Mussulman beauties, as they breathed the fresh afr from- the foun
tains In volirptuous repose. No sound from -without can reach thb
enchanted retreat, where nothing is heard but the rippling- of
the waters, and the song of the- nightingales. We counted more
than twenty fountains In the courts and gardens;, they aU derive
their supply from the mountains,, and the water b of extreme
coolness. ' ' - ' ; -"'v.--
A tower of considerable height, -vritk a terrace fronted -vrith
gratings that can be raised' or lowered at pleasure,, overlooks the
principal court. • It was erected to enable the khan's -wives to -witness,.
unseen, the martial exercises practised in the court. The prospect
from the terrace is admirable; immediately below fr yon have a
bird's-eye -vriew of the labyrinth of buildings, gardens,, and otker en
closures. Further on the- town of Bagtche Serai rises graduaUy on
a sloping amphitheatre of hlUs. The sotmds of the whole to-wn, con
centrated and reverberated -vrithin the narrow space, reach you dis-
-tinctly: The panorama is pecuUarly pleasing at the close of the day^
when the voices of the muezrins, caUing- to prayer frora the raina-
rets, mingle -vrith the bleating of the flocks returning from pasture,
and the cries of the shepherds..- .
Ailer seeing the palace we repaired to the mosque and to the
ceraetery In -vvhich are the torabs of aU the khans who have reigned
in the Criraea. There as at Constantinople, I admired the wonder
ful art with wkick tke Oriental* disguise the gloomy idea of death
under fresh and gladsome images. Who can yield to dismal
thoughts as he breathes- a perftuned air, Usten* to the waters of a
SparkUng fountain, and foUows the Uttie paths, edged vritk -violets,
that lead to Ulac groves bending their flagrant blossoms over tombs
adorned with rich carpets and gorgeous inscriptions? '
The Tatar who has chai^-ofthis smiling abode of death, prompted
by the* poetic: feeling- that is lodged in the bosom of every Oriental^

A DTTTCH BECLUSE, 363
brought me a nosegay plucked from the tomb of a Georgian, the
beloved -wife ofthe kst khan. » Was it not a touching thino- to see
this humble guardian of the ceraetery coraprehend instinctively that
flo-vyers, associated with the memory of a young woman, could not
be indifferent to another of her sex and age?
Some isokted paviUons contain the torabs of khans of most emi
nent renown. They are muck more ornate than the others, and
the care with which they are kept up testifies the. pious veneration
of the 'Tatars. Carpets, cashmfres, lamps burning continually, and
inscriptions in lettera of gold, combine- to give grandeur to these
monuments, which yet are intended to .commeraorate only names
almost forgotten^
Such is a brief sketch of this ancient abode of the khans, which
was carefuUy repaired by the Emperor Alexander. He found it in
such a state of disorder and neglect, that it was probable nothing
would remain in: a few years of a dweUing -with which is associated
almost the whole past history ofthe Crimea. But Alexander, whose
•temperament was so weU adapted to appreciate the raekncholy
beauty of the spot, iraraediately on his return to- St. Petersburg-
sent a. very able raan to Bagtche Serai, -vrith orders to restore the
pakce to the state In which it had been in the tirae of the khans.
Since then the imperial famdy has soraetiraes exchanged the dreary
magnificence of the St. Petersburg pakces for the rosy bowers and
sunny clime of the Tatar Serai. : "
. In speaking o£-this Tatar to-wn, I must not forget to- mention at
man kno-nm -throughout the Criraea for his eccentncityr It is about
twelve years-^Ince a Dutchraan of the name of Vanderschbrug, a
retired clvd engineer in the iraperial service, arrived in the Tatar
capital -with the intention of settUng there. His motive for thb act
of misanthropy has never been ascertained;^ all that is kno-wn- is^
that his resolution has remained unshaken. Since his instaUation-
araong the Tatars^ Major Vanderschbrug has never set his foot out-
ade the to-wn, though- hb faraUy reside in SirapheropoL His re
tiring pension,, araonnting to sorae hundred rubles, aUows him to lead
a Ufe, which to many persons would seem very unln-viting, but whick
is not devoid of a certain charm. The complete independence he has
secured for hiraself, makes up to hira, in sorae- sort,, for the- void he
must feel In the loss of faraily affection. He Uves like a philosopher
in hb Uttie cottage, -vrith his cow, his poultry, his pencib, sorae
books, and an old housekeeper. He speaks the language of the'
Tatars Uke one of theraselves, and hb thorough knowledge of the
country, and tke originaUty of his raind render hb conversation;
very agreeable. AU. over the coimtry he is known only by the
name of the hermit of Bagtche Serai. The Tatars hold hira ip
: great respect, often refer their disputes to his decision, and impU-
cltiy follow his ad-rice. -
We breakfasted -with him, and seeing him apparentiy so con
tented -vritk his lot, we thought how Uttie b sufficient to make a-

364 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
man happy when his desires are limited. Major Vanderschbrug
beguUes his soUtude with reading and the arts, for which he has
preserved a taste. He showed us some fine water-coloured draw
ings he had made, and an old volume of Jean Jacques Rousseau,
which he has kept for many years as a precious treasure. To all
the objections we raised against the strange exile to which he con
demned himself, he repUed that ennui had not yet invaded hb humble
dweUing. Before bidding fareweU to Bagtche Serai, we went in company
with our recluse to -risit the Valley of Jehoshaphat and the famous
mountain of Tchoufout Kakh,* which has been for several cen
turies the exclusive property of certain Jews, kno-wn by the name of
Karairaes or Karaites. They are a sect who stiU adhere to the kw of
Moses, but who separated from the general body, as sorae writers sup
pose, several centuries before the Christian era. According to other
authorities, the separation did not occur until A.D. 750. There is a
marked difference between them and the other Jews. The simpU
city of thefr manners, their probity and industty give them a strong
claim to the traveUer's respect
At six in the moming we mounted our Httle Tatar horses, and
began to ascend the steep road that winds through a vast cemetery,
covering the whole side of the mountain. The raekncholy aspect
of the tombs, covered with Hebrew inscriptions, accords -vrith the
desolation of the scene. Of the whole popuktion, that during the
kpse of ages have Uved and died on this rock, nothing reraains but
torabs, and a dozen faraiUes that persist, from reUgious raotives, in
dwelUng araong ruins.
In the tirae of the khans, the Karaites of Tchoufout Kaleh were
stoutly confined to thefr rock, being only allowed to pass the bu
siness hours of the day In the Tatar capital, returning every
' evening to thefr mountain. When one of them arrived opposite the
palace on horseback, he was bound to aUght and proceed on foot
until he was out of sight. But since the conquest by the Russkns,
the Karaites are firee to reside In Bagtche Serai, and they have
gradually left the mountain, -with the exception, as I have stated,
of a few faraiUes who regard it as a sacred duty to abide on the spot
where their forefathers dwelt.
Considering the almost Inaccessible position of the town. Its want
of water, the steriUty of the soil, and the loneliness of the inhabit
ants, we cannot fail to be struck by the thfrst for freedora that
made the Karaites of yore choose such a site, and the constancy of
the faraiUes that stIU cling to it. Tchoufout Kaleh Is built entirely on
the bare rock, and the mountain is so steep that in the only place
where it adraits of access, it has been necessary to cut ffighl3 of steps
several hundi-ed feet long. As you ascend, huge masses of over- '
• Tchoufout Kaleh, formerly colled Kirkov, -was for a long series of years the
residence ofthe khans, until Mengle Gherai quitted it for Bagtchte Serai, in 1475.

A POET KABBI. 365
hanging rocks seem to threaten you -with destmction, and when you
enter the ruined to-wn, the sepulchral silence and desolation of^^its
dUapidated streets make a painful irapression on the raind. No in
habitant copes forth to greet the stranger or direct hira on his way.
The only Uving befrigs we saw abroad were faraished doo-s that
howled raost dIsmaUy. °
Besides the interest we felt in this acropoUs of the middle ao-es,
we had a stiU stronger motive for our joumey to Tchoufout Kakh;
namely, to see a poet who has resided from his youth upwards on
tiiat dreary rock. We had heard a great deal about it froni M.
Taitbout de Marigny and frora Major Vanderschbmg; the first point,
therefore, towards which we bent our steps was the rabbi's dw^lino-,
budt Uke an eagle's nest on the point of a rock. Being shown into
a small room fumished with books and maps, we found ourselves in
presence of a Uttie old man with a long white beard who received
us -vrith the grave and easy dignity of the Orientals. His features
were of the most purely Jewbh cast With the help of the major,
who acted as our interpreter, we were enabled to cany on a lono-
conversation, and to admire the varied knowledge possessed by a
man so completely cut off from the world. Is it not wonderful that
a person in such a position, and so totally deprived of aU necessary
appUances, should undertake the gigantic task of -wrriting the history
ofthe Karaites from the tirae of Moses to our days? Yet thus our
rabbi has been eraployed for upward of twenty years, undisraayed
by the diflSculties of aU kinds that Ue in his way. It was not a Uttie
mo-ring to see a man of great inteUect, vast erudition, and poetic
imagination, wearing out on a desolate rock the reraains of a Ufe
which wotdd have been so fafr and so productive if passed in more
active scenes. He showed us several sacred poems In manuscript
written in kb youtk. How muck I regretted that I could not read
the productions of suck a poet.
He Uves Uke a patriarck surrounded by ten or a dozen chUdiren
of all ages who enUven and erabelUsh his soUtude. Several little
rooms communicating together by galleries form his dwelUng. It
b very humble, but the rabbi's reraarkable physlognoray, and the
Oriental costume of his -wife and daughters, impart a charm even to
so rude a tenement. He escorted us to the synagogue, a sraaU build
ing, long left to soUtude. We saw, too, not -without a Uvely interest,
the grave of a khan's daughter, who, in the time of the Genoese
rule, forsook the Koran for the law of the Christians, and died atthe
age of eighteen among those who had converted her. Like every
tmng eke about it. It was In a state of neglect and decay.
All the lower part ofthe raountain, and abo a deep narrow valley
sfretchlng eastward of Tchoufout Kaleh are covered -vrith tombs, to
which cfrcurastance the situation owes Its name of VaUey of Jeho
shaphat. Opposite the Karaite to-wn is the celebrated convent of
the Assumption, which is annually -risited In the month of _ August by-
more than twenty thousand pilgnms. Its ceUs excavated In the rock

366 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
have a very curious appearance frora a distance. Some wooden
flights of stairs on the outside of the rock lead to the several stages
of this singukr convent inhabited only by a few monks.
On our retum to Bagtche Serai we noticed several crypts in the
rock which are the haunt of a krge number of Tslganes. Nowhere
does thb vagrant people present a more disgusting aspect than in
this locaUty. Their horrible Infirmities, dbtorted Umbs, and inde
scribable wretchedness make one almost doubt tkat they can belong
to huraanity.
We proceeded the next day to Simpkeropol wkere we were to
pass sorae days.

CHAPTER XXXVI
SISIPHEKOEOi— KASOLEZ — VISIT TO PBINCKSa AS£L BET— ZXCUBSIO!? TO JttAN-
¦: . GOVB KALEH.
Undee tke Tatars Sirapkeropol was tke second to-vm of the
Criraea, and the residence of^the Kalga Sultan, whose functions were
nearly equivalent to those of vIce-khan. He exercbed the regency
of the country on the death of the khan, until hb successor was
norainated by the Porte. The Kalga's court was coraposed of the
same functionaries as that of Bagtche Serai, and his authority ex
tended over all tke regions nortk of tke Crimea mountains. Sim
pkeropol was then adorned -with pakces, mosques, and fine gardens,
few traces of which now reraain. The tortuous streets, high walb,
and rose thickets of the old city, have given place to the cold mo
notony of the Russian towns. It is the capital of the govemment
of the Criraea, with a popuktion of about 8000 soub, of whom
1700 are Russians, 5000 Tatars, 400 strangers, and 900 gipsies.
Its plan is large enough to comprise ten times as many houses as it
possesses; but, at least, it retains its Salghfr, tke ban^ of wkick are
covered witk tke finest orckards in tke Crimea. But instead of
building tke new to-wn In the vaUey, it has been set at the top of a
great pkteau where Its few houses and Its dbproportionately -vride
streets present .no kind of character. It b ¦vritk extreme pleasure,
tkerefore, that after wandering tkrougk tke streets in wkick the sun's
rays beat down -without any thing to break thefr force, one finds
hiraself under the cool ver^nt shades that fringe the Salghfr, -witii
the pretty country houses that peep out from tke orchards.
We made raany excursions m the -riclnity, and were above all
pleased ¦with the beautiftd landscapes In the valley of the Alma. In
a ride on horeeback to ¦visit sorae rocks of an interesting geological
character, we crossed tke river eigkteen times in tke space of three

KAEOLEZ. 367
hours: thb may afford an idea of the multitude of meanders it
makes before continuing its course to the Bkck Sea.
Bagtche Serai being on the road to Karolez, we could not resist
tiie pleasure of once more seeing its deUghtful pakce. We passed
the evening^ In one of the kr^e gaUeries, admfring the raagic ap
pearance of the buUdings and gardens by raooUght. The deep
stUlness of the place; the mysterious aspect of the principal edifice,
one part of which -was completely in the shade, wliUst the other,
with its coloured -windows and Its open balconies, received the friU
rays of the moon; the m-asses of foUage in the gardens, and the -rae
kncholy sounds of the fountain; aU this accorapanied by the imaoi-
native rektions of our eccentric friend, the major, raade an indeUble
impression on our rainds.
At Bagtche Serai we finaUy exchanged the perecktnoi for Tatar
horses, the serviceable quaUties of which had coraraended them
selves to us in many trials. Our cavalcade made a grotesque ap
pearance as we rode out of the pakce. For my ovm part I looked
oddly enough, perched on an enormously Idgh Tatar saddle In my
Caspian costurae, "vrith ray parasol in ray hand. Horaraafre wore
-vrith Oriental gravity the Perskn cap, the girdle and the weapons,
to which he had becorae accustoraed in his long wanderings. But
the queerest figure of all was our dragoraan. . Haff-a-dozen leather
bags containing pro-vrisions dangled at his horse's flanks ; my poor straw
bonnet, which I had been obliged to abandon for a round hat, hung
at the purarael of hb saddle, and in addition to aU this accoutre
ment he carried In his hand a large white canvass umbrelk to
screen him from the sun. Two Tatar horsemen foUowed us, carry
ing Uke-vrise thefr contingent of baggage.
After sorae hours' riding through a lovely country, Intersected
with streams, vaUeys, and numerous orchards, we anived in the even
ing at Karolez, a Tatar vilkge, lost araong mountains, in the vaUey
of the same narae, which b one of the most deUghtful spots in the
beautiftd Crimea, so rich in picturesque scenes.
Though it does not belong to the southern coast, and consequently
has no maritime traffic, Karolez, nevertheless, possesses a romantic
attraction, which every year brings to it numerous visitors. This
b o-wing to its -vicinity to Mangoup Kaleh, the abundance of its
waters, the raountains that encorapass the vaUey with a line of bat-
tieraented walb, as if Nature had been pleased in a sportive mood to
imitate art, whilst yet retaining her own raore raajestic proportions;
and, lastly, the merit of belonging to the Princess Adel Bey, whose
beauty, though invisible has Inspired many a poet.
I had taken care before lea-ving Sirapheropol to fumish myself -with
a letter from the governor to the princess, in order to obtain an inter
view which might enable rae to judge whether the beauty of thb Tatar
lady and her daughters was as great as farae reported. The question
had been often agitated since our arrival In the Crimea; it maj^,
tiierefore, be Imagined how desfrous I was to resolve It. But in

368 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
spite of my letter of Introduction, my adraission to the_ palace was
StiU very problematicaL Man^ Russian kdies had tried in vain
to enter it; for the princess, whde exercising the noblest hospitaUty,
was seldora disposed to satisfy tke curiosity of ker guests. Though
the law of Mahomet respecting the seclusion of woraen is less rigidly
observed among the Tatars of the Crimea than among the Turks of
Constantinople, rich kdies do not often pass the threshold of their
- own dwelUngs, and when they do they are always closely veUed.
One of ray friends from Sirapheropol, who had proceeded the day
before to the princess's, having giving notice of our coraing, we were
received in the most brilUant style. The guest house was prepared
with the ostentation which the Orientab are fond of displaying on aU
occasions. A doubk Une of servants of aU ages was drawn up in
the vestibule when we dismounted; and one of the oldest and most
richly dressed ushered us Into a saloon arranged in the fashion of the
East, -vrith gaily painted walb and red sUk divans that reminded us of
the deUghtftd rooras In the pakce of the khans. The princess's son,
an engaging boy of twelve yeara of age, who spoke Russkn very
well, attached himself to us, obUgingly transkted!^ our orders to the
doraestlcs, and took care that we wanted for nothing. I gave him my
letter, which he immediately carried to his mother, and soon after
wards he carae and told me, to my great satisfaction, that she would
receive me when she had finished her toilette. In the eagerness of
my curiosity I now counted eyery minute, untd an officer, foUowed
by an old woman In a veil, carae to introduce me into the myste
rious pakce of which I had as yet seen only the lofty outer -vvalL
My husband, as arranged between us beforehand, atterapted to fol
low us, and seeing that no impediment was oSered, he stepped with
out ceremony through the Uttie door into the park, crossed the latter,
boldly ascended a terrace adjoining the pakce, and, at last, found
himself, not without extrerae surprise at hb good fortune, in a Uttie
room that seemed to belong to the princess's private apartments.
Until then no male stranger e;scept Count Voronzof had ever en
tered the pakce; the flattering and unexpected exception which
the princess made in favour of my husband, might, therefore, lead
U3 to hope that her complaisance would not stop there. But we were
soon undeceived. The officer who had ushered us into the palace,
after having treated us to^ Iced water, sweetmeats and pipes, took
my husband by the hand, and led him out of the room -vrith very
significant celerity. He had no sooner disappeared than a curtain
was rabed at the end of the room, and a woman of striking beauty
entered, dressed in a rich costume. She advanced to rae with an air
of reraarkable dignity, took both my hands, kbsed me on the two
cheeks, and sat do-wn beside me, making me many demonstrations
of friendship. She wore a great deal of rouge; her eye-Uds were
painted bkck and met over the nose, giving her countenance a cer
tain sternness, that, nevertheless, did not destroy its pleasing effect.
A furred velvet vest fitted tight to her stUl elegant figure. Alto-

THE PRINCESS ADEL BET. 869
gether her appearance surpassed what I had conceived of her
beauty. We spent a quarter of an hour closely examlnino- each
other, and Interchanging as weU as Ave could a few iSussian
words that very Insufficiently conveyed our thoughts. But in such
cases, looks supply the deficiencies of speech, and raine raust have
told the princess -with what admiration I beheld her. Hers I
raust confess, in all huraiUty, seeraed to express rauch more surpnse
than admiration at my traveUing costume. What would I not have
given to know the result of her purely feminine analysis of my ap
pearance ! I was even crossed in this tete-u-lete by a serious scruple
of conscience for having presented rayself before her m male attire,
which must have given her a strange notion of the fashions of
Europe. Notwithstanding my desire to prolong my visit in hopes of seeino-
her daughters, the fear of appearing intrusive prompted me to take my
leave; but checking me with a very graceful gesture, she said eagerly
" Pastoy, Postal/ (stay, stay), and clapped her hands several tfraes.
A young gfrl entered at the signal, and by her rabtress's orders
thre-w open a folding door, and iraraediately I was strack durab -vrith
surprise and admiration by a most briUiant apparition. • Ima trine
reader, the most exquisite sultanas of whora poetry and paintino-
have ever tried to convey an Idea, and stiU your conception -vrill fafi
far short Of the enchanting raodeb I had then before me. There
were three of them, aU equaUy beautiful and graceful. Two were
ckd in tunics of crirason brocade, adorned in front with broad gold
kce. The tunics were open and disclosed beneath thera cashmere
robes, with very tight sleeves terminating in gold fringes. The
youngest wore a tunic of azure blue brocade, -vrith silver omaments:
this was the only difference between her dress aud that of her sisters.
AU three had magnificent bkck hafr escaping in countless tresses
from a fez of sUver fikgree, set Uke a diadera over their ivory fore
heads; they wore gold embroidered sUppers and vride trousers drawn
close at the ankle.
I had never beheld skins so dazzlingly fafr, eyelashes so long, or so
deUcate a bloora of youth. The calm repose that sat on the coun
tenances of these lovely creatures, had never been disturbed by any
profane glance. No look but tkefr mother's had ever told them
they were beautiful; and this thought gave them an inexpressible
charm in my eyes. It Is not In our Europe, where woraen, exposed
to the gaze of crowds, so soon addict theraselves to coquetry, that the
imagination could conceive such a type of beauty. The features
of our young gfrb are too soon altered by the vivacity of their im
pressions, to aUow the eye of the artist to discover in them that
cUvine charm of purity and ignorance with which I was so struck in
beholding my Tatar piincesses. After erabracing rae they retired to
the end of the room where they reraained standing in those grace
ful Oriental attitudes which no woman in Europe could imitate. A
dozen attendants muffled in white rauslin, were gathered round the
2b

370 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
door, garing with respectful curiosity. Their profiles, shown in
relief on a dark ground, added to the picturesque character of the
scene. This delightful vision ksted an hour. When the princess
saw that I was decided on going away, she sigiufied to me by signs
that I should go and see the garden; but though grateful to her for
this further mark of attention, I preferred immediately rejoining my
husband, being impatient to rekte to him aU the detaib of this
interview, -with which I was completely dazzled.
Next raorning we set out on horseback for Mangoup Kaleh, a raoun
tain renowned throughout the country, and of which the inhabitants
never speak but -with veneration. Goths, Turks, and Tatars have
been by turns its possessors. Owing to its alraost impregnable
position. It has played an iraportant part In aU the revolutions ofthe
Criraea. The to-wn of Mangoup, which appears to have been the
residence of the Gothic princes, was forraerly a very considerable
pkce. - It had a bbhop In 754. The Turks took It and put a gar
rison In it in 1745. Twenty years afterwards It was entirely burnt
down. The khans of the Crimea next took possession of it, and
let it graduaUy faU into decay. At the close of the kst century,
the popukftion of this ancient town still consisted of sorae Karaite
faraiUes; at present there remains no other trace of thefr existence
than the tombs spread over the mountain side. - "
For three hours we ascended the mountain by scarcely raarked
bridle roads, astonished at the confidence vrith which oifr horses
walked up those steep slopes where there seeraed hardly any hold for
their feet. But the horses of the Criraea are wonderfiiUy surefooted,
and if they can set down their feet anywhere. It b alike to them
whether it Is on a sraooth pkin or on the verge of a precipice. Here,
as at Tchoufout Kaleh, the raountain was covered vrith tombs; but
these bore inscriptions in Tatar as weU as Hebrew, sho-vring that
this deserted soil had formerly been trodden by raore than one
people. The ascent ended at a broad triangular pkteau on the sum
mit of the mountain, where the town once stood. It b now a
barren spot, strewed aU over with ruins. Two sides of the pkteau
are perpendlcukr; the third was defended by a fortress, part of
which is still standing. -'^¦'' -...-v .
Every thing on this mountain wears a grand and raekncholy
character. Desolation has long taken it for Its doraain. Nothing
meets the eye but ruins, tombs, and a naked sod. And yet, not
withstanding the stern aspect of the pkce, it does not fiU the soul
-with the same feeUngs of^ painfiil awe as Tchoufout Kaleh. Thb
b because the ancient town of the Karaites, aU mutikted as it
is by time and events, stiU retains a semblance of existence, and this
alUance between Ufe and death necessarily Impresses tke- mind -vrith a
superstitious dread. At Mangoup Kaleh aU human traces have •
been too long effaced to awaken painful thoughts. There one
thinks not so much of men as of remote epochs, of the great events
and numerous revolutions of which this rock has been the theatre.-

ilANGOITP KALEH. 371
The fagade of the fortress has withstood the slow attacks of tirae,
though fuU of cracks, and the lofty ¦walls appear still frora a distance
to protect Mangoup Kaleh. Herds of Tatar horses graze In com
plete freedom on the pkteau, and drink from a krge reservoir sup
plied by a spring that never faib in any season. As we were ex
ploring the interior of what must have been the citadel, we carae
upon a clurap of Ulacs in fuU bloom araong the ruins. I cannot
teU the irapression raade on me by those fiowers thus unfolding
thefr sweets trader the dew of Heaven far frora every huraan eye.
Besides the fortress we found another edifice partly spared by tirae.
Its construction and the graves about it showed it to be an old Chris
tian church. The chancel was in tolerably good preservation, and
even the -vrindows had not suffered much dilapidation.
The -view from Mangoup Kaleh b very extensive and varied.
On the one side Is the sea -vrith its islands and capes, its Vesseb,
and Sevastopol, which can be distinctly perceived in clear weather.
To the west, magnificent orchards, -rine-ckd hiUs, and broad
meadows, intersected -vrith strearas, stretch away as far as the eye
can reach in the direction of Sirapheropol; then, at the foot of the
mountain, the valley of Karolez, Its forests, its rocky girdle, its
Tatar viUage, and the pakce of the princess Adel Bey, disclosing
its Moorish architecture from behind a screen of poplars.
Atthe earnest recoraraendation of our guides, I ventured to ex
plore sorae grottoes hoUowed in the rock, the descent to which b rather
difBcult and dangerous. There are about a dozen of thera opening
one Into the other, and separated only by shapeless pillars. The
Tatars could give us no sort of explanation as to these subterra
neous charabers. They seera Uke those of Inkermann to belong to
very reraote antiquity, but thefr origin and history are quite un-
kno-vsm.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

EOAD TO BAIDAS — THE SOCTHEBlf COAST; GKAND SCENERT — MISKBOK AND
ALOUPKA — PBEDIIECTION OP THE OHEAT RtTSSIAS NOBLES POB THE CEEUEA.
The country we passed over, next day, on our way to the
southem coast, had a -vrild sylvan appearance strikingly in contrast
-vrith what we had hitherto seen. Between the vaUey of Karolez
and that of Baidar near the coast, Ues a chain of raountains -vrith
deep gorges filled -with forests. Sometiraes the road passed along
the bottora of one of these gorges, where we were constantly ob
structed by watercoturses and thickets; soraetimes we pursued a track
barely discernible along the flank of the mountain, and then the
summits of the Idlb that had seemed so high when we looked up to
2b 2

372 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
them frora below, were hidden beneath us in dense vapoui-s. At
kst, by dint of ascending and descending, we reached the wide plain
of Baidar, with the vilkge in its centre. Early next raorning we
were again on horseback, and breathing with delight the wild
odours exhaled by the still dewy forest.
Our road ascended gently to the culminating point of the moun
tain, and then we stood rooted for a while to the spot in adrafration
ofthe magnificent sea -riew that burst upon us. But our thoughts
were suddenly called off In another direction by the music of a
military band, and looking down we were surprised to see se
veral groups of soldiers posted some hundred feet below the point
where we stood. It was a whole regiment employed In making a
new road between Sevastopol and lalta. Some were blowing up
rocks, and filling the afr with something Uke the din and smoke
of battle ; othera were busy round a great fire preparing the morn
ing meal; the musicians were waking the mountain echoes -vrith
their raartkl strains, and the officers were lounging in front of a
tent sraoking their pipes. . ..; * v
When we had sufficiently indulged our admiration of the scene,
we tumed -vrith some disraay to contemplate the descent before us.
The raountain which we had found so gently sloping on the westem
side, here feU so precipitously that 1 could not Iraagine how our horses
were to make their way down. For my part I thought .It safest to
alight and lead my horse. The band of the regiraent, as if they
had guessed we were French, saluted us with the overture of the-
Fiancee. After we had afready reached the seaside, we stiU heard
that charming music, weakened by distance, but kindling our re
collections of home in the raost unexpected manner.
We spent some days at Moukhaktka, the residence of Colonel
OUve, a Frenchman, formerly page to Louis XVIH., who entered
the service of the Grand-duke Constantine shortly after the return
of the Bourbons to France. Beyond Moukhaktka our way ky over
mountains, the scenery of which partly compensated for the inces
sant toil of climbing up broken rocks, and pasring through glens
where we could only advance in single file. But with the excep
tion of tiiese difficulties, the whole joumey to Aloupka was a con
tinual enchantment- Talk of the isles ofthe Archipelago -vrith then-
naked rocks ! Here a luxuriant vegetation descends to the water's
edge, and the coast e-veiywhere presents an amphitheatre of forests,
gardens, -viUages, and country houses, over which the eye wan
ders with delight. The almond, the oythesus, the -vrild chestnut,
the Judas-tree, the oUve, and the cypress, and all the vegetation of
a southem cUrae, thrives there with a vigour that attests the
potency of the sun. On our left we had gigantic raasses towering
vertically, sorabre tints, and an inconceivable chaos of rocky frag-.
ments; on our right a briUiant mosaic bordered by the sea. But
the beauty of the scenery about Aloupka Is even still raore strilring.
The eye takes in at once' the majestic Tchatir Dagh, Cape Aitodor,

THE CHATEAU OF ALOUPKA. 373
with its lighthouse, the Aiou Dagh, the brow of which, by a cu
rious freak of nature, seems crowned AvIth bastions and halt-ruined
towers, the Ai Petri, and the MegabI, AvIth its gilded dome sur
mounted by a cross Avhich Avas erected by tiie celebrated Princess
Gallitzin, whose memory is still fresh in the Crimea. All these
objects are clothed In a rich and varied garb of light such as belono-s
only to the warm atmosphere of southern lands. °
Aiistocracy has set its seal on this fiivoured portion of the coast.
The change in the appearance of the roads indicates the neighbour
hood of wealthy landowners. Ikey have been made expressly for
the dashing four-horse equipages that are continually traversing it.
We observed that the limits of each estate Avere marked by a post
bearing the blazonry of the proprietor.
We were raost agreeably surprised in the neighboiurhood of
Aloupka, Avhere we feU in on the road Avith our friend M. Marigny.
In consequence of this Avelcome encounter we put off our visit tp
Aloupka to the next day, and proceeded with the consul to Mishkor,
the estate of General Narishkin, adjoining that of Count Voronzof
We were greatly pleased Avith this fine property, on the mainte
nance of which the general annually expends 100,000 francs. It
comprises forests, a park, a chilteau, a church, and a great number
of omamental buildings, that bespeak the exquisite taste of the pro
prietor. Mishkor has this great advantage, that its costly artificial
arrangements are so well disguised under an appearance of rural
simpUcity, that one is almost tempted to attribute its perfections to
the hand of nature.
The reverse is the case at Aloupka where art reigns supreme.
This alraost royal residence, which has excited the envy even of the
Emperor Nicholas, has already cost Count Voronzof between
4,000,000 and 5,000,000 of francs, although it is not yet finished.
All epochs and aU styles are represented in its architecture and em-
beUishments. Its lofty walls, its massive square toAver and belfrey,
its vaulted passages ancl the mysterious aspect of its long galleries,
give it a considerable resembknce to a fe-adal manor; but the Orien
tal style is exhibited In its small columns, its chimneys, and its pro
fusion of pinnacles and clomes. To justify the constmction of such
a porphyry chdteau, the count should have been able to retrograde
some centuries : in our own times such a dAvelling is an anachronism.
What is the use of such walb when there is no fear of being at
tacked by a neighbour? What is the use of those vaulted passages
¦vrithout men-at-arms to fill them ? An old castle speaks to the ima
gination, recalling the chronicles, the fortunes and events connected
with it, but a modem construction like this is a thing of no mean
ing. Its towers, battlements, and threatening walls seem a parody
oh the past. What have they seen? of what corabats, feuds, loves,
and revenges have they been Avitnesses?
In addition to this total want of fitness of character, the chateau
has besides the grievous defect of being very dbadvantageously

374 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
situated. The coast is so narroAv at this spot that there are but a
few paces' breadth between the fa§ade of the buUding and the sea,
so that, in order to have a fair view of the whole, one must take a
boatandput out' from the shore until the proper pointof view isfound.
Now It b not every one who will be disposed to take this trouble
solely for the purpose of appreciating the effect of a fagade.
The park displays a charming labyrinth of broken rocks, and a
variety of natural picturesque and extraordinary features.. Art has
had nothing to do but to raake paths and aUeys between the accu
mulated volcanic masses, and to adorn the sides of the cascades with
flowers. In the hoUow of a rock there is a deep grotto with a Uttie
babbling spring, inviting to repose and meditation. At the eastern
end of the chateau there b a lofty cypress wood, AvhIch the countess
caUs her Scutari.
The general aspect of thb magnificent abode b too grave to
delight the eye; we admire but do not covet it. The gigantic
shadow of the Ai Petri, which hangs Uke a ved over the whole
domain, adds stiU more to its sternness.
The reputation, of the southern coast dates only from' the arrival
of Count Voronzof In the Crimea, proAriously to which no one
thought of residing on- it, except sorae speculators who were be
ginning to try the cultivation of the Arine there. The count, who is
a man of much taste, was at once struck AvIth the beauty of the
countty, and soon becarae the purchaser of several estates In it.
Hb example was foUowed by numbers of wealthy nobles whose eyes
were imraediately opened to the charras of the landscapes when
once the count had prockiraed their attractions. Nuraerous -villas
were erected in the course of a few yeara along aU the coast from
Bakckva to Theodosia. A fieet of steamera was estabUshed, irith
the port of lalta for their head quarters. The imperial famUy itself
gave into the fashion and purchased Oreanda, one of the most
beautiful sites on the coast; and many foreignera. Infected by the
prevaiUng fever, turned all they had into raoney and settled in the
Criraea to cultivate the vine, a pursuit which Count Voronzof was
then encouraging to the utmost of his power. But this was the
reverse of the raedal; most of thera were ruined, and are now ex
piating In extreme poverty the cupidity with wluch they plunged
mto fooUsk enterprises. - -
Throughout its Avhole extent the coast presents only a narrow strip,
seldora half a league Avlde, traversed by deep ravines, and backed
by a range of calcareous cliffs that shelter It frora the north
wind. It is only on thb ^trittis that the handsomest domains are si
tuated. Among these are Koutchouk Larapat, belonging to Gene
ral Borosdine; Parthenit, where is stiU to be seen the great hazel
under which the Prince de LIgne wrote to Catherine II. ; Kisil
Tasch, the proprietor of which beare a name famous In France,
that of PonlatoAvski ; Oudsouf, lying close under the forest shades of
Aiou Dagh; Arteck the estate of Prince AndreAV GaUitzin; Ai

THREE CELEBRATED WOMEN. 375
Daniel, the property of the late Due de Richeheu; Marsanda; Ore
anda, an imperial domain; Mishkor and Nikita; Gaspra AA-here '
Madarae de Kmdener died in the arras of her daughter. Baroness
Berckheira ; and Koreis where Princess GalUtzin, exiled frora court,
ended her days.
AU these properties, adjoining each other, are. In the fine season,
the rendezvous of a nuraerous society eagerly intent on pleasure.
Aloupka is the great centre of arauseraent. Foreigners of distinc
tion Avho are for the raoraent at Odessa, are ex officio tho guests of
Count Voronzof; but many of thera have on thefr return com
plained of payinw soraewhat too dearly for the governor-general's
hospitaUty. As the chateau, notArithstandIng its imposing appear
ance, can contain only a sraaU nuraber ofthe select, the majority are
compeUed to find a lodging at the inn of the Two Cypresses near
Aloupka, the landlord of which, by way of doing honour to his
noble patron, practises unsparing extortion on aU who have need of
hb apartments.
On our way to lalta, about a dozen versts from Mbhkor we
visited the country houses best Avorth seeing, particukrly .Gaspra,
which Interested us for Madame de Krudener's sake. Perhaps the
reader avUI not be unAriUing to peruse the detaib I collected respect
ing the motives that Induced that celebrated Avoman to settle in the
peninsuk, and which connected her name with that of two other
women equaUy remarkable for thefr- strange fortunes.

CHAPTER XXXVm.

THREE CELEBRATED AVOMEIf.

I E-VERT one Is aware of the mystic infiuence which Madame de
Krudener exercised for raany years over the enthusiastic tempera
ment of the Emperor Alexander, Thb lady who has so charmingly
portrayed her OAvn character in Valerie, who was pre-eminently
distmgubhed in the aristocratic salons of Paris by her beauty, her
talents, and her position as an ambassadress, who was by tm-ns a
woman ofthe world, a heroine of romance, a remarkable Avriter, and
a prophetess, wIU not soon be forgotten in France. The lovers of
mystic poetry avIU read Valerie, that charming Avork, the appearance
of which made so much noise, notwithstanding the buUetins of the
grand array (for it appeared in the raost briUiant period of the em
pire); those who delight in grace, combined with beauty and mental
endowments, wiU recaU to mind that young woman who won for
herself so distinguished a pkce In French society; and those whose
glowing, imaginations love to dweU on exalted, sentiments and

376 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
religious fervotu-, united to the most Uvely faith, cannot refuse their
admiration to her who asked of the mighty of the earth only the
means of freely exercising charity, that evangeUcal vfrtue, of which
she was always one of the most ardent apostles.
The Lettres de Mademoiselle Coehelet make known to us Arith
what zeal Madame de Krudener appUed herself to seeking out and
comforting the affUcted. Her extrerae goodness of heart was such
that she Avas caUed, in St. Petersburg, the Mother of the Poor.
AU the suras she received from the emperor Avere Iraraediately dis
tributed to the wretched, and her OAvn fortune was appUed in the
sarae way, so that her house Avas besieged from moming till night
by mujlks and raothers of famiUes, to whom she gave food both
for soul and body.
Witk so muck AriU and power to do good, Madarae de Korudener
by and by acquired so great an influence in St. Petersburg, that the
government at kst becarae akrraed. She was accused of entertain
ing tendencies of too liberal a cast, reUgious notions of no orthodox
kind, extreme ambition cloaked under the "guise of charity, and
therewith too much compassion for those raberable raujiks of whom
she vias the uufaiUng friend. But the chief cause of the displeasure
of the court was the baroness's connexion -vrith two other ladies,
whose reUgious sentiments were by all means exceedingly ques
tionable. They -were the Princess GalUtrin and Countess Guacher
(we wiU give the real name of the latter by and by).
The pubUcity which these ladies affected in aU their acts could
not but be injurious to the meek Christian enterprise of Madame de
Krudener. The piincess was detested at court. Too superior to
disguise her opinions, and renoAvned for her beauty, her caustic Arit,
and her philosophic notions, she had excited against her a host of
enemies, who were sure to take the first opportunity of Injuring her
with the emperor. As for the Countess Guacher, the chief heroine
of our tale, her rather equivocal position at the court fumbhed a
weapon against her, Avhen suddenly issuing from the extreme re
tirement m which she had previously Uved, she becarae one of
Madarae de Krudener's most enthusiastic adepts. But before we
proceed further it wIU be necessary to give a brief account of her
arrival in Russia.
Two yeara before the period I ara speaking of, a kdy of high
rank arrived in St. Petei-sburg, accompanied bv a nuraerous re
tinue, and giving herself out lor one of the victims bf the French
revolution. In that quality she was received vrith akcrity in the
society of the capital, and the Emperor Alexander himself was one
of the foremost to notice her. It appeared that she came last from
Engknd, where she had taken shelter during the revolutionaiy
troubles; but the motive whick had Induced her, after so long a
residence aniong the Englbh, to quit their country for Russia, re
mained an impenetrable secret. She always evinced an extreme
repugnance to meet the French emigrants, Avho resided in St.

THREE CELEBRATED WOMEN. 377
Petersburg, and they on their part declared that the name she bore
was entirely unknown to them. It soon began to be Avhlspered
about, that the lady was, perhaps, a personage of illustrious birth.
Avho desfred to be incognita ; but what her real name was no one
could tell, not even the eraperor. The Avit of the courtiers was
baffled by the lofty reserve of the countess, who always affected
a total silence whenever France was mentioned in conversation.
Alexander, always prorapt to declare himself a charapion of daraes,
respected the fafr stranger's incognito Avith chivalric loyalty, and
deckred that any attempt to penetrate the raystery would ex
ceedingly displease hira. This was enough to cool the fever of
curiosity that had infected the courtiers since Madame Guacher's
fii-st appearance; her name was thenceforth mentioned only Arith a
circumspection that would have seeraed very curious to any one
unacquainted vrith the Russians, and she soon becarae a stranger to
the court, where she appeared only on rare occasions.
The eraperor alone, stiraukted no doubt by the raystery she ob
served respecting her past hbtoty, and stmck by her high-bred
demeanour, kept up an intercourse with her to which he seemed to
attach muck value. There was nothing of ordinary galkntty in thb,
at least there never was any thing to indicate that their intimacy
had led to so coraraonpkce a result. The roraantic spfrit of Alex
ander, delighted to build all sorts of hypotheses on a person whose
noble presence and lofty afrs exercised a pecuUar prestige upon his
imagination. - When the Princess GalUtrin returned to St. Petersburg after a
joumey to Italy, the eraperor, who sincerely admired her, took upon
himself to make two ladies acquainted whom he thought so fitted to
appreciate each other. As he had foreseen, a close intimacy gre-yv
up between them, but to the great mortification of the court, this
intimacy was, through Madame de Krudener's influence, the basis
of an association which airaed at nothing less than the conversion
ofthe whole earth to the holy kw of Christ.
-. ' At first the scherae was met with derision, then akrm was felt,
. and at kst, by dint of intrigues, the emperor, whom these kdies had
half raade a proselyte, was forced to banish them from coiurt, and
confine them for the rest of their days to the territory of the
Criraea. It b said that this decision, so contrary to the kind na
ture of Alexander, was occasioned by an article in an EngUsh news
paper, in which the feraale trio and'hb imperial majesty were made
the subjects of most biting sarcasms. Enraged at being accused of
being held In leading strings by three haff-crazed women, the em
peror signed tiie_warrant for their exile to the great joy of the
envious courtiers. The victims beheld in the event only the mam-
festation of the divine avUI, that they should -propagate the faith
among tke foUowers of Mahomet. In a spirit of Christian humdity
they decUned receiving any other escort than that of a_ non-com
rabsioned officer, whose duty skould be only to see to tkeir personal

378 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
safety, and transralt their orders to the persons eraployed in the
journey. Their departure produced a great sensation in St. Peters
burg; and every one was eager to see the distinguished kdies in
their monastic costurae. The court laughed, but the popukce,
always sensitive where religion Is concerned, and who, besides, were
losino- a raost generous protectress in Madame de Krudener, accom
panied the pilgrims \rith great deraonstrations of respect and sorrow
to the banks of the Neva, where they erabarked on the 6th of
Septeraber, 1822. . -
Two months after that date, on a cold Noveraber moming, when
the Sea of Azof was afready beginning to be covered near shore
-vrith a thin coat of ice, there arrived in Taganrok one of tiiose large
boats called lodkas^ which ply on aU the naAagable rivers of the
empfre, and are used for the transport of goods. This one seemed
to have been fitted up for tiie teraporary acconimodatlon of passen
gers. The practised eyes of the sailors in the port soon noticed the
pecuUar arrangement of the deck, the care vrith which the bales of
merchandbe were ranged along the gangways, and above aU, the
great carpet that covered the whole quarter-deck. These circura
stances excited much curiosity in the port, especiaUy as at that ad
vanced season arrivals were very rare; but conjecture was exerted in
vain, ag to who might be the mysterious passengera, for the whole
day passed without one of them appearing. It was ascertained, in
deed, that a non-commissioned officer knded from the lodka, and
waited on the poUce-raaster and tke EngUsh consul, and that those
functionaries repafred on board the lodka; but that was aU, and the
pubUc remained for ever in ignorance whence the lodka came,
whither it was boimd, and who were the persons on board of it.
- The same evening the EngUsh consul was waiting Arith some
curiosity for the visit of a foreigner, who, as he had been informed
by the non-commissioned officer of the lodka, would caU on him at
eight o'clock; but her narae and her business reraained a mystery for
him. At the appointed tirae the door opened, and a person entered
whose appearance at first sight did not seem to justify the curiosity
which the consul had felt about her. Dressed in a long, loose, grey
robe, and a white hood -vrith lappets falUng on the bosora, she had
aU the appearance of those Russian nuns who go about to rich houses
and beg for their convents. Taking her for one of these persons,
Mr. Y  . was about to give her a vety expeditious answer, when
to his surprise she accosted him in exceUent English. The appear
ance and raanners of the-Aasitor soon convinced hira she was a person
. of superior station. The conversation tumed at firat on England.
The unknoAvn told him that haAring long resided in that countty,
she had felt desirous of seeing ita repi-esentative in Taganrok; she
then went on to discuss EngUsk society, raentioning the raost aristo
cratic naraes, and talking in such a manner as to show that she raust
have been long faraiUar Arith the London world of fashion. After
this she proceeded to the main object of her -visit, which Avas to pro-

THREE CELEBRATED WOMEN. 379
cure from the consid a podoroshni, to continue her journey by land
instead of by Avater as before.
AU this while the consul was scmtinbing his strange visitor Arith
increasing astonishraent. She appeared to be about fifty yeara of
age ; her features, Avhich were still very Avell preserved, must have
been once A-ery handsome. She had a Bourbon countenance, lar^e
blue eyes, grave Uneaments, and a somewhat haughty ease in her
deraeanoiur, that altogether produced a singukrly iraposino- effect
The conversation graduaUy becoming more famllkr, the lady con
fessed that having been converted by the Baroness de Krudener and
the Princess GaUitzin, she had been exiled with those kdies to the
Crimea, where she purposed to preach the faith.
This unexpected communication of course increased the surprise
bf Mr. Y  , and drew from him sorae observations on the nature
of such a project. After lauding the zeal ofthe fafr raisslonary, he
hinted a doubt that she would find raany proselytes araong the Ma-
horaetans, and asked her had she no faraUy or friends who had a
more direct claim on her charity than strangers, who were too bar
barous to appreciate her motives. This question produced au extra
ordinary effect on the lady. She grew pale and confused, and mut
tered indistinctly that aU her earthly ties were broken, and that the
Avrath of Heaven had long rested on her head ! A sUence of some
rainutes foUowed that avowal. The consul remained vrith his eyes
fixed on the strange being before him, and in spite of aU his address
and knoAvledge of the world, he was qtute at a loss how to behave
or how to renew the conversation. His visitor, however, reUeved hira
by taking her leave, after repeating her request that he would supply
her Arith a podoroshni on the foUoAring raorning.
It raay easUy be iraagined that Mr. Y — — did not wait until the
next day to satisfy his curiosity respecting the ladles whose invincible
spirit of proselytisra had sent thera frora the banks of the Neva to
the shores ofthe Black Sea, and soon after the departure ofhis Arisitor
he was on hb way to the port He had no difficulty in finding the
lodka; the deck was deserted, but a Ught shone through one ofthe
skyUghts. Looking doAvn he saw three phantora-Uke females stand
ing at a table covered with papers, and reading out of krge books.
When their prayers were ended they began to chant hyrans in a
slow raeasure. The soleran reUgious harraony, suddenly breaking
the deep silence, made so intense an impression on the consul, that
twenty years afterwards he stiU spoke of it Arith enthusiasm.
-'--Countess Guacher stood Arith her back towards him, but he had
a fuU view of the faces of the two other ladies. --Madame de Km
dener was smaU, deUcate, and fair haired ; her Inspired looks and
the gentleness of her countenance bespoke her boundless beneficence
of souL The Princess GalUtrin, on the contrary, had an imposing
countenance, the expression of which presented a strange raixture of
shrewdness^ asceticism, stemness, and raiUery. For a long Avhile the
pilgrims continued chanting Sclavonic psalms, the mysterious nn-

380 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
part of which accorded with the enthusiastic disposition of their souls.
Before they had ended, the sound of footsteps on the deck woke Mr.
Y  from his trance of wonder. The new comer was the non-
coraraissioned officer, and Mr. Y  desired the man to announce him,
although he hardly expected to be admitted at so kte an hour. Hb
-visit Avas nevertheless accepted, and the ladies received him Avith as
much ease as if they had been doing the honours of a drawing-room.
In spite of their religious enthusiasm, and the apostolic vocation
which they attributed to themselves, it may easily be Iraagined that
these three high-bred ladies, accustoraed to all the refinements of
luxury, should now and then have had their tempera a Uttie ruffled by
the hardships of their journey, and that their mutual harmony should
have suffered somewhat in consequence. Their Avish, therefore, to
separate on their arrival at Taganrok was natural enough. Countess
Guacher especiaUy, having made less progress than her corapanions
in the path of perfection, had often revolted against the austere
habits imposed on her; but these ebuUtions of carnal temper were
always brief and transient; and on the day after her visit to the
consul, when he returned to the port to announce that the podo
roshni was ready, the boat and its passengera had disappeared, and
no one could give any Information about them.
The apparition of these kdies in the Crimea threw the whole
peninsula Into commotion. 'Eager to make proselytes, they were
seen toiUng In thefr beguine costume, with the cross and the gospel
in their hands, over mountains and vaUeys, exploring Tatar villages,
and even carrying their enthusiasm to the strange length of preach
ing in the open air to the amazed and puzzled Mussulraans. But as
the English consul had predicted, in spite of their mystic fervour,
their persuasive voices, and the ori^naUty of thefr enterprise.'our
heroines efiected few conversions. They only succeeded in making
themselves thoroughly ridiculous not only in the eyes of the Tatars,
but in those also of the Russian nobles of the Ariclnlty, who Instead
of seconding their eflbrts, or at least glAring them credit for thefr.
good intentions, regarded them only as feather-witted illuminatcB,
capable at most of catechising- little children. The police, too, al
ways prorapt to take alarm, and haAang besides received special In
structions respecting these ladies, soon threw impediments in the
way of aU their efforts, so that two months had scarcely elapsed before
they were obUged to give up their roving "ways, tiiefr preachings,
and all the fine dreams they had indulged duiing their long and
painful joumey. It was a sore mortification for them to renounce the
hope of planting a neAV Thebaid in the mountains of the Crimea.
Madame de Krudener could not endure the loss of her iUusIons;
her health, afready Impaired by raany yeara of an ascetic Ufe, decUned
rapidly, and within a year from the time of ker arrival In the pe
ninsuk, there remained uo hope of saving ker Hfe. She died in

THREE CELEBRATED WOMEN. 381
1823, in the arms of her daughter, the Baroness Berckhelm, who
had been for sorae years resident on the southem coast, and became
possessed of raany documents on the latter part of a Ufe so rich In
romantic eVents : but unfortunately these documents are not des
tined to see the light.
^ Princess GaUitzin, whose reU^ous sentiments Avere perhaps less
sincere, thought no more of making conversions after she had in
stalled herself in her delightful viUa on the coast. Throwino- off
for ever the coarse beguine robe, she adopted a no less eccentric cos
turae AvhIch she retained until her death. It was an Amazonian
petticoat, AvIth a cloth vest of a male cut. A PoUsh cap trimmed
with fur completed her attfre, that accorded well with the orioinal
character of the princess. It is In thb dress she is represented in
several portraits stiU to be seen in her Arilk at Koreis.
The caustic Avit that led to her disgrace at the court of St. Pe
tersburg, her stately manners, her name, her prodigious memory,
and immense fortune, quickly attracted round her aU the notable per
sons In Southem Russia. Distinguished foreigners eagerly coveted
the honour of being introduced to her, and she was soon at the head
ofa little court, over which she presided Uke a real sovereign. But
being by nature very capricious, the freak soraetiraes seized her to
shut herself up for whole raonths in total solitude. Although she
relapsed into phUosophical and Voltairian notions, the reraerabrance
of Madarae de Krudener inspired her Avith occasional fits of devotion
that oddly contrasted with her usual habits. It was during one of these
Aasitatlons that she erected a colossal cross on one of the heights
coraraanding Koreis. The cross being gilded is visible to a great
distance. Her death in 1839 left a void in Russian society which avIU not
earily be fiUed. Reared in the school of the eighteenth century,
well versed in the hterature ancl the arts of France, speaking the
language vrith an entfre coraraand of aU that light, pkyful raillery
that raade it so formidable of yore ; having been a near observer of
all the events and aU the erainent raen of the empfre ; possessing more
over a power of apprehension and discernment that gave equal
variety and point to her conversation ; a raan In mind and variety of
knowledge, a woman in grace and frivoUty; the Princess GalUtzin
belono-ed by her brilUant quaUties and her charraing faults to a ckss
that is day by day becoralng extinct.
Now that conversation is quite dethroned in France, and exbt3
only in some fcAV salons of Europe, it is hard to conceive the influ
ence formerly exercised by women of talent. Those of our day,
more ambitious of obtaining celebrity through the press than of
reicming over a social cfrcle, guard the treasures of thefr imagina
tion and inteUect Avith an anxious reserve that cannot but prove a
real detriment to society. To Avrite feuilletons, romances, and poefcty,
is aU A-ery weU; but to preside over a draAving-room, Uke the women
ofthe eio-hteenth centuty,has abo Its merit But we raust notbkrae

382 THE STEPPES Oi* TS:& CASPIAN SEA, &C.
thef emalesex alonefortheW of that supremacy which once belonged
to French society. The raen ofthe present day, more serious than
thefr predecessors, more occupied Avith positive, palpable interests,
seem to look Arith cold disdain on what but ktely coraraanded their
warraest adrafration.
But we have lost sight of the Countess Guacher, who b not for
aU that the least Interesting of our heroines. Resigning herself Arith
much more equanimity than her companions to the necessity of leav
ing the Tatars alone, she hfred for herself, even before their cora
plete separation, a smaU house standing by Itself on the sea shore;
and there she took up her abode AvIth only one feraale attendant.
FoUowing the exaraple of the Princess GalUtzin, she threw off the
beguine robe and assuraed a kind of male attfre. For some time her
existence was almost unknoAvn to her neighbours, so retfred were her
habits. The only occasions when she was irisible -was during her
rides on horseback on the beach, and it was noticed that she chose
the most stormy weather for these excursions. - _
But- her recluse habits did not long conceal her from curious in
quiry. A certain Colonel Ivanof, who had noticed the strange pro
ceedings of the pilgrims from their first arrival in the Criraea, set
himself to watch tke countess, and at kst took a kouse near her
retreat ; but In order that hb "presence might not scare her, he con
tented himself for some weeks with foUoAving her at a dbtance dur
ing her lonely promenades, trusting to chance for an opportunity of
becoming more Intimately acquainted ¦vrith her. His perseverance
was at last rewarded -vrith fiiU success. ^^ ; r
One evening, as the colonel stood at his window observing the
tokens of an approaching storm, he perceived a person on horseback
galloping In the dfrection of hb house, evridently -vrith the Intention
of seeking shelter. Before this could be accompUshed the storm
broke out Arith great fury, and just then the colonel was startied by
the discovery that the stranger was hb mysterious neighbour. The
sequel -vriU be best told in his own words: - "¦
" FuU of surprise and curiosity I hastened to meet the countess,
who entered my doora Avithout honouring me AvIth a single look. She
seemed in vety badhuraour, andconcentrated her whole attentionupon
a tortoise ske carried in ker left kand. . Witkout uttering a word or
caring for tke water tkat streamed from ker clotkes, she sat doAvn on
the divan, and remained for some momenta apparently lost in thought.
For my part, I continued standing before her, Avaiting until she
should address me, and glad ofthe opportunity to scrutinise her ap
pearance at my ease. She "wore an Amazomon petticoat, a green
clotk vest, buttoned oArer the bosom, a broad-brimraed felt kat, Aritk
a pair of pbtob in ker girdlei; and, as I have said, a tortoise In her
hand. Her handsorae, grave countenance excited my adrafration.
Below her hat appeared some grey locks, that seemed whitened not
so much by years as by sorrow,- of which her visage bore tlie impress.
" Without taking off her hat, the flap of wkick half concealed her

THREE CELEBRATED WOMEN. 383
face, she began to warm the tortobe Avith her breath, caUIng it by
the pet name Dushinka (littie soul), which duty being performed
she deigned to look up, and perceived me. Her first gesture bespoke
extrerae surprise. Untd then, supposing she was in a Tatar house,
she had taken no notice ofthe objects around her, but the sio-ht of
my di-aAvmg-room, my Ubrary, my piano, and rayseff, struck her
with stupefaction. ' Where ara I r' she exclairaed, in himied akrm.
'Madam,' I repUed, ' you are In the house of a raan who has lon<y
Uved asa hermit— a man who Uke you loves solitude, the sea, an3
meditation— who has renoimced Uke you the society of hb kind to
Uve after hb oavu way In thb wilderness.' These Avords strack her
forcibly. ' You, too," she ejaculated, ' you, too, have divorced
yourself frora_ the world, and why? Ay, Avhy?' she repeated, as if
conversingAvIth her own thoughts, ' why bury yourself aUve here,
vrithout friends, Avithout rektions, Arithout a heart to respond to
yours ?^ Why die this lingering death, Avhen the world b open to
you — the world with its deUghts, its balls and spectacles, its pas
sionate adorations, vrith the fascinations of the court, the favour of a
queen?' Iraagine ray astonishraent to hear her thus in a sort of
haUucin-ation, revealing her secret thoughts and recoUections. In
these few words her whole Ufe Avas set forth, the life of a beautiful
woman, rich, flattered, habituated to the atraosphere of courts.
" After a pause of some duration she entered into conversation with
me, questioned rae at great length on the way in which I passed my
tirae, on raytastes, the few resources I enjoyed for cultivating the
arts, &c. We chatted for more than an hour Uke old acquaint
ances, and she seeraed quite to have forgotten the strange words she
had uttered in the beginning of the interview. Being very much
puzzled to know what pleasure she took in carrying the tortoise about
Arith her, I asked her some questions on the subject; but vrith a so
lemnity that seemed to me strangely cUsproportioned to the subject,
she told me she had made avow never to separate frora it. ' It b a
present from the Eraperor Alexander,' she said, ' and as long as I
have It near me I shall not utterly desp-air of my destiny.' AvaiUng
myself of thb opening I tried to make her talk of the motives that
had brought her to the peninsuk, but she cut me short by saying
that since she had become acquainted with the character of the
Tatars she had given up aU thought of making - converts among
thera. ' They are men of pure feeUngs and pure consciences,' she
said, impressively ; ' why Insist on their changing their creed, since
they Uve in accordance with the principles of morality and reUgion?
After all it matters little whether one adores Jesus Chrbt, Mahomet,
or the Grand Lama, if one is charitable, humble, and hospitable.'
"Ilaughed, and said she spoke rank heresy, and that if she preached
such doctrines, she ran great risk of having a bull of excommunica
tion fulminated against her. ' It is since 1 have given up preaching,'
she repUed, ' that I have begun to think in this way; soUtude makes
one regard things in quite a different aspect from that in Avhich they

384 THE STEPPES OF TEE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
are seen by the world. Only three months ago I set Catholicism
aboA-e all religions, and now I raeditate one still more perfect and
subUme. Will you be ray first disciple?" she said, in a tone between
jest and earnest, that left rae very uncertain whetker she was serious
or not. When she left my house I escorted her to her own door,
and proraised I Avould caU on her the next day."
The second interview Avas not less curious than the first: the
colonel found his neighbour busily at work Arith a" glass spinner's
krap and a blowpipe, making, gkss beads. She did not allow her
visitor's presence to interrupt -her operations, but finished before him
enough to raake a neckkce. She then showed him several boxes fiUed
Arith beads of all sorts, made by her oavti hands, and said very se
riously, " If ever I retum to the world I- will wear no other orna
ments than such pearls, as these. It is a stupid thing to wear trae
ones. See how bright, clear, and krge these are ! Would any one
suppose they were not the produce of the Indkn Ocean? So itb
with every thing else: what, matters the substance if the forra is
beautiful and pleasing to the eye?" The colonel was about to enter
into a grave discussion of this very questionable moral doctrine, very
common in the eighteenth century, when suddenly changing the
subject, the countess took down a sword that hung at the head of
her bed and kid it on hb lap. " You see this weapon, colonel: it
was given me by a Vendean chief In admiration of my courage; for
though a woraan I have fought for the good cause, and many a tirae
smelt powder araong the bushes and heaths of Bretagne. You need
not wonder at ray partiaUty for ¦weapons and for raale costume; it is
a reminiscence of ray youth. A Vendean at heart, I long raade
part in the heroic bands that Avithstood the repubUcan armies, and
the dangers, hardships, and fiery eraotions of partisan warfare are no
secrets to me." '• But," observed the colonel, " how is it that thus
devoted as you are to the royal cause you do not retum to your
country, Avhere monarchy Is again triumphant?" "Hush!" she an
swered, lowering her voice, " husk ! let us say no raore ofthe present
or the past. Would you ask tke shrub broken by the stonn-why
the breath of spring does not reaniraate its mutikted form ? Let us
leave thngs as they are, and not strive to repair what b irreparable.
Man's justice has pronounced its decree; let us trast in that of God,
merciful and infinite, Uke aU that is 'eternaUy just and good !"
It was in vain the colonel endeavoured byiurther questions to
become acquainted vritk tkat mysterious past to wkick she could not
make any allusion without extreme perturbation of mind ; she re
mained silent, and retfred to another room Arithout rencAving the
conversation. ...
• After these two interviews. Colonel Ivanof had no other oppor
tunity of gathering any hints that could lead him towards, a definite
conclusion respecting thb extraordinary woman, although he saw
her almost daily for more than two raonths. She often talked to
hira of her residence in London, her friendly rektions with the Em-

THREE CELEBRATED WOMEN. 385
peror of Russia, her travels, and her fortune ; .but of France not a
Avord. Not an expression of regret, not a name or allusion of any
sort, afibrded the colonel reason to suspect that hb neighbour had
left behind herin her native land any objects on which her meraory
stUl dAvelt. Hb brain Avas almosfc turned at last by the romantic ac
quaintance ho had made. His vanity Avas piqued, and hb desire to
solve so difficult an enigma gave him no rest. Pie diligently perused
the history ofthe French Revolution, in hopes to find in it a clue to
his inquiry, but it was to no purpose. He felt completely astray in
such a labyrinth. Many great naraes successively -occurred to hira as
Ukely to belong to his raysterious neighbour, but there were always
sorae circumstances connected Avith them that refuted such a sup
position. . ¦ * -
Perhaps a raore matter-of-fact person wOuld.at kst have discovered
the truth; but the colonel's lively iraagination led hira.to embrace the
oddest hypothesis. It Avas his beUef that the countess Avas fhe iUe-
gitlraate ofSpring of a royal amour. Setting out from this principle
he put aside all the naraes proscribed by the revolution, and stuck
obstinately to a rayth. But tired at kst of thb pursuit of shadows,
he resolved to trust to that chance which had already been so favour
able for the clearing up of lib uncertainty. Assiduously noting aU
the lady's eccentricities, he kncAv not whether to pity or admire her,
though very certain that her Arits wandered at tiraes.
She frequently received despatches from S t. Petersburg, and seemed,
notArithstandIng her exile, to have retained a certain influence over
the mind of the tzar. One day she showed her neighbour a letter
- frora a kdy of the court, who thanked her warmly for having ob
tained from the emperor a regiment Avhich that kdy had long been
ineffectuaUy soUciting for her son.
So absorbed was the Russian officer by the interest he took in the
countess, that he seemed to have forgotten aU the world besides; but
an unexpected event suddenly put an end to his roraantic loiterings,,
and sent bim back to the reaUties of Ufe. A Frenchraan, calUng
himself Baron X — , arrived one fine raorning from St. Petersburg,
and estabUshed hiraself without ceremony as the countess's factotum.
From that moment all intimacy Avas broken off between the latter
and Colonel Ivanof The cold, astute behaviour of the baron, and
his continual presence, obliged the colonel to retire. It may seem
strange that he surrendered the field so quickly to an unknown per
son, but it was tirae for him to retm-n to his miUtary duties, and
besides, what could he do Avith a man whose connexion with the
countess seemed of old standing, and Avho watched her with a jealous
viglknce enough to discourage the most intrepid curiosity? His
departure was scarcely noticed by Madarae Guacher, whose habits
had undergone an entire change since the arrival of the baron. The
incoherence of her mind becarae raore and raore visible; It Avas only
at long and uncertain intervals she rode out on horseback ; the rest of
her time was spent in enduring all sorts of extraordinary mortifications,
2 c

386 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
Baron X — reraained in the Crimea untU the death of the coun--
tess, which took pkce in 1823, Being fully acquainted Arith aU her
afiairs he was her sole hefr, not legally, perhaps, but de facto. On
leaving the peninsuk he proceeded to Engknd, where a krge part
of our heroine's property was invested, and he afterwards returned
to Russia with a considerable fortune,
A curious incident occurred after the death of the countess. As
soon as the emperor was informed of the event he despatched a courier
to the Crimea, AvIth ordera to bring him a casket, the form, size, and
materiab of which Avere described Arith tke most minute exactness.
The messenger, assisted by the chief of the poUce, at first made a
fruitiess search; but at kst, through the information of a waiting
woman, the casket was found sealed up, under the bed of the de
ceased lady. The courier took possession of It and returned Arith
the utmost speed. In ten days he was in St. Petersburg.
The precious casket was deUvered to the eraperor in his private
cabinet, in the presence of two or three courtiera. Alexander -vTas
so impatient to open it that he had the lock forced. But alas I what
a sad disappointment ! The casket contained only — a pair of scissors.
It surely was not for the sake of a pafr of scissors that Alexander had
made one of hb Cossacks gallop 4000 versts in a fortnight. Be that
as it may. Baron X — was accused of having purloined papers ofthe
highest Iraportance, and unfafrly possessed hiraself of Madame
Guacher's fortune. . But as he was then on hb road to London, the
emperor's anger was of no avad.
At a. subsequent period, the disclosures raade by this man, and
the discovery of a curious correspondence, at kst revealed the real
name ofthe countess; but the tardy information arrived when there
was no longer any one to be interested in it ; the emperor Avas dead,
and Colonel Ivanhof waa fighting in the Caucasus.
Interred In a corner of the garden belonging to her house, that
mysterious Avoman who had been the subject of so many contradictory
mraours, had not CA-en a stone to cover her grave, and to raark to
the stranger the spot where rest the remains of the Countess de La-
mothe, who had been whipped and branded in the Place de Gr^ve,
as anaccorapUce In the scandalous affair ofthe diamond necklace,*
• All the facts we have related respecting 'Madame de Lamothe are positive and
perfectly authentic : thev were reported to ns by persons who had known that lady
particularly, and who moreover possessed substantiaJ proofs of her identity. It is
chiefly toMadein<»seIle Jacquemart, mentiohedin " Marshal Mannmc's Travels,"
that we are indebted for the details we have given respecting the arrival of our three
heroines in the Crimea, We have ourselves seen in that lady's possession the sword
which th& countess aUejred she had used in the- wars of La Vendee, and sundiy
letters attesting the great influence she exercised over the Emperor AJesander,,

DEPAETCEE FROM lALTA. 387

CHAPTER XXXIX,

lAlTA— KOOTCHOtTK LAaiPAT— PAHTHENIT— THE PErs-CB DE UGNE'S HA2EL 
OUI.Oir OUZEN- ; A GARDEN CON-yERTED XNTO AJ{ ATIARr— TATAR TOUKO- ATO-
MEN — EXCtTRSIOS TO SOO~DAGH — MADEMOISELLE JACQCEMAJRT,
The proxlnuty of lalta to the raost remarkable places on the
coast. Its harbour, and its deUghtful situation, make it the rendez
vous of all the travellers who flock to the Crimea in the fine season.
A packet-boat from Odessa brings every week a krge number of
passengers, and the harbour is further enUvened by a multitude of
smaU vesseb from aU parts of the coast. Nothing can be more charm
ing than the sight of that white lalta, seated at the head of a bay
Uke a beautiftd sultana bathing her feet in the sea, and sheltering her
fafr forehead from the sun under rocks' festooned with verdure.
Elegant buddings, handsorae hotels, and a corafortable, cheerful po
pulation, indicate that opulence and pleasure have taken the tOAvn
trader thefr patronage ; its prosperity, indeed, depends entfrely on the
traveUers who fiU its hotels for several months of the year. When
it belonged to the Greeks it was counted among the most iraportant
tOAvns on the coast; but the successive revolutions ofthe Crimea were
fatal to it, and for a long while It reraained only a Avretched village.
At present a custom-house and a garrison complete its pretensions to
the style and dignity of a grand town. But nature has been so
liberal to it, that instead of wondering at its rapid rise one Is rather
disposed to think it much inferior to what it raight be.
We left lalta in a tolerably krge body, sorae on horseback, others
in carriages. Leaving behind us Aloupka, Mishkor, Koreis, and
Oreanda, we soon forgot their sumptuous cUspkys of art for the
inexhaustible marvels of nature. Our road lay parallel to the coast,
and the continual variations of its admfrable scenery made us think
the way too short, A storm of rain overtook us in the fine forest
of Koutchouk Lampat, and made us all run for shelter. The
more advanced of the party easily reached the house of General
Borosdin the OAvner of the property; but those in the rear, of
whom I was one, were obUged to take refuge in a paviUon, Whdst
we were quietly waiting there until the storm should blow over, the
people of the house were seeking for us on all sides, having been
sent out by our corapanions. Several tiraes we saw thera passing
along at a distance armed Avith large urabreUas ; but as there was a
bilUard-table in the pavilion we never showed ourselves until we
had finished an interesting garae. The chatekin of Koutchouk
Lampat, deUghted to receive so numerous a party, entertamed us
Arith an excellent colktion, in which figured aU the -wines of
Prance and Spain.
A few leagues from Koutchouk Lampat lies Parthenit, a vilkge
where, for the first tirae, I received a mark of civiUty from Tatar
2c2

388 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
females- As I entered the pkce, keeping In the rear of the others
according to ray usual custom, I passed In front of a house in the
krge balcony of Avhich there were three yelled women. Just as I
passed beneath tho balcony I slackened ray horse's pace and made
some friendly .signab to them, Avhereupon, one of them, and I raake
no doubt the prettiest, repeatedly kissed a krge bouquet of lily of
the valley she held, and threw it to me so adroitly that it fell into
my hand. . Delighted with the present, I hastened up to ray cora
panions and showed it to them ; but they were aU maUcious enough
to assure me that the gift had been addressed not to rayself but
to my clothes. The reader avUI remeraber that I traveUed in male
costurae. At Parthenit we failed not to sit under the faraous hazel-tree of fhe
Prince de LIgne. Its foliage is so thick and spreading that it over
shadows a whole place. The trunk is not less than eight yards in
circumference, and Is surrounded by a krge wooden divan, alraost
always occupied by travellers, who use It as a tavern. The inha
bitants of Parthenit regard this tree with great afiection, and be
neath its shade they discuss aU the important affairs of the Arilkge.
A limpid fountain, the waters of Avhich are distributed through
several channels, adds to the charm of the spot. Our whole caval
cade was corapletely sheltered under the dome of the magnificent
hazel. The Tatars brought us sweatraeats, coffee, and fresh eggs,
and obstinately refused to take payment for them. Almost the
whole population carae to see us, but their curiosity was not at all
obtruslA'e. Such of thera as had no iraraediate business Arith us
kept a respectful distance. ..f': - - . : -
On leaving Parthenit wo passed very close to sorae old fortifica
tions covering a -whole hiU Avith their imposing ruins. At evening we
arriA'ed at the post station of Alouchta,* where our party was to break
up. Some of our companions returned to lalta, others proceeded
towards Sirapheropol ; whibt we ourselves, accorapanied by a single
Tatar and our dragoman, set out by the sea-coast for Oulou Ouzen,
The distance was but tAvelve versts, but we spent several hours upon it,
in consequence of the cUjBBculty of the ground and the steepness of
the cliffs which we were often obliged to ascend. We raet no one
on the way; _thb part of the coast is quite deserted and sterile,
Oulou Ouzen, our point of destination, b a narrow vaUey opening
on the sea, and belonging to Madarae Lang, Avho has covered it Arith
-vineyards and orchards, A week passed quickly away in the agree
able society of our hostess, whose residence is one of the prettiest
in the country, . Being very fond of birds, ske has succeeded by a
very siraple process in converting her garden into a great aviary. On
? About A-D, 463, the Khersonites invoked the protection ofthe emperors of the
East against the Huns, Justinian seized tlie opportunity to erect the two fortresses
of Alouchta and Ouraouf, by means of which he subsequently rendered the republic
of Kiier-;on tributary to the empire, Tiiere stUl exist at Alouchta three large
towers that lorraed part of the imperial castle.

MADEMOISELI..E JACQUEMAET, 389
the day we arrived Ave were surprised to see her continually assailed
by a flock of pretty titmice that pecked at her hair and hands Avith
extraordinary famiUarity. They Avere the progeny In the third and
fourth generation of a pair she had reared two years before, and had
liberated in the beginning of spring. Next year they retumed Avith a
young brood that grcAV used by degrees to feed on the balcony, and at
last to eat out of her hands. These in their turn brought her their
young ones; other birds foUoAved their example, and thus she has
always a fiock of gay dwellers of the air perching and fluttering
about her bakony, AvhIch is covered with nets to protect them from
birds of prey.
At Madame Lang's avc met a very agreeable gentleman and a
great admirer of the Crimea, M. Montaiidon, Avho has Avrltten an
exceUent itinerary of the country. We talked a great deal Avitli him
about a French kdy, IMaderaoIselle Jacquemart, whose acquaintance
my husband had raade some months previously. She has resided
for the last fifteen years in Soudagh, a. valley. near Oulou Ouzen:
The Due de Raguse speaks at great length of her in his Excursion, en
Crimee, and relates the tragic adventure of Avhich she was the heroine
sorae years ago, but he assigns for it a roraantic cause Avhich Ma-
deraoIseUe Jacquemart has absolutely contradicted,
Eew kdies liave passed through a more eccentric life than IVfa-
deraobelle Jacqueraart, In her young days, her beauty, her
talents, and her, wit invested her with a celebrity, such as rarely
falls to the lot of one in the hurable position of a govemess,' After
having Uved long in the great world of St. Petersburg and' of
Vienna, she suddenly withdrcAV to the Crimea, where, having like
many others almost ruined herself by vintage speculations, she
purchased the Uttie property in Avhich she now resides. Her his
tory and her unusual energy of character led to a close intimacy
betAveen her and the old Pnncess Gallitzin, who Avas herself enough
of an original character to like every thing uncommon, and Ma
demoiselle Jacqueraart was an habitual guest at Koreis,
Before Ave left Oulou Ouzen we went to spend a day Avith Ma
darae Lang's only neighbour, an old bachelor, who Mves quite alone,
not out of misanthropy, but that he may devote himself AAithout
inten-uption to his faA'ourite pursuit of botany, A deep ravine be
tween the two properties, and a steep descent overlooking the sea,
render the road so dangerous that ladies can venture to traverse it
only in a vehicle draAvn by oxen. It was in this strange equipage,
guided by a Tatar arraed with a long goad, that we reached the
house of M, EaviskI, who Avas quite deUghted, but greatly puzzled
to receive kdies. He cUd the honours of his bachelor's dweUing,
nevertheless, Uke a very well-bred gentleman.
. Whde wc were waiting for dinner, Madame Lang conceived the
happy thought of sending for aU the Tatar beauties of the AiUage
that I mir^hl see thera. When they arrived, the gentleraen Avere

390 THE STEPPES OE THE CASPIAN SEA, &C,
obliged to leave the roora, which was iraraediately entered by a
dozen of pretty ba.shful young woraen, looking Uke a herd of scared
gazelles. But after a few words from Madame Lang, who speaks
Tatar very well, they soon becarae famiUarised Avith our strange faces,
and grew very merry. They took off their veils and papouches at
our request, and favoured us with an Oriental dance. One of them
quite astonished rae by the magnificent Unearaents of her face,
which rerainded rae of the head of an erapress on an ancient medal.
They exarained all the detaib of our toilette witk ckildlike curiosity,
and exacted from us the sarae attentive notice of the erabroidery on
thefr bodices and veils, MeanwhUe, so araused were we by this
scene, that we had quite forgotten the gentlemen whora we had
turned out, and who now began to thurap lustily at the door. The
Tatar woraen were now thrown Into the most picturesque and co
mical disorder, and ran about in all directions looking for their veUs.
In the midst of the confusion I was wicked enough to hide the
veil and sUppers of the young beauty, and then throw the door
¦wide opeiL It was curious to see the dbmay of the poor blushing
creature who knew not how to escape from the bold admiration of
several men. She had never In her Ufe been in such a situation
before; so when I thought the gentlemen had sufficiently Indulged
their curiosity, I hastened to reUeve her by returning her veil.
Next day, after a fatiguing joumey, we reached Soudagh In the
evening. It was Avith no Uttie interest I beheld the humble abode of
a woraan of talent, who, through sorae unaccountable whim, had
quitted the world while still yotmg, and retired to alraost absolute
soUtude, She was glad to receive the. visit of compatriots, and
talked frankly to us of the hardships and discomforts of a Ufe she
had not the courage to abandon. The extreme loneUness of her
dweUing exposed her to frequent attacks by night, and obliged her to
have a brace of pistols always at the head of her bed. People stole
her fruit, her poultry, and even her vines ; she was kept continually
on the alert, and had the fear before her of repetition of the horrible
attempt to which she Avas once near falUng a victira.
The account she herself gave us of that affafr was as foUows,
Two days before it happened, a Greek apphed to her for work and
food. Not having any eraployraent for him, she gave him sorae
proArisIons, and advised him to look elsewhere for work. The next
day but one, as she Avas returning in the evening frora a geological
excursion, carrying in her hand a sraall hatchet she used for break
ing pebbles, she perceived the same man Avalking behind her in
sUence, Peeling some uneasiness, she tumed round to look in the
Greek's face ; but at that moment she felt herself grasped round the
waist, the hatchet waa snatched out of her hand, and she received
several blows with it on the head that deprived her of all conscious
ness. When her senses retumed the assassin had disappeared.
How she reached honae Avith her skuU fractured, she never coidd

EUINS OP SOLDAYA. 391
explain. For raany months her Ufe was in imralnent danger, and
her reason was impafred. At the time Ave saw her she still suflered
acutely from sorae spUnters of a comb that reraained in her head.
This is a much less romantic story than that told by Marraont,

CHAPTER XL.
KCI>-S OF SOLDATA — ROAD TO THEODOSIA — CAEEA — MtrSCO-nTB VANDALISM —
PENINSULA Oi- KERTCH — PANTICAPBA AKD ITS TOitBS.
Leaving ray Avife to retum with Mademoiselle Jacqueraart to
Oulou Ouzen, I took my way by the lower part of the vaUey of
Soudagh through a labyrinth of vineyards and raeadows covered
vrith blossoming peach and apricot trees. Passing the paltry vilkge
that has borrowed one ofthe names ofthe celebrated Soldaya, we soon
arrived at the sea beach at the foot of the triple castle erected by
the intrepid Genoese, in 1365, on the site of a city they had just
conquered, and which had flourished tinder the successive dorainion
of the Greeks, the Komans, and the Tatars. .
The origin of Soldaya, or Sougdai, belongs to the most remote
periods of Crimean history. In the eighth century It was a bishop's
see, and though then dependent on the Greek empire It boasted
not the less of Its oAvn sovereigns. Four centuries afterwards, in
1204, the, Komans, an Asiatic people, expelled from their oavu ter
ritories, and driven AvestAvard by the hordes of Ghenghls Khan,
entered the Cr.raea, where they were the precursors of that terrible
Mongol invasion that was soon to overwhelm aU the east of Europe,
The arrivak of these fugitives was fatal to the Greek settlements ;
the princes of Soldaya were exterminated, and the victors took
possession of their capital. But the Komans did not long enjoy
their conquests. Overtaken a second time by the rapid current of
the Mongol invasion, they were obUged to abandon the Crimea
after thirty years' possession, and seek an asylura in the most westem
regions of Thrace,
-Under the Mongol dominion the Greeks retumed to Soldaya,
which again becarae a Christian town, and tke raost important port
of the peninsuk. It was tributary, indeed, to the Tatars, but It had
a bbhop and Its OAvn adrainistration.
In the beginning of the fourteenth century, when the Tatars of
the Kaptchak adopted the reUgion of Mahomet, Mussulraan fanati-
clsra prevailed for a while In the Criraea, the Christians were ex
pelled from Soldaya and thefr nuraerous churches were converted
mto mosques. But it is a reraarkable fact that the Avord of a pope,
John XXIL, was of such force in 1323, that Ousbeck Khan al-

392 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAIST SEA, &C,
loAved the exiles to resume possession of their city with the enjoy
ment of their ancient privileges.
But twenty years had ekpsed when a fresh revolution, occasioned
by intestine disorder and dissensions, finaUy extinguished aU trace
of the Greek sway in Soldaya, The Genoese, who had for nearly
a century been masters of Caffa, incorporated the ancient capital of
the Komans with their OAvn territory on the 18th of June, 1365,*
Then it was that in order to secure their possession of the fertile
territory of Soiidah and defend it against the Tatars, the enterpris
ing merchant princes erected, on the most Inaccessible rock at the
entrance of the valley, that forraidable forfress of three stories,
crowned by the gigantic Maiden Tower (Kize KouleK) whence the
warders could OA'erlook the fort, the sea, and the adjacent regions.
The Genoese remained in quiet possession of their castle for
more than a century; but after the taking of Constantinople by
Mahomet II,, and the alraost Immediate destmction of Caffa, the
capital of the Crimean colonies, Soldaya, shared the same fate,
Tlie Turks laid siege to the fortress in 1475," It made a long and
obstinate resistance, and faraine alone overcame the valour of the
garrison.f With the Genoese sway, fed aU that had constituted the glory and
prosperity of Soldaya during so many centuries; the popuktion of
the tov/n was driven out and scattered; the once aniraated harbour
was deserted, and grass grew In the streets trodden of yore by the
elegant Greeks of the Lower Empfre, the victorious Komans and
the proud citizens of Genoa, A feeble Turkish garrbon becarae
the tenants of the place, and for nearly three centuries continued the
unraoved spectators of the decay and desolation of one of the oldest
and most reraarkable cities of the Pontus Euxinus.
The iraperial eagle of the tzars floated over the towera of Soldaya
In 1781, and from that tirae began for the raonuraents of the Ge
noese colony that rapid destruction which everywhere characterises
the Russian conquests. All the beautiful pubUc and private buUd
ings which PaUas so much adralred in his first joumey, dbappeared,
and out of their precious reraains, Muscovite A'andallsra erected
great useless ban-acks, the unmeaning ruins of which have, for
many years, strewed the ground. At present Soldaya, erased frora
the list of tOAvns and fortresses, has not even a watchraan to guard
Its Avails and Its magnificent towera with thefr proud inscriptions.
Every year the sight Is saddened by fresh mutlktlons, and ere long
* Superbi discordes et desides Grteci a Gennensibos Italis fracti et dehilitati
civitatem earn amiserant (M-artini Briniovii Tartaria, 1575),
f Cum obsidionem diutumam ac fomem, Genuenses diutius ferre nee impetum
tarn numcroai exercitus Turcorum sustinere amplius possent, in maximum tem-
pum illud, quod adhuc ibi integrum est, centeni aliquot vel mille fere viri egregii
sese recepcrant, et per dies aliquot in arce inferiori in quam Turcte irraperant for-
titer et animose sese defcndentes, insigni et meraorabili Torcarnm strage edita
tandem in tempio illo universi conciderc. — Ibid,

TATAK MOUNTAINEERS OF THE CRIMEA. 393
there will reraain nothing of those ra.arble tablets with their elegant
arabesques that adorned every toAver and doorway, and recorded its
origin and hbtory. The only thing that could save the Genoese
castle from total destmction, woukl be to leave it quite alone, and
to reraove far frora it every body of Russian authorities. Unfor
tunately, the government seeras wiUIng to take upon itself the care
of its preservation, and there can be no doubt that deraoUtlon
aAvaits the reraains of Soldaya from the moment an employe, with
out salary enough to Uve on, shaU be invested vrith the right of
protecting thera against the ravages of time and of raen,*
On leaving Soldaya we proceeded towards Theodosia, the Cafia
of the Genoese. We AriU not weary the reader Arith a monotonous
description of our route. This part of the country is less dlvei-sified,
less beautiful and picturesque, and the population much more thinly
spread than in the other mountainous parts of the Criraea, The great
calcareous chain recedes considerably from the coast, and from its
precipitous sides it sends off blackish schistous offshoots, scarcely
covered by a meagre vegetation, enclosing between them in their
course to the sea sorae valleys in which the Tatars have estabUshed
the only ¦viUages In the country. Completely abandoned by the
aristocracy, destitute of roads, and unadorned by any of those ele
gant dweUings Arith which luxury and fashion have embeUIshed the
hUl sides of lalta, the whole coast between Alouchta and Theodosia
b neglected by most tourists, and is only visited at rare intervals by
scientific traveUers, But if the Soudagh coasts are disdained by the
Russian nobles, and display no ItaUan villas or porphyry gothic
manors, the traveller finds there the most frank reception and tmly
Oriental hospitaUty, Far from all the centres of the elegant and
partly corrupt civiUsation which the Russians have imported into
the Criraea vrithin the last twenty years, the Tatars of these re
gions retain tmaltered thefr ancient usages, and the prominent
features of thefr primitive character, I could not easUy describe
the kindly good-wiU with which I Avas received in all the vil
lages where I stopped. The fact that I Avas a Frenchman, who
had nothing to do Avith any branch of Russian adrainbtration, had
a really marveUous effect on the raountaineers. Wherever I went
the best house, the handsoraest divan, cushions, and carpets were
assigned for my use; and in an instant I found myself ripping my
coffee and sraoking ray chibouk, surrounded Avith aU those comforts
the want of which is so sorely felt by those who travel In certain
parts of the East. .
' In Toklouk, Kooz, and Otouz, which we passed through succes
sively, the flat-roofed Tatar houses are, as everywhere ebe, backed
Wainst the hUb that flank the valley. By thb raeans the mha-
.^^ W;ants are enabled to keep up a coraraunication widi each other by

, For a more detailed description of the ruins of Soudagh, see the remarkable
i-k of M. Dubois de Montperreus. Paris, 1843.

394 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &0.
the terrace tops of their houses, where they regukrly carry on their
work, and which are formed of stout carpentry covered with a thick
bed of clay. Nothing can be more picturesque than the appearance,
at evening, of aU these terraces rising in gradations one above the
other. At that period of the day the whole population of each
¦viUage is on the alert; and quitting the dark rooms In which they
had sheltered from the heat of the day, men, women, and children
gather on the roofs; animation, mirth, and the din of tongues,
takes pkce of the silence of day, and the observer is never weary
of watching the picturesque scenes formed by the various groups
engaged in their household occupations.
At Koktebel, a little vilkge on the sea shore, twenty- nine versts
frora Soudagh, tke sombre keadland Kara Dagk terminates the
bolder scenery of the Crimea, Beyond that point the country
presents no picturesque features; vast pkins graduaUy succeed the
hills, and as the traveller advances he b forewarned by various
tokens of his approach to the steppes, which form all the northern
part of the peninsuk, and extend eastward of the old Genoese
colony to the shores of the Ciraraerian Bosphorus. Along the
whole Une frora Soudagh to Theodosia there is not one point, not
one monument or ruin to interest the hbtorian or the antiquarian.
Indeed the nature of the coast, now abrupt, now formed of great
imsheltered flats, does not seem to favour the foundation of a town
or of a harbour, whether for war or comraerce.
We are now arrived at Theodosia or Cafia, formerly the splendid
metropolis of the Genoese dominion in the Black Sea, now a Rus
skn town, stripped of aU poUtical and comraercial iraportance.
The genius of barbarous destruction has Avrought stlU more de
plorable effects here than at Soldaya or any other spot in the
Crimea. . - ;. - ¦
Theodosia was foimded by the MUesians in the early tiraes of
their expedition to the Pontus Euxinus, and long prospered as an
independent colony. It was afterwards Incorporated into the king-
dora of the Bosphorus, and shared its destinies for many centuries.
The Akns, a barbarous people frora the heart of Asia, appeared in
the Crimea about the middle of the first century of our era; Theo
dosia was sacked by them, and sixty yeara afterwards Arrian
speaks of it in his Periplus of the Black Sea as a toAvn entirely de
serted. The Huns subsequentiy completed what the Akns had
begun, and left not a vestige to Indicate the true position of the old
MUesian colony, ^
Ten centuries after the destruction of Theodosia, otker navigators
not less inteUigent or enterprising than the MUesians, knded on the
Crimean coasts; and soon there arose on the site of the Greek city
another equally remarkable city, the annab of which form unques-
. tionably one of the finest chapters in the poUtical and coraraerclal
histoiy of the Bkck Sea, It was in the middle of the thirteenth
century, after the conquest of the Crimea by the Mongob, when

HISTORY OF CAFFA. 395
three potent repubUcs Avere contendmg for the erapire of the seas,
that the Genoese, entering the bay of Theodosia, obtained from
Prince Oran Tiraour the grant of a sraaU portion of ground on the
coast. The colony of Cafia Avas regularly founded in 1280, and so
rapid was its rise, that in mne years fr-om that date it was able, Avith
out irapairing its own means of defence, to send nine gaUeys'to the
succour of TripoU, then besieged by the Saracens.*
The foundation of Caffa increased the rancorous strife between
Genoa and her potent rival of the Adiiatic. The Crimean colony
was surprbed by twenty Venetian gaUeys in the year 1292, and
totaUy destroyed. In the foUowing year the Genoese again took
possession of thefr territory; Caffa quickly rose from Its ruins, and
twenty years afterwards Pope John XXII, made It a bishop's see.
War having broke out vrith the Tatars in 1343, Djanibeck Khan,
sovereign of Kaptchak, kid siege to Caffa, The Genoese came off
Arictorious in this warfare, but the dangers to which they were ex
posed made them feel the need of a strong systera of fortifications.
The earthen raraparts and the palisades of the town were, therefore,
replaced by thick and lofty walb, fianked by towers, and surrounded
by a deep, wide ditch, faced with soUd raasonry. These raagnificent
works, whose excellence and gigantic proportions may still be ad
mired by the traveller, were begun in 1353, and finished in 1386.
The most remarkable tower, that at the southern comer which com
mands the whole toAvn, was dedicated to the memory of Pope Cle
ment VI,, In an Inscription relating to the crusade preached by that
pontiff at the time when the Tatars Avere invading the colony.
From that period the prosperity of Caffa augmented incessantly;
it attracted to itself the trade of the raost reraote regions of Ask, and
according to the stateraent of its historians it soon equalled in extent
and popuktion the capital of the Greek empire, which it surpassed
in industry and opulence. The Genoese colony had thus reached
the apogee of Its glory and raight in the raiddle ofthe fifteenth cen
tury, when the taking of Constantinople by Mahoraet II, cut It off
from the metropoUs, and prepared its entire destruction.
On the 1st of June, 1475, a fleet of 482 vessels, commanded by
the high admiral Achmet Pacha, appeared before Cafia, which was
immediately bombarded by the forraidable Ottoman artUlery. The
attack was of short duration; large portions of the waUs, erected at a
period when the use of cannons was unknoAvn, were rapidly disman
tled; breaches were raade in all dfrections, and the besieged were
forced to surrender at discretion on the 6th of June, 1475, after in-
efiectuaUy attempting to obtain terms of capitulation.
Achmet Pacha entered Caffa as an incensed victor and an enemy
of the Christian narae. After taking possession of the consular
pakce, he disarmed the popuktion, iraposed an enorraous fine on the
town, and then seized half the property of the inhabitants, and aU
; ,• * Giust Ann. di Genova, lib. iii. - ;¦ , „ -

396 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
the slaves of both sexes. The Latin Catholics were shipped on board
the Turkbk fleet and carried to Constantinople, where the sultan
established thera by force in the suburbs of his new capital, after
taking from them 1500 male children to be brought up as merabers of
his guard. Thus was annihikted in the space of a few days, after
200 years of glorious existence, that magnificent estabUshraent AvhIch
the genius of Europe had erected on those reraote shores, and which
had shed such lustre on the comraerce of the Black Sea,
Cafia, the destruction of which was immediately foUowed by that
of Soldaya and Cembalo, was annexed to the Turki.sh dominions, and
for upwards of 550 years had no other importance than what it de
rived from its Turkish garrbon and its military position on the shore
ofa Mussulman region, theabsobate conquest of which never ceased
to be an object of the Porte's ambition. In the iniddle of the seven
teenth century, the old Genoese city awoke from its long trance,
and in consequence of the comraercial and industrial movement
which then took place among the Tatars, It again became the great
trading port of the Blact Sea. Chardin, on hb joumey to Persia in
1663, found more than 400 vessels in the bay of Caffa. The toAvn,
to which the Turks then gave the . name of Koutchouk Stamboul
(Little Constantinople) contained 4000 houses, with a popuktion
exceeding 80,000 soub.
The new prosperity of Caffa was short Uved, From the time of
Peter the Great Russia pursued her threatening advance towards
the regions of the Black Sea, and in 1783, in the reign ofthe Em
press Catherine II,, the Crimea Avas finally incorporated vrith tho
Muscoirite empfre, Caffa now accomplished the last stage of its
destinies; It lost even officially its time-honoured name, and underthe
pompous appellation of the Greek Colony, bestowed on it by the Em
peror Alexander, It became a paltry district town, to which authen
tic documents assign at the present day scarcely 4500 inhabitants.
At Caffa, just as at Soldaya, the construction of useless barracks
occasioned the demoUtion of the Genoese edifices. The facings of
the ditches were first carried off, and then, emboldened by the de
plorable indifference of the govemment, the destroyers kid hands
on the walb themselves. The magnificent towers that defended
them were pulled down, and there now reraain only three fragments
of walls belonging" to the reraarkable bastion erected in honour of
Pope Clement VI, When the Genoese fortifications had been de
stroyed, the civil monuments next feU under the i-uthless vandaUsm
ofthe authorities. At the time- the Russians took possession, two
iraposing edifices adorned the principal square of CafiEi, the great
Turkish baths, an adrairable model of Oriental architecture, and the
ancient episcopal church of the Genoese, built in the beginning of
the fourteenth century, and converted into a mosaue after the.
Turkish conquest. It was decided in the reign of Catherine H,
that the mosque should be restored to the Greek church, but un
fortunately instead of preserving it unaltered, the fatal project of

MTJSCOTlTE VANDALISM, 397
adorning it with wretched doric porticoes was adopted. The elegant
doraes that so gracefully encompassed the main building were, there
fore, deraolished ; but scarcely Avere the bases of the colurans kid
.when a trifling deficit occurred in the funds, as M, Dubois relates,
and thenceforth the governraent refused to raake any further
advances. The beautiful mosque which had been quickly stripped of its
lead, to be sold, of course, for the benefit of the Russian officiab,
was thus abandoned to the mutilations of time and of the popuk
tion, and soon becarae a raere ruin. In 1833, the ignorance of a
civil governor, Kasnatcheief, corapleted this afflicting work of de
struction, which extended at the same time to the great baths that
StIU remained untouched, A fortnight's Avork Avith the pickaxe and
gunpowder razed to the ground the two adrairable raonuraents vrith
which the Genoese and the Turks had adorned the toAvn. When
I Aislted Theodosia in 1840, the great square Avas stiU obstructed
with thefr precious materiab, which the loc-al administration was
eager to dispose of at a low price to Avhoever would buy them.
Of aU the splendid edifices of the Genoese colony two churches
alone have escaped the destroyer; art owes their preservation to the
CathoUcs and the Arraenians. For a very long tirae those two
foreign coraraunities struggled against the indifference of the go
vernraent, and strove to obtain its aid forthe repair of their edifices;
but their applications were aU unsuccessful, and it was by great per
sonal sacrifices that they succeeded in recent times in theraselves
effecting the restoration of their temples.
If Ave tum our attention from the interior of the town to its en-
vfrons, we are still afflicted by the same spectacle of destruction.
All the thriving fields and orchards that encompassed the tOAvn in
the time of the Tatars have dbappeared, Tavo Muscovite regiraents
annihikted in a single winter all trace of the rich cultivation that
formerly clothed the hUls,
There is a museum in Theodosia, but except some Genoese in
scriptions, foreraost araong Avhich is that of the faraous tOAver of
-Clement VI,, it contains no remains belonging to the ancient Mi
lesian colony. All the antiquities it possesses come exclusively frora
Kertsch (Panticapea), and were brought to Theodosia at a period
when that town Avas still the chief seat of the administration of the
Crimea, Dr, Grapperon, a Frenchman, is the director of the
museura. He never fails to raystify the antiquaries who pass through
hb town, by exhibiting to thera a pretended feraale torso, found in
the heart of the Criraean raountains ; but the cunning old man knows
very well that his chef-d'oeuvre is only a lusus natures.^ _
Notwithstanding all the depredations of the authorities, and the
stupid io-nOrance of a governor, Caffa has not been entfrely meta
morphosed into a Russian toAvn, Its chief edifices have been derao-
Ushed, its walb razed. Its Tatar population expelled, and soUtude
has succeeded to its forraer animation, yet the general appearance of

398 THE STEPPES OP TSE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
the city. Its various private buddings, and Its streets paved with
large flags, aU bespeak a foreign origin and a foreign rale. Long
may the tOAvn preserve this picturesque aspect, which reminds the
traveller of that ofthe little Mediterranean seaports.
After three days spent in exploring the ruins of the Genoese
colony, days rendered doubly agreeable by the varied and instruc
tive conversation of my kind cicerone, M. Felix Lagorio,* I set out
again to continue my investigations as far as the most eastern point
of the Criraea. It is from the point where the last hiUs of the
Crimean chain subside at the foot of the walb of Theodosia that the
celebrated peiunsula of Kertch begins, which extends between the
Bkck Sea and the Sea of Azof to the shores ofthe Cimmerian Bos-
phoras. As I traversed its now deserted and arid plains, where
nothing seeras forraed to arrest the attention for a single raoment,
my mind went back -with astonishment to those glorious times when
flourished the numerous opulent tOAvns which the colonising genius
of the Milesians erected in these regions. Theodosia, Nlraphea,
Mirmikione, and on the other side of the strait Phanagoria, crowded
the brilUant historic scene caUed up by my recoUections; but above
them all stood Panticapea, the celebrated capital ofthe kingdom ofthe
Bosphorus, where Greek elegance and civiUsation reigned for so many
ages, and where Mithridates died after having for a while menaced the
existence of the Roman erapire. While my Imagination was thus
reconstructing the splendid panorama which the peninsuk must have
presented when the Bosphorians had covered it vrith their rich
estabhshments, the Russian perecktnoi was carrying me along through
vast soUtudes, where I sought in vain to discover some traces of that
ancient Greek dominion, the grandeur and prosperity of which were
extoUed by Herodotus five centuries before the Christian era. To
wards evening only, as I approached the Bosphorus, "my curiosity
was strongly excited by the singukr Indentations which the steppe
exhibited along the line of the horizon, and soon afterwards I found
myself in the midst of one of the chief necropoUses of the ancient
Milesian city. ' Huge cones of earth rose around me, and numerous
coral crags, mingled Arith tiie mounds erected by the hands of men,"
enhanced the grandeur of^^ this singular cemetery. On reaching the
extremity of the pkteau, I could- overlook the whole extent of the
Ciraraerian bosphorus. Tbe last rays of the setting sun were colouring
the cUffs on the Asiatic side, and the triangular saib of sorae fishing
boats ; tbe many tumuU of Rianagoria stood in fuU reUef against the
blue sky, and whibt the melancholy hue of evening Avas gradually
SteaUng upon the smooth waters of the channel, the deeply-marked
shadoAV of Cape Akbouroun was already spreading far over thera.
I had but a few seconds to admire these magnificent effects of Ught
* Formerly French Consul at Theodosia ; depri-red of his place for his opinions
upon the return of the Bourbons, and now filling the humble fimctions of Neapo
litan consular agent. He is the author of a Araluable ATork on the poUtical rero-
Iirtions ofthe Crimea.

WANTOX DESTEITCTIO^r OP ANCIEUTT EEM,iUK3. 399
and shade : the sun dipped below the horizon, and twiUght irarae
diately invested the scene with its uniforra hues. Ten rainutes after-
warcb I entered Kertch, a Russian town of yesterday, stretchino-
along the sea at the foot of the celebrated rock which popular tra
dition has decked with the narae of Mitiiridates' Chair. It was on
the side of this mountain, forraerly crowned by an acropoUs, that
the capital of the kingdom of the Bosphorus expanded Uke an am
phitheatre, A few mutilated fragments are all that now exist of
Panticapea; the hiU on which it stood is parched, bare, and rent
by deep ravines, and modem archaeologists haA'e had much diffi
culty in positively determining the site ofthe most celebrated ofthe
Milesian colonies.
Having taken up ray quarters in Kertch under the hospitable roof of
M, Menestrier, one of the raost agreeable of my countryraen I have
met In ray traveb, I set eamestly about my excursions, and through
the obUging kindness of Prince KherkeouUtchev, the governor of the
toAvn, I was soon in possession of aU the data requisite to guide me
in my researches, I shall not, however, obtrude upon the reader aU
the archseologieal notes with which I enriched my joumal, while
exploring the tombs and raonuraents of Panticapea, since I have
been anticipated in this respect by others more corapetent in suck
raattera, especiaUy M, Dubois Montperreux,
In roaming about tke environs of Kertch, among the innuraerable
turatdi, that serA-ed as tombs for the sovereigns and wealthy citizens
of Panticapea, one b instantly struck by the exceedingly slovenly
and raiscmevous manner in Avhich every opening of these mounds
has been performed during the kst twenty years. Instead of seek
ing to preserve these precious monuments bequeathed unaltered to
them by so many generations, the Russians have been only bent on
destroying them, in order to arrive the sooner at the discovery of
the valuable contents thought to be enclosed vrithin them. All the
turauU against which official exploratory operations ha-ve been di
rected, have been totally demoUshed, or cut in four by wide trenches
from the siirarait to tbe base, and no one has even thought of effect
ing the requfred researches by means either of a vertical shaft or by
tunneUing,. . . r i.
I have viated all the chief points where the destructive gerans ofthe
Muscovite archaologlsts has been exercised; but it would be_ irapos
sible for me to describe the grief I felt at the sight of such horrible de
vastation. They have not contented themselves Arith destroying the
forra of the raonuraents; the inner chambers and the mortal remains
Arithin them have been no more respected than the earth and stones
that had protected them for so many ages from all profanation.
The bones have everywhere been taken out of the tombs, and ex
posed on the surface of the ground to the inclemency of the weather.
M. Menestrier, of whom I have spoken above, and whose generous
indignation has not spared the directors of these operations, had one
day to bury Aritk kis OAvn hands tke stdl entire skeleton of a. young

400 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
woman. I have myself seen soldiers warming theraselves at large
fires which they fed Avith the precious fragraents of wooden sarco
phagi they had just discovered,
Araong the various turauli, that situated near the quarantine esta
bUshraent north of the toAvn, unquestionably deserved especial
attention on the part of the local administration. Considering the
gigantic dimensions of its central chamber and gallery, both having
corbelled ceiUngs, it Avas a truly unique raonuraent, Avhich the
governraent should have been soUcItons to transmit unirapaired to
future generations. The entrance gaUery is 36-25 raetres long,
2-80 wide, and 7-50 high. The five lower courses forming the
baseraent are each 0'45 thick. Then come twelve other courses,
only 0'40 high, and rising in corbels so as to form a series of re
gular projections on the interior of 0-12. The two upper courses,
which have an Interval of 0^25 between them, instead of being joined
by keystones, are merely covered Avith large flags kid flat In mortar.
The stabiUty of such ceilings Is evidently contrary to aU the rules
of art, and it is probable that in erecting them the braiders raust
have used nuip.eroiis wooden props and trusts, until tke whole struc
ture was consoUdated .by a sufficient load of earth. A rectangukr
opening at the end of the gaUery three metres high and 2^35 Aride,
gives adraission Into the interior of the central charaber or cupok.
The base of the cupok consists of four courses, of 0-40 to 0-45
In thickness, forraing a total height of 1-85. The ground pkn of
this part is ah Irregular square, the sides of which are 4-50, 4-40,
4-45 and 4-30, Above the fifth course the four angles are fiUed
in by stones forraing a circular projection of 0-30 In the line of
^the diagonal. The sarae thing b repeated in the succeeding
courses. The curved portions thus graduaUy increase In extent,
untd at the ninth course they forra together a coraplete circle,
the diameter of Avhich diminishes Avith each succeeding course, until
at top there is only a circukr opening of 0-70 diaraeter, which is
closed in the sarae raanner as the upper part of the entrance gallery.
The total height of the cupok b 9-10. The raaterial Is tertiary
sheU Umestone, krge quarries of which exist in tiie neighbourhood.
Of all the tombs recently explored by the Russians, that of the
quarantine is the only one which had been previously opened. It
was found corapletely erapty. The first exaraination appears to
have occurred at a very early date; perhaps at the time when the -
Genoese possessed the sraaU fort of Cerco, at the foot of the moun
tain of Panticapea, .
Of the tombs with semi-circular arches, that dbcovered in the
summer of 1841 is among the most remarkable. It consists of
two distinct chambers coramunicating witk eack other. In the
centre of the inner one was found a wooden sarcophagus \rith a
raale skeleton having a crown of dead gold on the skuU, It was
from this sarcophagus that the wooden target Was taken represent
ing a fight between a stag and a griffen, which I have presented :

MUSCOVITE VANDALISM. . 401
to the Cabinet of Antiquities of the Bibllotheque du Roi. Another
coffin found in the centre of the outer chamber contained a female
skeleton in a wonderful state of preservation. The smaUest bones
of the fingers and toes were perfect, and where the skuU ky was
seen a large quantity of light brown hair. The garraents CA-en re
tained their form and colour, but they feU to pieces at tiie least
touch. _ In thb chamber, to the right on entering, there was a smaU
niche, in which had been deposited the body of a cluld, Arith a
bronze krap and two kcryraatorles, one of them of glass, beside it
I have the kst two in my possession.
In 1841, when I ffrst explored the remains of Panticapea, thb
remarkable tomb, which excited the adrafration of aU artists, served
as a pkce of shelter for the cattle of the neighbourhood, and its fine
entrance gaUery was falUng to ruin. Sorae months after my departure
the wprk of destmction was carried on in the face of day, and the
magnificent paveraent of the chamber was shamelessly carried off.
At Soudagh and Theodosia, I cotdd in sorae degree account f^r the
disastrous effects of adrainistrative recklessness; the Ignorant go-
vernora to whora was coraraitted the sole custody of the antiqmties
of those towns, could see in the buildings of past ages only a quarry
to be worked for thefr OAvn profit. But at Kertch, which possesses a
museura, and a coraraittee of savans to superintend the processes for
exploring its antiquities, such destruction appeared to me quite in-
coraprehensible. It is true the Russian government cares Uttie
about the preservation of monuments, even of such as dfrectiy con
cern its ovm history; It granted only 4000 paper rubles for the
Investigations, and seeras in reality to be interested only about ob
jects of art, such as Etruscan A-ases, gold ornaments, small statues,
&c., which may serve to decorate the rooms of the Hermitage; but
there exists In Southern Russia a numerous society of antiquaries,
officially constituted, and there cannot be a question, that If it woidd
or could fulfil in some small degree the nominal purpose of its crea
tion, it Avould iraraediately obtain frora the emperor aU the neces
sary suppUes fbr the conserA-ation of tho monuments m the peninsula
of Kertch. Unhappily, that general indifference to inteUectual pur--
suits, which we have dwelt on in a prececUng chapter, prevaib as
much Avitk regard to archeology as any thing ebe. When I
examined the exploring works, ancl conversed Arith the learned gen
tleraen that directed them, I could not help seeing before me, instead
of the love of knowledge, palpable evidence of private interest and
ambition' employing all means to rise in the noblUary scale of the
empire; and whibt the Russian journals trumpeted forth the ad
mirable discoveries raade in the narae of the history of mankind,
every man of those who were disturbing the ashes of the ancient
Panticapea thought only of augmenting hb own incorae, or gfrning
a grade or a decoration,
'-' Another proof how secondary a consideration in these researches
b the Interest of learning and history, is the scandalous neglect of
2 D

402 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
tiie sarcophagi, the bas-reUefs, the architectural fragments, and, in a
word,- aU the krge sculptures that cannot be sent to St, Petersburg
and kid before his raajesty. When I visited the museura of
Kertch, I found the approaches to the budding fiUed Avith antiques,
which ky on the ground without any shelter. The noses and chins
of the principal figures on the bas-reliefs had just been broken,
perhaps that very moming; yet the learned coraraittee had not
thought of raaking the least corapkint, so little Importance did it
attach to the matter. In passing through the various haUs of the
museum, I everyAvhere noticed the sarae negUgence, and tokens of
incessant piUage. Araong other reUcs the destruction of which I
kad to deplore, I Avas shown the reniains of a magnificent wooden
sarcophagus, which had been found in perfect condition. It was
enriched with Greek carvings, the prorainent parts of whick were
gdded, and the hoUow parts painted red, and it was in ray opinion
-the most interesting piece in the museum. Thanks, however, to the
obUging disposition shown by the keepers towards strangers, 1 doubt
if a fragment or two of it yet remain at thb moment We shoidd
never have done, If we were to recite aU the acts of vandalbra and
depredation of which the museum of Kertch has been the theatre.
The detaib which we have given avIU sufficiently indicate the value of
the archeological labours carried on upon -the site of the ancient Pan
ticapea; may the remonstrances we here put forth In the name of
art, hterature, and science, attract the notice of aU those Russians
who take a real interest In the historical monuments of thefr
country, , ; ._ r~-.:. -: ¦ .j..^. :. - -: - -- - '-

CHAPTER XLL.
POLITICAL AJTD COMMEECIAL EEVOLUTIONS OP THE CEIMEA.
EXTENT AKO CHAKACTEE OP SOKFACE — aiBUSSlAN ASH HERACLEAN COLONIES—
KEraDOM O? THB BOSPHORUS — EXPORT AND IMPORT TRADE Ef THE TLStES OF
THE CREEK REPUBLICS — iUTHREOATES — THE KEfGDOM OJ" THB BOSPHORUS
-c:>n>En. the bomans — the alajjs xstd goths — situation of the republic op
KHERSON — the HUNS ; DEST-BUCTTON OP TEE EINOCOa OF TEE BOSPHORUS — THB
KHERSONITES PUT THEJISEL-VB3 DSDER THB PROTECTION OP THE BTZANTlNB
XilPIBE — DOMINION OP THE KHAZARS — THE PETCHBNEOUES AND K03IANS — THB
KXXGDOU OP UTTLE TATABT — KlaB AND FALL OP THE GENOESE COLONIES — THB
CBEEEA. UNDER THB TATABS — ITS CONQUEST BI THE RUSSIANS. -.• ...
The Crimea comprises a surface of about 1100 square geographic
[eagues, 'divided Into tAvo~distinct regions.;- The first of tiiese is'
mountainous, and forms a strip of about ninety-five Englbh miles in
[ehgtk along the southern coast, vrith a mean breadth of from twelve
to sixteen mUesj the second, tiie region of the pkins, presents all

3IILESIAN AND HERACLEAN COLONIES. 403
the characters" of the steppes of Southern Rtissia, and extends
northward to the isthmus of Perecop, which connects the peninsula
witii the continent. The Crimea now forms part of the govemment
called the Taurid, the territory. of which extends beyond Perecop,
betAveen the Dniepr and the Sea of Azof, to the 47th degree of
ktitude, Sirapheropol is its chief town.
In order to give a clear conception of the political and commer
cial Importance of the Crimea, which, by its almost central position
In the Black Sea, coramands at once the coasts of Asia, the mouths
of the Danube, and the entrance to the ConstantinopoUtan Bos
phorus, it b Indbpensable to present a rapid sketch of the numerous
revolutions which the march of tirae and the invasions of peoples
have effected in that iraportant peninsuk. It was in the raiddle of
the seventh century before Christ, that the Milesians made thefr
appearance on the northem shores of the Euxine. The eastern
part of the Tauris, an open country and easy of occupation,
having attracted their attention, they founded their first, colomes
there, possessing theraselves at the sarae tirae of aU the Uttie region
which we now caU the peninsuk of Kertch. The agricultural
prosperity which they soon attained, was quickly knoAvn in Greece,.
whence It occasioned fresh and important emigrations, Theodoria,
Nymphea, Panticapea, and MermiMon, Avere erected on the shore
of .the Uttie peninsuk, and served as seaports for the thri-ving
colonbts, - The success of the Milesians stiraukted the Heracleans to follow
their example. They chose the most westem part of the country,.
landed not far from the celebrated CapePerthenica, and after having
beaten the savage natives and driven them back into the mountains^
they settled in the Uttie peninsuk of Trachea, knoAvn In our day by
the narae of the ancient Khersonesus. Thus were laid the founda
tions of the celebrated republic of Kherson, which subsisted, great
and prosperous, for more than 1500 years, and the capital of whick
haAring become the temporary conquest of a Grand Duke of Russia,.
in the tenth century, was the starting point of that great religious-
revolution which corapletely changed the face and the destinies of
the Muscovite empire.
"Whibt the Heracleans were consoUdating their power by Improv
ing their trade, the Milesian settlements on the Bosphorus were
groAring up vrith magic rapidity, and were spreading' even beyond
tiie strait to the Asiatic coast, where the toAVns of Phanagoria, Her-
monassa, and Kepos were founded. A.t first all these Mileskn
colonies were independent of each other, but at last they became
united into the kingdom of the Bosphorus, B,C, 480.
i'As agriculture forraed the basis of the public wealth of the
MUesians, It became the object of the new govemraents pecuUar
attention. On kis accession to tke throne, Leucon reUeved the
Atbemans ofthe thirtieth imposed on exported corn, inconsequence.
of whick Uberal measure tkose exports increased prodigiously; tke
2d2

404 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
Cimmerian peninsula becarae the granary of Greece, and merchants
flocked to "Theodosia and Panticapea, where they procured at the
same time wool, furs, and aU those salted provisions, Avhich still
constitute one of the chief riches of Southem Russia. As for the
import trade, of Avhich history says little, it b easy to conceive the
nature of its operations from the Important archeological discoveries
of Panticapea.
The Bosphorians undoubtedly received In exchange for thefr
produce, aU the manufactured goods which wealth and luxury had
brought Into vogue In Athens, and it was probably Greek artists
who executed all those magnificent objects of art which are con
tained in the museum of Kertch, and Avhich prove that the agricul
tural colonists of the Tauris did not faU short of the opulence of
their brilUant mother city. Biulding materials seem tohave formed
an Important item of Importation. There is no trace of white
marble either In the Crimea or on the northem coasts of the Bkck
Sea ; nevertheless, krge quantities have been found in the excava
tions made at Kertch, and there is every reason to presume that the
huge masses of cut raarble eraployed in the pubUc and private
buildings, were imported ready Avrought frora Greece.
Despite the dangerous vicinity of the Sarraatians, the kingdom
of the Bosphorus enjoyed perfect tranquilUty for above three hun
dred years, and through a steady and rational poUcy increased in
prosperity and riches, until the conquest of Greece by the Romans
subverted aU the coraraerclal relations of the East. At that period
the Bosphorians, attacked by the Scythians, and too weak to resbt
them, threw themselves into the arms of the celebrated Mithridates,
who tumed their state into a province of the Pontus, and bestowed
it as an appanage on his son Makhares.
After the defeat and death of her Implacable enemy, Rome raain-'
-tained tho traitor Phamaces in possession of the croAvn of the Bospho
rus ; but the new prince's sovereignty was merely nominal, and the
successors of the son of Mithridates, poAverless and despoiled of aU
the Milesians had possessed on the Asiatic shore of the sfrait,
reigned only In accordance with the caprice of the Roraan eraperors.
About the middle of the first century after Christ, the Alans
entered the Tauris, devastated the greater part of the country, and
entirely destroyed Tlieodosk, which had oSered them sorae resist
ance. They were foUowed by the Goths, who In their turns became
masters of the peninsula. But far from abusing their victory, they
blended their race with that of th^vanqubhed, founded numerous
colonies on the vast plains north of the mountainous region, and
foUowed their natural bent for a sedentary Ufe and rural occupa--
tions, "The Tauric Khersonese now entered on a fresh period of
tranquilUty and agricultural prasperity. Unfortunately, Greece was
at tills period rapidly declining under the Roraan yoke; Rome
haAing becorae the capital of the whole, world, Egypt, Sicily, and
Africa had naturally acqufred to themselves the monopoly of the

THE HUNNISH INVASIONS. 405
supply of com; so that with all its efforts tiie Tauris could not eraero-e
frora the depression into which it had been plunged by the poUtical
events of the first Christian century.
The remote and Inaccessible position of the Uttie repubUc of
Kherson, preserved its independence during all these early barbarian
invasions. In Diocletian's time, the Khersonites, whose dominions
extended OA-er nearly the whole of the elevated country, had con
centrated in thefr own hands almost all the coraraerce that still
existed betAveen the "Tauris and some parts ofthe shores ofthe Bkck
Sea,* Their repubUc was the most powerful state of the penin
sula, when war broke out between them and the Sarraatians, Avho
had afready seized the kingdom of the Bosphoms, and given it a
king of thefr own nation. Tlie struggle between the two ri\-al
nations lasted nearly a century, and the Sarraatians having been
at kst expeUed, the Bosphorians again enjoyed sorae years of
freedom and quiet. _ But the peace Avas not of long duration.
The unfortunate peninsuk was soon visited by the raost violent
tempest that had yet desolated it. The Huns, frora the heart of
Asia, carae doAvn to the Asiatic side of the strait, and soon the
terrified Bosphorians beheld those furious hordes traversino- the Sea
of Azof, which had for a Avhile arrested their progress. The an
cient kingdom of the Milesians was then extinguished for ever.
(a. J>. 375.) The numerous colonies of united Goths and Alans
shared the same fate, and aU the rich agricultural establishments
of the coimtry were reduced to ashes. Still protected by thefr
bokted position, the Khersonites alone escaped the devastation, in
consequence of the rapidity with which the torrent of the invaders
lushed forth towards the western regions of Europe.
The Tauris was still suffering under the effects of the frightful
disasters inflicted on It by -the Huns, when it was again ravaged
by thefr dbbanded hordes, after the death of Attila. The Kher
sonites were now in jeopardy, and in their alarra, they sought the
protection of the Eastern Erapire. Justinian, who then reigned at
Constantinople, acceded to their request, but he made them pay
dear for the imperial protection. Under pretence of providing for
the defence of the country, he erected the two strong fortresses of
Alouchta and Gourzoublta, on the southern coast, and the repubUc
of Kherson becarae tributary to the empire.
In the ktter part of the seventh century (a. d, 679) the Tauris
was invaded by the Khazars, hordes that haAring accompanied the
-Huns, had settled in BersiUa (Lithuania), and had been forraed Into
an independent kingdom by Attik hiraself. The apparition of these
new conquerors, already raasters of a vast territory, raade such a sen
sation at Constantinople, that their alUance was courted by the
sovereigns of the East, and the Emperor Leo even asked for his son
the hand of the daughter of the kalgan, or chief of the nation. The
• Const. Porph. de adm. Imp., c, xiii.

40S THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
forebodings of the Iraperial govemraent were soon realbed, for in
the short space of 150 years the Khazars, who had given their oavu
name to the peninsuk, lounded a vast raonarchy, the Umits of whick
extended in Europe beyond the Danube, and in Asia to the foot of
the Caucasus.
After the Khazars, whose fall was caused chiefly by the attacks
of the Russians, and who thenceforth disappeared entirely from the
records of history, the victorious Petchenegues ruled over the Avhole
land except the southern territory of Kherson, which was Incor
porated AvIth the Empire of the East. Under the sway of thb
other Asiatic people, the trade and coraraerce of the peninsuk re
vived, its intercourse vrith Constantinople resumed activity, and the
Tauric ports suppUed the raerchants of the Lower Erapire with
purple, fine stuffs, embroidered cloths, ermines, leopard skins, furs
of all kinds, pepper, and spices, which the Petchenegues purchased
in Eastern Russia, south of the Kouban, and in the Transcaucasian
regions that extend to the banks ofthe Cyrus and the Araxes. Thus
began again for this unfortunate country a new era of prosperity,
unexampled for many previous centuries.
The dominion of the Petchenegues ksted 150 years, and then
they theraselves endured the fate they had inflicted on the Khazars.
Assailed by the Coraans, whora the growth of the Mongol power
kad expelled from tkeir oavu territory, tkey were beaten and forced to
return into Asia. The Comans, a warUke people, raade Soldaya thefr
capital ; but they had scarcely consoUdated their power when they
were obUged to give pkce to other conquerors, and seek an abode in
regions further west. With the expulrion of the Coraans ceased
all those transient invasions which dyed the soU of the Tauris
¦with blood during ten centuries. "The various hordes that have
left nothing but their narae in history, were succeeded by two
reraarkable peoples: the one, victorious over Asia, had just founded
the raost gigantic empire of the middle ages; the other, issuing
frora a trading city of Italy, Avas destined to raake Khazaria the
nucleus of aU the comraercial rektions between Europe and Asia,
With the Mongol invasion of 1226, the erapire ofthe tzars entered
on that fatal period of servitude and oppression which has left such
pernicious traces in the national character ofthe Muscovites, Russia,
Poland, and Hungary, Avere successively overrun by the hordes of
the celebrated grandson of Genghb Khan ; Kliazaria was added to
thefr enorraous conquests, and became, under the narae of Littk
Tatary, the cradle of a potent state, which raaintalned its indepen
dence down to the end of the eighteenth century. Under the yoke
of the Mongob the Tauris, after being oppressed at first, soon re
covered; Soldaya Avas restored to the Christians, and soon proved
that the resources of the country Avere not exhausted, and that no
thing but peace and quiet were wanted to develop the eleraents of
wealth vrith which nature had so llberaUy endowed It, In a feAv years
Soldaya became the most Important port of the Bkck Sea, aai one

GENOESE COLONIES. 407
of the great terraini of the commercial lines between Europe and
Asia. The greatness of Soldaya Avas, however, of short duration : another
people, raore active, and endowed with a bolder spirit of raercantUe
enterprise than the Greeks, carae forward about the sarae period,
and concentrated in its oavu hands the whole heritage of the great
epochs that had successively shed lustre on the peninsula frora the
day when the MUesians founded their first colonies on the Cimme
rian Bosphorus, Being already possessed of important factories in
Constantinople, the Genoese had long been aAvare of the circum
stances of the Black Sea, and the immense resources it would place
at the disposal of enterprbing raen Avho should there centralbe for
their OAvn profit all the commercial relations of Europe Arith Russia,
Persia, and the Indies. The rivafry which then existed between
them and the Venetians, accelerated the execution of their projects,
andin 1820, after haAring secured the territory ofthe ancient Theo
dosia, partly by fraud, partly by force, they kid the foundatioii of
the celebrated Caffa, through which they became sure masters of the
Bkck Sea, and sole proprietors of its commerce. With the arrival of
the Genoese the Tauris saw the raost briUiant epochs of its history
revived, Cafia became by its greatness, its population, and its opu
lence, in some degree the rival of Constantinople, and its consub,
possessing themselves of Cerco, Soldaya, and Cembalo, made them
selves raasters of aU the southem coast of the Criraea, Other
equaUy profitable conquests Avere subsequently raade beyond the
peninsuk. The gaUeys of the republic entered the Palus Mseotb;
Tana, on the raouth of the Don, was wrested from the Tatars; a
fortress was erected at the raouth of the Dniestr; several factories
were estabUshed in Colchb, and on the Caucasian coast, and even
the imperial toAvn of Trebbond was forced to admit one of the raost
important factories of the repubUc on the Bkck Sea._ The Genoese
colonies thus became the general emporium of the rich productions
of Russia, Asia Mmor, Persia, and the Indies; they monopolised
for raore than two centuries aU the traffic between Europe and Asia,
and presented a marveUous spectacle of thriving greatness. All thb
glory had an end. Mahomet's standard was planted over the dome
of St. Sophk in 1453, and the intercourse of the Crimea -svith the
Mediterranean was broken off. The destmction of the Genoese
. settleraents was then inevitable; and the repubUc, despairing of their
preservation, assigned them over to the bank of St, George, on pe
15th of jSTovember, 1453. The consequences of this cession,_ -sv'hick
put an end to the poUtical connexion of the coloraes -with the
mother state, were of course disastrous, Despafr and loss of public
spirit feU upon the colonbts, individual seUishness predommated in
all thefr councUs, and the consukr government, before remarkable
for Its Integrity and its virtues, Instead of uniting Avith the Tatars,
and renderino- Its own position Avith regard to the Porte less peril
ous, completely dbonsted thera by a total want of honesty, and by

'408 - THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.' - ""
selUng Its aid for gold to aU the parties that were desolating
the Criraea, So many faults were followed by the- natural catas
trophe, Cafia was forced to surrender at discretion to the Turks on
the 6th of June, 1473, and some months aftenvards all the points-
occupied by the Genoese feU one by orte into the hands ^f the
Ottoraans, - - ¦<
After the disaster of the Genoese colonies, the great Unes of com
munication of the trans-Caucasian regions, the Caspian, the Volga,
the Don, and the Kouban, were broken, haAang lost thefr feeders, -.
and all the coramercial rektions with Central Asia were for a whde .
suspended. The Venetians, who had obtained from the Turks the
right of navigating the Black Sea, in consideration ofa yearly tribute
of 10,000 ducats, strove in A^ain to take the place thefr rivals had
lost; they were expelled in thefr turn frora the Bkck Sea, the Dar*
danelles were closed against aU the nations of the West, and the
Turks and their subjects, the Greeks of the Archlpekgo, alone pos
sessed the privilege of passing through the strait In pur reraarks
on the Caspian we have already pointed out the new outlets whick
the Eastern trade procured for itself by way of Srajona, and the
great revolution which foUowed Vasco de Garaa's discovery.
Under the reign of the first khans, who were tributary to the
Porte, the Criraea lost all Its coraraerclal and agricultural iraport
ance. Continual Avars, and incessant revolts, sometiraes favoured,
soraetiraes punished by the Porte, added to the stdl deeply-rooted
habits of a nomade and vagabond existence, for many yeara pre
cluded the regeneration of the country. But a rich fertile sod, and
a country abundantly provided with aU the resources necessary to
man, triuraphed over the natural indolence of the Tatars, just as
they had done before by the saA-age hordes that successively Invaded
the Tauris. The hill sides and valleys becarae coA-ered Arith -vU
lages, and all branches of native Industry increased rapidly Arith the
internal tranquiUity of the country. The corn, cattle, timber,
resins, fish, and salt of Little Tatary fumished freights for a raulti
tude of vesseb. The commerce of Central Asia, it is true, was lost
for it beyond recovery, but the exportation of its native produce
and of that which Rusria sent to It by the Don and the Sea of
Azof, was raore than sufficient to keep its people In a very thriving,
if not an opulent condition. Caffa shared In the general iraprove
raent; it rose again from its nuns, becarae the comraercial centre of
the country, as in the time of the Genoese, and its advanceraent
was such, that the Turks bestowed on It the flattering name of
Koutchouk Staraboul (Littie Constantinople).
The dorainion of the khans extended at thb period, In Europe
and Asia, from the banks oFthe Danube to the foot of the raoun
tains of the Caucasus, and the Indoraitable raountaineers of Cfrcassia
themselves often did homage to the sovereigns of the Tauris. The
Mussulman population was divided in those days into two great
classes: the descendants of the flrst conquerora, known by tii6

THE KHANS OF THE CEIMEA — ^EUSSI^VN CONQUEST, 409
special designation of Tatai-s; and the Nogais, nomade tribes who,
subsequently to the conquest, had come and put themselves under
- the protection ofthe illustrious Baton khan. The forraer, mixed up
with the remains ofthe ancient possessors, forraed the civiUsed part
ofthe nation. Possessing the raountalnous regions, and resldin"- in
• towns ar>d villages, they Avere both agriculturists and manufacturers;
whibt the Nogais, who lived in a raanner independently in Southem
Russia, appUed themselves solely to cattle rearing. They Avere at
'that time divided into five principal hordes: the Boudjiak occupied
the plains of Bessarabia frora the mouths of the Danube to the
Dniestr; the Tedisan, the krgest, which could bring into the field
80,000 horsemen, encamped between the Dniestr and the Dniepr;
the Djamboiluk and Jedlckhoul, the remnants of which still inhabit
the territory of their ancestors, extended from the banks of the
Dniepr to the western coasts of the Sea of Azof; lastly, the tiibes of
the Kouban, nomadised in the steppes between that river and the
Don, which now forra the doraain of the Black Sea Cossacks, All
these tribes collectively could, in case of urgent necessity, bring
¦ into the field upwards of 400,000 men. Such was the political
condition of Little Tatary, Avhen the Russian conquest of the pro-
¦vlnces of the Sea of Azof and the Black Sea destroyed all the fruits of
the great social revolution which had been effected in the habits of
the Mussulmans by the ncAv developraent of trade and comraerce.
The firat Muscovite invasion took pkce in 1736. A hundred
thousand men, comraanded by Field-marshal Munich forced the
Isthmus" of Perecop, entered the peninsuk, and laid waste the whole
country, up to the northem slope of the Tauric chain. The peace
of Belgrade put an end to this first inroad, but the poUtical existence
of Little Tatary was, nevertheless, violently shaken; and frora that
tfrne forth the khans were kept in continual' perplesdty by tiie
secret or armed interventions of Russia, their subjects were
stimulated to revolt, and they theraselves were but puppets moved
by the court of St, Petersburg,
In 1783, Sahem Guerei abdicated in favour of the Empress Ca
therine n,, and the kingdom of the Tatars, exhausted by extensive
emigrations and bloody insurrections, finally ceased to exist; and
then perished rapidly the last elements of the prosperity of a land
that had been so often ravaged, and had always eraerged victo
riously from ' its disasters. Previously to thb period, m 1778, the
irresistible coraraand of Russia had deterrained the eralgration of all
the Greek and Arraenian fiiraiUes of the peninsuk, and an agricul
tural and trading population had been seen to qmt, voluntarily as
Russia pretends, fertUe regions, and a favouring cUmate, to^ settle m
the sava^^e steppes of the Don and the Sea of Azof Aoout the
same period, and under the same influence, began the emigration oi
the Tatara and Nogais, some of whom retired into Turkey, othera
.. joined the mountaineers of the Caucasus. The Russian occupation
accekrated thb disastrous movement, and on the day whfen the

410 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C,
tzars extended thefr frontiers to the banks of the Dniestr, the cele
brated horde of Yedisan disappeared entfrely from the sod of the
erapire. The Tatars of the region between the Dniepr and the Sea
of Azof did not emigrate in such numbers as the others, for the
imperial government had hemmed them in, even previously to the
conquest, by formidable military lines on the east and on the west.
The heaviest calamities feU, of course, on the peninsuk, which was
covered with fixed settlements, and waa the centre of the Tatar
civiUsation and power, and there the scenes of camage and devasta
tion which had marked the irruption of the barbarians frora Asia
were renewed in all their horrors. The peninsuk lost at least nine-
tenths of its popuktion; its towns were~given up to' pilkge, its
fields kid waste; and In the space of a fcAV inonths that region
-which had beeh still so flourishing under Its kst khan, exhibited
but one vast spectacle of oppression, misery,, and devastation, ;
Since that period there have ekpsed sixty years, during whick
the Russian domination has never had any resistance to encounter
or revolt to quell; and yet, notAvithstanding the opening of the Dar
daneUes, the Tauris has been unable, to thb day, to rise from the deep
depression into which it was sunk by the poUtical events of the close
of the eighteenth century. It b true, no doubt, that very handsome
-viUas have been erected on the southem coast,- and that luxurious
opulence has made that region Its chosen seat; but the -vital and
productive forces of the peninsuk haA'e been sraothered, its trade
and agriculture have been destroyed; and that bootless quietude in
AA'hich the dvrindled population of the Tatars now vegetates, results,.
in fact, only from the destmction of- aU material resources, and
the extinction of all moral and inteUectual energy which liave corae
to pass under the sway of the Russian adrainbtration.

CHAPTER XLH.
COJCIERCIAL POLITT OP RUSSIA tS THE CBniEA — CAPPA SACRIFICED IN PAVOUB OF
^ KB ETCH — THESE TWO PORTS COMPARED  THE QUARANTINE AT THE ENTRANCE OP
THE .SEA OP AZOF, AND ITS CONSEtJCENCES — COMaiEBCB OF K-EBTCH — -VINEYARDS
OP THE CRIMEA ; THE VALLEY OP SOUDAK — AGRICULTURE— CATTLE — HORTICUL
TURE — MANUFACTURES ; MOROCCO LEA-THER— DESTRUCTION OF THE GOATS —
DECAY OF THE POREStS— r8.4LT -WORKS — GENERAL TABLE OP THE COMMERCE OP
THE CBUIEA— PROSPECTS OP THE TATAR POPULATION.
When the Russian authority was fuUy estabUshed In the Crimea,.'
and the inevitable disastera attending the occupation of a country
by Muscovite troops had subsided, the iraperial govemraent seemed
foir a while di^osed to rekindle the embers of the peninsular pros
perity. The Emperor Alexander was personaUy acquainted -with

KUSSIAN PROCEEDINGS IN THE CRIMEA. 411
the intrinsic -valueof the country, and manifested the best and most
earnest intentions in its favour; but unfortunately he could not over
come the inveterate habits of the Russian functionaries, and thefr
utter indifference to the true interests of the erapire. Half raeasures,
therefore, Avere aU that was efiected; custom-houses and quarantines
were estabUshed, Cafia exchanged its name for that of the Milesian
colony, German viUages were lounded * large grants of knd 'were
, made to Russians and strangers, vines were pknted, and the culti
vation of the oUve was attempted; but aU capital questions were
overlooked or misconceived; no thought was given to the raatter of
markets or to coramerckl rektions; and the govemraent persisting
In its prohibitive system, assimilated the Crimea to the other pro
vinces, in spite of strong remonstrances, and repudiated aU thoughts
of mercantile freedora, the only means by which it could have friven
- new Ufe to the Criraea, and created an active and industrious popu
lation in the pkce of the Tatar tribes, of whom war and eralgration
had deprived the country.
" But in Ueu of such privileges Cafia was frora the first endowed
vrith a tribunal of coraraerce, a q-uarantlne, and a custom-house of
the first ckss; and if it could not recover Its old greatness under the
neAV clomination. It might at least have expected to becorae one of
the chief pkces of export and import in southern Russia, vrithin the
bounds prescribed by the exigencies of the custoras. Situated at
the extreraity of the Tauric chain, not far frora the Cimmerian Bos
phorus, possessing the only, trading port open to vesseb in all
seasons, in easy coraraunication Arith rich and productive regions,
thb town possessed every possible claim to the peculiar attention of
the Russian govemment. But -the hopes which had been at first con
ceived, were entfrely dbappointed, and the unfortunate Theodosia
was positively devoted to abandonment and destruction.
It b not easy to determine the real motives for which the old
Genoese city was abandoned in, favour of its rival on the Cimme-
rkn Bosphorus. The ostensible reasons were sanatory measures,
the necessity of having a general quarantine at the entrance of the
Sea of Azof, encouragement of coasters and Ughters, and the utility
of a vast emporium opened to the productions of aU Russia, We
beUeve, however, that all these arguments were in reaUty of very
secondary weight, and that the downfaU of Theodosia b to be as
cribed to nothing ebe than an absurd vanity. To recnscitate the
ancient name of Odessus ; to found a toAvn caUed Ovidiopol in a
country where Ovid never resided ; to lead our geographers into
error by giving the name -of Tiraspol to a mean village on the
Dniestr, in. the front of Bender; to substitute the name of Theodosia
for that of Caffa; aU these innovations might have pleased certain
archasologists, but how was It possible to resbt the thought of rebiuid-
ing the ^lebrated capital of the kingdom of the Bosphorus? How
-I I , .-¦-.-.-..,¦  '—" '  *   t
» These colonies no-w consist of nine Tillages, with a population of 1800 soula.

412 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
irresistible the temptation to rabe a new and great city at the foot
of Mithridates' rock 1 The memory of the Milesians had, therefore,
to fade before that of the iUustrious sovereign of Pontus; Theodosia
was despoiled of its priArileges and its revenues, its tribunal of com
merce was transferred to Kertch, and double arbour dues were imposed
on A-esseb touching there before arriving at the ktter port. Assuredly
no stronger testimony could be borne to the superiority of Theodosia
than that which was erabodied In these arbitrary raeasures, nor could
there be a raore incontestible proof of the caprice to which the Ge
noese town Avas sacrificed. Caffa was Infinitely better fitted than
Kertch to satisfy those conditions which the official orders announced
as the grounds for destroying its corariiercial position. The Kertch
roads are often closed against vesseb for three or four months con
tinuously; the anchorage is unsafe, and often disastrous, both from
tiie want of shelter and from the shaUoAvness of the water. The
port of Theodosia, on the contrary, is always open, and shipAvrecks
are unknoAvn there. During the fine season an active senrice of
lighters might have concentrated there aU the freights brought by
the Don and the Sea of Azof. In thb way the coramercial Inter
course with Russia by the Bkck Sea Avould never have suffered the
least interruption ; and, what b an incalcukble advantage in those
ktitudes, foreign vesseb, being no. longer constrained to make the
long and difficult passage to Taganrok, or to run the risk of win
tering In the ice, might. If they faded to obtain freight at Theodosk,
have proceeded in search of one without loss of tirae to the southem
shores of the Bkck Sea. All these grand considerations, which had
raised the prosperity of Caffa so high, were stiperseded by the dic
tates of vanity.
Kertch then was deckred, in 1827, a port of the first ckss, vrith a
custora-house of entry and exit. A vast lazaret was iraraediately
constmcted, and five yeara afterwards appeared the faraous sanatory
orders which stiU regukte the na-rigation of the Sea of Azof. The
duration of the quarantine was fixed at thirty days, but before that
tirae can begin to run, the vessel must be moored within the
lazaret, and every thing on board, including the effects of the crew,
must be subjected to a fumigation of twenty-four hours. This
operation being ended the sailors land, after having first divested
themselves of all thefr dress and portable articles ; the saUs are plunged
in water by the servants of the establishment, and the hull of the
vessel Is disinfected. After these preUmlnaries, which often occupy
from ten to fifteen days, the sailors return to thefr vesseb, and their
days of quarantine begin to count. AU these regulations are in
curious contrast vrith those ofthe lazaret of Odessa, where the qua
rantine lasts only fifteen days.
This new system, AvhIch was in fact an interdict upon the Sea
of Azof, told of course in favour of Kertch. But -the factitious
prosperity of that town appears to us to have already reached its
utraost Umit, and we doubt much that the best dcAOsed or most

PECULIAE SA>fATORY REGULATIONS FOR THE SEA OF AZOF, 413
Stringent orders can ever give to Its port those elements of commer-
fciai prosperity which nature has refused to it. Hence we ses that
to avoid the delay and cost ofthe Kertch quarantine, the merchants
ot laganrok and the nei^hbouiing towns, use Ughters almost exclu-
gvely to carry their goods to the vessels moored In the Cimmerian
Bosphoms. On their arrival in the channel, these Ughters are put
mto thehands of the crew belonging to the vessel to be freli^hted,
and their men remam on shore duiing the trans-shipment. ° This
being accompUshed, the Ughters are fumigated for twenty-four hours,
and then taken back by the Ughterraen to the Sea of Azof All
these operations, however, are tedious, costly, and uncertain; and the
only reason why the merchants have adopted this pkn of proceed
ing is, tiiat they aU are reluctant to incur the great expenses of
storing their goods in Kertch, and that the paucity of Ughters,
together Asrith the frregularity of the winds, and the many shoab in
the Sea of Azof, render shipments extreraely expensiA-e, so that no
additional charge could be easily home. At the opeaino- of the
navigation in 1839, freight between Taganrok and Kertch cost as
touch as four mbles per tchetvert of Avheat, and 1^ in the course of
the suramer. M, Taitbout de Marigny, who has paid great atten
tion to all these matters, estiraates the freight charges in question
as equivalent on the average to those usuaUy paid to Black Sea
vessels bound for the Archipelago.*
A reraarkable result of this whole system of quarantine and
custoras is as follows. Suppose two vesseb start simultaneously
from the Mediterranean, the one for Taganrok, the other for Odessa,
and that the ktter failing to obtain a cargo, shaU quit Odessa after
Its fifteen days' quarantine, and sail for the Sea of Azof: there is
every probabiUty that after remaining at Taganrok. long enough to
take In its cargo. It will on its return stiU find the first vessel in the
Kertch roads, waiting to coraplete the formahties requfred before it
can enter the Sea of A.zof. Such raeasures as these, would inevit
ably keep aloof frora the ports of the Sea of Azof, and even from
* Trade of the Sea of Azof , in 1338 and 1S39,

EUPOKTS,

EXPORTS.

1838,
Eubles.
5,887,901 1,414,596 30O
640,860
768,722

1839.
Eubles.
5,334,369
2,885,279 987
1,515,525 325,113

1838.
Eubles,
7,666,943
3,422,1073,205,4062,971,426

1839,
Eubles,
13,313,323

Taganrok "^ ¦:"-"":::::::.

6,276,882
Marcoupoi |g^j^ ;:::;:;;:;:;::;;::
Uostofon (Goods 
6,078,037
the Don ^Cash 
4,107,633
jBordiansk ¦ ^^j^ ::::::::"::::":,
..,. Total 
8,712,179
10,561,273
17.265,882
30,275,880
414 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
that of Kertch, every vessel that was sure of its cargo beforehand.
It b needless to insist afresh in this place on the superiority of
Theodosia, considered as a general entrepot of the goods aniving in
the Sea of Azof, and of those which raight have flowed directly
into its port through the Isthmus of Arabat;
As for the commercial resources belonging intrinsically to the town
of Kertch, It is enough to look at its situation at the extreraity of a
lone, depopukted, and sterUe peninsuk, and its distance frora every
route, whether political or coraraerclal, to be assured that they raust
be quite futile. Seven years after the creation of its port, the annual
customs' revenue had not risen above 1200 rubles. In 1840, the
whole quantity of com that had issued frora the town of Kertch
since Its .origin, whether directly or through the raedium of its
entrep6ts, scarcely amounted to 5000 tchetverts, and the receipts of
the custom-house for the same year were but 695,130. If from
this sum we deduct 551,108, the amount of the excise on salt
destined exclusively for Russian consumption, and a further con
siderable sum produced by other Imposts, there AriU remain an
exceedingly sraaU amount to represent the nett commercial revenue.
The port of Kertch has, therefore, by no means fulfiUed the grand
expectations so foolbhly conceived of It; it has ruined the great-
city of Theodosia, robbed the Crimea of its coramerckl import
ance, cut off aU chances of prosperity from the ports of the Sea of
Azof, and crippled navigation^ and aU thb without any profit worth
speaking of to itself, and Avithout the least prospect of ever rising
above the Ioav condition In Avhich It b dooraed to vegetate, both by
its geographical sitnation, and the nature and configuration of the
adjacent regions. ; '
The results have not been rauch raore satisfactory as regards the
groAVth of the Russkn mercantUe navy. According to oflScial re
ports, which we beUeve exaggerated, there-were, in 1840, in the
Sea of Azof, 323 vesseb measuring about 26,000,000 of kilogram
mes, and manned by 1517 indlAaduab, If we recoUect that
the Sea of Azof b but a- marsh, the greatest depth of which
does not exceed fourteen metres, that the crafts which ply in It,
pursuing always the same invariable track, hardly require the sim
plest rudiments of nautical skiU for thefr manageraent, and that the
navigation of the sea is usuaUy Interrupted during four or five
months of the year, it avIU be easily conceived that the maritime
adv£mtages which may accrue to Russia, from the closing of the Sea
of Azof, must be very Insignificant^ not to say quite iUusory,
We have now to examine the manufacturing and agricultural
resources of the Crimea, and the measures which have been taken
by the Imperial govemment to further thera. The cultivation of
the vine may be considered as at present the most important, if not
the most productive branch of industry in the country. When
Russia took possession of it, the vineyards were concentrated in
the southern vaUeys of Soudak, Kobsel, Koze, and Toklouk, and in

TINE CULTIVATIOK IK THE CEIilEA. 415
those of the Katch, the Alraa, etc, on the northem slope of the
Tauric chain. These vineyards Avhich seem to have existed from
very remote antiquity, Avere aUin the plain, Avhere they were subjected
to continual frrigations after the systera of the Greeks and Tatars.
The consequence of this raode of culture was that the crops Avere
extreraely abundant, and the Avine of a A'ery poor qu-iUty,* After
the Russian occupation, however, the business of Arine-growing In
creased considerably in the northem valleys, which were soon fre
quented by the merchants of the interior, AVho were attracted both
by the extraordinary cheapness of the produce, and by the fiicUities
of transport. Thus the Avines of the Crimeii found their way into
the interior of the empire, but they were chiefly used for mixing
and adulteration; the small quantity that was sold In Its original
state was always of very bad quaUty, so that the peninsukr Avines
were in very bad repute, and for a long Avhile lost aU chance of
sale, Thb weU-merited depreciation was such that even in our own
day a raerchant of eminence in Moscow or St, Petersburg would
have thought it a serious dij^grace to him to adrait into his ceUars a
few bottles of Crimean Arine,
Such was the state of the vine cultivation In the Criraea, when
Count Voronzof was naraed governor-general of New Russia. Un
der his active and enterprising administration, a bold attempt was
made to change the whole systera of cultivation, so as to produce
vrines capable of corapeting advantageously vrith those of foreign
countries-t The vaUeys, vrith their method of Irrigation, were
therefore abandoned, and the preference was given to the long strip
of schistous and eboulement grounds Avhich stretches along the sea
side between Bakklava and Alouchta, on the southem coast. Count
Voronzof set the exaraple AvIth hb characteristic, ardour; his first
operations took place in 1826 at Aidanlel,t and sis years afterwards
he was the OAvner of 72,000 vine plants. The exaraple of the go
vernor-general was quickly foUowed, and in 1834, there were
afready 2,000,000 stocks in the country, frora cuttings brought
chiefly from the Rhenish and the French provinces.
When the vines were in full bearing, the next thing to be con
sidered was to find a market for their produce; but here arose a
* De Xa Mottraye, A^ho -visited the Crimea in 1711, speaks of a Soudak -wine
the flavour of which he compares -with Burgundy. At that period the -wines of the
northern valleys sold at 2} centimes the bottle. In Peyssoael's time, in 1762, the
Soudak wines fetched from 32 to 38 centimes the bottle; those of Belbek 22 to 25,
and those of Katch, of A7hich De La Mottraye speaks, 13 to 15. The Ukraine Cos-
saks and the Zaporogues consumed the greatest portion of these wines; about 1210
hectolitres annually according to Peyssonel. In 1784, at the time of the Eussian
occupation, the price of Soudak Trine was 5 to 6 centimes the Utre; it rose to
65 centimes in':1793, during the war Arith Turkey.— <See Pallas, Voyage dans la
Eussie Meridionale.)
•f- Preriously to Count Voronzof, M. Eou-rier, who introdnced the breed of me
rino sheep into Eussia, had planted vines from Malaga on the hill sides of Laspj,
at the westem exlremity of the chain; but his example had not many imiUtors,
- ± Aidaniel is north-east of lalta, a little town, the chief station for steamboats.

416 - THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
great and unforeseen difficulty, and the brilUant expectations of the
planters were soon raberably disappointed. In spite of the difficulties
of the route, sorae merchants yielded to the earnest soUcitations of
the governor-general and his imitators, and arrived on the coast to
purchase; but the demands ofthe proprietors were exorbitant; thefr
first, outlay had been very great, and their produce sraall, yet they
were bent on realising at once the araount of their investraents.
They thought, too, that, by setting a high price on their Avines, they
would secure their reputation; accorcUngly they fixed it at twenty
to twenty-five rubles the vedro (0.1229 hectohtres), and imraediately
they lost all chance of ^ale. - ,
The business prospered better in the valley of the Soudak, where
the sarrje modifications had been introduced Into the culture of the
vine. The hill vrines were sold at the rate of twelve to fifteen rubles
the A'edro, and those of the pkin at five and six. But this did not
last long; In 1840 the vrine growers of Soudak could no longer
dispose of their stock, though they had reduced their prices to
tAVO and three rubles for the best quaUties, -and to one and one
and a half lor the lowland Avines. As to the vrine-growers of- the
southem coasts, they Avere very glad at that time If they could find
purchasers. at the rate of five or six mbles the vedro.'
Several causes contributed to these, unfortunate results. The
southern coast, as we haA^e already said, consists of a long narrow
strip of argiUaceous. schist and detritus, with a very steep IncUnation,
and overtopped throughout Its length by high clifis of jura Ume
stone. In consequence of these topographical conditions, the heat Is
very great in summer; the soil, which Is quite destitute of water
courses, dries rapidly, and the many ravines by which it Is inter
sected, corapletely deprives It of any little moisture that may re
main in it. The scarcity of rain augments these disadvantages, so
that the vine plants procured from abroad degenerate rapidly; as
the grapes cannot ripen before autumn, the wine loses much In
quality; and,, moreover, the quantity b far frora abundant, in pro
portion to the extent of the ground. These circurastances, cora
bined with those occasioned by the desire to exalt the vrines of the
Crimea in public opinion, inflame both the pretension's of the pro
prietors and the indifference of the merchants, who could never
have disposed of the coast wine at tiie liigh prices asked for it.
These were afterwards considerably diminished, but not sufficiently
to produce any effect. Whatever be said to 'the contrary, it is
certain that the Avines ofthe southem Crimea can never sustain any
sort of comparison with those of France or the Rhine ; hence they
continued to be held in low repute, and the merchants of the
interior still found it raore to their advantage to make their pur
chases in the northern vaUeys, which were easy of access, and where
the wine was incomparably cheaper. In spite of aU their efforts,
therefore, the wine-growers of the southern coast could not find a

THE VINTAGE — THE EOADS. 417
market for thefr produce, and were obUged to consume the chief
part of it themselves.
It may, perhaps, excite surprise that no atterapt has been raade to-
evade the difficulties of land-carriage by seeking outlets by sea,
and procuring custoraers in the great maritime towns of Russia.
But unluckUy there exbts betAveen Russia and Greece an ancient
treaty, which the tzars, for political considerations no doubt, persist
In reUgiously obserAring, and by virtue of Avhich Greek Avlnes are
receiA'ed ahnost free of duty in the imperial ports. Whoever is
aAvare of the prodigious quantity and incredible cheapness of tiie
Avines of the Archipelago, and of the great faciUties they afford for
efiecting mixtures and adulterations, will easily conceive, that witii
such a competition to encounter, the sale of Crimean wines became
absolutely impossible. If the culture of the vine in the Crimea was
induced by encouragements on the part of the govemraent, then
the kndoAvnera were grossly duped. But, as we shaU explain by
and by, the rainistry seem never to have looked favourably on this
-branch of industry, and the vine-growers have only, thefr own ex
treme want of forethought to bkrae foraU the dbasters that have
befaU'eh thera. , -
¦•¦At Soudak,_ however, the mischief appears to us attributable
solely to the misconduct of the authorities. We have afready stated
that the vintage speculations of Soudak were at first rauch more
prosperous than those of the southern coast. The situation of the
vaUey, which b of very easy access for northem" traffic, and the de
cided preference of the German colonists for white wines, for many
years kept the fine pkin of Soldaya in a thriving if not an opulent
condition. But unfortunately, that Avestem part of the coast not
being Avithin -the region which the governor-general and the great
kndowners had taken under their special protection,- Soudak. was
corapletely abandoned to her own resources; her iroads were left
without repairs, and the local adrainistration took no measures 'what
ever for the preserA'ation of order and the security of individuals.
When I virited the coast in 1840, the roads of this district were in
the raost deplorable condition ;*• they were strewed Arith fragments
of carts and casks; a Gerraan waggoner was kiUed in my presence
• Of road? perfectly practicable for wheeled vehicles there exist in the Crimea:
1, Theroad leading from Sirapheropol to Sevastopol, skirting 'the northern slope of
. the Tauric chain ; its length is thirty-nine English miles ; 2. Th.at from' Sioiplieropol
to lalta, crossing the mountains at the foot of the Tchatir Dagh, forty-nine miles ;
3, That from lalta to Balaclava, proceeding along the southern -coast as far ns
Eoros, Avhere it passes on to the northem side of the mountains ; its length is forty
miles between lalta and Foros ; the second portion was in course of construction in
1840. This line of road seems tous extremely iU-oontrived. It has been carried along
the very foot of the jura-limestone cliffs, for the purpose of avoiding expense in cross
ing the ra-rines : and thus it is completely exterior to the vinegrowing and cultivable
district, and every proprietor who desires to use it must make a private road at hia
• o-wn expense, in order to reach the elevated level of the highway. We say nothing .
of the roads in the plains, the construction of which, just as in the interior of Eussia,
consists merely in tracing the breadth and direction by a. ditch on either side,
2 E

418 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAMT SEA, &C.
by the breaking doAvn of his waggon; thieving and pilkge were the
order of the day in the valley, and the proprietors could only pre
serve thefr chatteb by keeping a close personal watch upon thera
day and night.
.The consequences ofthls culpable neglect raay readUy be Imagined.
Purchasers dirainished in nuraber year by year, the wines lost thefr
value, and the unfortunate proprietors AvIth krge stocks on hand were
reduced to great poverty. All sorts of expedients Avere adopted
under the pressure of the cakmity; the wines were tumed Into vi
negar, but again the speculation faUed for want of a market. We
heartily desire that our reasonable reraonstrances in favour of Soudak
may reach the imperial govemment, so that effectual measures may
be taken to revive the great natural wealth of that magnificent vaUey.
We do not know the intentions of the present finance minister, but
- it Is to be hoped that he -wIU not partake the narrow vicAvs of hb
predecessor. Count Cancrlnl was a fanatic partisan of the con
suraption of fc«-eign vrines, and at the sarae tirae the deckred enemy,
of the home groAvth, which he regarded as most Injurious to the
customs' revenue of the empire, .'.?..
In the present state of things it Is not easy to predict the future
fortunes ofthe Crimean vrine production, I'or our oAvn part, we are
thoroughly convinced that France has no sort of competition to fear
on the part of those regions. Whether the cultivation of the vine
be concentrated in the vaUeys or on the hiU sides, we do not think
that the -vintage can ever rival ours. It has been very justly remarked
that Afherever the vine and the oUve grow together, the Avines cannot
have that delicacy and that bouquet Avhich belong only to our tem
perate cUraates. We beUeve, howeyer, that if the AvInes of the Ar
chipelago were subjected to higher duties. If the means of transport
were rendered more facUe, and increased cidtivation were given to
the more open hiU sides that extend towards the east of the Tauric
chain, the Crimea would soon be enabled to supply the deraand of
the whole erapire for the coraraoner sorts of Avine, and the result
would, perhaps, be extremely advantageous in diminbliing the mb-
chievous use of ardent spirits. Such a change as thb would evidently
be not at aU prejudicial to French comraerce, which sends only Avines
of the first quality to the south of Russia. ^ - ...
According to a report printedin the Russian journab of 1834,
and cited by M. Dubois, the 7,100,000 vine plants, contained
In that year on the old, and new plantations, were distributed as
foUoAvs: — ... =; :..:. - .,v.. ., _ •
- South-Acest coast of the Crimea  ,.„  .„  1,600,000
Soudak and south-east coast  _  2,000,000
VaUey ofthe Katch.   „  2,000,000
„ the Alma  „. 500,000 ;
„ the Belek   _  500,000
German colonies  ...„  „  500,000
The wine yielded by the vintage of 1832, Avas 32,307 hecto-

AGSICUETTJEE, &C. OF THE CEIMEA, 419
Utres, of which 1694 were the produce of the south-west coast, 6050
that of Soudak, and 7S65 that of the vaUey of the Katch.
The plantations have augmented considerably since that time; we
ctmnot venture, however, to accept as authentic, the foUoAving
statistics of the annual production of the Crimea, given us by kncf^
OAvners in 1840; —
Valley of Soudak  80,000 vedros  9,760 hectolitres
Southem coast  120,000 „  14,640
Northern valleys  750,000 „  91,500 ,"
We have not much to say of the other branches of agriculture;
they are all in the most deplorable state. The magnificent forests,
yielding such quantities of tiraber, that forraerly clothed the moun
tains, are rapidly disappearing. Camel breeding, forraerly very
productive to the Tatars of the plain, has given pl-ace to lank flocTJs
of merinos. The most fertUe vaUeys are in the same state of
desolation in which they were left by the great cakraities at the
close of the last century, and the peninsuk now produces scarcely
corn enough for its OAvn consumption. Horticulture alone has made
any real progress. Some foreigners practise It with profit -in the
northem vaUeys, which for many years past have enjoyed the
privilege of supplying aU the fruit used at the tables of Moscow
and St, Petersburg.
Manufactories are alraost In the same state of decay as agricul
ture. Morocco and other leathers formerly constituted an important
part of the exports from the Criraea; at present the value of these
exports is no raore than 129,646 rubles. It is about five years since
this branch of industry was ruined, AJl that tirae there existed on
the raountains of the peninsuk a great quantity of goats, which
being left at Uberty, caused, it must be confessed, much damage to
the forests, by nipping off the yoimg shoots. According to the
usual Russian practice of attacking secondary causes rather than
going at once to the root of any evil, the local adrainistration could
devise nothing better in the case than to proclaim a war of extermina
tion, by giving every one the right of hunting and kiUing goats, in
aU places and at aU seasons. The goats were alraost aU destroyed,
and vrith them feU of necessity the greater part of the manufactories
for morocco leather. It would certainly have been easy for autho
rities, possessed of any practical abiUty, to preserve the forests
without exterminating the goats ; but as they would not, or could
not, deal AvIth the real destroyers, the noble kndowners, they Avreaked
their spite on the quadrupeds. It is really inconceivable with Avhat
rapidity the finest forests of the Crimea are disappearing; year by
year whole hills are totaUy stripped, and the govemment, stern as
it has shoAvn Itself against the goats, takes no raeans to check this
fatal devastation. Several great landowners are engaged in kAV-
suits gravely affecting their rights, and raeanwhile, untd their causes
shaU have been decided, they use their opportunity to cut timber as
2 E 2

420 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
fast as possible. Foremost in those proceedings Is Admfral Mord-
vinof, who has already destroyed the exceedingly rich forests that
clothed the hUb above the vaUey of Baidar. The effects of this
clearino- away of the forests are already felt severely; the rivers are
dimlnlSiIng in volume, a great number of springs have run dry,
and fire Avood now costs as much as forty rubles the fathora at lalta.
Another branch of industry, likewise very profitable in former
times, was the working of the rich salt-pits In the envfrons of
Kozlov (Eupatoria), Only a few years ago eighty vessels used to
corae to the port frora Anatolia, to take in cargo. The price of the
salt was then very low, but the trade was nevertheless a source of
employment and profit for all the surrounding popuktion. The
minister of finance was jealous of the profits reaUsed by individuals
in this trade, and therefore kid a considerable export duty on the
salt. In the foUowing year not a single vessel came frora AnatoUa,
and it was soon ascertained that, prompted by necessity, the people
of the southem shores of the Black Sea had found rich salt-pits in
their own territory.
The foUowing table of the coraraerce ofthe Crimea in 1838 and
1839, is taken from official documents. The figures contained in It
are in our opinion exaggerated, for they do not by any means
agree -with those resulting from the detailed table we shaU give
further on. . .

-

IMPOBTS.

EXPOKTS.

- 1838,

1839. . ¦

1838.

1839.

Kertch  ., 

rubles. 175,321673,535 185,480 6,605

rubles, 250,887 695,130 131,222

rubles. 226,999
1,281,244
2.299,365

rubles. 123,082 -
955,108

2,394,867

IBalaclaya  .,,. 

- Total 
1,040,941
1,077,239
3,807,603
3,473,057
^. Be it reraarked that among the exports com alone figured in 1839
for 835,486 rubles for Theodosia, and 1,755,052 rubles for Eupa
toria ; and as all thb com came from countries beyond the Criraea,
the nulUty of the peninsukr exportation b apparent. Moreover, the
gross total of three and a half milUons Is scarcely the fifteenth part
of the annual exportation of the toAvn of Odessa alone. In order to
give a raore exact Idea of the Industrial and comraercial situation of
the Crimea, we set doAvn the detaib of its exports and Imports In
1839.
IMPORTS.

Cotton 
 thread 
Turkish cotton cloths .,
Chairs 
Wooden vessels 
WouUcu aim 
Oil 
. Sickles 
Wines 
Porter 
Cassonade 
li'resh and dried fruit...
li'inc pcai-ls 
Coffee 
Linen thread 
Nard juice and grapes.
Turkish tobacco 
Olives 
Raw silk 
Dyed silk thread 
Oak galls 
Colours 
VcgotaWoa 
Pepper 

KERTCH.

rubles, 4y,9'J3 4,080
H,l«4 5,7503,045 4,504
20,e30 5,000
12,009 4,600
14,354
100,402

TUEOnOSIA.

rubles. 33,050 4,986
C32,U70 2,441
29,218 3,589 2,190

15,107 4,0004,319 2,204 6,-2G9
3,3453,4C7 9,008
20,915

EDPATOKIA,

rubles.

16,997 2,342 2,171.
27,46425,102

7,823

20,387 13,814.S,1S2 3,0B3

EXPORTS,

RaAvliidos 
Fish 
liudciivlnr 
Linseed 
Uapcsccd 
Wheat 
Wool 
Cordage 
Woollen felt 
Taiuied leather 
Flax, hemp, and stuffs .
Butter 
Bar iron 
Salt 
Soda 
Rye 
Barley 
Millet 
Glue 
Raw Hemp 
Locks 
Copper utensils  ,
Bras.?, and brass wire ,.
Cutlery 
Swords Mid epaulettes ,
Sheep skins 
Suet 
Turpentine.! 
Beans 
Flour 
Raw silk 

KEKTCH. rubles. 1, '5,152
7,310
13,113 0,100 0,600
31,04041,185

THEODOSIA.

rubles. 22,053

745,031 19,087 3,2757,670
18,37511,323 8,133
2,3408,8134,091
48,15739,'1S5 2,870

EUPATORIA.

rubles. 08,312

1,544,313 344,y'J7 31,424 5,150
27,065 01,445 14,700 5,700
60,000
1,333,040 1,910
3,494 3,204
22,296 .
3,050
4,650
13,509 3,0003,650
11,893 2,1008,5892,1208,200

422 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
' "We do not at aU coincide in opinion with those who attribute
the decadence we have just described to the general character of
the people of the East. The Orientals, it Is tme, have none of that
feverish activity which characterises the people of our cliraes; be
sides Avhich. their wants are so limited and so easily satisfied, that
they can never, in thefr present social condition, becorae strenuous
workers-. Yet we have seen that the Tatars, when they first occu
pied the country, were distinguished for thefr agricidtural and in
dustrial kbours, whether It was in consequence of their mixture
-with the old races, or merely of the propitious cUmate; they abo
employed theraselves with such success in gardening and the
cultivation of the vine and of corn, that the Crimea under the khans
was considered one ofithe chief regions whence Constantinople drew
its suppUes. It was only the steppe tribes, whose sole wealth was
their cattle, that remained tme to thefr primitive habits^ and their
nomade Ufe. -In Uke manner there exbts to thb day a very striking
difierehce,' both inteUectual and physical, between the two fractions
of the Mussulman race of the Crimea.
"We beUeve, therefore, that under a better system It would have
been easy to re-vlve the laborious dispositiou of the Tatars by faci
litating and encouraging comraercial transactions, and graduaUy
effacing the disheartening apprehensions .under which the Mus
sulman popuktion have na'turaUy laboured since thefr great ca
lamities befel them. Assuredly we cannot blame Russia for that
depopuktion of the country which was the first cause of Its deca
dence. As-Adctors, the Russians used aU the rights' of the strongs
hand to consoUdate thefr conquest and extingubh aU chance of
insurrection. The means no doubt were violent, dbastrous, and
often even exceeded all the. bounds of humanity; yet it was scarcely
possible but that excesses should be committed in a war between
Eussian Christians and Mussulman Tatars, who had so often braved,
-• triuraphed over, and swayed the_ Muscovite power. In fairness,
therefore, we can only criticise the measures adopted by the Rus- -
sian govemment subsequently to the c6nquest, from the day when
the country was corapletely pacified, and the Tatars subraitted im
plicitly to the new yoke, and lost aU hope of deliverance.-
We have afready seen how' an act of caprice annihUated the com
mercial prosperity of Theodosia, which would naturaUy have had
the greatest influence oyer the industrial development of the penin-
¦ sida; and we have pointed out the mischievous measures tiiat ruined
various branches of the native- trade. To these depressing causes,
for which the govemment -with Its fatal system of prohibition ahd Its
half measures is alone responsible, we must add others no less active,
hecause they principaUy affect the agricultural population who stand
most in need of encouragement. We have afready repeatedly men
tioned the countless depredations of the Inferior government agents.
In the Crimea the difference of reUgion and language, and the
difficulty of making any kind of appeal for redress, naturaUy ren-

PROBABLE EXTINCTION OP THE CKIlI-TATAIiS. 423
dered the local administration raore troublesome and rap-acious than
In any other province. The consequence was that the Tatars led a
Ufe of fear and distrust, agriculture languished, and every raan cul
tivated yearly only as much as was necessary for the subsistence of
hb faraily, that he might- not excite the cupidity ofthe employes.
On his accession to- the government. Count Voronzof, -\vith his
natural kindness, appUed himself strenuously to improve the condi
tion of the Tatars; he took them under his special protection, and
prevented the rapacity of hb underUngs as far as In hira. lay. Un
fortunately, his efiorts could hardly avail beyond the Umits of his
OAvn estates, and all his 'generous intentions Avere baffled or worn out
by the incessant pettyfogging arts of the employes. Nothing could
more sIgnaUy exempUfy the distrustful feelings of the Tatars, than
the events which occurred during the famine of 1833, Avhich was so
great that whole famiUes perished of hunger. Moved by these
misfortunes the government-offered aid to the Tatars, but incredible
as it may appear, the proffered succours were generally refused, so
much did the Mussulmans dread the price AvMch would be after
wards exacted for such assistance.
Towards 1840, after the creation of the ministry of the domains
of the croAvn under Count Kizilev, the imperial governruent set
about the task in which Count Voronzof had failed. Men of the
best character for intelUgence and probity were sent to the Criraea,
but their efforts were aU ineffectual, and they soon retfred in disgust
from the useless straggle, - The unfortunate -Criraea was again
surrendered to the unlimited power and endless knaveries of the
captain ispravniks, and of the worthy subaltem agents of the local
adrainistration. What are the destinies ultimately reserved for the Mussulman
popidation ofthe Crimea,* noAV numbering barely 100,000 souls?!
We are strongly inclined to anticipate its total extinction at a raore
or less remote date. The tribes are rapidly degenerating; the mo
ral and physical forces of the nation are daily declining; the territo-
rkl wealth ofthe Tatars has been destroyed, sold, or dividecl; the
native famiUes distinguished for their past history or for their for
tunes have dbappeared; the population, instead of increasing, di
minishes. There remains, therefore,, no element of vitaUty to revive
the effete- remains of a power that made Russia tremble during so
many centurie's, and that even menaced for a while tiie poUtical
existence of aU Europe.

» Hitherto the Tatars have been exempted from military service; they are merely
required to fumish one squadron to the imperial guard, to be discharged erery five
veMs,- As for the taxes imposed on them they amount to the dlusory sum of
L 4d for every male individual, not including duty -trork on roads, transport3,_&e..
t The total population of the Crimea is about 200,000, includmg Russians,
Greeks, Armenians, Karaites, Germans, and other foreigners.

424 THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &C,

CHAPTER XLin,
EISTOBICAL SKETCH 01- BESSABABIA.
TOPOLOaY— ANCIENT FORTRESSES — THE EUSSIAN POtlCriN BESSARABIA — E3IANCI-
PATION OF TBE SERFS — COLONTES — CATTLE^BXPORTS AND EIPORTS — 3IIZED
POPULATION OP THE PROA-INCE.
To coraplete our account of the southem regions of Russia, it
reraains for us to speak of Bessarabia, the most reraote province
Avhicli the tzars possess on the shores of the Bkck Sea, and the
country which formed, down to the coraraencement of the present
century, one of the most valuable possessions of the principaUty of
Moldavia. - We wiU not noAv endeavour to Avithdraw the veil that
covers the history . of past ages, or discuss the effects produced
upon this province by the expeditions of Darius and of Alexander,
the Roman conquests, the Tatar invasions, and the Mussulman do
minion :- we Avill confine ourselves to contemporaneous facts, the
only ones which can have some chance of exciting. If not interest,
at least curiosity.
Bessarabk is bounded on the south by the Danube, north and
east by the Dniepr and the Bkck Sea, ,and west by the Pruth,
which separates it from Moldavia, and by Bukovine, a depend
ency of Austria. It thus forms between two rivers which might
easily be rendered navigable,,, a strip of more than 375 Englbh
miles in length, Avith an average breadth not exceeding fifty. This
strip, which expands gradually as it approaches the sqa, is cUvided
into two regions, totaUy distinct both in popuktion and In topo
graphical character. The southern part, to which the Tatars have
given the name of Boudjiak, consists of the flat country Avhich ex
tends to the sea between the mouths of the Danube and lower part
of the Dniestr. It has aU the characteristics of the Russian steppes,
possesses but a few insignificant sti-eams, and b chiefly fitted for
rearing cattle ; it yields little to tiUage, except in sorae locali
ties along the water-courseSj where numerous colonies of Ger
mans and Bulgarians are settled. The northem part adjoining
Austria Is, on the contrary, a hUL country, beautifully diversified,
covered AvIth magnificent forests, and rich in aU the productions of
the most favoured temperate climates.
At the period when the Russians appeared on .the banks of the
Dniesti*, the Boudjiak steppes were occupied by Nogai Tatars,
noraades for the most part, who after having been at first tributary
to the khans of the Criraea, had pkced themselves under the protec
tion ofthe Porte ; whibt the northem region was possessed by a nurae
rous MoldaAnan popuktion, essentially agricultural, subjected to the
laws of serfdo'm, and acknowledging the authority of the hospodars of

ANCIEKT F0RTEESSE3 OP BESSARABIA. 425
Jassy, Tlie Ottoraan power was represented solely by miUtary "-ar-
nsons holding peaceful possession of the tAvo fortresses of Israael and
Iviha on the Danube, and those of Khotin, Bender, and Ackerinan,
on the Dniestr,
The fortress of Israael is faraous for the sieges sustained in it by
the Turks against Souvarof Its fortifications have not been rauch
increased by Russia ; she keeps in it a numerous garrison, and a
considerable araount of artiUery, Tlie little flotilla of tiie Danube
is stationed at the foot of the walls. The fort of lulia is now quite
abandoned. The fortress of Khotin is half of Genoese, half of Turkish con
struction. The citadel or castle is an irregular square, flanked by
enormous towers. The Turks and the Russians have added new
fortifications to the old works, Avithout hoAvever increasing the
strength of the position. In the present state of mihtary art,
Khotin Is of no iraportance Avhatever, Coraraanded on all sides by
hills, and situated on the very edge of the Dniestr, It would not
resist a regular siege of a few hours. The Avalb consist of courses
of brick and cut stone, and bear nuraerous Genoese inscriptions.
Over the principal gate are seen a lion and a leopard, chained beside
an elephant bearing a tower. These figures are in the Eastern style,
and date from the tirae of the Turks, The doors and the uprights
of the Avindows are adorned Avith verses from the Koran. The great
mosque of the fortress has unfortunately been demoUshed, and
nothing remains of it but its minaret, which stands alone in the
midst of the place, as if to protest against the vandaUsm of the
conquerors. On the other side of the Dniestr, at a short dbtance
from the river, is Karainletz, the capital of Podolia.
•Bender and Ackerman UkeAvise - possess two castles of Genoese
and Turkish construction: the ktter situated on the Uraan of the
Dniestr, has been abandoned; the forraer, which stantls on the main
road to Turkey, has a garrbon. BetAveen Bender and Khotin, on
the banks of the Dniestr, are the ruins of a fourth fortress called
Soroka, which merits a special description, inasmuch, as It is alto
gether different frora the other edifices Ave have noticed in Southem
Russia. It forras a circukr enclosure of thirty-one metres. Interior
diaraeter. At four equidistant points of the circuraference, stand
as many towers, projecting extemally in a semi-cylindrical forra,
whibt on the Interior they are prismatic. Between the two towers
on the river side, there is a fifth which comraands the single gate of
the castle. The interior diaraeter of the towers b 5.5 raetres; the
thickness of the walb b 3,8 metres. They have erabrasures In the
upper parts, and a fcAV openings at various heights, AU round the
walb In the Inner court there is a cfrcular range of apartraents on
the ground, in tolerable preservation, and consbting of ten case
mates seven raetres deep, Ughted only frora vrithin. They formed
probably, the stables of the fortress. Above this range are the
remains of an upper story, which, of course, served Avith the towers

428 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, <S;C.
for lodging the garrison. The whole building exhibits the_ greatest
soUdity, and the mortar is wonderfully hard. But it b a bitter dis
appointment to the traveller that there are no Inscriptions on the
AvaUs, Or sculpture of any kind to fix the date of the edifice. The
fortress never had ditches ; its strength consists only In the height
and thickness of its walb. The only entrance is towards the
Dniestr, four or five yards frora the scarp that fianks the river.
This arrangeraent was probably adopted in order to secure a raeans
of retreat, and of receiving proArlsIons by way of the river. — ^The
general appearance of the castle rerainded me of the Roraan for
tresses erected against the barbarians, reraains of which exist in
many parts of Europe.
Bessarabia was justly considered, at the period referred to above,
as one of the raost fertde and productive provinces of the Bkck Sea.
Ismael and Reray were Its two great export markets for corn;
Ackerraan sent numerous cargoes of firuit and provisions of aU kinds
yearly to Constantinople; the magazines of the fortresses were pro
fusely fiUed Avith wheat and maize; the countless flocks of the
Boudjiak steppes suppUed wool to the East and to Italy; and Aus
tria alone drew from thera annually upwards of 60,000 heads of
cattie. Such were the cfrcumstances of Bessarabia at the time when ,
the Russians, in the worst moment of thefr disasters, at the very-
time when Napoleon was entering thefr ancient capital, had the
courageous- cleverness to obtain the cession of that province, and
advance thefr frontier to the Danube, at the same tirae securing the
Inestimable advantage of being free to Avithdraw their troops from
it, and march them against the Invader.
When the Russians took possession, the Nogab, many tribes of
whom had previously emigrated, corapletely forsook thefr old posses-
sionsj and withdrew beyond the Danube, and thus there reraained in
Bessarabia only the Moldavian population, who were Greek Chris
tians, Uke the Russians. The conduct ofthe govemraent towards the
Bessarabians was at first as accommodating and liberal as possible.
Official pledges were given them, that they should retain thefr oavu
language, laws, tribunab, and administrative forms of aU kinds.
The governors of the country were chosen from araong the natives,
and the province reraained In the full enjoyment of Its commercial
immunities and franchises, which were the grand bases of its agri
cultural prosperity. But these valuable privUeges soon begot jexi-
lousles; the old adrainbtration feU into discredit through its. ovm
injudicious pretensions, and perhaps also In consequence of poUtical
intrigues against it, and it becarae exposed to the Incessant hostUity
even of the boyars. The outcry was so great, that the Eraperor
Alexander, vrishing to satisfy the population, determined tiiat a new
constitution should be framed, which should be more In harmony
with the habits, the wants, and the state of civiUsation of the
coiratry. ¦
A comraittee of twenty-eight was appointed to draw up this consti-

BESSARABIA— ;THE CONSTITUTION. 427
tution, conspicuous among whom was M. Pronkoul, one ofthe most
erainent boyars of the country. He had the chief hand in framing
the_ constitution, and he proraoted the adoption of its raost Uberal
articles, Avith a very laudable spirit and much cleverness, no doubt,
but with by no means a just discemment of the state of things. As
soon as the coramission had completed its task, Alexander visited
Bessarabia, in 18 IS, and Avas welcomed with the most cordial glad
ness, and the most sumptuous rejoicings. He received from the
province a national present of 5000 horses, and was quite amazed at
the prosperity and the inexhaustible resoiurces of his new conquest.
It was naturaUy desfred to take, the opportunity of his presence for
the ratification ofthe ncAV constitution; but that was not to be had
so readily, since it brought in question the principle of the poUtical
unity of the empfre. It was rightly represented' to Alexander that
it would be imprudent and irapolitic to give a final and decisive
sanction to a systera, the real value and fitness of which could only
be raade knoAvn by tirae. The eraperor yielded to these considera
tions, and raerely ordered that the constitution should be put in
force, Avithout prejudice to the future.
The fundamental principles of this constitution were as Uberal as
possible; too Uberal, indeed, to have had the slightest chance of en
during, Bessarabia retained aU its nationaUty ; the governor and the
¦vice-governor alone could be Russians, all the other functionaries were
to be Moldavians; the province continued to enjoy all commercial
immunities, and the finances, too, were under the immediate inspec
tion and control of the natives. To any man of common sense and
foresight, the maintenance of such a constitution was a chimera.
Was -it to be Iraagined that Russia would aUow the subsistence of a
conquered proAince on Its extrerae frontiers, in contact with Turkey,
governing itself by its oAvn kws; and possessing an administration
diametricaUy opposed to that which controb the other governments
ofthe empfre?
The Moldavian boyars nevertheless considered the promulgation
of the constitution as a victory, and thought in thefr infatuation
they might defy all the chances of the future. But events soon
undeceived them, and the mbmanagement of thefr own Institutions
provoked the fiorst blow against thefr privileges. In accordance
¦svlth old customs the govemraent continued to sell the taxes by
auction, and they were generaUy farmed by the great landoAvners
of the province. This Addons system of finance, which had been
practbed under the Oriental regimen of t\.e hospodars, could not fad
to have fatal consequences under the new system of things. As we
have afready said, Bessarabk had retained her coramercial freedom
in Its fuU extent after her union Avith Russia. It rapidly degene-
¦ rated into an abuse, through the improvident prodigaUty of the
-Moldavkns, and the extravagant Ideas of civiUsation and progress
that fermented In aU thefr brains; luxury Increased beyond measure
among the nobles, and Kichinev, the capital, became famous through

428 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA, &C.
aU the country for Its sumptuous festivities, and the wealth of Its
ware-rooms. The consequence was that the receipts of the treasury
proceeded in the Inverse ratio of the progress of luxury; and the
farmers, whose expenses SAvallowed up more than the revenue, were
kst unable to pay the sums they had contracted for. The imperial
government was of course indulgent during the first years, and had
not recourse to any severe measures. Thb conduct encouraged the
defaulters, and the disorder of the finances at last reached such a pass
as caUed indispensably for the strenuous intervention of the Iraperial
govemment. The coraraerclal franchbes of the province were
suppressed therefore in 1822, the prohibitive systera of the Iraperial
custoras was introduced, and the pajraient of all arrears was rigor
ously exacted. This kst measure of course gave occasion to end
less suits and executions, and so the ruin of the principal faraiUes
was accompUshed at the sarae tirae as the destruction of aU thefr
poUtical influence, and the govemraent had then only to fix the day
when its principles of poUtical unity should have coraplete force in
its ncAV conquest. . . -
The constitution thus Impaired, subsbted, however, until the death
of Alexander ; but on the accession of Nicholas it was corapletely
suppressed ; Bessarabia waa deprived of all its privileges, and even
of Its livnguage, and was assiraiktedin aU points of administration to
¦ the other provinces of the empire; Aviththe exception, however, that
the govemraent, in order to ensure the ulterior success of its raea
sures, took frora the inhabitants the right of electing thefr captain
ispravniks, or officers of rural poUce.*
So radical a revolution could not be effected Avithout bringing
AvIth it serious perturbations. It is enough to recoUect what we
have said of the venaUty ofthe pubUc functionaries, in order to guess
what the Bessarabkns raust have had to endure at the hands of that
multitude of Russian employes who took up their quarters in the tovms
and villages. The intrigues and pettyfogging artifices of these men
complicated more and raore the afready numerous kwsults ; and the
daily increasing perplexities In the relations between the landowners,
the freedraen, and the serfs, overthrew all the elements of the national
wealth. To all these causes of dborganisation were added the raiU
tary occupation of the country In the time of the Turkish war, and
this was the more onerous because the rich procured themselves
exeraption for money, and the whole burden feU on the petty pro
prietors and the peasants. . .
When the country feU into thb state of exhaustion, the boyars
¦» Bessarabia now includes nine districts, the capitals of Avhich, beginning from the
south, are Ismael, Ackerman, Kahoul, Bender, Kichinev, Orgeiev, Beltz, Soroka, and
Ekhotin. Kichinev is the capital of the government j it A»-as formerly a poor
borough on the Bouik, a little river that falls into the Bniestr; the preference Aras
given it on account of its ceotral poution. Its population is now- 42,636, of whom
from 15,000 to 18,000 are Jews. It is to the administration of Lieutenant-general
Fcederof thatthe to-wn owes the numerous embellishments, and the principal puUic
edifices it presents to the traveller's view.

EMANCIPATION OF THE SEEPS. 429
were not sIoav to remonstrate: and they did so Avith such vehe
mence, on the occasion of the journey of the Emperor Nicholas, in
1827, that he resolved to have a coraraission appointed,t o report to
hira at St. Petersburg, on the grievances of the province. The
election of the corambsioners took place iraraediately; but as the
boyars revived their old pretensions, whilst the govemment strenu
ously adhered to its system of political unity, it was not possible to
corae to an imderstancUng respecting the araeUorations to be intro
duced into the adminbtrative regimen. The elections, after belng
frequently annuUed and recomraenced, produced no result, and the
last coraraission naraed was finally dissolved Avithout having been
able to repair to St. Petersburg,
AU these long altercations necessarily produced asperity in the
rektions of Bessarabia with the superior administration, and at kst
the imperial govemment, weary of these discussions, Avas ready to
take any measure to reduce the Moldavians to the most absolute
poUtical and administrative nuUity, even to the prejudice of the
national prosperity. To this end it was determined to cut off the
kst means oi influence AvhIch serfdom afforded to the boyars, by
bsuing an ukase, by Arlrtue of which all serfs Avere declared free,
Avitb the right of residing where they pleased. The consequences
of this abrupt emancipation were, of course, disastrous to agricul
ture. Urged by intrigues, or by the chiraerical hope of bettering
their physical condition, the serfs abandoned their old abodes to
settle elsewhere, and chiefly on the lands recently acquired by the
Russians. In this way many vilkges were left deserted, the knds
reraained untUled, and the landoAV-ners found theraselves suddenly
deprived of the hands necessary for their work.
Putting aside all poUtical considerations, this measure of the
govemment was unquestionably premature. Nothing In the moral
or physical condition of the Bessarabians could as yet justify so
radical a destruction of aU that belonged to the old system. The
state of the serfs was in fact very tolerable, and quite in harraony
with the civiUsation of the country. The peasants were no further
bound to the soil, than inasrauch as a ' certain portion of it was "
pkced at their dbposal. Their duties to their lords were defined
by rule, and consisted generaUy of eighteen days' kbour in the
year, sorae haulages, and the tithes of their produce. The knd-
OAvners, no doubt, occasionally abused then- power in a cruel man
ner; but these abuses were not without reraedy, A resolute and
conscientious adrainbtration might eaady have put an end to them.
Under the present system, the peasants possessing no lands appeared
to us in reaUty much more enslaved, and In a far less satbfactory
physical condition. Formerly, the interests of the lords and the
serfs were closely united, the prosperity of either necessarily in
ferred that of the others; but noAV that the emancipated serfs,
possessing no means of subsistence of their OAvn, cultivate the knd
only in -virtue of a contract, the kndoAvners think only how to
oet as much profit out of them as possible, during the time the

430 THE STEPPES OP THE CASPIAN SEA^ &C.
encfagement lasts, and care nothing what becomes of them after-
wardl. The peasants, it Is trae, have a right of appeaUng to the
tribunals; but in consequence of the venaUty of the ktter, their
complaints generaUy serve only to put them to expense, and make
their condition worse. A rich boyar said very naively to me on
thb subject, " How do you suppose the husbandman can obtain
justice, when for every egg he gives we give a silver ruble?"
Ao-ain, the frequent changes of abode are very pernicious, frora the
lo^ of tirae and the expense they occasion. Other dwelUngs must
be built, neAV habits must be contracted; the peasant is soon
reduced to destitution, and finds himself obUged to accept what
ever terms are offered him. In thb way the dependence of the
rural population is but the more grievous for bemg Unuted, and
thefr situation towards tiie kndlords is Avithout security for the
present, or guarantee for the future. Nor have thefr duty kbours
undertyone any modification, and the abuses are exactiy the sarae as
under the old regirae. Without exceeding the limits ofthe reguktions,
a peasant pays ms master tithes of aU agricultural produce, besides
1'.20 for every head of large cattle, 0.16 for each sheep, and
one hive of honey out of every fifty he possesses. He takes
upon himself, moreover, all repairs of buUdmgs, enclosures, &c.,
suppUes night watchers, executes annuaUy at least three haukges
over thirty-eight miles of ground, and seldom works less than twenty-
eight or thirty days for his kncUord, often as much as fifty or even
sixty. In point of physical welfare, therefore, the results of eraan
cipation are quite Illusory, and the raore so as the peasants enjoy no
poUtical rights, and support aU the burdens and corvees. In fine,
the neAV system has as yet produced only loss, tronble, and embarrass
ment, both to krge and sraaU fortunes.. As to hopes for the future,
none can be seriously concaved, except for very distant tiraes. It
-wIE require raany years even for a Avise and enUghtened adrainbtra
tion to rectify the state of a country Avhose population conasts of a
scanty body of kndowners, and a mass of peasants -without fixed
- domicde, possessing no other resources than the chance of a Umited
engageraent, and the kbour of thefr hands.
We wiU not go into detaib of all the raeasures adopted by the
Russian govemment with reference to the agricultural and com
mercial Eraairs of Bessarabk : they were as contradictory and as
irrational as those we have noticed in our account of the Criraea.
The Immigrations of the Bulgarians* and Grermans,t Itb true, were
• The Bulgarian colonies, the most prosperous of all those that have been
established in the Boudjiak; numbered in 1840, 10,153 families, comprising 32,916
males, and 29,314 females. The sur&ce of their lands has been estimated at 585,463
hectares, of which 527,590 are fit for tillage and hay- crops, and 57,873 are waste
The Bulgarian colonists pay the crown 50 mbles per family. The com hairest
amovmte4 in 1839, to 211,337 tchetverts. They have contrived to preserve among
them the breed of zigai sheep, the long strong wool of AThieh is in demand in the
East, and formed, previously to theKussian occupation, the chief wealth of the
Bessarabians: they now possess about 343,479.
- t The German colonies include nineteen villages and 1736 families. They are ia
a very back-ward condition.

TRADE OP BESSARABIA. 43 1
favoured, and theyAvere granted the raost fertile knds ofthe Boudjiak;
several viUages of Cossacks* and of Great Russlansf were settied in
the sarae regions; and atterapts were even made with sorae success to
colonise a few nomade tribes of gipsies-t But aU these excellent
creations, the first idea of which belongs to the head of tiie state,
were largely counterbalanced by the mischievous measures of the
local boards. Thus, for instance, in consequence of the division
among the great kndlords of all the iramense meadoAvs forraerly
possessed by the hospodars, and Avhich they used to rent out in
pasture, the national business of rearing zIgai sheep was destroyed,
and gave place to sorae ruinous atterapts to introduce the merino
breed. Extrerae Injury Avas done at the same time to the breedino-
of horses and homed cattle, a business which the govemment had
already seriously daraaged by forcing the proprietors of such stock
to becorae Russian subjects or give up their employment, and by
irapeding by countless vexatious forraalities the entrance of foreicm
merchants into the province, and their sojourn in it. In 1839,
Bessarabia sold only 2365 horses, whereas formerly Austria alone
drew frora It frora 12,000 to 15,000 every year for her cavalry.§
The foUoAving general table of the exports and Iraports of Bes
sarabk by the Danube and by knd is draAvn up frora official docuraents.
It cannot, however, indicate precisely the coraraerclal situation of
Bessarabia, since a considerable portion of the goods declared in five
pkces naraed belongs only to the transit trade through the province,
which, raoreover, receives a quantity of manufactured and other
goods frora Southem Russia that are not mentioned at aU in the
table. Our figures would requfre a certain reduction to make them
accurately represent the true state of the case,
• After the destruction ofthe celebrated Setcha of Dniepr, the Zaporogue Cossacks
withdrew in great numbers beyond the Danube, and settled with the permission of
the Turks on that secondary branch of the BaUcan which runs between Isaktchy and
Toultcha, During the wars of 1828 and 1S29, the Bussiaji government contrived
to gain the aUegiance of many of the descendaiits of these Zaporogues who served
it 33 spies. Their number was so considerable that after the campaign Eussia
formed_them into military colonies in the Boudjiak, These cobnies increased greatly
in conaeq.uence of the asylum they afforded to all the refugees and vagabonds of
Russia, and presented, in 1840, an effective of two regiments of cavalry of 600 men
each, with a total population of 3000 families, having eight villages and 50,000
hectares of land.
t We have no exact data respecting these villages, the situation of which is
-wretched enough, Theirpopulation consists entirely of fugitives, to whom the go
vemment had for many years granted an asylum ia Bessarabia to the detriment of
the neighbouring govemment.
t The gipsies have three villages containing 900 families. The establishment of
these colonies was not effected without difficulty, and it required all the severity
of a military administration to make them sow their grounds.
§ Since our departure, the Russian government seems disposed to interest itself
on behalf of Bessarabia. We are informed that it is at present turning its attention
to the navigation of the Dniestr, a matter of the more importance since the Dniestr
washes Bessarabia throughout its whole length, and there is not yet in that pro
vince any means of communication practicable at all seasons.

432.

¦ THE STEPPES OF THE CASPIA2T SEA, &C.

•' '

i3Y THE DAJSTJBE,— IMPORTS.

1838. ¦

. 1839.

NAMES OF fLACES.

Goods.

Cash.

Goods.

Cash,

rubles. 253,697 -
50,193
rubles.
1,632,996 797,497
rubles, 2.38,996 . 8.5,429
rubles.
820,0.35
553,174
.Total 
303,890
2,430.493
324,425
1,373,209
EXPORTS.
Ismael 
Eeny  Total  „...
Novo Selitza, Austrian
frontier 
- gkouleni on the Pruth ....
XeoTo on the Pruth .......
Total 
Novo Selitza 
Skoulein  '. 
Leovo  , 
Total 
3,913,494 -
718,040
9,915
50,773
2,793,244 609,541
77,745
4,631,534
60,688
3,402,785
77,745
BY LAND.— IMPORTS.
221,324
, 222,507
- 52,336
1,939,604 497,209 29,932
- 245,198 195,088 55,664
3,048,064
. 721,015 26,291
496,167
2,466,745
495,950
3,795,370
1,978,172 829,692 96,832
2,904,696
EXPORTS. 163,868
525,638, 60,537
750.043
3,277,660
¦ 737,462 59,906
4,075,028
81,868
540,618 36,709
659,195
Total ofthe customs and other duties reaUsed In 1838, In the five
locaUties above-named, 360,332 rubles, and in 1839, 319,134 rubles.
I'rom some scattered detaUs Ave have already given, the reader may
conjecture that the population of Bessarabia is exceedingly mixed.
.The Boudjiak numbers among its inhabitants, Grreat Russians, Cos
sacks, Germans, Bulgarians, SAriss vine-dressers, gipsies, and- Greek
and Armenian merchants. The northem part ofthe province, on the
contrary, is occupied almost exclusively by the Moldavian race, whose
AriUages extend even along the Dniestr to the vicinity of Ackerman.
Jews abound in the northem part; there are very few In the toAvns
ofthe Boudjiak; leaving them outLof the account the Bessarabian
Eopulation maybe dlArided into four great classes: the nobles, the
:ee peasants who possess lands, the newly emancipated peasants, and
the gipsies. . The nobles consist of the ancient Mcddavian aris
tocracy, the pubUc functionaries, retired officers, and a great number
of Russians, who have become landowners in the pro-vince. . To this
. class we must join the M arils, who are descendants of the ancient
boyars, but whom war and the numerous revolutions that have deso
lated the land have reduced to penury. They form at present an in-
PERSONAL CHARACTER AliC HABITS OF THE BESSARABIANS. 433
termediate class between the new nobles and the peasantry, and difier
from the aristocracy only in not taking part in the elections of the
judges and marshals of the nobles. The free peasants are those, who,
having been emancipated in times more or lese remote, possess lands,
and depend neither on the great landlords nor on the croAvn, though
subject to ordinary imposts and corvtes. The newly-Uberated peasants
consist of those who are settled, by virtue of a contract or agreement,
on lands belonging to individuals or to the croAvn ; they form the
majority of the population. The Bohemians are stiU subjected to tlie
laAVS of slavery. Some of them, to the number of 900 famiUes,
belong to the croAvn, and the rest to Moldavian landowners, Avho
usuaUy employ them as servants, workmen, and musicians.
In Bessarabia, as throughout Russia and the principalities of the
Danube, the new generation of nobles have completely renounced
the habits of former days. They have of course adopted the
straight coat, trousers, cravat, and aU the rest of our Westem cos
tume ; there is nothing striking in their outAvard appearance, Tlie
old boyars alone adhere to their ancestral customs ; a broad divan,
pipes, coffee, dolces, and the kieff after dinner, are indispensable for
them ; and to some of them shampooing is a deUcious necessity, I
know a certain nobleman who cannot fall asleep vrithout haAring his
feet rubbed by his Bohemian, But what above all strikes and deUghts
every stranger, especiaUy a Frenchman, is the eager and cordial hos
pitaUty and kindness he encounters in every Moldavian house. One
is sure of meeting everywhere with men who sympathise heartily
Arith every thing great and useful to mankind Avhich our civiUsation
and our efforts have produced in these latter times. It is only to be
regretted that these brilUant quaUties are often tarnished by the cor
ruption which administrative venality and rapacity, supert-ening
upon long miUtaiy occupations, have insensibly diffused through all
classes of the population.
The Bessarabian of the lower class is by nature a husbandman ; he
very rarely pUes a trade. To know his real worth he must be seen
m the interior of the coimtry, far from the toAvns. The ISIolda-
vian peasant is brave, gay, and hospitable ; he deUghts to welcome
the stranger, and generaUy would" be ashamed to receive the
sUghtest present from him. The Russians accuse him of excessive
sloth, but the charge appears unfounded. The Moldavian peasant
seldom, indeed, thinks of accumulating money, but he alAv^ays
works vrith zeal until he has attained the position he had aspired
to, the amount of comfort he had set his heart on; and, in reaUty,
it is not untd after the fulfilment of his desires that he becomes
lazy, and that his efiorts are generally Umited to procuring his
family the few sacks of maize necessary for its subsistence. But
Increase his wants, make him understand that there are other en
joyments than those in which he Ind-ulges so cheaply, and you
-mU infalUbly see him shake off his natural apathy, and rise to the
level ofthe new ideas he has adopted. 2 F

434 MOLDAVIAN VILLAGES.
The most charming thing in the Moldavian AaUagea is the extreme
cleanUness ofthe houses, which are generaUy surrounded by gardens
and thriving orchards. Enter the forest dAveUing, and you avIU
almost always find a stnaU room perfectly clean, fumished with a
bed, and broad wooden divans covered Arith thick wooUen stuffs.
Bright parti-coloured carpets, piles of cushions, Arith open work em
broideries, long red and blue napkins, often Interwoven Arith gold
and sdver thread, are essential requisites in every household, and
form a principal portion of the dowery of young women.
In general, the women take Uttie part m field labours, but they
are exceedingly Industrious houseAvives. They are all clever weavers,
and display great art and taste in making carpets, articles of dress,
and Unen. The great object of emulation among the women of
every viUage, is to have the neatest and most comfortable house,
and the best suppUed Arith Unen and household utensils.
Such was Bessarabia, when I visited it in detaU, on my return
from ray long journeys in the steppes ofthe Caspian. I visited It a
'second time when about to quit Russia for the principaUties of the
Danube; and when I crossed the Pruth, I could not help reiterating
my earnest prayers that the inexhaustible resources of this prorince
may at last be duly appreciated, and that efiectual measures may be
taken to put an end to that languor and depression in which It has
been sunk for so many years. ,. '_ - '

:%?

435

NOTE,

e

To complete our author's account of Sevastopol, we subjoin an
abstract of a paper by Mr. Shears, CE., which was read at th
meeting ofthe Institution of Civil Engineers, January 12, 1847.
"Sevastopol is very pecuUarly situated, amidst rocky ground,
rising so abraptly from the shore, that there was not space for the
buildings necessary for a dockyard. On account of the depth of
water close In shore, and other natural advantages, the emperor de
termined to make it the site of an extensive estabUsbment, and as
there is not any rise of tide in the Black Sea, and the construction
of cofferdams would have been very expensive and difficult in such
a rocky position. It was decided to build three locks, each haA-ing a
rise of ten feet, and at this level of thirty feet above the sea to place
a main dock Arith lateral docks, into which vessels of war could be
introduced, and the gates being closed, the water could be discharged
by subterranean conducts to the sea, and the vessel, being left dry,
could be examined and repaired, even beneath the keel, A stream
was conducted from a distance of twelve miles to supply the locks,
and to keep the docks fuU; this, however, has been found insuffi
cient, and a pumping-engine has since been erected by Messrs,
Maudsley and Field, for assisting,
" The original intention was to have made the gates for the docks
of timber, but on account ofthe ravages ofa worm, which it appears
does not, as in the case ofthe Teredo navaUs or the Terebranes, con
fine itself to the salt water, it was resolved to make them with cast
iron frames covered Arith wrought iron plates.
" There are nine pairs of gates, whose openings vary from 64 feet
in vddth and 34 feet 4 Inches in height for ships of 120 guns, to
46 feet 7 Inches in Aridth, and 21 feet in height, for frigates.
" The manipulation of such masses of metal as composed these
gates demanded pecuUar machines ; accordingly, Messrs. Rennie
fitted up a building expressly, Avith machines constructed by Mr.
Whitworth, by which all the bearing surfaces could be planed, and
the holes bored in the ribs, and all the other parts, whether their
surfaces were curved or plane. The planing was effected by tools
which travelled over the surface, backward and forward, cutting
each way ; the piece of metal being either held In blocks, If the
surface was plane, or turned on centres, if the surface was curved.
The drUUng Avas performed by machines, so fixed, that the pieces
could be brought beneath or against the drills, in the required
direction, and guided so as to Insure perfect uniformity and accord
ance between thera.
" TravelUng cranes were so arranged, as to take the largest
pieces from the -wharf, and place them In the various machines.

436 NOTE.
by the agency of a very few men, notArithstandIng their formidable
dimensions; the heelposts In some cases being upwards of 34
feet long. Each endless screw, for giring progressive motion to
the cutting tools, was 45 feet long. Some idea may be formed of
the manual labour avoided by the machines, when it is stated, that
the surface planed or tumed in the nine pairs of gates equals
717,464 square inches; and in some cases a thickness of three-
quarters of an inch was cut off. The surface in the drilled bolt
holes equals 120,000 square inches."
The paper gave all the detaib of the constmction of the gates,
and the machinery for making them ; and was iUustrated by a series
of detailed drawings.

THE END.

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