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were no fences, and sometimes the route was marked at intervals by heaps of stones, intended as guides when the ground should be covered with snow. I had some anxiety about our carriage; the breaking of a wheel would have left us perfectly helpless in a desolate country, perhaps more than a hundred miles from any place where we could get it repaired. Indeed, on the whole road to Chioff there was not a single place where we could have had any material injury repaired; and the remark of the old traveller is yet emphatically true, that 'there be small succour in these parts."" Nothing is more remarkable than the successive appearance of thousands of tumuli, which overspread the great levels of southern Russia. They are mounds of earth-the mansions of the dead of past ages-occupying sites which are now tenantless for leagues around them, and only visited occasionally by droves of cattle and the passing traveller. Observing only a few specimens, they might be concluded to be indications of the route between different places, did not their number, symmetrical form, general resemblance, and contents, whenever opened, disprove the idea. The earliest adventurers from the west of Europe into these waste places mention the tumuli. "We journeyed," says William de Rubruquis, "with no other objects in view than earth and sky, and occasionally the sea upon our right, which is called the sea of Tanais; and moreover the sepulchres of the Comani, which seemed about two leagues distant, constructed according to the mode of burial which characterised their ancestors." Simple as these funereal monuments are of an ancient world, their very simplicity is sublime, harmonising with the appearances of nature in the steppes, unaffected by the hand of Time, by which the Parian marble is speedily defaced. Among the occurrences of the steppes, that of a grass fire is not uncommon, occasioned by the unextinguished embers left by parties who have bivouacked in them, which lay hold of the high and dry vegetation in their neighbourhood, and spread temporary desolation over large tracts of country. The monotony of these plains gives great effect to the appearance of the Caucasus. On the approach from the north, these mountains are seen at a vast distance, rising abruptly from a level country, apparently an

impassable barrier stretching from the Caspian to the Black Sea, the white head of Elbûrz towering above the lower summits of the range. In the diagram is represented Mount Kasibeck, the snowy region beginning at fig. 2., a height of 10,200 feet; opposite fig. 3. is the bed of the Terek; fig. 4. shows the profile of hill near the Steppe; 5. the level of the Caspian, and 6. of the Black Sea. On the eastern side of the Volga, the steppes extend far into the heart of Asia; but their physiognomy greatly alters. The soil becomes more unfruitful; vegetation only shows itself here and there; the salt steppes appear, abounding in pools and streams of salt and bitter waters, on the banks of which the willow and the reed only grow the sole means of supporting the herds of the Turcoman in winter, whom circumstances therefore render nomadic.

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Steppes of the Caucasus.

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The desert plains-meaning not merely solitudes, but sandy and stony wastes-occupy an enormous space of the lowland regions of the globe. They are rare on the continent of America, but occur in the lower part of Peru, where a considerable district is found, exhibiting the features of a true Sahara - a surface of rock covered with moveable sand, not a drop of rain falling upon it. Still such tracts are seldom met with in the New World, while they are so abundant upon the ancient continent as to constitute a marked distinction between the two regions. The reproach is of old standing against Africa, of being the most barren and unproductive of the great divisions of the earth a reproach

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which especially applies to an immense domain extending on both sides of the tropic of Cancer, but having its main direction from west to east, and including more than a fifth part of the whole of that territory. This is the Sahara-bela-ma of the Arabs, or desert without water, called also the Bahar-bela-ma, or ocean without water. Upon a large space of this district there is neither rain nor dew, to awaken in the glowing bosom of the earth the germs of vegetable life. From the west coast of Africa, and between Morocco on the north and the Senegal river on the south, this wilderness extends easterly to the Red Sea, contracted towards the west by a projecting part of the kingdom of Fezzan, and interrupted on the east by the narrow valley of the Nile. It embraces a space of more than 46° of longitude and 15° of latitude, or a length of 3000 miles by a breadth of 1000. A large extent of the Sahara is a dead level; but low sand hills, wadys or valleys, and projecting rocks are frequent. "Now the naked rock" says Humboldt, describing its characteristics, "appears to view perfectly smooth and level, which the traveller may pass over for days together without meeting even a grain of sand, where one sees only the heaven above and the hard stone pavement beneath; now we behold a flat plain covered with rolled pebbles, here and there intersected with ravines and valleys extending to about thirty feet below the surface; and now an ocean of sand presents itself, frequently containing so large a quantity of salt, that whole tracts appear coated with it, and resemble fields of ice. Occasionally spots of verdure are found, known under the name of oases, which display palm trees and springs of water." The Egyptians, says Strabo, give the name of oases to inhabited spots surrounded by vast deserts of sand, and resembling islands in the sea. There are, he states, many such in Lybia, while three border on Egypt, and are referred to that country. Modern discovery has, however, made us acquainted with several of these isles of the African ocean of sand, which are rich in streams and vegetation. In the western part of Fezzan, in a hollow surrounded by

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rocks, lies the small lake of Mandia, celebrated for the occurrence of Trona, or pure natron (soda). Oudney and Clapperton, on their memorable expedition from Tripoli, visited this lake. Clapperton, as Oudney tells us, was sitting on the top of a high sand hill, and so pleased with the view, that he called out several times to his companion to dismount from his camel to enjoy the treat. The appearance was beautiful. There was a deep sandy valley, containing only two large groves of date trees, enclosing a fine lake. The contrast between the bare lofty sand hills, and the two insulated spots, was the great cause of the sensation of beauty. There is something pleasing in a lake surrounded with vegetation; but when every other object within the sphere of vision is dreary, the scene will become doubly so. No doubt the oases in general owe much of their reputation to the contrast they form with the absolute barrenness of the desert. With the exception of these spots, the Sahara is uninhabitable for man; and it is only at periodic times that it is traversed by the trading caravans, which proceed across it from Tafilet to Timbuctoo, and from Fezzan to Bornou. These are bold undertakings, the practicability of which depends upon the life of the camel-the ship of the desert, as the animal is

termed in the poetical language of the Orientals. One chief source of danger arises from the Simoom, a hot southerly wind, which rolls along in suffocating masses the sandy billows, darkening the air, and frequently overwhelming every object in their path.

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This wind in passing over the desert acquires an extraordinary degree of heat and dryness, and stops respiration at once upon exposure to it. To avoid its effects, the Arabs drop the Kafieh, a handkerchief which they wear upon their heads, so as to cover their faces. If the immediate perils of this fierce burning blast are escaped, it often happens that the water contained in the skins borne by the camels is absorbed ; and in such circumstances, if at too great distance to obtain a fresh supply in time, the whole company fall victims to intolerable thirst. In this way an akkabah or caravan, consisting of 2000 persons and 1800 camels, was cut off in the year 1805. The Sahara is one principal theatre of that singular optical illusion called the "mirage," to which the Arabs apply the more poetical name of the Lake of the Gazelles. This is the appearance of tracts of water in the desert-a deception supposed to arise from the reflection which takes place between strata of air of different densities, owing to the radiation of heat from the plains of sand. These mock lakes — the "waters that fail," or that have no reality-often torment the passenger oppressed with heat and thirst. Major Skinner describes a deception of this kind, the most perfect that could be conceived, which for a time exhilarated the spirits of the party with whom he journeyed in the desert, and promised an early resting-place. They had observed a slight mirage two or three times before; but the one in question surpassed all that could well be fancied. Although aware that these appearances have often led people astray, he could not bring himself to believe that this was unreal. Even the Arabs were doubtful. The seeming lake was broken in several parts by little islands of sand, which gave strength to the delusion. The dromedaries of the sheikhs at length reached its borders, and appeared to have commenced to ford, as they advanced and became more surrounded by the vapour. They seemed to have got into deep water, and to be moving with greater caution. In passing over the sand-banks, their figures were reflected in the water. So convinced was one of the party of its reality, that he dismounted and walked towards the deepest part of it, which was on the right hand. He followed the deceitful lake for a long time, and appeared to be strolling on its banks, his shadow stretching to a great length beyond. There was not a breath of wind; and the sultriness of the day would have added dread

fully to the disappointment, if the party had been much distressed for want of water. The Sahara is now well known to be advancing from east to west, besides being in a condition of internal instability, owing to the sand-storms altering the appearance of the surface. The prevailing currents of air that sweep over it are from east to west, and the flying sands travelling in that direction, there enlarge its bounds. The Wandering Sea is one of the Arab titles of a sandy desert.

The Sahara apparently terminates at the valley of the Nile, but the same identical region is prolonged beyond that channel. It embraces nearly the whole of the Arabian peninsula, which, excepting a few enclosed valleys, is a stony and barren tract, and generally an infertile level, presenting great sandy plains, producing little besides the acacia vera, or Egyptian thorn, and a few other plants. North of this is the Syrian

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desert, which lies between the range of Lebanon and the Euphrates, in the heart of which is the oasis, containing the relics of one of the mysterious cities of antiquity, the Tadmor in the wilderness of a remote time, the Palmyra of a more modern age. It is not difficult to conceive of the effect of its ruins after passing through a waste in many places without a single object showing either life or motion; Corinthian columns of white marble contrasting finely in their snowy appearance with the apparently boundless yellow sands, the monuments of an opulence and art, every other trace of which has vanished with the people by whom it was enjoyed. A day in this desert is admirably described by the author of Eöthen :- "As you are journeying in the interior you have no particular point to make for as your resting-place. The endless sands yield nothing but small stunted shrubs; even these fail after the first two or three days, and from that time you pass over broad plains-you pass over newly-reared hills-you pass through valleys that the storm of the last week has dug; and the hills and the valleys are sand, sand, sand, and only sand, and sand, and sand again. The earth is so sandy, that your eyes turn towards heaven towards heaven, I mean, in the sense of sky. You look to the sun, for he is your task-master, and by him you know the measure of the work that you have done,

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and the measure of the work that remains for you to do; he comes when you strike your tent in the early morning, and then, for the first hour of the day, as you move forward on your camel, he stands at your near side, and makes you know that the whole day's toil is before you then for a while, and for a long while, you see him no more for you are veiled and shrouded, and dare not look upon the greatness of his glory; but you know where he strikes over head by the touch of his flaming sword. No words are spoken; but your Arabs moan, your camels sigh, your skin glows, your shoulders ache; and for sights you see the pattern and web of the silk that veils your eyes, and the glare of the outer light; but conquering Time marches on, and by and by the descending sun has compassed the heaven, and now softly touches your right arm, and throws your lank shadow over the sand, right along on the way to Persia." Beyond the Euphrates to the Tigris, with the exception of slips along the two rivers, the country is a desert of burning sands and sterile gypsum, thickly studded with saline and sulphurous pools; and farther eastward the zone of deserts may be traced through Persia, Grand Tartary, and the great central plateau of Asia, extending thus in an almost continuous band of varying breadth from the Atlantic Ocean to the wall of China. Analogous phenomena to those of the Sahara - the mirage and encroaching sands-are displayed through the greater part of this zone, which proceeds in a circle, the arc of which is directed towards the south, through the whole of the ancient world. Especially in some regions of south-western Asia has the dry element sensibly advanced. Once rich and blooming territories, celebrated by the Persian poets as paradisiacal, the theatre of heroic deeds, the seat of political power and intellectual culture, the site of cities which in size and splendour were second to none in Asia, have been visited by the moveable sand, leaving but few evidences of former grandeur and fertility apparent. At Samarcand and Bokhara, celebrated sovereign cities, from which, in the middle ages, bold and chivalrous princes overspread the East with their flying squadrons, the sands have with difficulty been kept at bay. The river Sihun has been compelled to alter its course, and the mighty Oxus of the ancients, according to historical evidence, has lost its Caspian arm in a struggle with the desert. Setting aside the fertile oases, Humboldt supposes the area of the sandy deserts, leaving out those of central Asia, to be 300,000 square leagues. Those of the Tartarian table-land cannot be less than 100,000 more, and adding 100,000 for similar tracts in Midland and Southern Africa, with some other districts, we have a grand total of half a million of square leagues of such surface in the Old World; a space equal to the whole extent of Europe.

The deserts to which the preceding notices refer, are for the most part hot sandy districts, or experience great alternations of heat and cold. Independently of these, there are cold tracts of lowland, chiefly found in the northern regions of Asia. From the declivities of the Ural on the west, to the coast of Kamtschatka on the east, and from the foot of the Altaian Mountains on the south, to the icy margin of the Arctic Ocean on the north, there is a country almost as large as Europe, a melancholy desert, in which, in latitude 67°, the growth of trees ceases altogether; and a little higher up the soil is frozen the whole year through, some few inches of the surface alone being subject to an annual thaw: but at a short distance from the surface, throughout Siberia, a bottom of perpetually frost-bound soil is met with. Gmelin the elder, in his travels, states that shortly after the foundation of the town of Yakutsk, in lat. 624° north, at the end of the seventeenth century, the soil of that place was found to be frozen at a depth of ninety-one feet, and that the people were compelled to give up the design of sinking a well, a statement corroborated in our days by the travels of Erman and Humboldt. Until very lately nothing was known respecting the thickness of the frozen surface; but within these few years a merchant of the name of Schargin, having attempted to sink a well at Yakutsk, was

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