apparatus of the kind in Scotland. The arba in which I was to have the honour of riding through the steppe, was of the latter description, which I preferred to the other vehicles of higher pretensions, from a wish to make trial, in the first instance, of the travelling accommodation in common use among the Tartars, and thus to ascertain what was to be expected or feared from it in subsequent excursions, when it might not be at my option to make a choice. Besides the covered arba or kibitki, we had a second one with a supply of books and other articles for our brethren at the colony; and it gave us no small pleasure to find there was to be a third one in our train, with two young deacons who had been receiving orders from his holiness the archbishop of Astrachan and Caucasus. Our number, after all, was small, compared with some cavalcades that are accustomed to traverse the desert; yet when reinforced by the deacons, we looked upon ourselves as sufficiently formidable to keep thieves and other banditti at bay, should they venture to molest us; particularly as John was armed with a brace of excellent pistols, which had already been on duty of a similar kind under my brother Mr Macpherson, in his passage down the Volga for Astrachan.

The luggage being packed, and every thing ready for our departure, the arbatchi (driver)

took the road for the steppe with his three arbas; and being engaged in conversation, we followed a few yards behind, till we came to the western extremity of the village, where, after being commended by the brethren to the protection of Heaven, I took my leave of them, and having reached the arba which was under John's care, I took possession of my new lodgings, and entered the desert. For a time the feelings excited by the parting words and looks of my friends, by the charge I had left behind me in Astrachan, and the objects of my mission, occupied too much of my heart to leave room for those trains of thinking which might otherwise have secured my attention, as we advanced into the steppe. I remarked in general, that the soil was much the same with that to which I had been accustomed in the suburbs of the city east of the Volga-consisting chiefly of a mixture of fine sand and clay, of a brownish red colour, and producing a scanty crop of grass and saline herbs, which leads to a conclusion, which I understand has been repeatedly verified by experience, that it is strongly impregnated with salt. The after. noon being remarkably fine, the lake, which from time to time appeared in sight, reflecting the sun beams from their crystal surface, had a pleasing effect on the imagination, and led the thoughts to Him whose power is every where felt, and whose glory is declared by all

his works; while the steppe, though no where so elevated as to present the appearance of any thing greater than ridges or hills of sand, rose occasionally so far above the general level as to afford a greater variety than I had anticipated. Passed the quarantine about four o'clock, and the first post-house on the road to Kisliar about sun set; and having advanced a verst or two beyond it, we halted and made preparations for passing the night by the side of a small lake, the waters of which were acceptable to all, while its margin had the additional recommendation of presenting a supply for our arbatchi's horses.

of grass

No sooner had we taken up our position, than John, to whom this mode of passing the night was familiar, repaired to the lake and secured a supply of water, though not without considerable difficulty, on account of the miry texture of the soil on which he had to approach it. The next part of the process was striking a light and kindling a fire, which was formed of the fuel in common use among the Tartars and Calmucs in the steppe. Of this I had often heard, though I do not recollect having had an opportunity of seeing it employed for . such a purpose. It is dry dung picked up as it lies in the field or collected in the stall, and baked into cakes resembling the peat turf of Caledonia.

In fifteen or twenty minutes, the boiling of

the kettle served as a signal for preparing our tea, which was served up on the cover of a basket I found it convenient to use in the double capacity of a depository for our victuals and a table. I made a hearty meal, partly by the light of the moon which arose in the east just as the twilight began to disappear, and partly by that of a farthing candle, one of a few which we had succeeded in procuring from a Tartar in Selonka, to supply the place of better ones which we neglected to provide ourselves with before leaving Astrachan. Supper being ended, I prepared for retiring to rest in the kibitki, while John secured to himself a convenient spot by the side of it, to repose under the open canopy of heaven; which mode of passing the night is customary with the natives, when on a journey, during the summer months, and was preferred by him, that he might be at a moment's warning to assist the arbatchi in repelling the assault, if any attempt was made to steal the horses in the course of the night.

Cct. 9. Having awaked from the slumbers of night, I turned aside the curtain which overhung the entrance into the kibitki, and from the diminished brightness of the moon, inferred the approach of dawn-the signal for renewing our journey. My night's rest-comfortable, upon the whole, though less so than

it might have been, owing to the slopping position of the arba, which I had not taken the precaution to bring to a proper level, the consequence of which was, that I found it neces sary, at times, to make a kind of effort through my sleep to regain the ground I had lost, from slipping insensibly down the inclined plain on which I reposed. In the course of a few minutes, tea was served up in the same style that had been adopted last night, which I found to be very convenient; and scarcely had the rising sun cleared the horizon, when our arbatchi and his cavalcade were again in motion. Having heard that the Calmuc wells, &c. on the road which runs directly through the steppe for the Kumas, were, in conse quence of the long drought, almost completely dried up, he had resolved, for the sake of securing water, to follow the Kisliar road to the ninth stage from Astrachan, and from that point to cross the steppe by the south road; consequently we had the prospect of having the tædium of travelling slowly amid barren sands, beguiled, in part, by the incidents we might have an opportunity of witnessing on meeting with travellers and others on their way to Astrachan. Passed the second post-house in the course of the forenoon, and halted about mid-day on the margin of a lake, where the horses slaked their thirst with the cooling draft, and cropt the herbage among the reeds;