192 Scientific Reviews. 



depth, presents the same facilities for traversing these extensive 

 plains, as the Ohio does in the barrens of North America, or the 

 Nile in the sandy deserts of Egypt ; and thus we have become well 

 acquainted with the country on its banks by the observations of 

 many acute and judicious travellers. Our author varied the route 

 a little, and went across the country to Sarepta. Forts construct- 

 ed at the time when the nomadic tribes extended their incursions 

 more to the interior, are met Avith between Koslov and Tambov ; 

 and it is a remarkable fact that, when they rise under an angle of 

 45°, they no longer contain the germ of destruction. At KafFa our 

 traveller thinks that he saw an intrenchment, described by Hero- 

 dotus as having been constructed by Scythian slaves in the time of 

 Cyaxares, king of the Medes. 



A little beyond the intrenchments, moghila or tumuli are met 

 Avith, the only remaining monument of the many nations who have 

 traversed, rather than dwelt on these plains, ploughed at the pre- 

 sent day by the marmot, {Glis marmota,) and the souslik, (^Mus 

 citellus.) 



Count Potocki followed in the distance the course of the Don, 

 the Tanais of Scythia, perceiving the towers of Beloievskai, Avhich 

 he looks upon, in opposition to De Lisle, as the Belovega of Nes- 

 tor, and the Sarkel or Hospitium album of the writers of the Con- 

 stantinian empire. 



The tongue of land that divides the Don from the Wolga is lofty 

 and barren, though intersected by vallies clothed with verdure. 

 The Khoiitor or chalets of these districts are built in deep rents in 

 the neighbourhood of springs and trees ; but these beautiful re- 

 treats are only seen in their immediate vicinity, and have therefore 

 no effect on the general outline of the scenery. 



The overflowing of the Nile is absorbed by numerous canals, but 

 that of the Wolga is like the deluge of Ovid, a vast archipelago 

 linked by forests, amidst which fish pursue numerous species of the 

 rat tribe, that have taken refuge in their foliage. 



The tents and Asiatic figures of Kalmucks were stretched along 

 the shores of the Tsaritsa, which, according to the best geogra- 

 phers, constitutes the limits between Europe and Asia. At the 

 time that Potocki wrote, the Mongolian language used by the Kal- 

 mucks had been little read, but we have since become partially 

 acquainted with it, through the labours of Abel Remusat and 

 Schmidt of St. Petersburgh. 



It is an error generally adopted to confound the Tatars and the 

 Turks, and to apply the name of the first, who are Mongolians, to 

 the greater part of the tribes which form part of the Turkish na- 

 tion. This error is pretty generally adopted in Russia, where they 

 say Tatars of Kasan, of Astrakhan, of Tobolsk, of Jenisask, &c. 

 who are all in reality Turks, and consider the name of Tatar as an 

 insult equivalent to calling them thieves. It is the same with re- 

 spect to the two nations to whom in Europe we give the name of 

 Kirghiz or Kirghese, Though they speak the same language, they 



