Scientific Reviews. 195 



mity of the scene, and led to adopt the opinions of eastern nations, 

 who made them the seat of their mythological traditions. Zoroas- 

 ter, speaking of the wicked genius Arimanes, says, " He flings him- 

 self from the summit of the Boruz ; and his body, extended over 

 the abyss, seems like a bridge that is thrown across the world." 



Cleanthes says, that the name of Caucasus was that of a shep- 

 herd killed by Saturn, disguised as a crocodile. Our author says, 

 that it should be Koh-Kaf, which, in the Persian language, sig- 

 nifies, Mountains of Kaf. Now the Mountains of Kaf, which 

 surrounded the world, and which were inhabited by the bird Anka, 

 were known to all antiquity. 



Count Potocki, on leaving Mosdok, proceeded in a pretty direct 

 line to Tasman, passing through the country of the Tcherkeses, the 

 Great Kabardah, the territory of the Kalmucks, and of the Nogai. 

 The habitations of the Tcherkeses, says our traveller, are not pro- 

 perly houses, but rather large baskets made with branches, care- 

 fully entwined, and covered with clay, or mud and reeds. They 

 are arranged with order ; the distinction of property marked out ; 

 enclosures respected ; and separate houses devoted to hospitality ; 

 that is to say, to receive travellers. 



A village of this kind does not remain in the same place for more 

 than four or five years ; by that time the princes have quarrelled 

 with their neighbours, or they have formed new alliances, and they 

 go and establish themselves elsewhere, for the land belongs to the 

 nation in general. 



On leaving the borders of the Kouma, the Count traversed the 

 Steps to an encampment of Turcomans, who give to themselves 

 the name of Turkmen, or of Turk-Turkmen. They constitute the 

 principal race of Bucharia, for the Sartes are the subjected tribe. 

 They descend from the Sodgians ; but the Turkmen are the Torki 

 of Nestor ; the Ouzi of Byzantinian authors ; the Ghoz of the 

 Arabs ; and the Cumani Nigri of the Hungarian historians. 



The Tatars call Koum, or sands, countries which are lightly 

 sandy, which cover themselves in spring time with yellow flowers, 

 and with excellent grass for cattle. They prefer these places dur- 

 ing the heats of summer, because the flies are less numerous, and 

 the waters purer ; and in winter, because the snow is less tena- 

 cious. Hence the nomades seek the possession of the sands, and 

 thus Almus, first chief of the Hungarians, arriving on the Theiss, 

 demanded of Salanus a specimen of the grasses which grow on the 

 sands of Olpar, now the Steps of Kecskemet. The most celebrat- 

 ed sandy plains in Tatar history are the Sara Koum and the Kara 

 Koum. Russia had also in its empire two sandy plains which 

 have much reputation — the Steps of Anketeri, and' of Ryn Peski 

 beyond the Wolga. The sands of Anketeri are traversed in difl^er- 

 ent directions by several bands of downs, which would be worthy 

 of the naturalist's attention. 



The nomadic life appears to be one of real delight, and the proof of 

 it is, that the tribes are passionately attached to it. There is a 



