ftOQ Scientific Intelligence — Miscellaneous. 



taineer and a zealous collector, as well as a most thoroughly honest 

 fellow, marched with me in front. We carried guns and pistols : 

 but often, when no near danger was to be feared, we deposited these on 

 the pack-horse, and contented ourselves with the two-edged kinshal 

 of excellent Lesqhian steel, which, besides being an effective weapon 

 against bears or robbers, was very useful in cutting our way through 

 the net-like entanglements of the creeping plants, and in splitting 

 wood for our fire. 



*' As soon as we had reached an open spot in the forest, covered 

 with grass, and surrounded by such a wall of trees and bushes, that 

 even the flame of our watch-fire could be scarcely perceived by a 

 wandering Tartar, — where there was good water to drink, and the 

 physiognomy of the woods was of the kind to promise good sport, 

 as well as a rich zoological and botanical booty, we made a halt. 

 The burka, the blankets, the cooking utensils, and the instruments 

 were laid upon the grass, along with our little store of rice, biscuit, 

 tea, sugar, and rum. , 



" The Cossack looked after the horse ; the Hungarian split wood, 

 or plucked birds ; I arranged my collections, and prepared plants 

 and insects. Soon a bright flame rose merrily up, and a cup of tea 

 with rum operated as powerfully as the magic drink prepared by the 

 ancient sorceress, the friend of Mephistophiles. An enlivening 

 vapour penetrated the nerves ; the muscles and sinews acquired a 

 new elastic power, and in the silent devotion of the forest and the 

 tea-pot, we blessed the pigtails of the good Chinese, who had with 

 such benevolent patience cultivated the plant, and permitted us who 

 had taken no share in the labour to participate in the Divine enjoy- 

 ment of the produce. After this refreshment we plunged with re- 

 newed spirit, and armed with glass and net, into the mysteries of the 

 forest. Grumbling old Wassily, a true ' steppe-devil,' of the past 

 generation — whom I had vainly endeavoured to inspire with a zeal 

 for collecting — ^was left behind to boil the rice soup, prepare the 

 pilauj and watch over horse and baggage. It was superfluous to re- 

 commend vigilance, for his own property was at stake — his beloved 

 long-haired, thick-legged, raw-boned steed, which he tended with a 

 loving care, and treated with as much respect as Sancho Panza his 

 darling dapple. 



" Those who have not themselves any experience in the life of a 

 wandering naturalist, can scarcely estimate its various and manifold 

 joys and sorrows. They will be apt to think too much of its priva- 

 tions, trouble, and dangers, in comparison with its enjoyments. The 

 German reader, sitting quietly at home, imagines the primeval forest 

 of Trans-Caucasia thickly peopled with beasts of prey and lurking 

 robbers ; the charm of a night passed on a bed of fragrant herbs, 

 beneath the shade of a mighty plantain or laurel, is broken in his 

 mind by the thought of a viper coiled beneath the flowers, or of a 

 scorpion, or tarantula, with tail and sting erect, crawling over the 



