•with Geognostiml Observations, fyc. ]29 



'of the Don ; but in receding from the river we find ourselves 

 in the middle of a steppe and in an inhabited country. The 

 Don near its embouchure at Tcherkask widens considerably 

 as it recedes from the hills composed of a chalky calcareous 

 rock, which present to it on its right bank an insurmountable 

 barrier ; it inundates every spring a great extent of country, 

 and spreads over it abundance : From the Axais to the Tcher- 

 kask, the culture of the vine, fisheries, agriculture, and com- 

 merce, give employment in their turn to thousands of men, 

 who draw from them a certain and an agreeable subsistence. 

 This is one of the most animated scenes that I have ever seen, 

 and particularly strikes the imagination of the traveller who 

 has been travelling over the steppe. 



Several hills which advance towards the Sea of Azoff, on 

 the right bank of the Don, rise nearly to the height of 500 

 feet above the level of the Don, and are composed of a calcare- 

 ous rock filled with fragments of shells, which it would be dif- 

 ficult to refer to their species. New Tcherkask is built on one 

 of these hills : This town is as it were placed on a promontory, 

 which advances from the steppe of which it forms the prolon- 

 gation towards the Sea of Azoff. Its position partakes in the 

 dryness and sudden changes of temperature of the adjoining 

 steppe, without sharing in the advantages which the Don sheds 

 over its banks. The inhabitants are obliged to collect the rain 

 water in cisterns, in order that they may be supplied in the 

 heat of summer. The town has little trade, and its existence 

 depends chiefly on its being the centre of government, and the 

 chief place of the Cossack territory. The calcareous rock 

 which forms the soil has a wide extent. We meet with it 

 every where from Stavropol to Nicolaieff, and it forms the 

 shore of the Black Sea. Sometimes it is filled with broken 

 shells, and sometimes it is formed in beds more or less desti- 

 tute of organic remains. Though this rock most frequently 

 presents only a heap of the debris of shells cemented by a cal- 

 careous paste, we sometimes recognize entire specimens, parti- 

 cularly the Cythereae, sometimes the Mytilitcs, and generally 

 sea shells. This rock is always arranged in horizontal beds. 

 It is only beyond Stavropol, and in advancing towards the 

 mountains of the Caucasus, on the road to the hot springs, that 



NEW SERIES, VOL. V. NO. I. JULY 1831. 1 



