NATURE IN MOTION". 85 



{in immigration of eastern races. In southern Europe ap- 

 peared the seafaring Pelasgi ; they were soon followed by 

 the Etruscans; tlien came the Helleni. From the table- 

 lands of the Waldai we see next the Istuni or Fins driven 

 westward by the pressure of countless Teutons. The lat- 

 ter, together with Slaves, soon rush into Scandinavia, Ger- 

 many, and France. The same phenomenon, in fact, is 

 constantly repeated. New waves of new nations roll on 

 from the East, and shake the foundations of older, well 

 organized kingdoms, until Columbus opens the western gate 

 to let loose the rising stream of Asiatic races, which now 

 flood the new continent. 



This resistless movement toward the West is yet un- 

 broken, unrelenting. The same great law of nature impels 

 man towards the setting sun, and all his efforts to travel 

 eastward have been ingloriously foiled. In vain did mil- 

 lions of brave, pious men rush to the Orient to reconquer 

 the Holy Land ; in vain were the most chivalrous courage, 

 the most devoted self-sacrifice, employed against the stern 

 eternal rule of nature. No great expedition to the East 

 has ever been successful and permanent. Vast distances 

 have been traversed, vast reverses sustained, and hardships 

 incredible endured only to result in grand defeats, like 

 the Anabasis of the younger Cyrus, and the retreat of 

 the noble ten thousand. And so it is, still, in our day. 

 As recently as the latter part of the last century, a whole 

 Tartar nation, several hundred thousands of Kalmucks, 

 with all their herds, left southern Russia, and fled across 

 the boundless steppes of Asia, to escape the iron rule of 

 the Russian sceptre. They left unimpeded ; they were 



