THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 93 



the jackal infests portions of them ; and the destroying 

 locust falls like a blight and a curse on the young 

 green grass of the free space, or on the rising harvest 

 of the agricultural pioneer. On some parts of these 

 wide Steppes dwell the most hideous of the human 

 race, the Calmucks and Baskirs ; and on other parts 

 the Circassians, the most beautiful of their species, 

 still sometimes descend in their predatory excursions.* 



* Revelations of Russia. Hommaire de Hell's Steppes of the 

 Caucasus. 



