THE COLDER TEMPERATE ZONE. 61 



and the cutting north wind drives over the surface, and the 

 snow falls thick, till silvery streaks begin to rise continually 

 from the plain, and the wind howls and blusters, and the 

 air glistens with crystals of snow, and all is one dense, dim 

 mass ; till at last, caught by a whirlwind, it rushes round 

 in a circle, or rebounds from the elevated parts of the 

 steppes, and the snow-wreaths succeed one another, circling 

 violently and rapidly round, and confounding everything in 

 painful dizziness." 



But we feel conscious that we are only inventing excuses 

 to avoid doing what we dislike ; it will be wiser to conquer 

 our prejudices, and see whether ignorance has not exagge- 

 rated our notion of the desolation of the steppes of Tartary. 



We find them, after all, not quite so desolate as we had 

 anticipated ; poor hovels here and there offer a prospect of 

 shelter ; for though these steppes are sparingly populated, 

 they are not altogether without inhabitants ; and vegetation 

 here has an interest of a peculiar kind. The eye is relieved 

 sometimes, when weary of wandering over a level surface, 

 by tracts of land covered with groups of low- growing 

 Blackthorns and Hawthorns, Brambles, and wild Roses too. 

 There are also Grasses, which supply pasture to the herds 

 of cattle ; one very curious kind, called the Feather Grass 



