THE COLDER TEMPERATE ZONE. 65 



with such rapidity that no horseman could overtake them ; 

 now hopping with short, quick springs along the ground ; 

 now whirling in great circles round each other, rolling on- 

 ward in a spirit-like dance over the turf ; now, caught by 

 an eddy, rising suddenly a hundred feet into the air. Often 

 one Wind Witch hooks on to another, twenty more join 

 company, and the whole gigantic yet airy mass rolls away 

 before the piping east wind. Surely man does not need a 

 rocky abyss, a mine, or howling sea-storms to give him food 

 for superstition." 



A more terrible life is imparted to the steppe when a 

 countryman " cleans his farm," that is, when he has set on 

 fire the "Burian" upon it, with the remains of old straw 

 and hay, now useless, on account of the new harvest, and 

 full of mice and other vermin. When the dry grass of the 

 steppe has caught, the fire creeps amongst it, like a serpent, 

 with measured swiftness ; here it seizes a Burian-bush, and 

 with a tremendous noise the blaze soars high toward heaven, 

 crackling and hissing ; there, reaching a tract of flourishing 

 Feather-grass, it rises in a light white flame, and darts with 

 terrible activity over the waving field, devouring millions of 

 delicate feathers in a few moments. Sometimes hemmed in 

 between two roads^ bare of vegetation, or between streams 



F 



