94 



FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



one hillside to another; only the hares and the imperturbable sand- 

 grouse hold their ground, the former feeding on stems and bark, the 

 latter on seeds and buds, but both finding only a scant subsistence. 

 For many days in succession the fall of snow continues; then 

 the wind, which brought the clouds, dies away, but the sky remains 

 as dark as ever. The wind changes and blows harder and harder 

 from east, south-east, south, or south-west. A thin cloud sweeps 

 over the white ground it is formed of whirling snow; the wind 



Fig. 12. A Herd of Horses during a Snowstorm on the Asiatic Steppes. 



becomes a tempest; the cloud rises up to heaven; and, maddening, 

 bewildering even to the most weather-hardened, dangerous in the 

 extreme to all things living, the buran rages across the steppes, a 

 snow-hurricane, as terrible as the typhoon or the simoom with its 

 poisonous breath. For two or three days such a snow-storm may 

 rage with uninterrupted fury, and both man and beast are ab- 

 solutely storm-stayed. A. man overtaken in the open country is 

 lost, unless some special providence save him; nay, more, even in 

 the village or steppe-town, he who ventures out of doors when the 

 buran is at its height may perish, as indeed not rarely happens. 

 When February is past, man and beast are fairly safe, and may 



