FROM GOKTCHAI TO LEXKORAN. 305 



many different species as there are ducks any- 

 where else. The most striking, after the flamin- 

 goes, swans, and pelicans, were perhaps the bright 

 red duck, called here 'gagar,' and the beautiful 

 mandarin duck, which I only saw once at close 

 quarters. But amongst the countless flights there 

 were scores of different plumages, to whose wearers 

 I could give no name ; and I feel sure that any 

 ornithologist who is at the present moment looking 

 for some new ground over which to follow up his 

 favourite study, would find ample reward for the 

 journey in a visit to the swamps round Lenkoran 

 in the winter months. 



Travelling by night over the steppe, we passed 

 a Tartar village at some little distance, from which 

 came an unwonted glow of red light, and cries as 

 of pandemonium let loose. On asking Ivan what 

 it meant, I was told that it was the Tartar 

 Bairam, or rather the preparation for it. Anxious 

 to see what was doing, I, contrary to my driver's 

 advice, slipped out of the tarantasse and stole 

 unobserved upon the scene a scene wilder than 

 the witches' meeting in Macbeth. Among the 

 huts and hayricks on the wet steppe, a mob of 

 half naked Tartars had erected a post, and on this 

 post had fixed a monster firebrand. From this 

 the light glowed and flickered on the brown limbs 

 and wild faces of an excited band of dancers, who, 

 in perfect time, kept advancing and retreating 



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