CHANGES OF THE STEPFES. 49 



snow-white blossoms Spiraea, crataegus, primus spinosa, amygdalus 

 nana present a graceful appearance. I have elsewhere spoken," he 

 adds, " of the vigorous growth of Synanthers, such as Suassurea amara 

 and salsa, the artemisias and blue centaureas, w r hich grow profusely 

 in these deserts, and the leguminosse, which are there represented by 

 different species of astragal, cytisus, and caragana. The fritillaria 

 ruthenica, meleagroides, cypripedium, and tulip, delight the eye with 

 the brilliance of their colours. " * 



This almost exclusively herbaceous, but abundant and various, 

 vegetation of which Humboldt speaks, is conspicuous in the spring, 

 in the least favoured Steppes, after the rainy season. But it is there 

 of a brief life. In the month of June the heat grows intense, and 

 the dryness excessive. Then every herb perishes, cut down by the 

 sun's keen-smiting rays, like the Greeks before Troy by the arrows 

 of Apollo. 



" Bent was his bow, the Grecian hearts to wound ; 

 Fierce as lie moved, his silver shafts resound." f 



The dust is whirled off the ground by the wind, and swept about 

 in revolving tornados. The Steppes situated in a comparatively low 

 latitude thus alternately assume the most discordant aspects. In 

 winter the heavy rains inundate them, and transform them into 

 impracticable marshes ; spring clothes them with a thick carpet of 

 grasses and other herbaceous plants, so that they reveal to the 

 eye leagues upon leagues of delightful sward cropped by numerous 

 flocks. In summer they undergo a third metamorphosis, and are 

 converted into parched and sun-scathed deserts like those of Nubia 

 or Arabia. 



These periodical transformations are especially remarkable in the 

 Steppes of the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the Caspian Sea ; 

 where winter conies attended with abundant snows and terrific 

 tempests. No obstacle can arrest the fury of the gale, which 

 accumulates the driven snow in fearful avalanches, and like the 



* Humboldt, " Ansichten der Xatur," vol. i. (Xotes). 

 t Homer, " Iliad," book i. 

 4 



