MEMOIR OF PALLAS. 45 
firs, and varied by hills and rich meadows. Few 
countries more deserve to be peopled. It abounds 
in rich arable land and green valleys, and here are 
found in great numbers every variety of the elk and 
deer. These separate during the winter, in the 
woods and thickets which skirt the rivers and 
streams, as well as over the moors and mountains. 
There the elks browse upon the young shoots and 
bark of the aspen and poplar, which grow in great 
luxuriance: they here also find excellent shelter in 
summer, and abundant nourishment upon the moun- 
tains and heaths. The roe-buck thrives equally well, 
as the wind sweeps the snow from the heights, and 
they feed on the herbs thus exposed. The Cossacks 
every year kill a great number of these animals. 
They pursue them chiefly in March: at this period 
the power of the sun melts the surface of the snow, 
and the evening cold produces a layer of ice, which 
enables them to move over it with wooden shoes, 
whilst the poor animal sinks deep with its hard and 
sharp hoofs. They track their footsteps into the 
valleys where the snow is deep, and fire as soon as 
within gunshot ; and the dogs, which can run won- 
derfully on the snowy crust, so arrest their flight, 
that the hunters approach and despatch them with 
their lances. The skins are greatly esteemed, and 
sell at a high price; they are beautiful, very hght, 
and almost water-proof.”—T. i. 304—305. 
We mentioned in a former page that Pallas 
prepared the instructions for the guidance of the 
zoologists, and they were fully as ample as these 
