KUBAN TAHTARY. 
the Sen of Azof; and travelled towards the 
Ae, one of the several rivers mentioned by 
Ptolemy, in this part of Asiatic Sarmatia, but not 
easily identified with any of the antient names 
enumerated by him. Ae, in the Tahtar lan- 
guage, signifies good ; and the name is said to 
have been applied to the river, because its 
banks afford a favourable pasture for sheep; 
but the water is brackish, and impregnated 
with salt. 
During the first thirty-six versts 4 of this 
day’s journey, we found Grecian or Malo-Russian 
inhabitants. Their number in this district does 
not exceed seven hundred persons; yet a 
proof of their industry and of their superior 
importance, as tenants of the land, is offered 
in the fact of their affording to their landlord 
an average payment of no less a sum annually 
than ten thousand roubles. The boundary of 
their little territory is formed by the river Ae 
towards the south, and the Sea of Azof to the 
north. The river Ae separates them from a 
different and very extraordinary race of men, 
whose history and country we are now pre- 
pared to consider ; namely, the Tchernomorski, 
(2) Twenty-four English miles. 
