324 
BY THE ISTHMUS OF PERECOP, 
chap, people than those of the Crimea, because they 
— v — ' arc altogether unsettled, and therefore are as 
barbarous as the Calmuchs: but their occupations 
are pastoral ; and a pastoral condition of society 
is rarely characterized by cruelty, or by acts of 
open violence. Yet, while their whole attention 
seems to be given to the care of their flocks and 
herds, it must be acknowledged that some facts 
are related, respecting the road from Moscow to 
Perecop, which are too well authenticated to 
admit of any dispute. About four years before 
we visited the Crimea, the lady of Admiral 
Mordvinof, travelling this way, attended by an 
especial escort to secure her from danger, and 
a very numerous suite of servants, was stopped 
by a very formidable party of banditti, who 
plundered her equipage of every thing worth 
bearing away. General Michelson, Governor- 
general of the Crimea, shewed us, at Akmetchet, 
a dreadful weapon, taken from the hands of a 
robber who was discovered lurking in that 
neighbourhood. It consisted of a cannon-ball, 
a two-pounder, slung at the extremity of a 
leathern thong, having a handle like that of 
a whip, whereby it might be hurled with 
prodigious force. But, after all, it may be 
proved, that none of these deeds are the work 
of Tahtars. The particular district said to be 
the most dangerous, in all the road from Moscow 
