LOWER STEPPE BETWEEN THE URAL AND THE VOLGA. 
315 
tint of the colour used for No. 10. and by the sign 10'. This region includes the 
whole of the lower steppe of Astrakhan between the rivers Ural and Volga, which, 
passing down the western shores of the Caspian, extends, in a strait, to the west, 
over the low grounds of the Kalmucks, between the Caspian and the Sea of Azof, 
and again from the western shores of the latter by the isthmus of Perecop to the 
Black Sea below Kherson. The whole of this vast area was, we conceive, covered 
by the waters of the inland sea to w T hich reference has just been made, at the com- 
paratively modern period when the Aralo-Caspian limestones had been so elevated 
as to form its shores. Our own acquaintance with the boundaries of this great 
area is limited to portions of its western and northern shores. Of the southern or 
Caucasian boundary, our knowledge is, of course, derived from Pallas and his nu- 
merous successors. Among the latter we must mention Mr. Strangways, who 
traversing many years ago the low steppe between South Russia, the Crimsea, and 
the Caucasus, visited the mineral sources and baths of Kislovodsk, and the group of 
mountains of which the Beshtau is the principal: Mr. Strangways has put into our 
hands some manuscript notices of the lower region, which it is very much to be 
regretted were not formerly published. 
Other travellers and naturalists have since visited that country, and those who 
desire to make themselves masters of the whole subject, particularly in reference 
to the tracts around the Sea of Azof and between that sea and the Caspian, will 
doubtless first study the works of Pallas, and then endeavour to synchronize the 
various elements of his details with modern geological science, by reference to the 
recent works of M. Kupffer, M. Dubois and M. Hommaire de Hell. For our own 
parts, we shall chiefly dwell upon the portions of those low countries which we have 
seen, and on which, as they have been visited by few modern geologists, we hope to 
be able to throw some light. Though a good notion of a large portion of the out- 
line of these lower steppes was first put forth by Pallas, the great naturalist seems to 
have entertained vague ideas respecting their eastern boundary. A few years ago 
it was, indeed, commonly supposed, that these same lower steppes extended far to 
the east of the river Ural, and that coasting the southern termination of the Ural 
chain, they spread over vast tracts in Siberia, and possibly communicated with 
slightly elevated deserts adjacent to the northern seas. A glance at our Map will 
show that this view cannot be entertained ; for, however we may yet be unable to 
define the whole of their eastern boundary, many Russian obseivers, including Pro- 
fessor Eichwald, have ascertained, as before stated, that hilly grounds, composed 
