TO PAULOVSKOY. 
283 
The next morning, (June 13th), we passed the c ” ) p - 
village of Mojochs, and came to Ekortzy : here ' — v — 
we halted to take some refreshment under a Ekortvy, 
pent-house, upon a khabitha; the heat of the tZJ.' s ‘ a 
sun being almost insupportable. The people 
were kind ; and a coarse meal became, on that 
account, agreeable. We perceived, as it has 
been before remarked, that the farther we ad- 
vanced from the ordinary hordes of the Russians, 
the more politeness and hospitality we experi- 
enced; this being, however, exactly the reverse 
of the information given to us by the inhabitants 
of Moscow. The deserts, as they were described, 
instead of proving a bare and sandy waste, 
presented verdant lawns, covered with herbage, 
though sometimes dry, and scorched by the 
rays of a very powerful sun. 
Near to Ekortzy we added the Verbascum 
Phcenicium to our herbary: and between Ekortzy 
and lestakovo, upon a high, bleak, chalky soil, 
we found the rarest plants which occurred 
during our whole route; Dral-a Alpina, and 
Polygala Sibirica. Professor Pallas could hardly 
credit the evidence of his senses, when he after- 
wards saw them among our collection in the 
Crimea. Near the same spot we also observed 
that beautiful plant, the Clematis integrifolia, 
exhibiting colours of blue and gold; with 
