DON COSSACKS. 
can be restrained. It was before said of the 
Cossacks, that they are attached to the Calmuchs, 
and even intermarry with them ; but a Calvmck 
can never be taught to endure a domestic life. 
If compelled to live within walls, he would die 
of the spleen; and always exhibits uneasiness if 
there be any disposition towards confining him 
in a house. 
View of We had never beheld an acre of Asiatic terri- 
the Dm ' tory ; therefore the land upon the south side of 
the Don, although it consisted of flat and di earv 
marshes, afforded to us an interesting prospect. 
From our balcony we had a commanding view 
of the river : it appeared broad and rapid, ex" 
tending towards those marshes. At a distance* 
eastward, we beheld Tcherhask, with its nu- 
merous spires, rising, as it were, out of the 
water. Upon the European side we observed 
a neighbouring stanitza of considerable magni 
tude, stationed, like Axay, upon a lofty eminence 
above the water. The name Axay is a Tahtar 
word, signifying white water. The Don, in this 
part of its course, exhibits two colours. Near 
to Axay it appears white, because it is here 
shallow. A similar appearance may be observed 
from the Castle of Coblentz in Germany, where 
the Moselle falls into the Rhine: for some 
distance after the junction, the two rivers appear 
348 
CHAP. 
XIII. 
