OF THE SEA OF AZOF. 
445 
at this place was covered with fine gravel, com- c ”^ p - 
posed of shells and sand. Swarms of toads — 
and small serpents were crawling or running 
towards the sea ; the water, although unwhole- 
some, being so little impregnated with salt, 
that these animals live in it, and the inhabitants 
use it for drinking as well as for culinary pur- 
poses. 
Proceeding towards the interior, the view is 
bounded by steppes, as upon the European side, 
covered with tall luxuriant plants. “No lan- 
guage,” says Uumbolt', “ can express the emo- 
tion which a naturalist feels, when he touches 
for the first time a land that is not European. 
The attention is fixed on so great a number of 
objects, that he can scarcely define the impres- 
sion he receives. At every step he thinks 
he discovers some new production ; and in 
this tumultuous state of mind he does not 
recollect those which are most common in our 
collections of Natural History. These re- 
marks are so strictly applicable to our first feel- 
ings and observations upon landing in Asia, 
that we cannot avoid this insertion. A variety 
of new objects seemed immediately to present 
themselves to our notice ; beetles ot a gigantic 
b) “ Humbolt’s Personal Narrative," Vol, I. p. 88. Land. 1814. 
