I 
* 
20 GRASS-FIRE. 
master into the other world, And, as the fashion of these 
human immolations would, likely, prevail through all degrees 
of rank, we may easily account for the graduated sizes of other 
mounds which undulate these dismal deserts, even to the very 
horizon. In some parts, we find tumuli in distinct groups, 
wide of each other ; and in other places they appear singly, 
like solitary and silent watch-towers at distant stations. 
Proceeding to Bereslaw, at that place we crossed the Dnieper 
by a long wooden bridge which divides the governments of 
Kherson and Taurida. It was not until we had passed the post 
of Kowen, and reached the brow of an extensive table-land, 
that any variation from the monotonous scene we had been so 
long contemplating cheered our sight. There a fine vision, like 
an Oasis of the desert, opened to our view. It presented a 
luxuriant valley, many wersts in length, richly wooded, and 
clothed with the brightest green. Through this delightful vale 
flowed the waters of the Dnieper, with numerous tributary streams, 
presenting landscapes as brilliant as, to us, they were evanescent. 
My road lay for a considerable distance along the high ground 
which commanded this fertile stretch of country ; and the sight 
alone was refreshing to the eyes and spirits ; but, descending into 
the plain, we too soon found ourselves again on the eternal and 
wearisome Steppe. Here the nights began to be exceedingly 
bleak; and during our travelling through one of them, near 
the town of Youchokrak, we got into the midst of another of 
those grass-fires I before mentioned. This spectacle was even 
more awful than the one I had formerly witnessed. Then we 
viewed it at a distance: here we were in its very centre. The 
actual road was free from conflagration, having nothing for the 
burning element to feed on; but all around, the whole surface 
