OLD TCHERKASK. 
41 
quarters, escorts, in short every thing provided, that could 
administer to my safety and comfort, till I should reach Tiflis, 
the termination of the Russian jurisdiction, and of the Donskoy 
influence. The most dangerous part of my journey between 
Tcherkask and the Persian capital, probably was that which I 
was then commencing, so many marauding tribes still con¬ 
tinuing unsubdued, near the mountain passes. We set forth 
soon after dinner, and crossed the Axai over a small wooden 
bridge. The road then lay through the plain, bringing me to 
the ancient capital, Old Tcherkask, just as the evening closed. 
So far from its having the Asiatic appearance some travellers 
represent, the houses are not even flat-roofed ; and, besides the 
cathedral, which is a noble structure, there seemed little else 
in the town to give it an air even of departed grandeur. About 
three wersts from thence, we crossed the Don on a wretched 
bridge of loose beams. It was nearly a werst in length, crazy 
and old, and so dangerous at both ends, from neglect, we 
could not advance a step without peril of our lives. The 
darkness of the hour when we arrived rendered the passage more 
hazardous ; and, before we got quite over, I was obliged to call 
in the assistance of a couple of sturdy oxen, to drag the carriage 
up the ascent, of rotten and ill-constructed planks which united 
the bridge to the bank we were approaching. Two of my horses 
had fallen in the attempt, and one narrowly escaped drowning. 
On gaining the shore, through the gloom of the night I dis¬ 
covered that we were again on an extensive steppe, and sur¬ 
rounded with innumerable tumuli. 
At five o’clock the following morning we reached the village 
of Kagulnitsky ; and in the afternoon of the same day arrived 
at Nishnoy Egorlisky. At this last place we enter the govern- 
VOL. i. 
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