Geographical Collections. 207 
Journey of Mr. E. Eversman, Russian Counsellor of State, to the Steps which 
extend to the South of the Volga, in the month of May 1827. (Hrnrrnua, 
Sept. 1828.) 
Own the 11th of May, says Mr. Eversman, I quitted Orenburg, and I arrived in 
six days at Ouralsk. The country consists of vast steps without trees. It is only 
on the banks of the Oural, and of the rivers which empty themselves into it, that 
woods are met with, to which the natives of Tartar origin give the name of Ura- 
na, whilst, in their language, all other forests are known by the name of Urman. 
Oaks, elms, birch trees, and tall black and white poplars, grow on the banks of 
the rivers. The Tartars make use of the trunk of these trees to construct their 
boats, (Budori.) 
’ The characteristic feature of these solitudes, is formed by all those species of 
plants common to salt soils. 
-_ The Tartars lead their flocks to feed in the steps: the meadow-land, situated 
on the borders of the rivers, which is inundated in spring, furnishes the hay which 
they require for winter. 
Seventy versts south of Orenburg, is the famous mine of salt, Keokoi, where 
pure rock salt is met with four or six feet beneath the sand, which is covered with 
beds of gypsum, forming hills of little magnitude. 
The road from Orenburg to Ouralsk is sufficiently well known from the voy- 
ages of the celebrated Pallas. The traveller follows the course of the Oural, 
whose sinuosities alternately contract and widen. Sometimes he traverses mea- 
dows and forests, and sometimes more elevated steps and the forts of the Cossacks. 
The number of rivers which, between Orenburg and Ouralsk, course into the 
Oural, is considerable. They mostly occur on the first half of the road: 
they can only be considered as rivulets, and yet, in the spring time, they increase 
so much, as not to be fordable, and must then be crossed in boats. 
The town of Ouralsk is still very prosperous, though not so flourishing as it 
was formerly. The Cossacks of the Oural are active, laborious, and endure fa- 
tigue with patience. 
The women differ remarkably from the men, both in their education and at- 
tainments. ‘The men possess a certain degree of intellectual wealth : the wars 
which they carry on in foreign parts, present to them the spectacle of new man- 
ners and new customs ; in addition to which, some regiments of the Cossacks of 
the Oural are always quartered in the different countries of the empire, as well as 
in the capital, and every year these regiments are renewed. The women, on the 
contrary, are strongly attached to their ancient customs. 
For the space of half a century, many of the richest inhabitants of the Oural have 
been devoting part of their patrimony to the establishment of fruit gardens. These 
gardens occur about five versts to the north of the town, on the farther bank of 
the Tchegan ; the houses which have been constructed there, denote riches and 
ease. The garden of the hetman Borodin is the most remarkable. 
A little wood of willows and poplar trees, full of huts, neighbours these gardens ; 
each hut is inhabited by a woman, and this is what they call a convent of nuns. 
On Sundays and fast days, the inhabitants of the town go in pilgrimage to visit 
their relations or friends. — . 
The total number of the Cossacks of the Oural, is valued at 15,900 individuals 
of the male sex, out of this number 5,500 men are inscribed at the ministry of 
war, as capable of becoming soldiers. They have the right to fish in the Oural, 
under the obligation of military service, whenever they are in requisition. Ordi- 
narily the Cossack of the Oural only enters the service at the age of 18. There 
are always 3,000 men in the service; but whenever they are wanted, they must 
furnish 10 regiments, each of which contains 500 men. In this case, there only 
remain to take care of their own country, 500 men taken out of the Cossacks, 
enlisted for service. 
Of 3000 Cossacks in permanent service, 1500 are on duty on the line of the 
Caspian sea, for an extent of 659 versts, extending up the Cural; the remainder 
