war. The choice of stations is regulated by the difference
of the seasons: in the summer, the Tartars advance towards the North,
and pitch their tents on the banks of a river, or, at least, in the
neighborhood of a running stream. But in the winter, they return to the
South, and shelter their camp, behind some convenient eminence, against
the winds, which are chilled in their passage over the bleak and icy
regions of Siberia. These manners are admirably adapted to diffuse,
among the wandering tribes, the spirit of emigration and conquest.
The connection between the people and their territory is of so frail a
texture, that it may be broken by the slightest accident. The camp, and
not the soil, is the native country of the genuine Tartar. Within the
precincts of that camp, his family, his companions, his property,
are always included; and, in the most distant marches, he is still
surrounded by the objects which are dear, or valuable, or familiar in
his eyes. The thirst of rapine, the fear, or the resentment of injury,
the impatience of servitude, have, in every age, been sufficient causes
to urge the tribes of Scythia boldly to advance into some unknown
countries, where they might hope to find a more plentiful subsistence
or a less formidable enemy. The revolutions of the North have frequently
determined the fate of the South; and in the conflict of hostile
nations, the victor and the vanquished have alternately drove, and been
driven, from the confines of China to those of Germany. [10] These great
emigrations, which have been sometimes executed with almost incredible
diligence, were rendered more easy by the peculiar nature of the
climate. It is well known that the cold of Tartary is much more severe
than in the midst of the temperate zone might reasonably be expected;
this uncommon rigor is attributed to the height of the plains, which
rise, especially towards the East, more than half a mile above the level
of the sea; and to the quantity of saltpetre with which the soil is
deeply impregnated. [11] In the winter season, the broad and rapid
rivers, that discharge their waters into the Euxine, the Caspian, or the
Icy Sea, are strongly frozen; the fields are covered with a bed of snow;
and the fugitive, or victorious, tribes may securely traverse, with
their families, their wagons, and their cattle, the smooth and hard
surface of an immense plain.

[Footnote 10: These Tartar emigrations have been discovered by M.
de Guig