ind a purple
headland, hastening southward to find a warmer home in the unfrozen
Caspian. By embarking on the steamers anchored below us, we might have
reached Perm, among the Ural Mountains, or Astrachan, in less than a
week; while a trip of ten days would have taken us past the Caucasus,
even to the base of Ararat or Demavend. Such are the splendid
possibilities of travel in these days.

The envoy, who visited Europe for the first time, declared that this
panorama from the hill of Novgorod was one of the finest things he had
seen. There could, truly, be no better preparation to enjoy it than
fifteen hundred miles of nearly unbroken level, after leaving the
Russian frontier; but I think it would be a "show" landscape anywhere.
Why it is not more widely celebrated I cannot guess. The only person in
Russia whom I heard speak of it with genuine enthusiasm was Alexander
II.

Two hours upon the breezy parapet, beside the old Tartar walls, were all
too little; but the droshkies waited in the river-street a quarter of a
mile below us, our return to Moscow was ordered for the afternoon, there
were amethysts and Persian silks yet to be bought, and so we sighed
farewell to an enjoyment rare in Russia, and descended the steep
footpath.

P. and I left the rest of the party at the booth of the handsome
Bashkir, and set out upon a special mission to the Tartar camp. I had
ascertained that the national beverage of Central Asia might be found
there,--the genuine _koumiss_, or fermented milk of the mares of the
Uralian steppes. Having drunk palm-wine in India, _sam-shoo_ China,
_saki_ in Japan, _pulque_ in Mexico, _bouza_ in Egypt, mead in
Scandinavia, ale in England, _bock-bier_ in Germany, _mastic_ in Greece,
_calabogus_ in Newfoundland, and--soda-water in the United States, I
desired to complete the bibulous cosmos, in which _koumiss_ was still
lacking. My friend did not share my curiosity, but was ready for an
adventure, which our search for mare's milk seemed to promise.

Beyond the mosques we found the Uzbeks and Kirghiz,--some in tents, some
in rough shanties of boards. But they were without koumiss: they had had
it, and showed us some empty kegs, in evidence of the fact. I fancied a
gleam of diversion stole over their grave, swarthy faces, as they
listened to our eager inquiries in broken Russian. Finally we came into
an extemporized village, where some women, unveiled and ugly, advised us
to apply to the traders in the kh