The severe cold of a Pontine winter, and the parching summer by which the dance of the seasons is so strikingly diversified, are replete with trials and sufferings for all the animals most useful to man. The hurricanes that sometimes sweep across the plain are frequently attended by the most disastrous consequences to the flocks. These make not the least attempt to resist the \-iolence of the storm, but run away in a perfect panic before the wind, and are blown by thousands into the streams and ravines by wliich the steppes are intersected. The didl Russian shepherds, on these occasions, are of little value, and the dogs are not much above their masters in pomt of intelligence. The most sensible members of these comnmnities are generally the goats, without whom a Pontine shepherd would never be able to keep his woolly charge in any kind of order. To every hundred sheep, therefore, three or four goats are invariably associated, to make up, by their wit and sprightliness, for the silliness of their companions. Ihe sheep alone could never be brought to face a Pontine gale of wind, or to march into a ravuie, and would often be completely dispersed in passing through one of the reedy labyrinths by which the rivers are usually fringed. On all these occasions the goats are found of great service to the tshabawn. They are easily brought to face any wind that will at all bear facing ; they lead the way boldly down the most rugged descents, and the sheep, by the ease with which they may be made to follow the example thus set them, seem to show their consciousness of the superior sense of their sturdy companions.
About Easter, the ottara, or flock, quits its winter quarters, which, except on a few estates, are little better than those provided for the poor taboon horses. Until the autumnal storms are no longer endurable, the sheep remain on the steppe, and then return to winter in the miserable enclosures, where a little shelter against the north wind is mostly the only shelter ever considered necessary.
The movements of an ottara are, of course, much less erratic than those of a taboon. If the tshabawn comes to a fine pasture-ground, he seldom leaves it till the grass has been eaten away ; and even when on the march, his encampment for the night is often only two or three miles from the spot whence he started in the morning. The tshabawn's baggagewaggon usually leads the ^an5 its ungrcased wheels, with most inharmonious sounds, inviting the woolly community to follow in the track ; but tlie sheep are no early risere, and love not to have their morning meditations interrupted till the night dew has dried away, and fitted the grass for their enjoyment. The taste of the sheep is the very reverse of the horse's. The latter never enjoys his meal more than at night, while the former likes to keep good hours, and seldom stirs from his bed till morning, but amuses the witching hours by a careful repetition of the last dxiy's studies in the science of mastication. In good weather, to guide the flock is an easy task. The tshabawn follows his waggon, and the sheep follow him, liis men hanging upon the flanks and the rear, to drive in stragglers, and to accelerate the progress of those who are all too dilatory in their movements. Their long irliks are the sceptres with which the shepherds occasionally enforce their authority. These are crooks, nearly twelve feet in length, and may at any moment be converted into most formidable weapons, either of attack or defence. The wolf, who has tasted one blow from the irlik of a tshabawn, is seldom fated to experience a second.
In bad weather, and particularly during the autumnal storms, matters wear, as we have already hinted, a very different aspect. The wolves in spring are a constant plague, no doubt, and there are few kinds of vermhi that abound more than the wolves do in the steppe ; but a vigilant tshabawn may be on his guard against a wolf; and besides, the more the wolves show themselves, the greater will be the number of skins to be disposed of at the end of the season. Against the snow-storm of the steppe, however, vigilance can avail but Httle ; and whereas the wolf can but rarely succeed in the capture even of a single sheep, thousands may be buried in the snow-drift of a viitga, or blown over the edge of a precipice into a ravine, or into the yeasty waves of the easily agitated Euxine. No t a year passes away of which the tsliabawn has not to recount various disasters caused by the viugas ; and I can scarcely present a more lively picture of such a scene to my readers than will be found in the words of an old tahahawn, who endeavoured to give me some idea of the hardships to which the pastoral life on the steppes is constantly subjected.