and pinks, and thousands of larks sing everywhere. Presently the hot sun and scorching winds burn it all to a dull brown. Later comes the snow, and covers it with a smooth white coverlet till the spring.

There are no long shadows here to tell when the sun is sinking. Down it drops, and darkness comes, as if it was a lamp snatched away.

Now come on to the Black Sea. On the shore are rushes and reeds. Here and there you can see a row of oaks and birches and willows; that shows that a river is running there.

Then come sandy plains with coatings of ice for miles and miles. Look at that small sea that separates that little three-cornered island, the Crimea, from the land. There are long stories to be told about that little island. To the Sea of Azof it is all sandy and bare, but on the outer side it has fine cliffs and rich trees.

First there
Rising out

Look to the east, at that little neck of land between the Caspian and the Black Sea. are trees, and then long dark marshes. of the marshes there are rocky peaks and crags, with precipices between them, and eagles flying round, and misty clouds. Then at the top of all, against the sky, bright snowy mountain-tops. Those are the mountains of the Caucasus.

One look at the Caspian, and we shall have seen

the Beast's house. There it stretches out, nearly three times as large as the whole of England. The shores are sandy and barren. The sand moves and shifts with the wind, and the sea itself looks like pale liquid sand, muddy and livid.

There are tempests here, when the sky looks grey and sickly, and the sand is whirled about to and fro.

Look close at the shore. Do you see how horrid ? Crowds and crowds of black beetles crawling about. If a hut is built there they crawl up it, and come dropping down inside like living rain. And the Caspian is very witch-like and weird, for at night you may see the water burn! That is, there is oil on the top of it which sometimes catches fire. The oil is petroleum, and it comes out of the rocks around.

Now down with our balloon. Like Beauty, we have done looking at the Beast's house, and we must see what it makes of him, and what he makes of it.

CHAPTER II.

THE GLORIOUS PEOPLE.

THE people who first lived in Russia were not what we call Russians at all.

They were all a sort of cousins to each other, of the Ugrian family, some Fins, some Laps, some Votiaks, and many other strange names. They lived in the north by hunting and catching fish; and they drove about in sledges dragged by reindeer. They were funny squat little men, dressed in skins, and lived in little wooden huts.

Further south, near the Black Sea, were other tribes. The Greeks, who had cities on the coasts, told odd stories about them, and called them Scythians. Some were warlike, and loved fighting, others tilled the ground, and others again had flocks. The Greeks knew most about the warlike tribes, and they said that their god was a sword stuck in a clod of earth. They were strong people, with brown or yellow hair, and long beards. They loved fighting and bloody deeds.

No one knew much about these tribes in the

great country of Russia. The Greeks said that up in the north were people who had only one eye, and others with bald heads and snub noses, and that in their land the air was always full of feathers, and there was darkness and no light. That shows that in some matters they used their eyes, and in others their imaginations.

These tribes lived on quietly till about three hundred years after Christ was born. But farther away over the Ural Mountains matters were going on that concerned them very much. The great family of the Sarmatians, who lived there, were having a disturbance among themselves.

So great was this disturbance, that one tribe of this family would go on living there no longer, and marched off towards the Ural Mountains, to cross them and find another home. The name of this tribe was the Glorious People, or in their language, the Slavs. They were going to come and live in Russia and be the Russians.

So this Glorious People came pouring over the Urals. They were tall fair men and women, with brown hair and grey eyes for the most part. All on foot and all very bold. They were sunburnt and muddy and dusty with their long journeys. Nothing stopped them. When they came to rivers they threw themselves in and swam across, or carried their children over in rough boats.

The fighting tribes came first, and made way for the others. Even these were a little frightened by the Greek fortresses and the even files of soldiers which they came to on the coast. For these Slavs rushed on to battle anyhow, shouting their war-cry. They carried heavy bucklers and sabres, and short spears and poisoned arrows. As they came along, the people in the villages were afraid, and fled from their houses.

These Slavs were cunning as well as brave. When they were lying in wait for an enemy, they would sometimes lie for hours under water in a stream, breathing through a long reed in their mouths that reached up to the air. meat, so their food was little trouble.

They ate raw

On rushed these warlike Slavs through the steppes and the rich plains, and into the forest. As they came forward the other tribes drew back before them, up to the north and the east. At last the foremost tribe came near to the shores of the Baltic. There on the Neva, near the Valdai Hills, they settled down, and built themselves huts, with many doors, that they might escape easily.

After this fighting tribe came many others. Some had flocks, and some tilled the ground. All could fight, but not so well as the first tribe.

These did not take the trouble to go further up. Some settled down on the Dnieper among the rich

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