The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

THE STEPPES. 271surrounded only by a few struggling poplars, but slightly relieving the dreary andmonotonous aspect of nature.These are the true steppes that have been fittinglycompared to the wilderness, with which have often been confounded thoseflowery steppes farther north, supplying a large portion of its farinaceous food tothe west of Europe. Here trees grow with difficulty, and public gardens aredeveloped with great labour and cost round the large cities, often only to disappearin a few hours, devoured by those clouds of locusts which darken the mid- day sun.The grassy steppes are enlivened by an abundant, if not a varied fauna. Onissuing from the gloomy forest these sunny lands become a living solitude. The bison,buffalo, wild boar, wild horse, and other animals spoken of by early travellers havedisappeared, but the crust is everywhere undermined by galleries harbouring theFig. 129.Pksk Harsh.Scale 1 :4SO.0OO.Eof?suslik {Cyiillus vulgaris) and the marmot, the prey of the wolf, wild dog, and man.Multitudes of water- fowl, herons, storks, and flamingoes, ducks and mews, frequentthe ponds and marshes ; larks and other songsters enliven the meadows andthickets ; eagles, vultures, and other birds of prey perch on the finger-posts,heedless of the passing wayfarer. Butterflies flutter in myriads, and swarms ofbees sip the honey of the flowery mead. Eefore it was invaded by the plough,Ukrania of all regions answered best, perhaps, to the description of a land " flowingwith honey." For it overflowed not only in the hollow trunks, but in the cavitiesof the ground, river bluffs, and gorges. Owing to the nature of the land, the bee,like most other animals of the steppe, man included, is a troglodyte, and, whereagriculture is carried on, the swarms hibernate in large underground chambers.