unaffrighted by the dangers of a long and painful march, and full of
the single desire of procuring themselves for the future a better mode
of life and a more happy lot, have abandoned the parts which they
inhabited far beyond our frontiers, have traversed with a courage
proof against all difficulties a space of more than ten thousand
_lys_, and are come to range themselves in the number of my subjects.
Their submission, in my view of it, is not a submission to which they
have been inspired by fear, but is a voluntary and free submission, if
ever there was one.... The Torgouths are one of the branches of the
Eleuths. Four different branches of people formed at one time the
whole nation of the Tchong-kar. It would be difficult to explain their
common origin, respecting which indeed there is no very certain
knowledge. These four branches separated from each other, so that each
became a nation apart. That of the Eleuths, the chief of them all,
gradually subdued the others, and continued till the time of Kang Hi
to exercise this usurped pre-eminence over them. Tsé-ouang-raptan then
reigned over the Eleuths, and Ayouki over the Torgouths. These two
chiefs, being on bad terms with each other, had their mutual contests;
of which Ayouki, who was the weaker, feared that in the end he would
be the unhappy victim. He formed the project of withdrawing himself
forever from the domination of the Eleuths. He took secret measures
for securing the flight which he meditated, and sought safety, with
all his people, in the territories which are under the dominion of the
Russians. These permitted them to establish themselves in the country
of Etchil [the country between the Volga and the Jaik, a little to the
north of the Caspian Sea].... Oubaché, the present Khan of the
Torgouths, is the youngest grandson of Ayouki. The Russians never
ceasing to require him to furnish soldiers for incorporation into
their armies, and having at last carried off his own son to serve them
as a hostage, and being besides of a religion different from his, and
paying no respect to that of the Lamas, which the Torgouths profess,
Oubaché and his people at last determined to shake off a yoke which
was becoming daily more and more insupportable. After having secretly
deliberated among themselves, they concluded that they must abandon a
residence where they had so much to suffer, in order to come and live
more at ease in those parts of the dominion of China where the
religion professed is that of Fo. At the commencement of the eleventh
month of last year [December, 1770] they took the road, with their
wives, their children, and all their baggage, traversed the country of
the Hasaks [Cossacks], skirted Lake Palkaché-nor and the adjacent
deserts; and, about the end of the sixth month of this year [in
August, 1771], after having passed over more than ten thousand _lys_
during the space of the eight whole months of their journey, they
arrived at last on the frontiers of Charapen, not far from the borders
of Ily. I knew already that the Torgouths were on the march to come
and make submission to me. The news was brought me not long after
their departure from Etchil. I then reflected that, as Ileton, general
of the troops that are at Ily, was already charged with other very
important affairs, it was to be feared that he would not be able to
regulate with all the requisite attention those which concerned these
new refugees. Chouhédé, one of the councillors of the general, was at
Ouché, charged with keeping order among the Mahometans there. As he
found it within his power to give his attention to the Torgouths, I
ordered him to repair to Ily and do his best for their solid
settlement.... At the same time I did not neglect any of the
precautions that seemed to me necessary. I ordered Chouhédé to raise
small forts and redoubts at the most important points, and to cause
all the passes to be carefully guarded; and I enjoined on him the duty
of himself getting ready the necessary provisions of every kind inside
these defences.... The Torgouths arrived, and on arriving found
lodgings ready, means of sustenance, and all the conveniences they
could have found in their own proper dwellings. This is not all. Those
principal men among them who had to come personally to do me homage
had their expenses paid, and were honorably conducted, by the imperial
post-road, to the place where I then was. I saw them; I spoke to them;
I invited them to partake with me in the pleasures of the chase; and,
at the end of the number of days appointed for this exercise, they
attended me in my retinue as far as to Gé-hol. There I gave them a
ceremonial banquet and made them the customary presents.... It was at
this Gé-hol, in those charming parts where Kang Hi, my grandfather,
made himself an abode to which he could retire during the hot season,
at the same time that he thus put himself in a situation to be able to
watch with greater care over the welfare of the peoples that are
beyond the western frontiers of the Empire; it was, I say, in those
lovely parts that, after having conquered the whole country of the
Eleuths, I had received the sincere homages of Tchering and his
Tourbeths, who alone among the Eleuths had remained faithful to me.
One has not to go many years back to touch the epoch of that
transaction. The remembrance of it is yet recent. And now--who could
have predicted it?--when there was the least possible room for
expecting such a thing, and when I had no thought of it, that one of
the branches of the Eleuths which first separated itself from the
trunk, those Torgouths who had voluntarily expatriated themselves to
go and live under a foreign and distant dominion, these same Torgouths
are come of themselves to submit to me of their own good will; and it
happens that it is still at Gé-hol, not far from the venerable spot
where my grandfather's ashes repose, that I have the opportunity,
which I never sought, of admitting them solemnly into the number of my
subjects.'
"Annexed to this general memoir there were some notes, also by the
Emperor, one of them being that description of the sufferings of the
Torgouths on their march, and of the miserable condition in which they
arrived at the Chinese frontier, which De Quincey has quoted at p.
417. Annexed to the Memoir there is also a letter from P. Amiot, one
of the French Jesuit missionaries, dated 'Pe-king, 15th October,
1773,' containing a comment on the memoir of a certain Chinese scholar
and mandarin, Yu-min-tchoung, who had been charged by the Emperor with
the task of seeing the narrative properly preserved in four languages
in a monumental form. It is from this Chinese comment on the Imperial
Memoir that there is the extract at p. 418 as to the miserable
condition of the fugitives.
"On a comparison of De Quincey's splendid paper with the Chinese
documents, several discrepancies present themselves; the most
important of which perhaps are these:--(1) In De Quincey's paper it is
Kien Long himself who first descries the approach of the vast Kalmuck
horde to the frontiers of his dominions. On a fine morning in the
early autumn of 1771, we are told, being then on a hunting expedition
in the solitary Tartar wilds on the outside of the great Chinese Wall,
and standing by chance at an opening of his pavilion to enjoy the
morning sunshine, he sees the huge sheet of mist on the horizon,
which, as it rolls nearer and nearer, and its features become more
definite, reveals camels, and horses, and human beings in myriads, and
announces the advent of, etc. etc.! In Kien Long's own narrative he is
not there at all, having expected indeed the arrival of the Kalmuck
host, but having deputed the military and commissariat arrangements
for the reception of them to his trusted officer, Chouhédé; and his
first sight of any of them is when their chiefs are brought to him, by
the imperial post-road, to his quarters a good way off, where they are
honorably entertained, and whence they accompany him to his summer
residence of Gé-hol. (2) De Quincey's closing account of the monument
in memory of the Tartar transmigration which Kien Long caused to be
erected, and his copy of the fine inscription on the monument, are not
in accord with the Chinese statements respecting that matter. 'Mighty
columns of granite and brass erected by the Emperor Kien Long near the
banks of the Ily' is De Quincey's description of the monument. The
account given of the affair by the mandarin Yu-min-tchoung, in his
comment on the Emperor's Memoir, is very different. 'The year of the
arrival of the Torgouths,' he says, 'chanced to be precisely that in
which the Emperor was celebrating the eightieth year of the age of his
mother the Empress-Dowager. In memory of this happy day his Majesty
had built on the mountain which shelters from the heat (Pi-chou-chan)
a vast and magnificent _miao_, in honor of the reunion of all the
followers of Fo in one and the same worship; it had just been
completed when Oubaché and the other princes of his nation arrived at
Gé-hol. In memory of an event which has contributed to make this same
year forever famous in our annals, it has been his Majesty's will to
erect in the same _miao_ a monument which should fix the epoch of the
event and attest its authenticity; he himself composed the words for
the monument and wrote the characters with his own hand. How small
the number of persons that will have an opportunity of seeing and
reading this monument within the walls of the temple in which it is
erected!' Moreover the words of the monumental inscription in De
Quincey's copy of it are hardly what Kien Long would have written or
could have authorized. 'Wandering sheep who have strayed away from the
Celestial Empire in the year 1616' is the expression in De Quincey's
copy for that original secession of the Torgouth Tartars from their
eastern home on the Chinese borders for transference of themselves far
west to Russia, which was repaired and compensated by their return in
1771 under their Khan Oubaché. As distinctly, on the other hand, the
memoir of Kien Long refers the date of the original secession to no
farther back than the reign of his own grandfather, the Emperor Kang
Hi, when Ayouki, the grandfather of Oubaché, was Khan of the
Torgouths, and induced them to part company with their overbearing
kinsmen the Eleuths, and seek refuge within the Russian territories on
the Volga. In the comment of the Chinese mandarin on the Imperial
Memoir the time is more exactly indicated by the statement that the
Torgouths had remained 'more than seventy years' in their Russian
settlements when Oubaché brought them back. This would refer us to
about 1700, or, at farthest, to between 1690 and 1700, for the
secession under Ayouki.
"The discrepancies are partly explained by the fact that De Quincey
followed Bergmann's account,--which account differs avowedly in some
particulars from that of the Chinese memoirs. In Bergmann I find the
original secession of the ancestors of Oubaché's Kalmuck horde from
China to Russia _is_ pushed back to 1616, just as in De Quincey. But,
though De Quincey keeps by Bergmann when he pleases, he takes
liberties with Bergmann too, intensifies Bergmann's story throughout,
and adds much to it for which there is little or no suggestion in
Bergmann. For example, the incident which De Quincey introduces with
such terrific effect as the closing catastrophe of the march of the
fugitive Kalmucks before their arrival on the Chinese frontier,--the
incident of their thirst-maddened rush into the waters of Lake Tengis,
and their wallow there in bloody struggle with their Bashkir
pursuers,--has no basis in Bergmann larger than a few slight and
rather matter-of-fact sentences. As Bergmann himself refers here and
there in his narrative to previous books, German or Russian, for his
authorities, it is just possible that De Quincey may have called some
of these to his aid for any intensification or expansion of Bergmann
he thought necessary. My impression, however, is that he did nothing
of the sort, but deputed any necessary increment of his Bergmann
materials to his own lively imagination."
* * * * *
1 1. The first three paragraphs of the essay, comprising the formal
introduction, are intentionally rather more picturesque and vivacious
in style than the ordinary narrative that follows. If these paragraphs
be read consecutively aloud, the student will surely feel the sweep
and power of De Quincey's eloquence. Attention may well be directed to
the author's own apparent interest in his subject because of its
appeal to the _imagination_ (p. 1, l. 4), of the _romantic
circumstances_ (p. 1, l. 11), of its _dramatic capabilities_ (p. 2, l.
8), of its _scenical situations_ (p. 3, l. 8). Throughout the essay
effort should be made to excite appreciation of the significance of
words, and De Quincey's mastery in the use of words may be continually
illustrated. In paragraph 1, note the fitness of the word _velocity_
(l. 12) and the appropriateness of the epithets in _almighty
instincts_ (l. 17), _life-withering marches_ (l. 18), _gloomy
vengeance_ (l. 19), _volleying thunders_ (p. 2, l. 1).
1 5. Tartar. Originally applied to certain tribes in Chinese
Tartary, but here used for Mongolian. Look up etymology and trace
relation of the word to _Turk_.--steppes. A Russian word indicating
large areas more or less level and devoid of forests; these regions
are often similar in character to the American prairie, and are used
for pasturage.
1 6,7. terminus a quo, terminus ad quem. The use of phrases quoted
from classic sources is frequent in De Quincey's writings. Note such
phrases as they occur, also foreign words. Is their use to be
justified?
1 18. leeming. The lemming, or leming. A rodent quadruped. "It is
very prolific, and vast hordes periodically migrate down to the sea,
destroying much vegetation in their path."--_Century Dictionary_.
1 22. Miltonic images. "Miltonic" here characterizes not only images
used by Milton, but images suggestive of his as well. Yet compare:
Or from above
Should intermitted vengeance arm again
His red right hand to plague us?
--_Paradise Lost_, II, 172-4.
Or, with solitary hand
Reaching beyond all limit, at one blow
Unaided could have finished thee.
--_Paradise Lost_, VI, 139-41.
2 12. sanctions. The word here means not permission, nor recognition
merely, but the avowal of something as sacred, hence obligatory; a
thing ordained.
2 13, 14. a triple character. De Quincey is fond of thus analyzing
the facts he has to state. Notice how this method of statement, marked
by "1st," "2dly," "3dly," contributes to the clearness of the
paragraph.
2 17. "Venice Preserved." A tragedy by Thomas Otway, one of the
Elizabethan dramatists (1682).--"Fiesco." A tragedy by the great
German dramatist Friedrich Schiller (1783), the full title of which is
_The Conspiracy of Fiesco at Genoa_.
2 22. Cambyses, the Third (529-522 B.C.). He was king of Persia and
led an expedition into Ethiopia, which ended disastrously for him.
2 23. anabasis. The word itself means "a march up" into the
interior.--katabasis (l. 28) means "a march down,"--in this case the
retreat of the Greeks. The _Anabasis_ of the Greek historian Xenophon
is the account of the expedition of Cyrus the Younger against
Artaxerxes, which ended with the death of Cyrus at the battle of
Cunaxa (401 B.C.).
2 25. Crassus. A Roman general who led an army into Parthia (or
Persia) (54 B.C.). He was defeated and put to death by
torture.--Julian (l. 26), the Apostate, lost his life while invading
Persia (363 A.D.).
2 28. the Russian anabasis, etc. The historic invasion of Russia by
the armies of Napoleon in 1812, followed by the terrible retreat from
Moscow.
3 3. This triple character, etc. Note this method of making clear
the connection between paragraphs. Make close study of these
paragraphs; analyze their structure. Compare the manner of introducing
subsequent paragraphs.
3 14. Wolga. The German spelling. The Volga is the longest river in
Europe. It is difficult to locate with certainty all the points here
mentioned.
3 16. Koulagina was a fort somewhere on the Ural river; perhaps to
be identified with Kulaschinskaja, or Kologinskaia.
3 17. Cossacks. A people of mixed origin, but of Russian rather than
Tartar stock. There are two branches, the Ukraine and the Don
Cossacks. This people is first heard of in the tenth century. The
title of the leader was _Hetman_; the office was elective and the
government was democratic. The Cossacks have been noted always as
fierce fighters and are valuable subjects of the czar. The _Bashkirs_
(l. 18) are Mongolians and nomadic in their habits.
3 18. Ouchim was evidently a mountain pass in the Ural range
(compare p. 37, l. 18).
3 19. Torgau, spelled also _Torgai_ by De Quincey, though elsewhere
_Turgai_, indicates a district east of the Ural mountains; it is also
the name of the principal city of that district.
3 20. Khan. A Tartar title meaning chief or governor.
3 22. Lake of Tengis. Lake Balkash is meant. Compare p. 56, l. 18,
and note thereon.
3 23. Zebek-Dorchi. One of the principal characters in the following
narrative.
3 32. Kalmucks. A branch of the Mongolian family of peoples, divided
into four tribes, and dwelling in the Chinese Empire, western Siberia,
and southeastern Russia. They were nomads, adherents of a form of
Buddhism, and number over 200,000.--_Century Cyclopedia of Names._
4 12. exasperated. As an illustration of the discriminating use of
words, explain the difference in meaning of _exasperated_ and
_irritated_ (l. 19); also point out the fitness of the word _inflated_
in the phrase (l. 13).
5 23. rival. Why "_almost_ a competitor"? What is the meaning of
each word?
5 32. odius. Is there any gain in force by adding _repulsive_?
6 5. Machiavelian. Destitute of political morality. A term derived
from the name of Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian statesman and writer
(1469-1527), who, in a treatise on government entitled "The Prince,"
advocated, or was interpreted to advocate, the disregard of moral
principle in the maintenance of authority. In this sentence
discriminate between the apparent synonyms _dissimulation_,
_hypocrisy_, _perfidy_.
6 15. Elizabeth Petrowna. Daughter of Peter the Great and Catharine
I. Empress of Russia 1741-1762.
6 28. Tcherkask. An important city of the Cossacks, near the mouth
of the Don.--tents. A common method of counting families among
nomads. What figure of speech does this illustrate?
7 25. roubles. A rouble is the Russian unit of value, worth
seventy-seven cents. The word is etymologically connected with the
Indian _rupee_.
7 28. Thus far, etc. Notice the care with which De Quincey analyzes
the situation.
8 19. mercenary. Look up origin of the word. How is it appropriate
here?
8 29. romantic. What are the qualities indicated by this adjective?
How did the word, derived from _Roman_, get its present significance?
8 34. A triple vengeance. Compare with the similar analysis p. 2, l. 13.
9 11. behemoth. A Hebrew word meaning "great beast." It was used
probably of the hippopotamus. See _Job_, xl, 15-24. In the work by
Bergmann, which furnished De Quincey with much of his material, the
figure used is that of a giant and a dwarf.--Muscovy. An old name of
Russia, derived from Moscow.
9 13. "lion ramp." Quoted from Milton:
The bold Ascalonite
Fled from his lion ramp.
--_Samson Agonistes_, 139.
"_Baptized and infidel_" and "_barbaric East_" are also borrowings
from Milton.
9 16. unnumbered numbers. Notice how effectively in this and the
following sentences De Quincey utilizes _suggested_ words: _monstrous,
monstrosity_; _hopelessness, hope_.
9 22. fable. Here used for plot; the idea being that the story of
the Revolt has all the compactness and unity of design to be found in
the plot of a classic tragedy, which could admit the introduction of
no external incidents or episodes to confuse the thread of the main
action.
10 8. translation. Note the etymology of this word, which is here
used in its literal sense.
10 17. But what, etc. See with what art, as well as with what
evident interest, De Quincey catches the very spirit of the plot. How
does the interrogation add strength?
10 25, 26. Kien Long. "Emperor of China from 1735 to 1796, was the
fourth Chinese emperor of the Mantchoo-Tartar dynasty, and a man of
the highest reputation for ability and accomplishment."--MASSON.
10 28. religion. Lamaism. "A corrupted form of Buddhism prevailing
in Tibet and Mongolia, which combines the ethical and metaphysical
ideas of Buddhism with an organized hierarchy under two semi-political
sovereign pontiffs, an elaborate ritual, and the worship of a host of
deities and saints."--_Century Dictionary_.
10 29. Chinese Wall. This famous wall was built for defence against
the northern Mongols in the third century. It is 1400 miles in length
and of varying height. In what sense is the phrase used figuratively?
11 17. great Lama. "Lama, a celibate priest or ecclesiastic
belonging to that variety of Buddhism known as Lamaism. There are
several grades of lamas, both male and female. The dalai-lama and the
tesho- or bogdo-lama are regarded as supreme pontiffs. They are of
equal authority in their respective territories, but the former is
much the more important, and is known to Europeans as the Grand
Lama,"--_Century Dictionary._
The Dalai-Lama (p. 12, l. 11) resides at Lassa in Tibet.
12 34. With respect to the month. Notice the extreme care with which
the author develops the following details, and the touch of sympathy
with which this paragraph closes.
13 28. war raged. "The war was begun in 1768 when Mustapha III. was
Sultan of Turkey; and it was continued till 1774."--MASSON.
13 33. Human experience, etc. It is a favorite device of this writer
to develop a concrete fact into an abstraction of general application.
Do you believe that this is true? Can you give any illustration?
15 1. a pitched battle. "It will be difficult, I think, to find
record, in the history of the Russo-Turkish war of 1768, of any battle
answering to this."--MASSON.
15 10. Paladins. A term used especially to designate the famous
knightly champions who served the Frankish Charlemagne. Look up the
etymology of the word and trace its present meaning.
15 24. ukase. "An edict or order, legislative or administrative,
emanating from the Russian government."--_Century Dictionary_.
16 9. mummeries. Find the original meaning of this word.
16 22. Catharine II. "Elizabeth had been succeeded in 1762 by her
nephew Peter III., who had reigned but a few months when he was
dethroned by a conspiracy of Russian nobles headed by his German wife
Catharine. She became Empress in his stead, and reigned from 1762 to
1796 as Catharine II."--MASSON.
17 10. doubtful suspicion and indirect presumption. Note the
additional force given to the nouns by the adjectives.
17 18. Weseloff. This gentleman is referred to again at more length
in pages 45-50.
17 31. sanctions. Compare the note on p. 2, l. 12. The sense in
which the word is used justifies the use of _violate_ in the next line.
18 24. first of all. Again see how, by use of this phrase, followed
later by _secondly_, _thirdly,_ etc., De Quincey gains greater
clearness for his various points.
19 29. But the time, etc. Here is the first general division point
in the main narrative. The genesis of the plot has been described; now
follow the active preliminaries to the flight.
19 33. one vast conflagration. Compare the account, p. 25.
20 12, 13. But where or how, etc. Note again the effective use of
interrogation. How does it stimulate interest?
20 17. Kirghises. The spelling _Kirghiz_ is more familiar. Like the
Bashkirs, nomads of the Mongolian-Tartar race, perhaps the least
civilized of those inhabiting the steppes.
20 26. _rhetoric._ In what sense used here? Is this use correct?
21 5. _Sarepta._ Locate this town; it is on a small river that empties
into the Volga. "The point of the reference to this particular town is
that it was a colony of industrious Germans, having been founded in
1764 or 1765 by the Moravian Brothers."--BALDWIN.
22 11. Temba. The Jemba.
22 28. Kichinskoi. Notice the vividness of the character portrait
that follows; compare it with the portraitures of Zebek and Oubacha
previously given.
23 1. surveillant. Here used for watchman or spy. What derivatives
have we from this French expression?
23 34. Christmas arrived. Another division point in the analysis.
24 5. Astrachan. Also spelled _Astrakhan_. The name of a large and
somewhat barren district comprising more than 90,000 square miles of
territory in southeastern Europe; its capital city, having the same
name, is situated on the Volga near its mouth.
24 26. at the rate of 300 miles a day. By no means an incredible
speed; in Russia such sledge flights are not uncommon. Compare what De
Quincey has to say of the glory of motion in _The English
Mail-Coach_,--"running at the least twelve miles an hour."
25 26. malignant counsels. What is the full effect of this epithet?
26 10. valedictory vengeance. Note again the force of the epithet.
26 28. aggravate. What is the literal significance of this word? As
synonymous with what words is it often incorrectly used?
28 11. For now began to unroll. Does this paragraph constitute a
digression, or is it a useful amplification of the narrative? Does De
Quincey exaggerate when he terms these experiences of the Tartars "the
most awful series of calamities anywhere recorded"?
28 14. sudden inroads. "The inroads of the Huns into Europe extended
from the third century into the fifth; those of the Avars from the
sixth century to the eighth or ninth; the first great conquests of the
Mongol Tartars were by Genghis-Khan, the founder of a Mongol empire
which stretched, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, from
China to Poland."--MASSON.
28 18. volleying lightning. Compare p. 2, l. 1, where De Quincey uses
a somewhat similar phrase. Why is the phrase varied, do you suppose?
28 21. the French retreat. It would be interesting to compare the
incidents and figures of this retreat, as furnished by biographers and
historians. Sloane's _Life of Napoleon_ is a recent authority.
28 26. vials of wrath. Compare _Revelation_, xv, 7, and xvi, 1. If
De Quincey had used the Revised Version he would have written _bowls_
instead of _vials_. Such borrowings of phrase or incident are called
"allusions." Make a list of the scriptural allusions found in the
essay,--of those suggested by Milton.
29 16. Earthquakes. "De Quincey here refers to such destructive
shocks as that which occurred at Sparta, 464 B.C., in which, according
to Thirlwall, 20,000 persons perished; that which Gibbon speaks of
during the reign of Valentinian, 365 A.D., in which 50,000 persons
lost their lives at Alexandria alone; that in the reign of Justinian,
526 A.D., in which 250,000 persons were crushed by falling walls;
others in Jamaica, 1692 A.D.; at Lisbon, 1755 A.D., with loss of
30,000 lives; and in Venezuela, 1812 A.D., when Caraccas was
destroyed, and 20,000 souls perished."--WAUCHOPE.
29 20. pestilence. Described by Thucydides; see also Grote's
_History of Greece_, Chap. XLIX. Of the great plague of London (1665)
the most realistic description is Defoe's _Journal of the Plague
Year_.
29 28. The siege of Jerusalem. Read Josephus, _The Jewish War_, Bks.
V and VI.
29 31. exasperation. Compare note on p. 26, l. 28.
30 3, 4. even of maternal love. The reference is to an incident
mentioned by Josephus (_The Jewish War_, Bk. VI, Chap. III), in which
a mother is described as driven by the stress of famine to kill and
devour her own child.
30 5. romantic misery. How _romantic_? Compare this phrase with
similar uses of the word _romantic_.
30 10. River Jaik. The Ural.
30 33. scenical propriety. Compare the statement with similar ones
made by the author elsewhere.
31 11. decrement. Compare with its positive correspondent, _increment_.
31 20. acharnement. Fury.
31 26. The first stage, etc. A time mark in the essay.
32 10. liable. Another instance of a word often misused, correctly
employed in the text. Compare note on _aggravate_, p. 26, l. 28.
32 23. Bactrian camels. There are two species of camel, the
dromedary, single humped, and the Bactrian, with two humps. The former
is native to Arabia, the latter to central Asia. The dromedary is the
swifter of the two. _Bactria_ is the ancient name of that district
now called Balkh, in Afghanistan.
33 7. evasion. Compare with its positive correspondent _invasion_;
compare _decrement_, p. 31, l. 11.
34 8. champaign savannas. Both words mean about the same, an open,
treeless country, nearly level. What is the linguistic source of both
words?
37 19. hills of Moulgaldchares. Spurs of the Urals running southwest.