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The third and largest is the Volga or Rha, on which Baatu resides. The fourth is the Jaik or Rhymnus, on each bank of which a millenary commands. All these descend southwards in winter to the sea, and travel in summer up these rivers, towards the northern mountains.
After passing the Volga and Ural or Jaik, he seems to have travelled east in the country of the Kirguses, somewhere about the latitude of 50°. N. to between the longitudes of 65°. and 70°. E. then to have struck to the south across the Kisik-tag into Western Turkestan, in which the cultivated vale may have been on the Tshui or the Talas rivers.
To him we are indebted for the first information of the real names of the four great rivers which water the south of Russia, the Dnieper, the Don, the Volga, and the Jaik. He afterwards proceeded to the head quarters of another khan, on the eastern shores of the Caspian.
Let us briefly rehearse the main stages of the misery, and trace the ascending steps of the tragedy, according to the great divisions of the route marked out by the central rivers of Asia. The first stage, we have already said, was from the Wolga to the Jaik; the distance about three hundred miles; the time allowed seven days.
Just a little while previously they had amused themselves by slaughtering the Russian Commissioner-General Traubenberg, with his suite, who came there to regulate how far they might be allowed to fish in the river Jaik, and with this act they thought they had clearly proved the Government had nothing to do pike!
Every day gained was of prime importance, for it was well known that Russian armies would soon be in hot pursuit, while the tribes on their line of march, hereditary foes of the Kalmucks, would gather from all sides to oppose their passage as the news of the flight reached their ears. The river Jaik, three hundred miles away, must be reached before a day's rest could be had.
The Cossacks, who dwelt upon the banks of the Jaik, were the first among the subjects of Russia to come into collision with the Kalmucks. Great was their surprise at the suddenness of the irruption, and great also their consternation: for, according to their settled custom, by far the greater part of their number was absent during the winter months at the fisheries upon the Caspian.
Let us briefly rehearse the main stages of the misery, and trace the ascending steps of the tragedy, according to the great divisions of the route marked out by the central rivers of Asia. The first stage, we have already said, was from the Wolga to the Jaik; the distance about three hundred miles; the time allowed seven days.
Dashte Kipzak, or the plain of Kipzak, extended on both sides of the Volga, towards the Jaik or Ural, and the Borysthenes or Dnieper, and is supposed to have given name to the Cosacs. Gibb. As reported by Gibbon, from Matthew Paris, p. 396, forty or fifty herrings were sold for a shilling.
The first point to be reached, before any hope of repose could be encouraged, was the river Jaik.
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