agons and camels, and moved off in masses of twenty thousand
at once, with escorts of mounted men. As the march proceeded, outlying
bodies of the horde kept falling in during that and the following day.

From sixty to eighty thousand of the best mounted warriors stayed behind
for work of ruin and revenge. Their first purpose was to destroy their
own dwellings, lest some of the weak-minded might be tempted to return.
Oubacha, the khan, set the example by applying the torch to his own
palace. Before the day was over the villages throughout a district of
ten thousand square miles were in a simultaneous blaze. Nothing was
saved except the portable utensils and such of the wood-work as might be
used in making the long Tartar lances.

This was but part of the destruction proposed. Zebek-Dorchi had it in
view to pillage and destroy all the Russian towns, churches, and
buildings of every kind within the surrounding district, with outrage
and death to their inhabitants,--a frightful scheme, which was
providentially checked. The day of flight had been selected, as has been
said, in the worst season of the year, in order that the tribes west of
the Volga might be able to cross its surface on a thick bridge of ice.
Yet for some reason--possibly because of the weakness of the ice--the
western Kalmucks failed to join their eastern brethren, and fully one
hundred thousand of the Tartars were left behind. It was this that saved
the Russian towns, it being feared by the leaders that such a vengeance
would be repaid upon their brethren left to Russian reprisal. These
western Kalmucks little guessed what horrors they were escaping by being
prevented from joining in the flight.

The migrating horde was not less than six hundred thousand strong, while
a vast number of horses, camels, cattle, goats, and sheep added to the
multitude of living forms. The march was a forced one. 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 weather was not severely cold, and the journey
might have been accomplished with little distress but for the forced
pace. As it was, the cattle suffered greatly, the sheep died in
multitudes