arsh grass in
which they desired to pass the night, gave one quite the idea of a
numerous people in all the fury of civil war, fighting and clamouring, in
agitation and violence, for some supposed advantage, brief as this
eastern night.

Tartary is populated with nomadic birds. Look up when you may, you will
see them floating high in air, the vast battalions forming, in their
systematically capricious flight, a thousand fantastic outlines,
dissipating as soon as formed, forming again as soon as dissipated, like
the creations of a Kaleidoscope. Oh! how exactly are these migrant birds
in their place, amid the deserts of Tartary, where man himself is never
fixed in one spot, but is constantly on the move. It was very pleasant
to listen to the distant hum of these winged bands, wandering about like
ourselves. As we reflected upon their long peregrinations, and glanced
in thought over the countries which their rapid flight must have
comprehended, the recollection of our native land came vividly before us.
"Who knows," we would say to each other, "who knows but that among these
birds there are some who have traversed--who have, perhaps, alighted for
awhile in our dear France: who have sought transient repose and
refreshment in the plains of Languedoc, or on the heights of the Jura.
After visiting our own country, they have doubtless pursued their route
towards the north of Europe, and have come hither through the snows of
Siberia, and of Upper Tartary. Oh! if these birds could understand our
words, or if we could speak their tongue, how many questions should we
not put to them!" Alas! we did not then know that for two years more we
should be deprived of all communication with our native land. The
migratory birds which visit Tartary are for the most part known in
Europe; such as wild geese, wild ducks, teal, storks, bustards, and so
on. There is one bird which may deserve particular mention: the
Youen-Yang, an aquatic bird frequenting ponds and marshes; it is of the
size and form of the wild duck, but its beak, instead of being flat, is
round, its red head is sprinkled with white, its tail is black, and the
rest of its plumage a fine purple; its cry is exceedingly loud and
mournful, not the song of a bird, but a sort of clear, prolonged sigh,
resembling the plaintive tones of a man under suffering. These birds
always go in pairs; they frequent, in an especial manner, desert and
marshy places. You see them incessantly