These snow-storms are called by the inhabitants " metel '*
or "boura," and have often proved fatal to the half-
frozen, blinded, and bewildered traveller, who, having
lost his way, is wandering over the dreary icy Steppes
in search of a place of reftige. Detached houses and
whole villages are sometimes buried by the drifting
snow, through which the inmates are obliged to cut
their way. At times the traveller looks in vain for the
solitary post-house at which he is always anxious to
arrive, and learns only that he has reached his temporary
resting-place by a slight rise in the snow, and by his
sledge being overturned into a hole, through which he
creeps down into the snug cottage, which is sometimes
thus buried for several weeks. When the wind blows
with violence, and the snow is driflbed about in eddies,
the storm has a singularly bewildering and stunning
effect. The inhabitants themselves lose their way, and
the herds of horses, cattle, and sheep, that happen to be
surprised by it, become seized with a panic, and, rushing
headlong before the gale, defy every obstacle that presents
itself to their wild career. They are then inevitably
lost, and, overcome by fatigue, they either perish in the
snow, or meet their death by falling down the precipitous
sides of some ravine. These ravines are called " Balkas,"
and occur frequently in the Steppes that lie between the
Dniestr and the Don. To the north of the Crimea
they are most frequent, and in some parts follow each
other in quick succession, and always in the direction
from north to south.
