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?