DON COSSACK COUNTRY (in Russian, Donskago Voiska Zemlya, the Land of the Don Army), the south-west portion of European Russia, situated in the basin of the Don, and bounded in part by the Sea of Azoff. Its area, according to the military survey, is 59,650 square miles, or 135,761 square versts, but according to Schweizer 62,574 square miles, or 142,401 square versts. The most of the surface consists of an irregular steppe broken in some places by undulating elevations or conical hills, and traversed by the channels and ravines of the numerous tributaries and sub-tributaries of the principal river. The district to the north is especially flat, forming in fact, as is shown by the characteristics of its flora, a part of the great Aralo-Caspian depression. Cretaceous formations appear throughout the whole “country,” Tertiary and Carboniferous formations especially to the south of the Donetz. Coal and anthracite are found in considerable abundance in several places, and iron ore occurs near the Miuss, the Donetz, and the Khoper. Limestone, chalk, and slate are common; and salt is obtained from various lakes. The upper soil is in general black earth, the subsoil usually clay. Agriculture is still in a backward state owing to the military prejudices of the Cossacks; but the virgin fertility of the ground, and the proximity of such seaports as Taganrog and Rostoff conduce greatly to its development. Wheat is the most generally cultivated cereal, but rye is pretty largely grown in the northern and millet in the southern districts. Flax and hemp have been introduced, and maize is sown in the gardens. Stock-rearing is extensively prosecuted: in 1860 there were about 373,000 horses, 991,000 cattle, and 2,242,000 sheep. The horses show a mixture of various Asiatic strains, those ...