In 1771 the Kalmyk Khan led his entire people out of Russian territory on a terrible march across the steppes toward the Chinese frontier, harried by Cossacks and Bashkirs and dying in their thousands from cold and hunger. De Quincey turns the story into one of his grandest pieces of impassioned prose.
A celebrated narrative essay by the author of Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, here with notes and introduction. Download the free EPUB.