1825.]’ Journey to the Mineral Springs of Mount Caucasus, §c. 
We next entered the country of the 
Cossacs of the Black Sea, called, for- 
merly, the Saporog-Cossacs, whose ca- 
pital is Yekaterinodar, a large town, 
but badly built, with only 3,000 in- 
habitants. I was informed by several 
official gentlemen, that the Cossacs of 
this. district. consist of nearly 70,000 
individuals of both sexes; that they 
keep on foot twenty-one regiments of 
550 men each; but that, in case of ne- 
eessity, they can mount 10,000 horse- 
men more. The men are all dressed 
uniformly in blue cloth, with sleeves 
hanging down, from the shoulders ; 
their hair is cut close to the head, a 
few only leaving a small bunch of it on 
the crown. This uniformity of dress 
had no pleasing effect on me, and I 
thought the other Cossacs, wko dress 
themselves variously, looked better, and 
have a more manly appearance, which 
is given to them by their long beards ; 
men, women and children, and even 
the chief, were every where busy at 
work. I have said that our Cossacs 
keep the Cherkesses in awe; notwith- 
standing this they must lead a disagree- 
able life, since they are obliged to be 
ever on the alert, and literally sleep 
with their arms, ready for action, lying 
under their pillows. For those rob- 
bers are ever on the look out for plun- 
der : and especially in winter, when the 
Kuban is frozen over, they will steal 
across at night and drive away the 
cattle. Our men are constantly calling 
“ who goes there 2?” and any one who 
gives no answer, will be instantly sent 
to sleep with his fathers. 
During the journey we could often 
see detachments of Cherkesses on the 
opposite bank of the river. Once we 
went to bathe near the last-mentioned 
fortress, I keeping pretty near the shore, 
but my companion swimming towards 
the middle of the river. All of a sudden 
three Cherkesses plunged into the wa- 
ter, and made towards us. It may be 
supposed that we did not wait for 
them ; and by a hasty retreat on shore, 
we escaped death or captivity.* Our 
men are strictly enjoined not to cross 
the river, else they think they should 
* By all these details, it seems that 
General Yermaloff has, as yet, done very 
little towards taming these desperadoes ; 
and that the baths at the foot of Mount Cau- 
casus are, therefore, not so very inviting as 
watering-places for the nations of Europe. 
But it is thus often that authors refute in 
detail, what they have boldly asserted in the 
gross.—Y. Z. 
223 
soon drive those robbers out of the 
field. 
We paid the postage from Yekateri- 
nodar to Taman at the former place, 
which is the usual practice, and pre- 
vents delays on the road. We were 
constantly accompanied by 100 or 150 
Cossacs, and their officer, who relieved 
each other at the different stations, 
and, besides, we were attended by the 
Yessaul Dolinsky from the war-office, 
to forward our journey, in which we 
flew rather than rode, making at one 
time thirty-eight wersts in an hour, and 
185 wersts in twelve hours. The road 
was excellent, and the bridges better 
than in the interior of Russia. ‘The 
rushes, growing all along the road, are 
often above three fathoms high. 
The Cossacs in this district, as, in- 
deed, all the Cossacs, are a very dex- 
terous and nimble race, having exvel- 
lent officers. Every where we found 
the readiest hospitality among them. 
They even made us take bread, wine, 
and fruit with us when we left their 
cottages, and would often place pro- 
vision in our carriage against our will, 
or without our knowledge; and would 
never accept of any money in return. 
At Temrick the line of the Kuban 
terminates. Here the road is wider, 
General Yermalof having caused the 
rushes on both sides to be burnt away 
for the greater security of the trayel- 
lers. At Taman our Cossacs found 
some young swans among the rushes ; 
they gave them to us, and we sent four 
of them to the oven to be baked ; but 
during the night they were carried off 
by some dogs, 
This fortress, which only contains 
200 inhabitants, is in a very dilapidated 
state; and although there are still 
ninety cannon, they are not on the 
walls. We went to view the Ambrian 
Straits, and saw Yenikul and Kertch at 
a distance. Three wersts from Taman 
is a hill which, from the 15th of August 
to the 15th of September of the year 
1818, threw out mud and stones, ac- 
companied by an eruption of fire and a 
thick smoke. This phenomenon was 
accompanied by a terrible subterra- 
neous noise, which was likewise heard 
in the streets, and on the sea of Azov; 
and islands were twice formed above 
the surface on the water, on which peo- 
ple were able to walk: but which again 
disappeared in the waves. There are a 
great many heliotropes growing about 
here, which, although not very large, 
smell very sweet. 
In 
