Io8 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



the respective shores of those great waters. But this 

 barrier, probably, all the Russian forces would be un- 

 able to defend, were it not for the Tchornomorskie, or 

 Black Sea Cossacks, the most daring and warlike of 

 their nation, and alone fitted to cope with the Circas- 

 sians, to whom only they are inferior. Though in 

 the predatory excursions, which have desolated both 

 sides of the border, these Cossacks have, from time to 

 time, carried off and intermarried with Circassian 

 women, many of whose customs, habits, and part of 

 whose language and national costume they have 

 adopted ; still the semi-relationship between the two 

 races, has in nowise softened the unutterable hatred 

 they bear each other. Nothing but the fierce hostility 

 of the Cossacks could preserve all the Russian esta- 

 blishments on the northern bank of the Kouban, from 

 utter destruction, by the inroads of the mountaineers, 

 whose fleet and vigorous horses, bear them vast 

 distances with inconceivable rapidity. Even now, 

 guarded as it is, they sometimes force the passage, 

 and mark their track with fire and blood, retaliating 

 on the flat lands the injustice which the Russian 

 columns have inflicted on their own hills and dales. 



The Circassians are not tall in stature, but ex- 

 quisitely proportioned, and of a strength and agility, 

 which constant exercise has wonderfully developed. 



