196 



EUSSIA IN EUROPE. 



old funeral rites survived in these districts till the tenth and eleventh centuries, 

 as shown by the Byzantine coins found in the kurgans, where the warrior reposes 

 with his arms, or the woman is still adorned with her finery. At times the 

 funerals were accompanied by sacrifices of animals, and even of men and women. 

 The large Chorna Mogila mound near Chernigov contained a confused calcined 

 heap of remains of men, horses, birds, fish, arms, implements, and jewellery. 



When, towards the end of the ninth century, the eastern Slavs begin to 

 emer"-e from the darkness of mediaeval times, they occupy all the region of the 



Fig. 95.— Chorna Mogila.— Kurgan, near Chernigov. 



water-partings and head-streams of the Volga, Dvina, Niémen, Vistula, Dniester, 

 and nearly all the Dnieper basin, besides a few isolated communities as far east 

 and south-east as the Caspian, Kuban, and Sea of Azov. These Slav tribes 

 already offer the elements of a vigorous nationality, and they now definitely take 

 the historic name of Russians. 



The origin of this term has been much discussed. According to one tradition 



