COSSACKS. 



265 



Cossack', hands are held up near the ears. This attitude, which, 

 w "Y~ w> with the sudden shrieks, prevail very much among the 

 lower orders of Scotland, is common to the dances of 

 all the Tartars and Chinese. The Highland bag-pipe 

 is much in use in this country, and is often accompa- 

 nied by Calabrian puppets, which are so managed by 

 the pipes as to move in time with the music. The 

 Cossacks have a kind of solemn games, which consist 

 entirely in martial exercises, such as riding, tilting, and 

 hacking with the sabre. Upon such occasions, they are 

 ambitious of shewing their dexterity, and always appear 

 well mounted, and in their best attire. The arrival of 

 the ammunition, which is annually sent hither by the 

 crown, is always considered by them as a kind of fes- 

 tival day. It is met by all the stanitzas in parade, and 

 .received at Tcherchaskoy by the regiment of the place, 

 with colours flying, and brought in grand procession to 

 the arsenal, 

 teligioii. The Cossacks are generally of the Greek religion, but 



neither so ignorant nor illiterate as they have been often 

 represented, and their clergy are under the jurisdiction 

 of the bishop of Woronetz. A ceremony, called " The 

 Benediction of Bread," takes place in all their churches 

 every Saturday evening. Five white loaves, symbols 

 of those with which our Saviour fed the multitude, are 

 placed in the middle of the church ; and all the people 

 pray that, " as with five loaves he fed the five thou- 

 sand, he would vouchsafe a sufficiency of corn in the 

 country for the bread of its inhabitants, and bless it for 

 their use." 



Mr Tooke represents them as totally negligent of all 

 science and letters, but entirely addicted to war, ha- 

 ving rendered themselves famous only as heroes and 

 conquerors, and sometimes as rebels or tyrants — Yer- 

 mak the conqueror of Siberia, and the impostor Pu- 

 gatshef being both Cossacks of the Don. But though 

 none of this nation have ever appeared among the li- 

 terati of Europe, yet they are not to be considered on 

 that account as destitute either of literary knowledge or 

 abilities. In Tcherchaskoy there is a public academy, 

 where are taught various languages, geometry, mecha- 

 nics, physics, geography, history, arithmetic, &c. and 

 where all the children of the officers are educated. Dr 

 Clarke has paid a very high tribute to their literature 

 and accomplishments in his character of Lieutenant-Co- 

 lonel Papof. " To this officer," says he, " we were in- 

 debted for instances of hospitality and polite attention, 

 such as strangers might rarely expect in more enlight- 

 ened cities of Europe. His education had been liberal, 

 although received in the marshes of the Don; and his 

 accomplishments might have graced the most refined 

 society, although derived from the natives of Tcher- 

 chaskoy." 

 ommerce. The commerce of the Cossacks is not considerable, 

 being carried on chiefly with the Greeks and the inha- 

 bitants of Kuban, and consists in grain, iron, timber, 

 sail-cloth, hemp, fish, caviare, horses, horned cattle, tal- 

 low, and butter. Their capital, Tcherchaskoy, how- 

 ever, was formerly a place of great commercial import- 

 ance, where the productions of Russia and Turkey 

 were reciprocally exchanged. It was also the empori- 

 nm of an inland commerce between the merchants of 

 Kuban and Crim Tartary, and the Russians. Its im- 

 ports were chiefly Greek wines, raisins, dried figs, al- 

 monds, oil, rice, saffron, painted linens, and cottons ; 

 and its exports were hides and leather, coarse linen, 

 hard- ware, caviare, &c. Plenty of timber is brought 



VOL. VII. PART I. 



from the forests, which cover the banks of the Don and Cossacks 

 the rivulets which fall into it, and is floated down the '"• 

 stream to St Demetri and Rostof. The shops in the 

 principal towns are generally well supplied with most 

 articles of luxury, and nothing is wanting that can con- 

 tribute to the comforts and conveniences of a civilized 

 people. 



The principal towns in the Don Cossack territory are PrWipaJ 

 Tcherchaskoy and Kasankaia, both upon the Don, and l <wns. 

 both of considerable size. The former contains about 

 three thousand houses, and fifteen thousand inhabi- 

 tants. Its buildings are chiefly of wood, and all raised 

 from the ground on wooden piles ; for when the river 

 is flooded by the melting of the snows, the whole town, 

 except a few principal places adjoining the cathedral, is 

 so inundated, that many of the ground floors of the 

 houses are completely under water. It formerly had 

 walls, but they were swept entirely away ; and during 

 the inundations, the only communication which the in- 

 habitants have with each other is by means of bridges 

 or boats. The stanitzas, in general, have the appear- 

 ance of badly fortified villages, and their population is 

 very unequal. Each of them, however, has a church, 

 some of them two, a court-house, an ataman, and other 

 officers, with a few pieces of cannon. The churches are 

 every where good, and indeed much superior to what 

 we find in the villages of our own country, both as to 

 architecture and interior decorations. The houses are 

 mostly of wood, and are so constructed, that they may 

 be removed entire from one place to another. They 

 are much cleaner, and better furnished than those of 

 the Russians ; many of their rooms are handsomely fit- 

 ted up with paper hangings, and ornamented with no 

 mean paintings of saints, virgins, and bishops. 



The population of this territory has never been ex- Population, 

 actly ascertained, as the Cossacks will allow no exami- 

 nation into their numbers. It is conjectured, however, 

 that there are about 200,000 Cossack inhabitants, of 

 whom 25,000 are in arms ; and they can at any time 

 furnish above 50,000 cavalry completely equipped. 

 There are also in this country 30,000 wandering Cal- 

 mucks scattered over the steppes ; and of these 5,000 

 bear arms, and are ready at all times for actual service. 



The other denominations of Cossacks, besides those 

 of the Don, are, the Malo- Russian Cossacks, the Tcher- 

 nomorski, or Cossacks of the Black Sea, the Cossacks 

 of the Volga, of Grebenskoy, of Orenbourg, of the U- 

 ral, and of Siberia, with other smaller branches. 



The Malo-Russian Cossacks had their origin much Malo-Rus- 

 later than those of the Don ; and, it would seem, as- »'»» c & s - 

 sumed the name of Cossacks, or had it bestowed upon sac ^ s - 

 them merely from the nature of their government. 

 They are supposed to have at first consisted of a multi- 

 tude of fugitives from Poland and Russia, who, having 

 settled in the lower regions of the Dnieper, whicli they 

 called Malo, or Little Russia, adopted a military form 

 of government, in order the better to maintain their 

 independence. By degrees they spread themselves to- 

 wards the south over the whole country, between the 

 Dnieper and the Dniester; and were almost continually 

 engaged in petty wars with the Tartars and Turks. They 

 had even penetrated into the Crimea, captured Trebi- 

 sond, and made military campaigns to Constantinople. 

 .They thus formed a barrier to the king of Poland on 

 the side of Turkey, and their republic on that account 

 was encouraged and protected by the Polish sovereigns, 

 whose supremacy it acknowledged. But this proteo 

 2l 



