Si6 
An Account of the 
Book li 
SECTION V. 
A port Account of th ^KRAr^j, and of its. Inhabitants the Cossacks 
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Bavaria- Colleded from the Writings of Mr. Beauplan^ and others. 
I. An Account of the Etymology of the Name and Origin of the People called Coffacks, with the regular 
Detail of their Hiftory to the T^ime of their being difperfed, and obliged to put themfekes under the Pro-^ 
tefHon of the Mufcovites, Turks, and Tartars. 2. A Jhort Defcription of the Ukrain, and of the prin-- 
cipal Places therein ; the Nature and Extent of the Country^ and the Manner in which it was fettled, and 
inhabited by the Coflacks, while they acknowledged themfekes Subjects to the Crown of Poland. 3. Phe 
Pemper and Genius of the People ; their fingular Cufioms, and odd Way oj Living ', as alfo of the Rarities 
and Remar kables in their Country. 4. Phe Manner of their making War both by Sea and Land, thePerror 
fpread by them through the whole Turkifh Empire, and even throu 0 o Conflantinople itfelf and the dextrous 
Method they ufe for marching through a flat Country, in Sight of fuperior Bodies of Horfe. 5. Of 
the prefcnt State a?jd Condition of the Coflfacks ; with Remarks and Obfervations tipon the foregoing 
SefUon. 
t, A Ccording to fome Authors, the Word Cojfack, in 
the Ruffian Tongue, fignifies Frce-booter or 
Banditti •, others derive it from Cofa, fignifying a Goat, 
becaiife of their Nimblenefs. Some fay, that Cofa, in 
the Sclavonian Language, fignifies a Scythe, their ordinary 
Weapon. They are thought to have come firfl; from the 
Iflands of the Borijihenes, near the Mouth of that River, 
and were called Zaporowjki, or Zaporienfes, from the 
Porowis., or Catara< 5 ts and Rocks in the Nieper. The 
Purks ufuaily call them Ruffians. They dwell in a Part of 
Red Ruffia in Poland, and in Bafferabia, betwixt the Ri- 
vers Boriflhenes and the Niefter. They are terrible to the 
Purks, becaufe of their Invafions by the way of the Black 
Sea. In 1548, in the Time of Sigifmund I, King of 
Poland, rhefe Coffacks were only Volunteers of the Fron- 
tiers of Ruffia, Volhinia, Podolia, and the other Provinces 
of Poland. Who aflembled together partly to defend 
themfelves from the Partars, by fecuring the Paffes of the 
Nieper, and attacking them, as they returned with their 
Prey ; and partly to rob upon the Black Sea, where get- 
ting rich Booty, they drew more into their Affociation. 
Sometimes they made Defcents upon Natolia, and plun- 
dered the great Towns, as Prebifond and Sinope ; at other 
Times they have advanced within two Miles of Conjlan- 
tinople, and brought off Booty and Prifoners. 
At firft they were about fix thoufand, under Euftachicus 
Pofcovitus, their General ; but their Numbers were 
quickly increafed by their Neighbours, becaufe of the 
Gain they made by their Piracies, Part of which they laid 
up in their Magazine, and the reft they brought Home to 
their Houfes. About the End of the Seafon, thefe Ad- 
venturers feparate, and agree upon the Time and Place 
of Rendezvous next Spring in the Ifles and Rocks of the 
Nieper, whence they return to their Piracy. Stephen 
Batori, King of Poland, who began his Reign in 1576, 
confidering the Service that might be made of thofe 
Thieves, for guarding the Country and Frontiers againft 
the Inroads of the Partars, formed them into a regular 
Body ; and they ferved him as Foot-Soldiers *, for the 
Polifh Army confifts chiefly of Horfe. He gave them 
the Town and Territories of Petchtimorow, about eighty 
Miles in length, in the Palatinate of Kiow, upon the Bo- 
rijihenes which Town they made their Magazine, and 
the Refidence of their Governor- General, whom they 
named, and gave him Power to chufe Subalterns. Stephen 
Batori alfo joined two thoufand Horfe to this Cojfack Infan- 
try, to whofe Maintenance he afligned the fourth Parc of 
his Royal Revenues, whence they are called ^lartani. 
Thefe 'Forces fo well fecured the Frontier, that the Coun- 
try beyond Breflaw, Bar, and Kiozv, betwixt the Niejier 
and Nieper was re-peopled, the Towns rebuilt, and Colo- 
nies planted there from the neighbouring Places. 
The Coffacks being thus brought into good Difcipline, 
did confiderable Service to the Crown of Poland, but 
have fince done the Republic much Mifchief by their fre- 
quent Rebellions j for the Coffacks knowing their own 
Strength, and of what Importance they were to the 
Poles, began to fet up for themfelves, and would not 
obey the Orders of their Superiors, and acknowledge the 
Power of the Poles over them. Their firft Rebellion was 
in under their General fohn Podkowa, who was 
taken, and his Head ftruck off. In 1596, Sigifmund 
upon the Complaints and Threats of the Grand Signior, 
forbad them to pillage any more upon the Black Sea. They 
obeyed his Orders for a while, but then turned their Force 
againft Ruffia and Lithuania, . under the Command of 
their General Nalevakio ; and having had fome Advan- 
tages over the Polifh Army, commanded by General 
Zolfkiowki, they looked upon themfelves as invincible ; 
yet that noble Warrior found means to block them up fo 
clofe, that he forced them to deliver him their General, 
who was beheaded. 
In 1637 was laid the Ground of a new War with the 
Coffacks, their Numbers being greatly increafed by the 
Multitude of Boors, who frequently went over to them, 
to fhare their Privileges. Some great Men in Poland 
who had got Eftates in the Places appointed for the Quar- 
ters of the Coffacks, were of Opinion, that their Revenues 
would be confiderably increafed, if the Liberties of the 
Coffacks were abridged. Whereupon they advifed the 
King to reftrain them, and began to ufe the fame Seve- 
rity to the Coffacks as to the Polifh Boors, who are ob- 
liged to work three Days in a Week with Man and 
Horfe for their Lords, and to pay fo much Corn, Poul- 
try, &c. to carry Home their Mailer’s Wood, to pay 
him fo much Money, and the Tenth of their Poffeffions. 
The Polifh Lords being abfolute at Home, and not pu- 
nifhed for killing their Slaves, they reprefented. That 
the Coffacks deprived them of all Advantages they could 
expeft from their Lands in the Ukrain > for when the Boors 
were difobliged they went to them. Therefore they 
rcfolved to build a Fort at Kudac, at a Point 
where the River Zivamer falls into the Nieper or 
Borifthenes, and therefore very convenient to bridle the 
Coffacks who underftanding the Defign, cut in Pieces 
two hundred Men, that guarded the Building ; but being 
attacked by the Polifh General Potofki, and divided 
among themfelves •, they were routed at Korfun, and 
forced to deliver up their General, and four more of their 
chief Oiflcers, who were put to Death at Warfaw, 
though Potofki had promifed them their Lives. After 
this, all their former Privileges were taken from them, 
wi h their Fortrefs Petchtimorow, and in their Stead a 
new Body of Militia was fettled there. This inraged the 
Coffacks, who again tried their Fortune with Potofki, but 
were worfted, though they fought with great Bravery. 
Then they fortified themfelves upon the River Mareza, 
beyond the Borifthenes. After this, the Poles having loft 
fo many Men, by endeavouring to fupprefs them, they 
were forced to promife that their ancient Privileges 
fhould be reftored, and that their Militia of fix thoufand 
Men, fliould be re-eftablifhed under a General appointed 
