Chao, I L . and its Inhahitants the Co^^kCK-S, 5^9 
5. It is eafy, from thefe Accounts, to form a juft 
Notion of the original and ancient State of the Cojfacks 
but fome farther Explanations will be neceffary, in order 
to have a juft Idea of the Condition of this People at this 
Day. We will begin with what is requifite to be faid 
of their Country. In its utmoft Extent, it may be con- 
fidered as three hundred Miles long, and in fome Places 
above a hundred broad ; but then this comprehends the 
Territory, inhabited by all the Cojfacks ; for they are, at 
prefent, diftinguifhed into various Nations. When we 
refiedl on the Manners of the Mufcovites, ToleSy ^urks^ 
and l^artars, and remember that their Dominions border 
upon each other, we Ihall very eafily conceive, that the 
Frontiers could not afford very fafe or pleafant Habita- 
tions, and fhall not be furprized to hear that they were 
defert. Hence it was, that this otherwife large and con- 
ftderable Trad; of Country, came to be ftiled the Ukrain, 
which, in our Language, ^xo-^tYly the Marches. 
The People who firft fettled on the Rocks in the Nie-per 
were Vagabonds from all Countries, who built their 
Huts in the moft inacceffible Places, and were from 
thence called Cojfacks or Goats, becaufe, like them, 
they dwelt out of reach. 
But, by Degrees, as thefe People became numerous, 
they began to plant and improve their Country, which 
is naturally one of the richeft and fineft in Europe *, but 
from its very Situation, fo liable to be ranfacked and eat 
up, whenever any Wars break, out among the neigh- 
bouring Nations, which are none of them polite, or 
well governed, that we cannot exped it Ihould ever 
be brought into any tolerable Condition. Befides, the 
Cojfacks, like the Buccaneers in America, were Planters 
only by Accident ; they looked upon living at Home 
as a Hardfnip, unlefs in the Time they wanted Winter- 
Quarters ; for their proper Bufinefs was War, and they 
grew rich, not by Induftry but Plunder. They were 
from hence regarded as Barbarians, and in that Senfe 
very juftly ; becaufe, to live by fpoiling others is the 
higheft Barbarity j inafmuch as it is that Sort of Life 
moft repugnant to Reafon and the Laws of Nature. But 
there is another Signification of the Word barbarous, 
which implies Stupidity and Ignorance and this can- 
not, with any Degree of Juftice, be charged upon the 
Cojfacks, who have made as great Improvements in the 
Art of War as any Nation in the World. It is very 
true, that with refped to us, and our manner of mak- 
ing War, thefe very Improvements appear barbarous, 
but that is for want of Confideration in us •, for, if we 
refled upon the Situation of their Affairs, and on the 
Contrivances made ufe of by the Cojfacks for their own 
Security, we cannot but perceive the greateft Ingenuity 
in them ; and I think a little Time will not be ill be- 
ftowed to fet this matter in a clear Lis;ht. 
It has been before laid down that War was their Bufi- 
nefs *, and this was of two Kinds, defenfive by Land, 
and offenfive by Sea. In refped to the former, the 
Country round about them was flat, and the Enemies 
they had to deal with were Poles and Partars, who 
brought great Bodies of Horfe into the Field j to oppofe 
thefe with inferior Bodies of light-armed Foot, the 
Cojfacks invented the Pabor, or Waggon, in thefe they 
carried their Baggage, Ammunition, and Provifions 
upon a March ; and when they encamped, they took 
Care to have a River in Front, and a Morafs in the Rear ; 
covering their Flanks with an Intrenchment of Wag- 
gons ; and by the Help of this Difcipline, they have 
defeated Troops, that would have appeared terrible, 
even to the moft regular Armies ; nay, to fuch a De- 
gree, they carried this Art of fortifying with Waggons, 
that Field-Marflial Munich, who was an Officer of great 
Skill and Experience, thought fit to adopt their Method 
in his laft War againft the Purks -, and that with fuch 
Succefs, as enabled him to come off with Honour and 
Vidory, v/hen attacked by the moft numerous Armies 
the Ottoman Power could bring into the Field. This 
fliewed great Skill and military Prudence in that Officer, 
v/ho aifo brought feveral Regiments of Cojfacks into the 
Rujfian Service : I will not fay as regular, but I may fay 
as fettled and eftabliihed Troops, and they have been 
found very ferviceable. We muft, however, diftingiiifii 
between the CojJ'acks in the Pay of Rujfia and the Cojjacks 
under the Protedion of Rujfia the former are a Body of 
Troops of between ten and twelve thoufand Men, that 
may be marched any where, as Occafion fhall require *, 
but the latter are a great People, capable of bringing 
fifty or fixty thoufand Men into the Field, for the Ser- 
vice of the Ruffians, againft the Purks or P artars, but as 
foon as the War is over they will exped to return 
Home. 
In their offenfive Wars, which, as we have ffiewn, the 
Cojfacks carry on by Sea, the Invention of their Boats 
is admirable ; for, in the firft Place, they are very 
light, fo that they may be tranfported from Rock to 
Rock with great Eafe. In the next Place, they are ca- 
pacious, fo as to hold a great Number of Men, which 
gives them fuch a Power in boarding and attacking 
Places on the Sea Coafts, as it is hardly poffible to refift. 
Their Method of Building without Keels, and Sheathing 
with Reeds, defends them from finking, even if full of 
Water. Befides this, it makes their Boats, when filled 
with Men, lie fo deep in the Water, that they are not to 
be feen at any great Diftance, and yet they go at a pro- 
digious Rate, fo as to be in no Danger, when purfued 
by any kind of Shipping in ufe among the Purks. 
If indeed we take thefe Bark Boats out of the Water, 
and confider them independent of the Cojfacks, who ufe 
them, and of the Ufes they make of them, they will 
appear very poor and defpicable Things, and we may 
fay the fame of their Waggons •, but notwithftanding 
this, when all Circumftances are duly weighed, when 
we remember tfiat thefe People are poor, weak, and 
defencelefs, in Comparifon of their Neighbours, have 
very few Fortreffes, and thofe compofed only of Wood 
and Earth ; and that notwithftanding thefe Advantages, 
they have made a Shift to cover their Country fo well, 
and defended themfelves fo obftinately, as to make the 
Poles and P artars weary of their Wars with them *, we 
muft allow them fome Merit, with refpedf to military 
Skill ; on the other Hand, when we call to mind, that 
they have no Trade, no Veffels, no Ports to receive 
them, if they had any ; no Yards, little Timber, no 
Docks, Carpenters, or Seamen, we cannot help own- 
ing that the naval Exploits of fuch People, are in 
a great Meafure aftonifhing. 
Their Government is entirely military, infomuch that 
in Time of Peace they have hardly any Magiftrates or 
Laws ; but when the Nation, by whom they are pro- 
tedled (and at prefent fome of them are under the Poles, 
fome under the Purks, but the far greateft Part of them 
under the Ruffians) propofe they Ihould rife and take the 
Field ; the firft Step is to give them leave to eledl a 
General, who in their Language is called HETMAN 
or HAT MAN, which fome modern Writers have 
miftaken for a proper Name ; whereas, in reality, it is 
the Stile of Office, and anfwers to that of Imperator 
amongft the ancient Romans ; and he has the abfolute 
Command fo long as the War continues j neither is it 
eafy to depofe him afterwards •, for in this, as well as in 
all other Countries, Power has in it fomething fo pleafing, 
that no fmall Difficulty is found in reducing him, who 
has been once a Prince to the Rank of a private 
Man. 
In the Fliftories of the Wars in the North, from the 
Beginning of the prefent Century to the Death of Peter 
the Great, Emperor of Rujfia, the HAT MAN of 
the Cojfacks is often mentioned, and fome of them made 
a great Figure ; but of late, and indeed in all Times of 
Peace, we hear of no fuch Perfon ; but when the Cir- 
cumftances of Things fhall alter (and nobody knows 
how foon this may happen) it is very probable we Ihall 
hear of them again ; as the Croats, Pandours, and 
Palpatches, with many other 'barbarous Nations, lay 
hid in their Dens and Marfhes, till the prefent War 
called them Abroad, and fhewed more civilized Na- 
tions the dreadful Appearance of thefe terrible Militia. 
But it is right to enquire after, and have fome tolerable 
Knowledge, even of the moft obfeure Nations, that 
when thofe Accidents, which are always in the Womb 
of 
