Chap. I L /Wo Per SI A. 875 
Jays, as has been faid before ^ their Front may extend 
eight hundred or one thoufand Paces, and they are 
eight hundred or one thoufand in File, which reaches 
four long Leagues, or three when they keep clofe •, for 
at other Times they extend above ten Leagues. This 
IS wonderful to thofe that have not feen it, for eighty 
Thoufand 'Tartars make up above two hundred thou- 
fand Horfes. Trees are not thicker in the Woods than 
Horfes are at that Time in the Field •, and to fee them 
at a Diftance, they look like a Cloud rifing in the Ho- 
rifon, which increafes as it rifes, and ftrikes a Terror 
into the boldeft ; I mean thofe who are not ufed to 
fee fuch Multitudes together. Thus thefe mighty Armies 
march, halting every Hour about half a Quarter of an 
Hour to give their Horfes Time to flale *, and they are 
fo well managed, that they do it as foon as they flop ; 
then the Tartars alight and pifs too. They remount 
immediately, and go on, all which is done only by the 
Signal of a Whiftle •, and when they are coine within 
three or four Leagues of the Borders, they lie ftill two 
or three Days in fome Place chofen for that Furpofe, 
where they think they are concealed ; there they give 
out Order% and relrefh their Army, which they difpofe 
of in this Manner : They divide it into three Parts, 
two Thirds are to compofe one Body, the other Third 
is fubdivided into two Parts, each making a Wing, one 
on the Right, the other on the Left. In this Order they 
enter the Country. 
The main Body moves (lowly, which, in their Lan- 
guage, they call Coche^ with the Wings, but continually 
without halting Day or Night, allowing but an Hour to 
refrefli till they are got fixty or eighty Leagues into the 
Country, without doing any Harm. But as foon as 
they begin to march back, the Body holds the fame 
Pace *, then the General difmilfes the two Wings, which 
have Liberty, each on its own Side, to (fray ten or 
twelve Leagues from the main Body •, but that is to be 
underftood Half of the Way forward, and the other 
Half Sideways each Wing, which may confift of eight 
or ten thoufand Men, is again fubdivided into ten or 
twelve Squadrons, of five or fix hundred Men each, 
who run up and down to the Villages, encompafs them, 
making four Corps de Garde about each Village, and 
great Fires all the Night for Fear any Peafant fhould 
efcape them ; Then they fall to Pillaging and Burning, 
kill all that make any Refiftance, and take and carry 
away all that fubmit, not only Men, Women, and Suck- 
ing Babes, but the Cattle, Horfes, Cows, Oxen, Sheep, 
Goats, As for the Swine, they drive and fhut them 
up in a Barn, or fuch- like Place, and fire the four Cor- 
ners •, fo great is the Loathing they have for thofe 
Creatures. The Wings being allowed to ftray but ten 
or twelve Leagues, (as has been (aid) return with their 
Booty to their main Body, which is eafily done 5 for 
they leave a greatTrack, marching above fifty in Front ; 
fo that they have nothing to do but to follow, and in 
four or five Hours they join their Body again, where, as 
foon as they are come, two other Wings, confiding of 
the like Number as the former, go out on the Right 
and Left, to make much the fame Havock ; then they 
come in, and two others go out, and fo continue their 
Excurfions without ever diminifhing their Body, which, 
as has been mentioned, makes two Thirds of the Ar- 
my, and move gently, to be always in Breath and ready 
to fight their Enemy, if they fhould meet them, tho* 
their- Defign is not to meet, but to avoid them as much 
as pofTible. They never return the fame Way they 
broke in, but take a Compafs the better to efcape •, for 
they always fight in their own Defence, nay, and they 
mufl be forced to it, without they know themfelves to be 
ten to one j and yet would they confider of it before 
they fell on •, for xhtk Tartars do not enter Poland to 
fight, but to pillage by way of Surprize. When the 
Polanders meet them, they make Work, forcing them to 
get home fafter than their ufual Pace. At other Times, 
after they have fufficiently plundered and robbed, they 
enter upon the defart Plains in the Frontiers, thirty or 
forty Leagues in Length, and being in that Place of 
Safety, make a great Halt, recovering Breath, and put- 
ting themfelves into Order, if they were in any Conf®- 
fion, on Account of meeting the Polanders. 
At their Return from fuch an Incurfion, the Khan re- 
ceives his Tenth of the whole Booty, which is after- 
wards divided arnongfi: the fevefal Fiords, and every 
Mirza receives the Tenth of the Share that belongs to 
his Hord ; after which, what remains is divided fairly 
and regularly arinongft all chat ferVed in the Flxcurfiom 
It is, undoubtedly, one of the mofl fliocking Spedlacles 
that can be beheld, to fee the unhappy People of all 
Ages, Ranks and Sexes, that have been thus carried 
away, feparated from each other, and torn away by their 
relentlefs Matters, who either keep and employ them 
in fervile Work, or fell them, if they think proper, to 
the Turks., Perfians., Circajfians., or any or the adjacent 
Nations, or to the Merchants who come ud into their 
Countries on Purpofe to buy Slaves. It is from their 
Fortune in thefe Kind of Excurfions, that the Tartar 
Princes become rich and potent-, for what they receive 
from their Parents is very inconfiderable, and they make 
no Scruple of telling Strangers, when they admire the 
Number of their Tents, Horfes, Cattle and Slaves, 
that what they have, was acquired by their Sword and 
Row ; and that if they had been kfs lucky in their 
Expeditions, they had been as poor and as miferable 
as any of their Subjeifls. By leading this Kind of Life 
they become very adtive and vigorous, capable of en- 
during prodigious Fatigue, fo as to go without Sleep 
for many Nights together, and with little or no Food 
for many Days but when they come to have more Lei- 
fure, they will fetch this up by (ieeping forty eight 
Hours upon the Stretch, and will crowd three or four 
Meals into one. Their good and bad Qualities are 
peculiar to themfelves, and feem to be derived entirely 
from the Kind of Life they lead ; for though they will 
fight very bravely, yet they mutt be forced to it, chu- 
fing much rather to fly, if it be pradlicable. They will 
drink very freely upon certain Occafions, but upon 
fuch Occafions only, for atother Times they are both 
abftemious and fober. The Grim Tartars are very 
far from being jealous, and are, generally fpeaking, 
content with one Wife, feldom making ufe of their 
Slaves as Concubines ; but then they are mercilefs Ma- 
tters, treat their Slaves in the fame Manner as their 
Cattle, and fell them with as little Ceremony. Under 
Misfortunes they are patient, or rather fullen, but what 
little Education they have makes fome Difference amongft 
them, as appears by fuch of their Khans as are banifhed 
to Rhodes^ which is the common Place of their Exile 
when depofed, where they live very handfomely, and 
without any Dejeflion of Spirit. Indeed this Misfor- 
tune happens fo frequently, that they cannot be much 
furprized at it. In the Court of the Khan’s Palace at 
Bafcia Saray., there are two Tombs of Princes that died 
in Poffelfion of that Dignity, and, it is fuppofed, were 
ereded there as Curiofities in that Refped:. I have dwelt 
the longer upon this Subjefl, becaufe I take it to be 
both inftruftive and entertaining. 
In order to apprehend clearly the Nature of our 
Author’s Voyages and Travels, we mutt confider the 
Countries chat lie upon the Black Sea., which is every 
where fhut in by the Land, except at the narrow 
Streights of Confiantinople. On the Weft-fide lies the 
European Coaft, viz, the maritime Parts of Moldavia^ 
Bulgaria., and Romania., extending from South to North, 
that is, from Confiantinople to Oczakoiv., in a ftreight 
Line, about three hundred and twenty Miles. On the 
North-fide lies the Little Tartary., the Peninfula of Crim, 
and the great Country of Circaffia., that circumferibe 
the Palus Meotis^ which communicates with the Black 
Sea by the Streights of Daman or Theman^ which have 
the Peninfula of Crm on one Side, and Circaffia on the 
other. Thus it appears, that Circaffia makes the 
North Eaft Boundary of the Black Sea, and ftr etches 
itfelf quite toifhe Cafpian. The Countries lying on the 
Weft-fide of the Black Sea, and to the South of Cir- 
caffia, are Mingrelia, Immoretta, and Guriel, of which 
our Author has given a large and very good De- 
cripdon. 
Thefe 
