22 
COSSACKS OF THE BLACK SEA. 
CHAP. 
i. 
V — V<— mm/ 
Causes of 
the War in 
Circassia * 
Passage of 
the Kuban . 
The history of the war in which they had 
been so recently engaged is as follows. The 
Circassians, in their nocturnal incursions, had 
for the last three years committed many depre- 
dations upon the territory of the Tchernomorski ; 
not only stealing their cattle, but sometimes 
bearing off the inhabitants. The Tchernomorski 
applied to the Emperor for permission to punish 
these marauders, and also for a reinforcement. 
General Drascovitz was accordingly sent, with 
a party of troops and some artillery, into Kuban 
Tartary. At five oclock on the morning of 
1* riday , June the 20th, the army, consisting of 
four thousand five hundred men, including two 
regiments of regulars, some pieces of artillery, 
and the chief part of the Cossack army stationed 
in and near Ekaterinedara, began to advance, 
by crossing the river. This undertaking was 
sufficiently arduous to have daunted better- 
disciplined troops. The Kuban is broad and very 
rapid. A few canoes, with one flat-bottomed 
barge, were all the transports provided for this 
purpose. General Drascovitz assured us he had 
never seen any thing to equal the spirit and 
alacrity of the Cossack cavalry, who led the way. 
and the zeal manifested when they received the 
order to march. They plunged on horseback 
into the torrent, and swam to the opposite shore. 
The passage was begun, as we have stated, at 
