DON COSSACKS. 
295 
lowing, into the village. No driver was neces- ( ” j P - 
sary ; for, as the herd entered, they separated 1 — * — ' 
into parties, and retired of their own accord to 
their respective owners, in order to be milked. 
The Malo- Russians, with their numerous families, 
were seated upon the ground, in circles before 
their neat little habitations, eating their supper ; 
and, being all merry together, offered a picture 
of contentment and of peace not often found 
within Russian territories 1 . 
About four in the afternoon of the next day, Metscka. 
having been detained for want of horses at 
Metscha, we arrived at Kasankaia, one of the Kasankaia, 
first o/a- 
largest stanitsas of the Don Cossacks, and the nitza of the 
° ... Don Cos- 
first within their territory. As we are now 
entering upon the description of a very interest- 
ing part of our journey, we shall be particularly 
careful to note every observation that may 
occur, relating to a country rarely visited, and, 
upon that account, very little known; where 
every thing is interesting, because every thing 
presents what travellers from other countries 
have not seen before. The independent mode 
of life of the people ; their indolence at home ; 
their activity in war; their remote situation 
0) We observed here a plant which grows on the Hills near 
C ambridge, the Hedysarum Onobrychis . 
