304 
DON COSSACKS. 
ctiap. excited: and we considered the plot as the 
— j more probable, because we knew that they had 
never before seen an equipage so attended. 
Since this happened, we had every reason to 
believe that the good old Ataman was only 
giving directions for our advantage, and, like 
all intoxicated persons, was making an import- 
ant concern of the most trifling business, such 
as the cording and repairing our wheels, and 
a few other commissions which we wished to 
have executed. Travellers, so circumstanced, 
often raise an alarm about nothing; make a 
great stir to defend themselves against ideal 
danger; oflend those who intended no injury; 
and finish, by congratulating themselves upon 
an escape, where there was no ground even for 
apprehension. 
Voyage by We received a visit, on the evening of our 
arrival, from the Ataman of one of the neigh- 
bouring stanitzas, who chanced to be in the 
place. He represented the voyage down the 
Don to Tcherhash as a pleasant, but a tedious 
undertaking ; saying, that it would require 
at least a month for its performance. The 
mosquitoes also are very troublesome upon 
the water; and the passage is liable to im- 
pediments, from the frequent shallows of the 
river. 
