DON COSSACKS. 
358 
chap. Don arc also worthy of a more particular de- 
. Xul ~ > scription than can now be afforded. A tradition 
exists in the country, that Alexander the Great 
passed the Don, and built a city, or a citadel, 
upon the river, at a place called Zimlanskaia, 
two hundred miles above the town of Tclierkask, 
where the best Don wine is now made. Some 
insignificant traces of such a work are still said 
to be visible. At General Or/of s house were 
two Stiles of marble, actually brought from 
thence. The Cossacks are too little interested 
in such matters to invent tales of this kind ; 
and they would do so the less where no 
inquiry was made to instigate them. The infor- 
mation, such as it is, was given spontaneously ; 
and, indeed, the circumstances of their tradi- 
tion are somewhat corroborated by reference 
to antient history. The ITHAAI or Pillars 1 2 of 
Alexander were, according to Ptolemy, in Asiatic 
Sarmatia, and in the vicinity of the Tanah*. 
The Altars or BtlMOI of Alexander were on the 
(1) Th$ Reader will pardon the author’s reference to his account of 
the Cambridge Marbles , for a more particular description of the Monu- 
mental Pillar called Stcib; for this word having been almost always 
improperly translated, has given rise to much error in our notions of 
antient history. 
(2) 'Eirixovffi 51 xk) at /t*!v 2JTHAAI. Plolomen Geogr. lib . v. 
p. 264. Edit. Par. 1546. 
