369 
DON COSSACKS. 
fully and learnedly on the subject, although he chap. 
admits the resemblance they bear to Tahtars, in v Xm ~ 
their mode of life, constitution, and features, 
insists that they are of Russian origin s . Scherer , 
who has appropriated a work entirely to the 
investigation of their history, and continually 
inculcates the notion of their Polish origin, 
nevertheless opens his work with an extract of 
a different nature ; but it has all the air of a 
fable * * 3 . It is taken from Nestors Russian Annals. 
A Russian Prince, and a Cossack Chief, at the 
head of their respective armies, agree to deter- 
mine their differences by a wrestling-match, 
which ends in the assassination of the Cossack 
by the Russian. This event is followed by the 
subjugation of the Cossack territory 4 . To have 
seen the Cossacks, and to have resided among 
them, is sufficient to establish a conviction that 
they have nothing in common with the Russians of 
the present day, except the language they use. 
Let us pay some attention at least to what they 
^ (2) Tableau Historique et Statistique de l'Empire de Russie, par 
Store/,. Edit. Franfaise, tom 1. p.55. See particularly p. 24 of the 
Notes of that volume. 
(3) They are often described as a branch of the Poles, who migrated 
in modern times to the marshes of the Don. The observation of Scherer, 
concerning their language also, strengthens the notion of their Polish 
origin : “ La longue des Cosaques est un rlialccte de la Polonoise, comma 
celle-ci Vest de t’Esclavon." Annales de la Petite Russie, par Scherer 
tom. I. p. 17 . Paris, 1788. 
(4) Scherer, Tableau de la Petite Russie, tom. I. p. 9 . 
VOL. I. 2B 
