DON COSSACKS. 377 
but even recompensed his extraordinary talents chap. 
and courage Thus was Siberia added to the L • 
extensive possessions of Russia, by a Cossack of 
the Don ; whose achievements were only less 
illustrious than the boasted victories of an 
Alexander, because no historian was found to 
record them. 
We have carried the history of the Don 
Cossacks back to the period when they first 
formed an establishment upon the Don. The FoumU- 
foundation of Tcherkask, from their own ac- th5r Ca P i- 
count, is attributed to the settling of some 
rovers, probably exiles from Greece. The shores 
of the Sea of Azof, and of the Black Sea, were, 
in very early ages, what America, and more 
recently New Holland, has been to Great Britain. 
The Greeks sent thither many of their exiles; 
and the custom was continued among the Romans, 
as appears by the banishment of Ovid. The 
opinion, therefore, of the Cossacks, concerning 
the foundation of Tcherkask, is not without 
support, even in antient history. With regard 
to their own origin, as a nation, there is every 
reason to consider it, for the most part, Cir- 
cassian ; and, as such, the analogy with Poles or 
Russians, instead of leading us to deduce the 
(1) S torch, tom. I. p. 75. 
