DON COSSACKS. 
395 
army, stating, that he expected us to dine with r ^ r p - 
him at his country-seat upon the Don. We set <■ — -% > 
out, accompanied by our friend Colonel Papof, General- 11 ' 
and by a Greek officer in the Cossack service, *e < co«aci 
whose name was Mamonof. The General had army ‘ 
sent his carriage, with six fine Cossack horses, 
and several Cossacks, mounted, with lances, to 
escort us. We passed along the steppes ; and 
occasionally through vineyards, planted with 
cucumbers, cabbages, Indian wheat, apple, pear, 
peach, plum trees, and melons, for about ten 
miles, till we arrived at his house, standing 
upon the European side of the river, opposite 
to the town of Tcherkask, and distant from it 
about five miles. Here we found some elegant 
and accomplished women amusing themselves 
with a piano-forte; and afterwards we all sat 
down to as magnificent a dinner as any English 
gentleman could have afforded ; the whole being 
served upon plate. The company consisted of 
about twenty persons. The General presented 
us with mead thirty years old, tasting like 
Madeira wine. He wished very much for English 
beer, having often drunk it in Poland. A number 
of very expensive wines were brought round, 
many of them foreign; but the best wine of 
the Don seemed superior to any other. As we 
sat banquetting in this sumptuous manner, we 
called to mind the erroneous notions we had once 
