Slavonians to the other Indo-European Nations, 27 
hordes. Each of these villages formed a little repuhlic, and all 
government was elective. Although a family might attain the chief 
authority, primogeniture was neglected. 
Being thus scattered over a great tract, and perhaps as yet by no 
means a numerous race, they were mixed up with the Scythians and 
Sarmatians by Classical Writers. The " Father of History," 
Herodotus, uses some expressions with regard to the Budini 
and Neuri, which could be applicable to the Slavonians alone. 
Every word of these passages has been examined with elaborate 
research by the great Bohemian Ethnologist, Szaffarzik, in his 
" Slavonic Antiquities." 
For nearly 1000 years the Amber-trade (EAckt^ov) to the Baltic 
alone throws light on Slavonic history. Then, with the invasion of 
the Barbarians, the Slavonians first come on the arena of European 
politics as a great nation. The Vandals, as well as the Medieval 
Wends, are supposed to have been Slavonians, and the Polish 
monarchs assumed the title of King of the Vandals. Many deriva- 
tions of this name have been suggested. I prefer the one which 
makes Vandal, or Vend, or Veneti a mere corruption of Indian, 
referring to the traditions of their Asiatic migrations. Szaffarzik 
thinks the Veneti were a Slavonic tribe, that settled on the Chioggian 
isles, and there founded a state similar to Poland in aristocratic 
constitution and in ultimate fate. It seems bold to affix a Slavonian 
origin to the Queen of the Adriatic — Venice. 
When the scattered tribes and republics of Lechia began to 
consolidate into the great Christian monarchy of Poland, Boleslaw 
the Great devoted the resources of the nation to erecting chains of 
forts along the exposed frontiers, and rearing large cities in the 
interior. The new bishoprics soon transformed the inland villages 
into cathedral cities. However, Commerce is the true parent of 
civic greatness, and to it the great cities of Slavonia owed their 
origin. Kiow, in Little Russia, was once the rich emporium of 
Eastern Europe. Her fleets four times defied the navies of 
