CHAP. gave up entirely to our use. It was pleasantly situate, above the DoN, with an open covered arcade, or wooden gallery: in this gallery we breakfasted and dined, while we remained. His cave of provisions was in the court-yard; and he made his wife and daughters open it for our use. We had the curiosity to descend into this place. It was floored with ice; upon which we saw sterlet from the DoN, game, and other luxuries. The house was perfectly clean and comfortable; so much so, that we could not resist the pressing invitation made to us of staying a short time, to study the manners of the Cossacks, in a town nearly as large as their capital. It was amusing to observe the temporary respect they paid to the Ataman. If he convened any of the inhabitants on business, however trivial, they made their obeisance before him, standing bareheaded, as in the presence of a Sovereign: but the moment the assembly was dissolved, he passed unheeded among them, receiving no greater mark of respect than any of the other Cossacks. It is an office to which the election is annual; but if an Ataman be particularly popular, he may retain his station, by re-election, during many years. This however does not often happen. Our host was in his first year, and his In predecessors had generally changed when the CHAP. XII. However indisposed a traveller may be to Ideal Dangers of the listen to those false alarms which the inhabitants Country. of every country raise in the minds of strangers who wish to explore any remote part of their territory, it is not possible at all times to disregard such relations, especially when they come from persons of the highest authority, and who pretend to accurate knowledge of the facts they attempt to substantiate. In Russia, there was not an individual, of any respectability, with whom we conversed upon the subject of our journey, who did not endeavour to dissuade us from the danger of traversing what was termed "the deserts of the Don Cossacks." The event, however, served to convince us of the misrepresentation, and absurdity of such statements. XII. At CHAP. Among the Russians, indeed, we were constantly exposed to danger; either from imposition that it was hazardous to detect, or from insult that it was fearful to resent; and in both cases the consequences affected our security. In the first view of the Cossacks, we beheld a brave, generous, and hospitable people. If we questioned them concerning the dangers of the country, we were referred to districts tenanted by wandering Calmucks; yet we afterwards found no cause of reasonable alarm, even in the very camps of that singular race of men. Paulovskoy, they told us that the EMPEROR'S courier had been stopped with the mail. We doubted the fact in the first instance; but concluded, that if the mail had been really stolen, the theft was committed by the Russians, who raised the clamour, and not by the Cossacks, to whom the robbery had been imputed. In times of hostility the Russians found in the Cossacks a desperate and dangerous enemy; and many a bitter remembrance of chastisement and defeat induces them to vilify a people whom they fear. The Cossacks are therefore justified in acting towards them as they have uniformly done; that is to say, in withdrawing as much as possible from all communion with men whose association might corrupt, but could never promote, the welfare of their XII. society. After these remarks, it must neverthe- CHAP. less be confessed, that we were compelled to take an escort with us throughout the Cossack territory, and to place a guard over our carriage at night; precautions, doubtless, often calculated to excite the ridicule of the people among whom we travelled; yet even the Cossacks themselves sometimes urged the necessity of so doing," on account," they said, "of the Calmucks." One evil consequence arising from attention paid to tales of danger, is the habit it occasions of putting a false construction upon the most harmless and most trivial incidents. The first night of our residence among the Cossacks we were full of idle fancies. The Ataman was intoxicated, and set off, accompanied by his wife, into the country; leaving us in possession of his house. As we had heard a violent altercation without doors, and saw our host, in a corner of the court, frequently whispering to other Cossacks, and pointing to our carriage, the effect of the silly stories we had heard began to operate, and we imagined some preparation was making to rob us; for which purpose it was necessary to get rid of the Ataman and his wife, as they might otherwise be made responsible for our safety. The apprehension of our servants did not diminish the suspicion thus XII. CHAP. excited; and we considered the plot as the more probable, because we knew that they had never before seen an equipage so attended. Since this happened, we had every reason to believe that the good old Ataman was only giving directions for our advantage, and, like all intoxicated persons, was making an important concern of the most trifling business, such as the cording and repairing our wheels, and a few other commissions which we wished to have executed. Travellers, so circumstanced, often raise an alarm about nothing; make a great stir to defend themselves against ideal danger; offend those who intended no injury; and finish, by congratulating themselves upon an escape, where there was no ground even for apprehension. Voyage by We received a visit, on the evening of our arrival, from the Ataman of one of the neighbouring stanitzas, who chanced to be in the place. He represented the voyage down the Don to Tcherkask as a pleasant, but a tedious undertaking; saying, that it would require at least a month for its performance. The mosquitoes also are very troublesome upon the water; and the passage is liable to impediments, from the frequent shallows of the river. |