b o o i c As t]ie members o f this community were collected from
— various nations, and from the nature of their conftitution
perpetually changing, their number could never be exaftly
afcertained : Manftein relates, that in the war in which he
ferved againft the Turks, thev brought 8000 horfe into the
field ; and that, on an emergency, they could at that period
haveraifed 12,000, or 15,000. They frequently performed
incredible feats of valour in the campaigns o f the Ruffians
againft the Turks and Tartars ; nor were their fervices confined
folely to land: by their ikill in navigating the Dnieper,
they occafionally defended the mouth o f that river, and attacked
with fuccefs the armed veffels which appeared upon
the contiguous coafts o f the Black Sea. But while they were
thus formidable to their enemies, they were fcarcely lefs to
be dreaded by their allies. Nominally dependent upon
the hetman o f the Ukraine, they were clafled among the
fubjedts of the Ruffian empire ; but the peculiarity o f their
manners, their feparation from all other foeiety, their popular
form o f government, together with their warlike difpofition,
rendered them a barbarous and unruly banditti*: accuftomed
to live by rapine and devaluation, they pillaged the Ruffian
merchants who palled through their country; and frequently
interrupted the navigation o f the Dnieper by continual piracies
t.
At the conclufion o f the late Turkiffi war, the emprefs
aboliihed their form o f government, deftroyed their fetcba,
and finally diffolved their formidable confederacy. By this
falutary a£t of power, lire has fecured the merchants trading
* “ Manftein ca lls them a repu b lick o f “ fea r o f their ch an g in g fides.” Manfteia’ s
“ thieves an d vagabond s, w h o fubfift on Memoirs , p . 19-.
*1 no th in g b u t rapine both in p ea ce and + T h e boats o f thefe Z ap o rog ian Coffacs
“ w a r . T h e cou rt o f Ruffia can n o t hinder w e re row ed by 50 or 60 men, had no fail»
** th e ir continual e x cu r fio n s ; n a y , is even and g en e ra lly ca rried two fmall cannon.
4t ob liged to k eep meafures w ith them fo r ' S. R . G* IX . p . 5.
in
in thofe parts from the dread o f perpetual depredations, chap.
and put an end to that fyftem o f piracy which fo greatly ob- »— .— >
ftrudted the commerce carried on upon the Dnieper.
III. The Ruffian countries which are moft interefted in
this commerce, are thofe that are contiguous to the Dnieper
and the Don. This general defcription comprizes the provinces
o f Smoleniko, Mohilef, Ukraine, New Ruffia, Biel-
gorod, Voronetz, Ukraina-Slobodikaia, and A z o f : a large
tradt o f territory which furniihes in great abundance every
fpecies o f grain, hemp, flax, hides, mafts, planks, honey,
wax, tobacco, 8cc.
In thefe ceded diftridls the emprefs has already raifed fe-
veralnew towns, the principal whereof are Kherfon, Catha-
rinenflaf, and Marianopoli.
Kherfon is fituated on the Dnieper, about ten miles below
the mouth o f the Ingujec, and is chiefly built with hewn
ftone. It is intended to be the principal mart for all the
commodities of export and import; but if an extenfive trade
lhould take place in this quarter, the great depofitory for the>
merchandize will be more conveniently fixed on fome fpot
below the bar o f the Dnieper, and about twelve miles font hr
of Kherfon. It contains a dock for the conftrudtion of ■larges
vefiels ; from which feveral men o f war and frigates, as
well as merchant-ihips, have been already launched.1.
Catharinenflaf, or the Glory o f Catharine, is built near .
the fpot where the fmall river Kiltzin falls into the Samara,
and is appointed to he the capital o f the government o f A zo f;
it is colonized by many Greeks and Armenians from Crim
Tartary, and by others o f thofe nations who ferved in the.
late war againft the Turks.
Another town, called Marianopoli, has been alfo raifed
upon the borders of the Sea o f Azof, between the rivers
Myus and Calmius. Thefe: