ambition. But whatever were his original projects,
he feerns worthy, fo far as intrepidity and prudence
form a bafis of merit, of the final fuccefs which
flowed in upon him. For he was neither elated with
unexpected profperity, nor dazzled with the fudden
glare of royalty on the contrary,, the dignity of his-
deportment was as confident and unaffefted, as if he
had been born a fovereign.
And now Yermac and his followers feemed to enjoy .
thofe rewards which they had dearly purchafed by a
courfe of unremitted fatigue, and by victories which
almoft exceeded belief. Not only the tribes in the
neigbourhood o f Sibir wore the appearance of the rnoft
unreferved fubmiffion; but even princes continued
flocking in from diftant parts, to acknowledge them-
felves tributary, and to claim his preteCtion. However,
Precarious this calm was of fhort duration. Infurredtions were
Yermac? ° concerted by Kutchum Chan ; who, though driven from
his dominions, yet ftill retained no fmall degree of
influence over his former fubjeCts.
Yermac faw and felt the precarioufnefs of his pre-
fent grandeur; the inconfiderable number of his followers
who had furvived the conqueft of Sibir, had been ftill
further diminilhed by an ambufcade of the enemy;
and as he could not depend on the affe&ion of his
new fubjeCts, he found himfelf under the neceflity either
of
of calling in foreign affiftance, or of relinquilhing his
dominion. Under thefe circumftances he had recourfe
to the Tzar of Mufcovy ; and made a tender of his new
acquifitions to that monarch, upon condition of receiving
immediate and effectual fupport. The judicious manner
in which he conducted this meafure, fhews him no lefs-
able in the arts of negotiation than of war..
One ° f his moft confidential followers was difpatched
to Mofcow at the head of fifty Coffacs. He had
orders to reprefent to the court the progrefs which
the Ruffian troops, under the command of Yermac, had
made in Siberia : he was artfully to add, that an extenfive cedes M
empire was conquered in the name of the Tzar* t-fnt-AeT^of*
, l u a L M u f t u v j v
the natives were reduced to fwear allegiance to that
monarch, and confented to- pay an annual tribute.
This reprefentation was accompanied with a prefent o f
the choiceft and moft valuable furs *; The embaftador
was received at Mofcow with the ftrongeft marks of fatis-
faCtion : a public thankfgiving was celebrated in the cathedral
; the Tzar acknowledged and extolled the .good
fervices of Yermac; he granted him a pardon for all
former offences ; and, as a teftimony of his favour, dif-
tributed prefents for him and his followers. Amongft
thofe which were fent to Yermac was a fur robe, which
the Tzar himfelf had worn, and which was the greateff
* S. R. G. VL p. 304.