COSSACKS

A people inhabiting those parts of the Ru ian empire which border on the northern dominions of Turkey, Poland, and the southern confines of Siberia. Both the name and origin of this people are involved in great uncertainty. They seem to have nothing Ru ian in their origin and character, and are probably a mixed Caucasian and Tartar race. They form a sort of independent republic, paying no taxes to Ru ia, but cheerfully contributing their numerous and valuable contingent of troops; and are well known as the most hara ing light troops that ever exercised a predatory warfare in the train of any army. Their dre is a short vest in the Polish style, large trowsers of a deep blue colour, and a black sheepskin cap. Their arms consist of a sabre, long spear, musket, a pair of pistols, and a long whip, which they apply to their enemy as well as their charger's back. They are mostly members of the Ru ian Greek Church, and are described as a hospitable, generous, and disinterested people. Their numbers have not been estimated for nearly a century, when they amounted to 955,228 males. [s. 301]