He had scarcely said this when a sudden apparition appeared in the shape of a Dutch vessel, by whom it was evident they would be quickly relieved from this care. Its vicinity had not at first been perceived in consequence of their being so busily occupied about the fish.

But now its bowsprit, much higher than the sloop's, threatened to push the latter vessel quite into the background.

"Ho! ho!" they said from the deck of their vessel, "you Norwegian fellows! who wants your help to take possession of a whale which you have neither harpooned or hunted? Leave it, you scoundrels! It belongs to us rightly and honestly, and we have no intention of giving up to you what we have won." "Every fool can talk like that," said Kilterik. "Ha! you wish to reap where you have not sown, do you? Away with you and your vessel, or we Norwegian scoundrels as you call us, will soon pluck the feathers out of you Dutch birds."

This sneering answer produced a general cry for revenge.

"Baw!" cried a loud voice, "why do you delay to run down these dogs with their towing-line? Ho! aho! Put the vessel to the wind, and let us sail over them, as we should over a stubblefield."

As is well known, sailors do not belong to a class of men who have studied language in schools or universities: happily these words were not immediately followed by the act they threatened, which Kilterik had foreseen; but when after repeated disputes he saw that the Dutch had no intention either of good-naturedly leaving the whole fish or even dividing it, but were on the contrary quite inclined to carry their threat into execution should they find it necessary, he yielded his demand with as good a grace as he could.

Grinding his teeth, however, he ordered the men to give up the animal, of which only a small part had been hidden on board. The iron bolts in the ring held fast by the rope were dragged off, the ropes slipped away, and the dead monster splashed into the tremendous waves with a loud crash, thus seeking for himself a grave in the very depths. This ill-natured act might have had very serious consequences for its authors.

The sloop, nearly engulfed by the whirlpool occasioned by the weight of the fish thus dragging down, dipped the boat's head so deeply in the water, that it danced upon the waves like a nutshell, while they brake upon her, and threatened every moment to sink her. The people in her were compelled to make use of their

hats, boots, shoes, or anything they could find to bale out the

water.

revenge, sat

Kilterik alone determined to see the effect of his idle, watching the Dutch with malicious pleasure, as he saw their vessel likewise drawn down into the foaming circle. They rose again well wetted. It was not only the usual phlegm of the Dutch, but their calculating prudence, which enabled them to subdue the anger which they naturally felt, and follow their prize rather than the dictates of revenge. The whale did not rise again till it had reached some distance from the spot where it had sunk.

Kilterik sent many an envious glance after the voyagers, whose vessel was already loaded with tails and fins of more than one fish ; then he turned with a sad countenance to reckon up the small pieces which they had gained, and which he now stowed away in the barrels, while he continued to talk of his ill-luck, and to curse the Dutch fellows.

Egede replied very impressively, "The feast was ready, but the guests were not worthy of it."

[To be continued.]

WEEDS.

SCORN not those rude, unlovely things,

All cultureless that grow;

And rank o'er woods, and wilds, and springs,
Their vain luxuriance throw.

Eternal love and wisdom drew

The plan of earth and skies;

And He, the span of heaven that threw,
Commands the weeds to rise.

Then think not Nature's scheme sublime,
These common things might spare:-

For Science may detect in time

A thousand virtues there.

J. F. SMITH.

THE great physician Galen, merely upon the contemplation of so exact and perfect a structure as the human body, "challenged any one, upon a hundred years' study, to find how any the least fibre, or the most minute particle, might be more commodiously placed, either for the advantage of use or comeliness."

VOL. II.

X

1

THOSE warlike people, the Cossacks, who constitute the most important irregular troops of the Emperor of Russia, are distinguished into three tribes, named after the countries they inhabit-namely, the Don Cossacks, the Cossacks of the Ukraine, and the Zaporavian Cossacks, or Cossacks of the falls of the Zaporah, or Borysthenes. These all sprung from the same origin, being formerly Polish peasants--according to Lord Whitworth, who, residing in the country at the beginning of the last century, had the best opportunity of obtaining correct information—and being formed into a militia, under their own officers and discipline, they were placed in the Ukraine,† as a military cordon, to protect the frontier of the Polish commonwealth from the incursions of the Tartars. There they increased so fast in numbers and wealth, that the Polish nobles became jealous of them, and endeavoured to

The term Cossack is derived from a Tartar word, signifying, light troops living on plunder.

This was in the year 1506, under Sigismond I.

reduce them to slavery, which gave rise to several wars, in one of which, the Cossacks being defeated, a body of them determined to migrate rather than submit to the Polish yoke. They accordingly removed to the banks of the Don, or Tanais, then scarcely inhabited or noticed by the Russian Government, where they formed a settlement.

In the year 1637 another body of them migrated, after a defeat, with the view of settling on the borders of the Caspian Sea. In their way thither, however, having visited their old friends on the Don, they were persuaded to join them in an attack on Asoph (formerly the site of Tanais), at the mouth of the Don. They took this place, and retained it until 1642, when, upon the approach of a Turkish army, they burned the town, and removed their commonwealth to Circasky, or Tchirkask, a town situated on a small island on the Don. They then placed themselves under the protection of the Muscovite Government, and at the commencement of the last century had thirty-nine towns on the Don, from Ribna to Asoph, chiefly on the north-east side.

Such is the account of the origin of the Don Cossacks, according to Lord Whitworth, whose work on the subject was first published in 1758. Clark, however, gives a different account of their origin, and represents them as a mixed race, comprising Circassians, Malo-Russians, Russians, Tartars, Poles, Greeks, Turks, Kalmuks, and Armenians; whilst others assert that they had a Sclavonic origin, which substantially agrees with Lord Whitworth's account. Certainly there is nothing in their physiognomy to indicate, in whole or part, a Mongolian or Kalmuk descent, whilst their energetic and enterprising character is equally decisive against a Russian or Turkish origin.

Of all the tribes subject to the dominion of the Czar of Russia, the Cossacks of the Don are reckoned the most bold, active, and independent. Situated at a remote corner of the empire, and enjoying privileges, by virtue of their original warlike spirit, beyond those of any other portion of the subjects of Russia, they have in a great measure retained their nationality and peculiarities intact; and to this day are so far removed from the slavery to which other nations have been reduced by Russia, that they may be said to enjoy a constitution of their own, and to govern themselves by their own laws and customs. They pay no tax or tribute, furnish no recruits; and if a peasant or slave can reach their territory, he is free, and cannot be reclaimed by his master or the Government.

Their system of policy is that of a military democracy, and their chief hetman, or colonel, resides at New Tchirkask, which was founded in 1806 by the celebrated Platoff, in consequence of the liability of the former town to inundation, which rendered it necessary to remove the seat of government to a more elevated spot. They have, however, gone to another extreme, and chosen a site for the new town eight miles from the Don, and on the summit of a hill almost inaccessible, from the steepness of the approaches. This place contains ten thousand inhabitants; the streets are broad, but the houses are mean, and built on posts, like corn-stacks in our farmyards, which, having been the practice in the old town, on account of the swelling of the Don, they have absurdly adopted it in the new.

The country of the Don Cossacks embraces an extent of three thousand German square miles, over which is spread a population of seven hundred thousand inhabitants, or two hundred and forty to the square mile, which allows forty acres of excellent pasturage to each individual. Upon an average, eight acres of this is cultivated for the growth of wheat and other grain. The country consists of a series of steppes, or prairies, on which scarcely a tree is to be seen, but an abundance of grass, flowers, sweet herbs, wild asparagus, &c. Immense herds of cattle, sheep, and goats, are grazed in these steppes. The chief diet is meat and fish, but they have much more cattle than they can consume, and frequently kill them for the sake of the tallow alone, burying the flesh. They cultivate the vine extensively, and make a large quantity of excellent wine the soil being a rich, black loam, upon a chalk subsoil, which runs nearly throughout the country. They breed a vast number of horses, which are remarkable for their spirit and fleetness, and their hardy endurance of toil.

The country is divided into stanitzas, or cantons, over each of which is a hetman, or colonel, who exercises a patriarchal authority. When employed in the execution of his office, he is treated with the utmost reverence and respect; but as soon as this is over, his official character merges at once into the citizen, and he is accosted with the same familiarity as any other person. Appeal may be made from his decisions to the Chancery at Tchirkask. Every Cossack is entitled to an allotment of land and a fishery, which is settled by the hetman and the inhabitants. The possessors may let off their land and fishery, and frequently do so.

The services rendered by the Cossacks to the Imperial Government, in return for the privileges and immunities they enjoy, are