is the soft certainty of a future re-union. If aught can calm the tortured fevered brain, and reconcile the widowed heart to its separation, or give suspension to its soul-lacerating griefs, that mighty unction grows from the (perhaps romantic aud ideal) dream of an hereafter and external hymen ; when released from earthly probation, unshackled by mundane frailties, the chastened spirit blends with its kindred seraph. Vensenshou.

ACCOUNT OF THE COSSACK SOLDIERY.

WHEREVER I mentioned Russian soldiers, I never meant to include under that denomination all those irregular auxiliary troops known under the name of Cozacks, who form a distinct and separate body, The name Cozacks is general, and applied to all those tribes which follow the same irregular, and almost optional method of warfare. The particular bodies of the Cossacks are distinguished from each other not by the different nations which compose them, but by the places they respectively inhabit. Thus the Don Cozacks take their names from the river Don; the Ouralian mountains; the Cozacks of the Ukraine from the name of the country; and the Zaporavian Cozacks, from the cataracts of the Dnipier, as the word Zaporavian, or more properly Zaporogtzi, signifies in the Russian language, people living beyond the cataracts.' The two former are

chiefly the colonists of great Russia, and the twe latter are formed Malor Russians; these wear no beards. The Zaporavians shave even their heads, and leave only a small piece of hair upon the crown, long enough to reach the nose, and pride themselves upon every thing that is opposite to civilization, and the common feelings of man. There was a time when no woman whatever was permitted to live in their society and though they have began lately to have made intercourse with the sex, still they retain strongly the marks of former ferocity. They may be called, with great propriety, a gang of desperate outlaws, of robbers, and all sorts of public offenders, who are suffered to exist merely on account of the mischief they do to the enemy.

"The Cozacks of the Ukraine and the Don Cozacks, are more advanced in civilization; the latter are seen sometimes with and sometimes without beards; but the former exist now merely in name, applied indiscriminately to all the inhabitants. There are also Cozacks formed into regular regiments, but of these we need not speak. Excepting the Cozacks of the Ukraine, and the Zaporavians, the Tartars and Calmucks are so interspersed with all other Cozacks, that they form the most conspicuous and prominent feature in them. The Calmucks seem to be the real descendants of the antient Scythians, who dwelt on the borders of the Don, (Yanais). Their features are broad and flat, with a pair of small, fiery, and piercing eyes. They are of small stature, very robust, and active and expert in the use of the bow and

arrow, which they to this moment use with astonishing dexterity. They are extremely skilful in managiug unruly horses, and are hired expressly for that purpose by the horse contractors for the army, who have to chuse these animals out of the wild studs bred chiefly by the land proprietors in Little Russia. A Calmuck rides strait into the midst of these ungovernable creatures, and after a horse is singled out which is to be taken, he throws a loop round his neck, with such expertness, that, though the distance is considerable, as the ferocious animal will not suffer any one to approach him near, he seldom misses his aim. No sooner does the loop fall upon the horses neck, than the Calmuck fastens with amazing rapidity the other end of the rope to the saddle he sits upon, in such a manner as to prevent all possibility of the horse's escaping. The unruly savage thus surprized, struggles hard, but the other which the Calmuck rides, takes such a position by the direction of the rider, that the strength of the captive is exhausted, and he, at length suffers himself to be led away, and is soon tamed. The Tartars, who are like Calmucks in their persons, are so intermixed with them, as to be seen every where together. They eat horse carcases, without any preparation of the flesh, than the warming it under the saddle of the horse they ride upon. For this reason in general they have two or three horses with them, without any incumbrance. Both these nations or tribes are extremely numerous among the Don Cozacks; and altogether from those terrible warriors, whose aspect

alone is sufficient to dismay an enemy not accustomed to such a sight.

"These Cozacks are a valuable appendage to a regular army; they are its guides and satellites. It is their particular business to obtain intelligence from the enemy, which they do sometimes in the manner that a Calmuck takes a wild horse. As soon as a Cozack comes near enough to the object of his search, he throws a loop round his waist, fastens it to kis saddle, and gallops off with the prisoner. All the out-posts are formed chiefly of the Cozacks. They are constantly upon the look out, and cut a conspicuous figure in skirmishes. The lucre of gain, that is, of booty, is the main-spring of their actions; and a Cozack will seldom flinch from attacking two opponents, if he sees the probability of plunder. Their chief and most destructive weapon is a long lance, suspended upon a sling from the waist. When they are upon attack, they let the lance down to the level with the stirrup, horizontally, and, after drawing it back with the right foot, with such force and destructive aim, that it generally proves fatal to the enemy. They are, besides, armed with a gun, a brace of pistols and a sword, something in the shape of a Turkish sabre. Though in their military appearance they preserve a certain degree of uniformity; still their dress according to their fancy or means, makes the scene, whenever they march in a body truly grotesque and variegated. Though they are irregular troops, still they have a certain order, a certain principle of rude discipline; they

have officers regularly appointed and obeyed. Their horses are so diminutive and apparently weak, that they seem more calculated to be carried than to carry; yet a Cozack, whether through prejudice or real conviction of their excellence, never will, never was known to part. with his horse, nor exchange it for one ever so valuable, unless it is of the same breed.

These horses are a race altogether anomalous; for whether luxuriously, or sparingly, they maintain invariably the same niggardly appearance, and like the Russian soldier, can exist almost upon nothing, which may perhaps account for the Cozacks attachment to them. The Cozacks are allowed to preserve their own government, and they stipulate in return to furnish the emperor, at their own expence, with whatever number of men he may require, on the condition of being allowed to make booty. Such is their thirst for war, as the means of plunder, that when the number required is inconsiderable, so that they must cast lots who should go, a serious quarrel is frequently the consequence, of not being included in the number.

He that returns home without booty, or has not been in action, is viewed by the women in a despicable light; so that their manners and mode of living all tend to make them warriors. They think it a charity to kill their own comrades when wounded past recovery, or likely to fall into the hands of a merciless enemy. They disperse in such small parties