The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

TIIE COSSACKS. 295suppressed the Little Russian Hetmanship, and in 1777 destroyed the Zaporo°stronghold(sitch). Those who wished to remain free were fain to seek refugeamongst their hereditary foe, the Turk.But the old Cossack spirit still douhtless partly survives amongst the presentUkranians. Frequent revolts have taken place on the banks of the Dnieper, andthroughout Little Russia the old devotion to the hromada, or commune, has livedthrough every political vicissitude. "The Commune is a great man," says thelocal proverb. In the Ukranian there is a nomad strain ; he easily shifts hisabode, but he lacks the colonising genius of the Great Russian. In 1856 thereport spread that Prince Constantino had reappeared in Bessarabia, others said inthe Crimea, where he was enthroned beneath a red tent, inviting all good Ukraniansto freedom and the resumption of their lands ; but all should accept the invitationwithin the year, else it would be too late. Immediately whole communities arose,not to massacre their masters, but to depart in peace. In some places thepeasantry disposed of everything for a few roubles to the Jews, left their hamlets,and set out." We thank you," said they to the nobles, " for your bread and salt,but we will no longer be your slaves."The old Cossack warrior lives in tradition and song alone, and even theChumak, or Ukranian of the caravans, has all but disappeared, mostly replaced bythe railway and the steamer. Still even now merchandise is consigned at Odessaby these caravans often more rapidly and at a cheaper rate than by the " goodstrain."Like the Zaporog, the Chumak was formerly a hero in his way, and hadto face every hardship and death itself in his search for fish and salt on the shoresof the Euxine and Azov Sea. Mai'auders beset the passes, fierce snow-stormsswept the steppe, safe-conducts were not always a protection against the Tatarhordes, and on his return nothing protected him against the ruinous dues of thenobles. His place was always at the head of the convoy, his inseparable companionthe cock which crowed the starting hour at dawn, and, when overtaken bydeath, a mound, at times supplied with a farewell flask of spirits, marked his lastresting-place.The freedom-breathing Cossack songs and the refrains of the caravan Chumaksstill linger in the memory of the Little Russian. The kobzar, who accompanieshis notes with the hohza, or mandoline, and the Urnik, who plays not on the lyre,but with a sort of hand organ, still chant the lines which first echoed on thesteppe. Some of the ballads recited at the fairs have an historic strain ; but, apartfrom this popular minstrelsy, thereare snatches of song which in their breadth ofthought, strength of language, and wealth of details are like fragments of epicpoems. Unfortunately they are tending to disappear, and will soon survive onlyin written literature. As he listens to these dumi, which seem to conjure back thepast, with all the hopes and fears, the joys, sentiments, and passions, of thosestirring days, the Little Russian fancies he lives again the life of his heroicforefathers. The national poetry of few languages excels that of the Ukraniansin energy of expression and depth of feeling. And what a sweetness and vigour,combined with warmth and delicacy, are breathed in their love songs !Amongst