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pp. 49-50 and note); but they were much morenumerous than those on the Don. In the woodedsteppe, in constant strife with the Tatars, a free Cossacksociety of hunters, ranchers, and farmers had grown up,which the Polish government strove to control as'registered' Cossacks for military service. In advanceof them, out in the feather-grass steppe, by the latesixteenth century the boldest spirits had formed theZaporozhian 'host,' beyond the cataracts of the Dnieper,buccaneers by land and sea, living much as the DonCossacks, closely linked with the ' registered' Cossacks,and in semi-independence of Poland. The Cossacksproved useful enough to the Poles on various occasions,particularly during their overrunning of central Muscovyin the Time of Troubles. But the Polish government,unlike the much weaker Muscovite in its relations withthe Don Cossacks, attempted to regiment them andcontrol their daring raids on the Tatars and Turksaround the Black Sea coasts.Above all (again in contrast with the slower Muscoviteexpansion towards the Don) the transference of thesouthern, Ukrainian portion of the grand duchy ofLithuania to the direct rule of the Polish crown by theUnion of Lublin in 1569 was followed by a greatextension there of Polish estates, serfdom, and Polishadministrative and military measures'. Thus, in additionto the Cossacks, the Ukrainian peasantry were furtheralienated and either swelled the Cossack ranks or lookedto them as the military leaders of social revolution.Five times between 1593 and 1648 there was armedstruggle between the Cossacks and the Polish troops, andthough the Poles had the upper hand, and cut down theprivileges of the ' registered ' Cossacks, the feeling againstthe rule of the Polish or polonized nobles and gentry,if not against the Polish crown, ran high and deep.In 1648 the great Ukrainian revolt against the Polesbegan, led by Bohdan Khmelnitsky (b. about 1595,d. 1657), a 'registered' Cossack officer landowner and askilful, experienced diplomat-warrior; " our dear leader,"in the words of his funeral oration ascribed to hissecretary, "an old Russian Odonacer [? Odoacer], a