became apparent (especially after the rise of the Romanov dynasty) that there was no place for such an aggressively independent community as that of the Zaporogians within the borders of the Empire ruled by the Tsar. Unlike the loosely held frontiers of the Polish kingdom, the Russian marches were guarded by imperial troops. Yet the remoteness of the Cossack settlements and the position occupied by the sitch, preserved for a century or more the "national" pretensions of the Zaporogians. But the later history of this warlike brotherhood presents only a series of episodes without signs of political development or progress. The rare documents of this period, preserved in the convents of the Ukraine, are records of achievements startling in their bravery, sometimes chivalrous, but often base and cruel. The love of personal freedom, at a time when their neighbours were bound in shameful subjection, alone gives character and unity to their story.
An attempt will now be made to give, in the language and spirit of the original report (made to the Ataman Dorochenko by the great Zaporogian koshevoy Sirko), some account of a famous foray of the "Free Companions" against the Crimean Tartars and their allies. This document may be taken as a typical example of the rare "sources" of Cossack history which have survived to the present day — although the golden days of the sitch at the close of the seventeenth centurj^ and the beginning of the eighteenth were probably filled with episodes similar to the one described. The author has resisted all temptation (in the interest of "historical truth") to tamper with the characteristic bombast which marks the original. These rare written records of Cossack days and the joyous "diplomatic" correspondence which accompanies them are, moreover, of especial interest as having suggested to the great Russian historical painter Repnin, the subject for his well-known Cossack pictures in the Tretiakov Gallery of Moscow.
"It was only when the Dnieper was filled with floating ice floes, and the steppes covered with soft snow that the ever-vigilant Cossack garrison of the sitch could feel themselves in a measure safe from the attacks of their implacable enemies, the Tartars of the Crimea. During this season the fast of St. Phillip, which occurs shortly before Christmas, was always strictly kept by the members of the orthodox Zaporogian brotherhood. Following this period of abstinence, if the weather and the conditions of the plains afforded their usual protection, it was an equally honoured custom for the Cossacks to indulge in a period of feasting and drunkenness."
In the year 1675, profiting by intimate knowledge of their habits gained by manj^ years of warfare, the Khan of the Crimea determined to attack the community of the sitch at this time. Turkish troops had been loaned to the Khan of the Crimea by the Turkish Sultan for reinforcements and a serious attempt was to be made to put an end to the depredation of the Cossacks in Turkish territory.
By following the course of the Dnieper, yet remaining at a distance of several miles from its frozen banks, the vigilance of the Cossack patrols was avoided and a large force of Crimean Tartars and Turkish Janissaries reached the neighbourhood of the Zaporogian encampment unnoticed by its defenders.
In judging of the numbers which composed this important expedition, we can only depend on the evidence in the Cossack accounts. Let us then state, once for all, that (if the worthy Cossack pissar or clerk can be believed) "on one side were engaged no less than 15,000 Janissaries or regular Turkish troops," besides a "multitude" of Tartar tribesmen, while the usual winter garrison of the sitch did not, as a rule, exceed 2,000 men.
On arriving at a spot nearly opposite the island fortress occupied by the Zaporogians, the "perfidious" Mussulmen had the good fortune to find the entire Cossack outpost guarding this important point overcome by their libations in honour of the "Holy Day" preceding. (The Cossack historian, in strong and convincing language here sets forth the iniquity of an attack made at such a time!!) Through the "base advantage" thus gained nearly the entire force of Janissaries and "numerous" Tartars were enabled actually to penetrate undiscovered within the narrow streets of the encampment where they proceeded to surround each of the kouren^ or wooden barracks, in which the Cossack companies were housed. It was at this juncture that their presence was made known to the garrison by a Cossack named Chefchika who, "moved by God" chanced to glance out of a window and, by the light reflected from the snow, saw to his "grim amazement," the silent ranks of the enemy drawn up and awaiting the signal to attack.