Russia on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azof: being a narrative of travels in the Crimea, and bordering provinces; with notices of the naval, military and commercial resources of those countries

Front matter

,■ RUSSIA OK THE BLACK SEA AND SEA OF AZOF: A NARRATIVE OF TRAVELS IN THE CRIMEA AND BORDERING PROVINCES; WITH NOTICES OF THE NAVAL, MILITARY, AND COMMERCIAL RESOURCES OF THOSE COUNTRIES. By H. D. SEYMOUR, M.P W I i' tl M A P, &c LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, \ LBEMARLE STREET. 1S55. LONDON ' VI), Mil' BT WIT.! sAM CLOWM AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, AND CB ' PREFAC E. The following work is partly the result of my own personal observation, and partly a compilation from some of the most approved authors who have written on the Crimea and the resources of Eussia. It was prepared for the press daring last winter, and the pub lication of it has been retarded by the attention which, for the last few months, I have been obliged to bestow on other matters. As the Crimea is still an object of deep interest, and as I am not aware that the notices I have collected have yet been presented to the public in asuccinct form, I hope by the following pages that I may help to satisfy public curiosity and add something to the stock of information which we possess respecting the Southern parts of European Russia.

Having paid one visit to the Crimea in the year 1844, and two visits to Southern Russia in 1844 and 1846, I have been able to correct and verify the descriptive parts of the book by my own experience. The careful work of M. Dubois de Montpereux a has been my principal guide on geology, archæology, and ancient history, and from his magnificent atlas I have borrowed a few illus trations. I have abstracted from the 'Etudes sur la a Voyage autour du Cauease, par Frederic Dubois de Montpereux. 6 vols. with an Atlas. Paris, 1839. a

Preface

. Russie' of M. Haxthausen an account of the Russian riavy and army, adding matter acquired from other trustworthy sources. To the above-named book and that by M. Tegoborski," both standard works on the internal economy of the Russian empire, I am much i mill. ted; and although I think their accomplished authors write under a strong bias, yet their works are indispensable to thos *ners who wish to study the irces and organization of the Russian empire. AL Ti \ -ki has notbeen allowed to state his whole opinions upon some subjects, aud the Censor has obliged him to make material alterations, particularly where he speaks of the condition of the peasantry. I have likewise alluded 1" a discussion which took place last year in the ' Revue des Deux Mondes,' in which this gentleman took a part. In the course of last summer a very aide article appeared in the French ' Moniteur,' on the subject of Russian Finance, in which it was attempted to be proved that Russia was very weak on this point, and could not hold out for any lengthened period against the Western Powers.

The subject was followed up by M. Leon Faucher in the 'Revue des Deux Alondes.' in a damaging article on Russian resources and finance. Soon afterwards an answer to this was sent from Peters burg, written by M. Tegoborski, who is an employe in the Bureau des Finances, and it appeared in the November number of the Revue, with a reji under by M. Leon Faucher, written just before his lamented decease. Notwith- ' Etudes sur les ] 5 Pro de Russie, par M. L. de Tegoborski, I i Prive' el Menibre du Conseil di l'Empire de Russie. 3 vols. Paris, - ", I

PREFACE.

. V standing the truth of M. TegoborskiV observation, that Russia cannot be judged by the same rules "as other European nations in matters of finance, owing to her totally different state of civilization, I think he fails to prove the main object of his article, that Russia can stand many more such campaigns as that of 1854. Russia must have little hope of persuading us of her power by other means, when she is obliged to have recourse to an article in a foreign periodical in the midst of a deadly struggle. I have borrowed much from the work of M. and Madame Hommaire de Hell," aud would refer any reader who wishes for vivid descriptions of Southern Russia, lull historical information, and accurate scientific knowledge, to the original French work of this distinguished engineer and his accomplished wife.

M. H. de Llell spent five years in the country to ascertain the difference of the levels between the Black Sea and the Caspian, and his work is accompanied bjT an atlas of rare merit. I am indebted to many friends, and, among others, to Mr. Yeames, late Consul-General at Odessa, Mr. Craw ford, and Mr. Blackmore, late chaplain at Cronstadt, for many valuable suggestions and corrections ; and Mr. Lander has been good enough to revise the chapters on the shores of the Sea of Azof, with which no man is better accpiainted. This accomplished gentleman was born in New Russia, and for many years has conducted the house of Yeames and Co. at Taganrok ; and I may * Les Steppes de la Mcr Caspienne, le Oaucase, la Crimee, et la Russie Mendionale. 3 vols., with an Atlas. Paris, 1845.

PREFACE.

. VI say with truth, that the eighteenth chapter is rather his than mine. In Chapter V. I have especially to acknowledge several pag( s of valuable matter relating to the Asiatic races of mankind, for which I am indebted to a note by Dr. Wil liam Smith, inserted in his recent admirable edition of the great work of Gibbon. My little book pretends to be scarcely more than a compilation, and if I have anywhere else omitted to acknowledge assistance, it has not been from the wish unfairly to appropriate the labours of others. I have also to thank the Rev. Walter Sneyd for the siadit of a translation of a curious Italian MS. in his possession, describing the travels in the Crimea of one Nicholo Barti of Lucca in the seventeenth century. My notice on the Russian Budget in Chapter VIII. is not so full as I could wish it to have been, and perhaps I may have made too high an estimate of the military expenditure.

The other facts relating to it are taken principally from M. Tegoborski's writin I have endeavoured, in the following pages, to be as accurate as possible, but more leisure than I have enjoyed would have enabled me to go over the groimd still more carefully than I have done, and verify my statements upon various subjects by information gathered from othei scattered sources. 1 am fully alive to the defects and incomplete character of the sketches which I now venture to present to the public ; and I ask, therefore, for indulgence if I have not contributed as much as I might have done to the in struction or amusement of mj readers. )

Introduction

. My original intention was to have compiled a summary of the history of the Caucasus, wdiere I spent nearly three years, and to which a short account of the Crimea would only have served as an introduction. The increasing interest attaching to the latter subject, how ever, made me pay more attention to it ; so that I now offer to the public some notices on that country and the shores of the Sea of Azof, without being able to add anything upon what I hoped to make the main subject of my inquiry. Some chapters upon the Caucasus are already partly written, but I have not had sufficient time to prepare them for insertion in the present volume, although intimately connected with it. They relate to a country replete with the deepest interest, and I hope that, ere long, some more competent baud than mine ma'svindicate the character of those heroic mountaineers, whom man)- are accustomed unjustly to stigmatize as barbarians.

Though unlettered, they possess ecpial claims to our admiration with our own Saxon and Norman ants, or with the Swiss in the days of Tell, for they possess that stubborn love of independence and that " spirit of divinest liberty," which is the root of all good. When peace shall be made, it will be most fortunate should we be able to secure the freedom of the Eastern coast of the Black Sea by treaty, for the independence

INTRODUCTION.

. of that country would form one of the best securities against Russian aggression. At the Caucasus Russia may be said to end, and a new class of nationalities to begin, and she can only desire to possess that mountain range with the intention of extending her conquests beyond it, The Caucasus, that is, the mountain range itself, and the countries that lie at the foot of them, to the north and south, are the most convenient entranceto the heart of the great table-land of Asia, which, when once thoroughly subdued, might constitute an impregnable citadel whence Russia would be enabled to extend her influence and dominion in every direction. The Caucasus is the real citadel of Russian power in the South and East, although as 3~et beleaguered by the nations from which it has been partially wrested.

Russia has surrounded it by ar. army of 170.000a men, and carefully keeps its inhabitants from communication with civilized Europe. We have never acknowledged the sovereignty of the Russians over this territory, nor over the Christian provinces to the south of the Caucasus. If her blockade were perma nent!} removed from the eastern coast of the Black Sea, and the brave inhabitants of the mountains allowed to carry on a liberal commerce with Europe, their energies would be quickly turned from war to peaceful arts. Those who designate the Circassians as mere warlike barbarians should remember that we ourselves were but warlike semi-barbarians in the earl)' ages of our history, and that the manly character which made us so formi dable in the days oi' the Plantagenets enabled us ulti mately, with better directed energies, to raise our great Thi3 was the strength of the arm) in 1846, when I leftit.

INTRODUCTION.

. IX commercial empire in the eighteenth century. The Circassians and the other mountain tribes resemble us in many particulars : they debate every great affair in a national council ; they venerate the ancient usages and ordinances which form their constitution ; and they have the same gradation of ranks and aristocratic feelings which distinguish ourselves. Above all points of resemblance to us, they have clung to their independence with Anglo-Saxon tenacity; and shall we, when peace shall be made, allow their rud' gigantic enemy again to surround them with her liberated forces, till she exterminate them by brute power, and no memorial be left of unsuccessful virtue save that which history will assuredly record in their favour ? We acknowledged the independence of the Colonies of Spanish America while they were stdl struggling with the mother country ; we went still further with Greece, for we gave them active assistance, having not only the French, but the very Russians themselves tor our allies.

Surely, then, there exist far more cogent reasons for assisting the Circassians, who have never been conquered by the Russians. Up to the breaking out of the present war the Russians had only an ever-disputed possession of the actual ground occupied by their fortifications and protected by their cannon, and they have been constantly resisted by the mountaineers, who have ever refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Emperor. The coast of Circassia is now free, and all that is required is that it shoidd be kept so, without being again subjected to a barbarous blockade. If a consul X

INTRODUCTION.

. were placed there, and merchants encouraged to frequent it, its gallant inhabitants would soon yield to the civil izing influences of Europe, and engage themselves in developing its boundless resources. We may rest satisfied that the freedom of the Cau casus will form an important element towards the diminution of Russian influence in the East. I agree with Mr. Gladstone in thinking we must for future security not only by reducing the power of Russia, but bj>- raising that of Turkey and the other mill pendent peoples bordering on the Black Sea. Free communication and free trade once firmly estabbshed [uestion might be considered as in a great ire settled. It is true that you cannot impose free trade upon Russia, who occupies half the coasts of the Black Sea ; but you may claim }*our right to traffic -with the Circassians on the east coast of that sea, and protect your commerce there by an authorized agent, So great are the advantages of unrestricted trade — so much does com merce strengthen and civilize, that the liberal tariff of Turkey, and the opening of the Principalities (as stated in App.

E), have been, in an indirect manner, the cause of the present war ; for, with freedom of trade, the Christian subjects of the Porte, for some years before the com mencement of hostilities, had so much increased in im portance and wealth, that they excited the jealousy of Russia, and she feared that it' she did not claim in time a closer protectorate over them, they might escape her altogether. I say tins, assuming it to have always been cardinal point in the politics of Russia, in due time, to advance her empire to Constantinople and Athens.

INTRODUCTION.

. XI Although I believe the whole Russian nation to be bent upon certain measures of territorial aggrandizement, I have not failed to acknowledge in my notices the general pacific character of the people. They are not a martial nation ; that is, they are not a nation which takes delight in war for the sake of braving its dangers and revelling in its excitement ; buttheirs is the pa tient, enduring, indomitable courage which, will face any dangers to compass certain ends. The Russian nation has been misdirected by its riders as to the true objects of national glory, and by an exorbitant tariff and other measures has been kept from mixing with other European nations, lest itshould learn juster ideas of the points in which true glory and prosperity consist, and become impatient of a military organization, the object of which is to carry out indefinite schemes of conquest.

I have lived among the Russians, and I have learnt to respect them as a strong, earnest, unprejudiced people, with a great principle of growth in them, and who will work out the defects of their character, and become some day an honour to civilization. They were the only nation in the world, I bebeve, with whom we had never been at war.a None can more deeply regret than I do that we have been obbged now to try their mettle. We must remember that we have a Court to deal with which combines the deep calculation of Europe with the wules of Asiatic intrigue, and that we shall assuredly be over-reached, if we do not insist upon sufficient guaran tees. We must also remember that the concpiest of * 1 do not reckon as a war the short period of misunderstanding with them in the reign of the Emp ror Paul.

INTRODUCTION.

. Constantinople is the settled determination of Russia, and has been the prime object of ambition to that country eve) since the ninth century, when the Russian fleets first appeared before its walls ; and that, if we are deter mined (as I hope is the case) that they shall never possess it, we must take care, whenever peace shall be made, that it be rendered perfectly secure, and the approaches to it guarded with the greatest possible care. If we vield, as Mr. Gladstone and his friends wish us to do, to the first offers of Russia, we shall fail in our paramount object, and become the laughing-stock of the world. The lives of the brave will have been wasted, and the successes we have gained will be of no avail ; Russia, at the first favourable opportunity, wdl renew the struggle, with the advantages of railroads and all modern inventions.

In deahng with so subtle an enemy it will be wise not to hesitate, but push on, and, treating Russia as she wished to treat Turkey, require from her eticctual guarantees that she will not again disturb by her ambition the peace of Em-ope. The supineness and indecision of the European Powers for the last thirty years have enabled Russia to take up an insolent position towards Europe ; and the fears of our own imaginations have contributed to swell the prestige of the Colossus of the North, and to render His intrigues successful. Our statesmen are now fully convinced of the gravity of our position, and the extent of Russian intrigue both in Asia and in Germany. 1 had myself personal experience of it last year in the latter country. In returning from India in March, 1*54,

INTRODUCTION.

. XIII spent a day at the little German state of , to visit a German friend well versed in the secret politics of his country. He told me how ashamed he was of his countrymen, who were false to their true interests, and cowered beneath the power of Russia. In the morning, when he came to breakfast with me in my hotel, an officer took him aside to speak to him. When my friend returned to me, he said, " You woidd not believe yesterday the degree of influence which Russia exercises in Germany ; you have here a proof of it. That officer who took me aside commands the troops, and he called me aside to show me a diamond ring and an autograph letter from the Em peror of Russia, flattering him, and conferring upon him an order. That man is henceforward the de voted servant of Russia," My friend, who is himself a distinguished litterateur, assured me that there were nearly two thousand literary persons in Germany who openly received their quarterly pensions at the Russian embassies to uphold Russian interests.

He even au thorized me to authenticate these statements by the use of his name, which nevertheless I refrain from doing. As so much is now said by some parties respecting the supposed fairness and moderation of Russia, I will relate two anecdotes of wdiat happened under my own cognizance in the East. When the Russians seized, about the year 1840, the island of Ashtorada, near Asterabad, at the south-east corner of the Caspian Sea, which they have since fortified and garrisoned, and when they explored with steamers the Gourgan and Atrak,

INTRODUCTION.

. XIV rivers flowing exclusively through the Persian territory, but leading in the direction of the best road to India, there was one Turcoman Chief resolutely hostile to them, whom they could neither frighten nor seduce. One night, therefore, troops were disembarked, his house was surrounded, and he and all his sons were carried off and conveyed into the interior of Russia, whence, at the prayer of a very influential personage, his place of exile was changed to Tillis, where I knew him. The second is a more daring violation of the territory of the same power, with whom, be it remembered, we have a treaty of alliance, and at the court of which we have long had a minister constantly residing. A certain member of the Georgian royal famdy, Suleiman Khan," lived in the Persian provinces ceded to Russia m 18.28, and having an inveterate enmity to that power, he refused to remain there when they became Russian. and fled into a remote part of Persia.

After many years he thought he might venture to come and live at Tabreez, the capital of Azerbijan, and near his own country. He had sounded the Russian consulate, and found them apparently favourable, and when he arrived he was invited to dinner by the Russian Consul-General. Everything passi '1 off very agreeablyuntil after dinner, when, as he was sitting on a sola with the Consul, chinking his coffee, the latter begged to be excused for an instant, and left the room. Immediately upon his quitting, a file of Russians appeared at the door, with their pieces levelled at the Khan, and the Consul, from behind them, told him he He was s Mussulman, but all t-hi rest of his family are Christians.

INTRODUCTION.

. XV was extremely sorry that he was obliged to treat a guest in so uncourteous a manner, but that he must execute his orders, that Suleiman Khan must consider himself a prisoner, and prepare instantly to be conveyed into the interior of Russia. This fact was told me by the English Consul at Tabreez, when I arrived at that city some short time after this event had occurred, and I dined with the Russian Consul in question, now holding a high post in Russian diplo macy, in the very room where it happened. Of course. when proceedings of this sort were overlooked by our Government, there is no wonder that Russia grew emboldened, and believed that no European power dared to interfere with her. We have begun at last, after thousands of bves and millions of treasure have been expended in attacking the only strong position of Russia in the Black Sea, to attack some of the long line of vulnerable points which she presents.

Our successes at Kertch, Berdiansk, Ma riopol, Taganrok, and Soujuk Caleb, have been as easy as they have been important, and we have now only to continue the same course of action. I can state, on the authority of persons intimately acquainted with those countries, in answer to what Mr. Cobden said in the House of Commons, that the blow we struck in the Sea of Azof has been the severest which we have dealt to Russian power — thatall the stores we destroyed at Kertch belonged to the Government, and not to private individuals, and that the same was the case with every bag of flour and oats destroyed at Ber- INTRODUCTH »\ XVI diansk, Mariopol, and Taganrok. The Russian Govern ment, as is well known, has always supplied Sevastopol and thenother fortresses on the coast of the Black Sea with stores and ammunition from the interior of the country by means of the Sea of Azof, as is explained in my work.

It is known that they had just completed large purchases of stores for Sevastopol which we intercepted in our late expedition, so that the merchants had received their money, and the loss wholly fell on the Government," If our fleet had penetrated to Rostof, we should probably have destroyed a still larger amount of stores, and at the latter place the shot and shells which are brought down from the foundry at Lugan, and from Siberia, for transmission to the Russian fortresses in the Black Sea. Perhaps this may be reserved for another expedition; for close to Rostof are Novo Tcherkask, the capital of the Don Cossacks, and Naketchivan, an Armenian town, and the head-quarters of many Armenian houses deeply engaged in supplying the commissariat of the Russian army. From the eastern coast of the Sea of Azof may also be obtained large herds of fine horses for our cavalry, and fat beasts for the subsistence of our army.

The taking of Anapa will allow the Circassians to overspread the country as far as the Bosphorus, and even to cross it and assist us in the Crimea, a part of which they formerly occupied, and from which some of their nobles! families make it their boast to have come. \- this is -i point of some importance, 1 think it right to state that my authovitj for this statement is Mr. Carruthers, late Consul, and Mr. Lander, -, haul, at Taganrok.

INTRODUCTION.

. XVII From Soujuk Caleh it is now friendly country to Ekaterinodar on the Kuban, the capital of the Black Sea Cossacks ; and if judicious persons be sent to treat with the Circassians, a long line of easy and important victories will be opened to us. But in the East, still more than in the West, everything depends upon a judicious selec tion of agents ; and it is especially necessary, among free mountaineers, to gain their confidence by kind, considerate conduct, and to persuade them that you have no projects for your own aggrandizement, but wish, by confirming their independence and adding to their strength, to render them a strong bulwark against Russian aggression. ) LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. View of Steppes Frontispiece. Plan of Sevastopol To face p. 62 Plan of the Heracleotic Chersonese „ 148 Plan of Kertch (Panticapæum) „ 256 k Antiquities in Gold and Electrum found at Kertch „ 282 Map of the Crimea and Sea of Azof At the end.

Note.— In the Map, Cape Kazantip is represented as fortified by the Russians. This is an error; the fortifications were meant to have been marked near Arabat. ) CONTENTS. CHATTER I. THE CRIMEA. General description of the Crimea — Mountains — Rivers — Ancient name — Boundaries — The Steppes to the north connected with it — The roads — Bereslaf — Khers6n ; its foundation and importance — Gloubdky — Perversion of names by the Russians — Nicolaief, head-quarters of Black Sea fleet, described — Odessa — Definition of New Russia — Limits of ancient Scythia — The dominions of the Khans of the Crimea, — The Zaporogue Cossacks Pa<*e 1 i& CHATTER II. THE STEPPES OF RUSSIA. Extent and boundaries of the Steppes — The Tchorno-zieine" — Soil and aspect — Their productions — Appearance of the Steppes in spring, summer, and winter — Snow-storms, called "Metel" and " Boura " — " Balkas," or ravines — Roads, their state in spring — Tumuli or " Kourgans " — False tumuli — The mirage — Tchernomore Steppes — From Don to Moloshna — Moloshna to Dniepr — German colonies — Inhabitants of Steppes — Game — Soroke or Mannot — Biroke — Suslic — The Steppes occupy two-thirds of the Crimea 13 CHATTER III.

FROM FERECOF TO 8YMPHEU6P0L. The isthmus of Perecop — Its defences — History — Its capture by Marshal Munich in 1736 — The Crimea and Kilboroun conquered by him — His cruelty and atrocities — The Armenian Bazar — ■ The salt lakes — General view of the sea-coast on each side of the isthmus — The Black Sea and Gulf of Karkim'te — Anchorage of Akmeshed — Cape Karamroiin — The Lagoon of the Dniepr and Boug defended by Kilboroun and Otchakow — The river Boug — Gloubdky — Khersrjn — The Shivashe, or Putrid Sea — The Tonka, or Strelka, or Arabate — The road from Perecop to Sympheri5pol — Symphertrpol 26 b XX CONTENTS. CHATTER IV. BAKTCHESERAI AND TCH0UF0UT KALEH.

Description of Baktclieserai — The palace of the Khans — Pouschkin's fountain — The great council-room — The hareem — The cemetery — The - of Dilara Bikeh — The gorge of Tchoufout Kaleh — Achelaina — Tchoufout Kaleh — The Karaim Jews, or those who reject the Talmud — Their very ancient origin — Probable descendants of Sadducees — Their high character — Torub of the beautiful Neaekedjan — The crypt town of Kirkor Page 37 ' 'HATTER V. WHO ARE THE TATARS ' Origin of the Tatars — Original common stock of the Mongol, Toungous, Turk, and Ugrian groups of nations — Short account of each of tl The Tatars to the Turk race — Their royal race, the Gerays, descendants of Zingis Khan, through Toktamish — Discord in the kingdom of Kiptchak for one hundred years — Kingdom of Crimea founded by Mahomet II. — Held tributary to Constantinople till conquest by the Russians — The conditions — Popular notion that the Gerays are next heirs to the throne of Constantinople — Selim Geray — Constitution of Crimea— Power of the Khans with the Grand Sultan — The Sultans, or royal family, of the Gerays — The wives of the Khans — Character of the Tatars — Their manner of living — Their fidelity 4S CHATTER VI.

SEVASTOPOL. Road to Sevastopol from Baktclieserai — Conquest and foundation of Sevasin 1783-84 — Description of town aud fortress — "Tl Dvoretz" — Engineer buildings — Fort Alexander and Fort Constantine — South Bay — T —Bay of Vessels, now the Docks- — Description of the barracks — Hospitals, Slobodes — Colonel Upton and anecdotes of Russian workmen — Sevastopol in 1834 — Reservoir of Sevastopol — Sievarna -The citadel — Observations of Sir Howard Douglas on the siege — Militarj stores — Arsenals of Russia — Manufactories of fire-arms — Cannon foundries — Stores come to Sevastopol by the Don and the Azof — The road bj the Arabate and Perecop — Fortifying of Cape Kazantip — l odefended state of Kertch up to May last — Public gardens — Haxthausen on the object of Sevastopol and the Black Sea Fleet — Chopin on th( Anglo-French alliance — Conclusion HI CONTENTS.

XXI CHATTER VII. THE RUSSIAN NAVY. Its origin under Peter the Great — Early victories of the Varangians, or Normans, and Cossacks — Row-boats in, .re useful in the Baltic than large vessels — The navy under Catherine II. — English instructors — Difficulty in manning the fleet — Xo mercantile navy — Organization of the Russian fleet — Xo marines — Oak for navy — Food of sailors — 1. vessels on foreign stations — Only one Russian foreign merchant — Greek influence diminished in 1844 — "The Twelve Apostles " — " The i Navalis" — The Affair of Smope — The Paixhans .shell system — General observations Pa^e 83 CHATTER VIII. ON THE RUSSIAN ARMY.

Large proportion of Russian population in the army — Military organization — Peaceable natural disposition of Russian people — Strong feelings when roused — Obedience to orders — Anecdotes — Commercial disposition of the Russian people — Their wish to mix with European nations — Education checked by the Government — Military system of Peter the Great — His great objects — Faults of our Government with respect to Russian '■' — The army, whence recruited — Great Russians — Poles — Little Russians — Finns, Jews, &c. — Name "Ruski" or Russian — It,, — The conscription — Soldiers' marriages — The Cantonists — Emperor's efforts to improve condition of common soldier generally unsuc — Corporal punishment — Labour — "Indefinite leave" — Divisi empire for conscription — ■ Amount of population per cent, taken from 1S40-1855 — Expense of the Russian soldier — Democratic army — The cross of St. George — Classification of Russian army — Into 1st, Corps d'Armee, or complete armies — 2nd, Local Regular Troops — 3rd, Irregulars — Don, Black Sea, and Ural Cossacks — Value and r I of Cossack troops — Various Asiatic irregulars — General observations 96 CHATTER IX.