They are now no longer known under the name of the Zaporogues, or Cossacks of the Lesser Russia, but under the designation of the Cossacks of the Black Sea (Tsharnomortscy). They form twenty- six regiments constantly attached to the army of the Caucasus, and scarcely ever make their appearance on the left banks of the Dnieper.
A single river separates them from the Cossacks of the Don, but there is a proverb extant among the Russians, that a Cossack of the Black Sea is equal to three Cossacks of the Don; nor is there the least doubt that in point of ferociousness, of indomitable courage, and bodily strength, they are, as they themselves believe, infinitely superior to the latter. Proud, independent by nature, and waging eternal warfare in the neighbourhood of the Caucasus, they look with contempt on the Cossacks of the Don. In their songs they make frequent allusions to Poland and to the town of Kiof. Their favourite colour is that of Poland, namely, crimson; they detest the Russians; they bear for the most part Polish names; and there are still some vestiges of the Polish character amongst them. They are distinguished from the rest of the Cossacks by the peculiar symbol of their tribe, and to which they formerly appeared to attach a sort of religious veneration, viz.. by a lock of hair, which rising from the top of the head falls down behind the right ear. Their lances too are much shorter than those of the Cossacks of the Don.
The other branch of this famous race, which took refuge in Turkey under Nekrassa, and received a grant of lands on the Danube, was known under the name of the Cossacks of Nekrassa. During the last war of the Russians against Turkey, in 188, they remained faithful to Turkey, and testified by the horrible carnage they made of the Russian troops, several cavalry regiments of which they exterminated to the last man, their hatred towards Russia. Occasionally they took the Russian Cossacks by surprise by imitating their language and assuming their dress. They spread great terror amongst the Don Cossacks, upon whom they would likewise also fall by surprise, and whom they succeeded sometimes in deceiving by a similar stratagem. They never gave them quarter. The Emperor Nicholas oiFered them very advantageous conditions to induce them to return to Russia, but they have hitherto rejected every proposition to this eifect. By the treaty of Adrianople the designation of 'Cossacks of Nekrassa" is suppressed: they constitute at present a species of Ottoman militia, and may one day prove a powerful element of aggression against Russia.
Such was this singular community of Zaporogues; unique, perhaps, in its kind, and concerning which we have gathered all the information possible, and consulted every accessible authority. Amongst others.
Sherer, Annales de la Petite Russie, Memoires Secretes de la Russie, Miller, Bushing, Boauplan, Chevalier, Lessur, Neemeevicz, the Memoirs of Colonel Lagawski, Norberg, &c. The time perhaps is not far distant which may once more bring this remarkable race of warlike adventurers upon the scene of northern Asiatic, if not of European, affairs. As regards Russia more especially, their existence is fraught with considerations of the most serious importance.