Concealed and sheltered in this retired spot, he adopted the religion of Roskolniki — the Russian puritan faith; an ancient community of the Greek Church, established by some fanatics in the twelfth century, who were to be the strict observants of the New Testament;
PU&ATCHEF. 189 a community persecuted by Peter the Great and his ancestors, and scorned by the majority of the Russian people, not for trifling differences in the ceremonies of their rites, but for a singular custom, to this time, it is said, prevalent among them, which decency forbids me to mention. The rigorous persecutions of these fanatics, known by their great chastity and abstemious habits, produced in Russia the same effect as everywhere else in similar circumstances: it greatly increased, instead of diminishing their number, especially in the remote parts of the Russian empire.
Pugatchef did not fail to turn these persecutions to his own account. Being obliged to leave his hospitable friends, he went to Dobrynka, where he lived on alms: thence he wandered some time in Lesser Russia, provided for and well taken care of by the numerous votaries of his adopted creed; but having received timely warning of the danger to which he was exposed in dwelling among them, he proceeded through the country of the Don, towards the land of the Cossacks of the laik, where religious persecution, combined with the growing impatience of the Russian yoke, were preparing a formidable rebellion.
As soon as Pugatchef had assembled some of his partisans, he hinted that he was about to undertake a lucrative expedition; and went towards the river Kuban and the passes of the Caucasian mountains, where the commerce carried on between the Turks, the Persians,' and the Russians, afforded him excellent opportunities of satisfying the rapacious habits and cupidity of his followers. It is certainly not easy to imagine the existence of such a band of organised robbers in western Europe; but nothing is more common than similar bands in eastern Russia, which have always existed somewhere, and are found even at the present time. During his successful and murderous excursions, Pugatchef frequently complained of the cruelty and oppression of the Russian government, and never failed to impress the belief on the mind of his people that the time was not far distant when they would see better days. Similar expressions and promises, always artfully introduced at proper times and under favourable circumstances, and seasoned, moreover, with the powerful stimulant of affected secrecy, augmented daily the number of his adherents, and attracted, at the same time, the attention of the Russian authorities. Pugatchef was suddenly arrested at the small town of Malefolka, and sent in irons to Kazan to undergo his trial. This unlucky accident would have cut short all his mighty projects, had he not so skilfully assumed the character of a half idiot, as to baffle the vigilance of the governor, whose consequent delay in inflicting the punishment awarded to Pugatchef, enabled the latter, by means of certain money furnished him by the clergymen of his community, to bribe his guards and to effect his escape.