Page 230. [Steppes.] The steppes of the Ukraine are for the most part covered with plants, from three to four feet high, called budziake (pronounced 6ooc?2:zai). They are smooth from the end, and prickled on the top; thus affording an excellent shelter for all kinds of game, wild animals and sometimes wolves. "Wood being very scarce, these reeds are used as fuel, especially in winter. To afford the reader some idea of the danger to which a traveller was not unfrequently, (in times past, and may yet be) exposed, at the inns, in the thinly peopled wilds of the south- eastern Ukraine, I may instance an appalHng circumstance that occurred during my stay in that province many years ago, as also an adventure which happened in those regions to my father (deceased 28 years since), and in which his life was almost miraculously preserved.
Twelve Greek merchants, having successfully sold their goods at Odessa, were returning to the town of Brody with large sums of money, and halted at an inn in the Steppes. One of them attended to the horses; the remainder slept in the same room on the carpets, placed on hay, as the comfort of beds, known in Western Europe, is out of the question in these resting-places.
Having partaken of refreshments, smoked their pipes, and drank some grog, the merchants, fatigued by the journey, and, confident in their number, scorning the necessary precautions, soon fell into a deep slumber. After midnight three men, with noiseless steps, entered the travellers' room. Two of them carried a narrow plank, prepared beforehand, and holding it at each end, in which some lead was put on purpose, placed it cautiously across the breasts of the unsuspecting travellers, pressing it down with all their might, while the third, with a double-edged, thick, and sharp-pointed knife, cut the eleven victims' throats with lightning speed.
A mere accident, however, led to the detection of this atrocity. Shortly subsequent to its perpetration another traveller entered the inn, and accosted one of the assassins. This fellow had appropriated to himself the valuable watch of one of his victims, which watch, by an ingenious contrivance, played several airs, after the fashion of a musical box. While the two were conversing the watch commenced playing. " Wliat is that? " inquired the traveller. " It is only my watch," answered the villain, turning pale with conscious guilt. "It must be a very curious one; pray let me examine it," said the traveller. The man's hesitation at complying with this request, and his evasive replies to other interrogatories, naturally excited a suspicion that an article so imusual to one of his humble rank had not honestly come into his possession. Consequently the traveller lost no time in communicating the affair to the police. The premises were thereupon searched, and the result was the detection and arrest of the criminals. After a protracted trial, they were convicted, knouted, and executed.