CHAPTER I.— THE COSSACK Page 3. (a). — Kazachia Orda was a tribe known in the Caucasus long before the word Kozak was known in Europe, Some writers say, that Schah Matey, the Tatar khan of the Wolga, bound by a treaty made with John Albert, king of Poland, to make war with the khan of the Crimea, had a brother of the name of Kosak, whom he sent to the Nogay Tatars for reinforcements, and that that brother, having a whole tribe of Tatars under his command, gave the name of Kosak to the whole Kosak nation, in whose territory the conflicts between the two Tatar chiefs were raging. Others assert, that the name is derived from the Polish word Koza, which means a goat, in order to give an idea of the swiftness of the Cossacks. Sherer, in the Annals of Lesser Russia, asserts, that they derive their name from a slip of land called Kossa (a scythe). The Poles and the Russians mean by the word Kosak, a brigand lightly armed. See Cromer, p. 452; Lesur, pp. 185, 186.
Page 3. (6). Such is the version of Lesur, but he contradicts himself visibly respecting the Cossacks of the Ukraine; and we would rather be inclined to follow the opinion of Cromer, and other Polish historians, who assigned the existence of the Cossacks to the ninth century.
Page 6. (c). — See Cromer, Sherer, and other historians, who mention that the militia of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which, after the annexation of the Ukraine to Poland, passed completely under the dominion of the Polish crown, was dressed, in the reign of the Polish king Kazimir Jagellon in English grey woollen-cloth. The above-mentioned militia were no other men but Cossacks.
Page 12. (d). — See Lesur, Beauplan, about the inhabitants of the Ukraine.
Page 13. The Kings of Poland were the possessors of certain lands belonging to the crown, which they were obliged to give to the Polish nobles, who signalised themselves in war, or in council, or who, on other occasions, might have deserved well of their country. These lands varied in value, according to the rank and merits of those to whom they were assigned. They were not given in perpetuity, but for life, sometimes for two or three generations, but very seldom as a heritage. The widows very often continued in possession of these estates till the time of their death, and none but nobles could receive them. They were called in Polish Starostwa. The title of Starosta was enjoyed by the possessor of them, and his consort was entitled Staroscina; the Starosta's son was called Staroscic, and the Starosta's daughter Staroscianka, and the name of the estate or village was often adjoined to the title. The Starosta enjoyed a certain authority on their estates, especially during the interregnum. There were two sorts of Starosta, those who enjoyed the magistracy on their estates, and those who did not enjoy the same privilege; yet it is to be remarked, that when a Polish noble had nine sons, six of which were in the army, he received an estate of the government and was Starosta.
Page 14. (e).— See Lesur sur les Kosaques; Beauplan's Description de Ukraine.
Page 20. (/). — Czayki (pronounced tchaiqui), means, in Polish, the sewwicks. These boats were so called on account of their lightness.
Page 21. (g). — The Polish Cossacks, according to Beauplan, used in their piratical expeditions a kind of cask, which contained a quantity of fresh water, so well preserved that it never putrified, and acquired at sea, even with the length of time, a better taste. The secret of preserving sweet water from putrefaction— a secret which would be of the greatest importance in navigation— was never disclosed by the Cossacks. Several historians mention it. It seems now to be completely lost.
Page 29. (A).— According to Lesur, p. 321, Czaplinski, after ravishing the lady of Klimielnitski on the dead body of her son, massacred her, put Khmielnitski in prison, and burned his house. Lesur, however, who wrote his History of the Cossacks in 1813 and 1814, dwells often on all things unfavourable to Poland. He mentions that the Cossack chief, Nalevayko, vanquished and taken prisoner by the celebrated Polish chieftain Zulkiewski, in 1598, was publicly burned at Warsaw, in a copper bull made on purpose; when it is a well known fact, which I minutely investigated, that nothing of the kind ever happened in Poland. Nalevayko was beheaded. Some authors assert that Czaplinski ill-treated Khmielnitski, burned his house, put him in prison, and lived publicly with his wife.