Beauplan.
They set not out till after Mid-summer, to be back the latest at the beginning of Autumn.
Moon, lying hid among the Reeds that are three or four Leagues up the Boristhenes, where the Gallies dare not go, having far'd ill there formerly, and think it enough to wait their coming out, in which they are always surpriz'd: Yet the Cossacks cannot slip by so swiftly but they are discover'd, then all the Country takes the alarm, and it runs as far as Constantinople. The Grand Signior sends Expresses all along the Coasts of Anatolia, Bulgaria, and Romania, that all People may be upon their Guard, giving them notice that the Cossacks are at Sea. But all this is to no purpose, for they make such use of their time, that in thirty six or forty hours time they are in Anatolia, where they land with every Man his Firelock, leaving but two Men and two Boys to keep each Boat: There they surprize Towns, take, pillage and burn them, and sometimes go a League up the Country, but return immediately, and go aboard with their Booty, hasting away to try their fortune in another place. If by chance they meet with any, they fall on; if not, they return home with their Booty.
If they find any Turkish Gallies or other Ships, they pursue, attack and make themselves masters of them, which they do in this manner: Their Boats are not above two foot and a half above Water, and they discover a Ship or Gally before they themselves can be perceiv'd by them: Then they strike their Masts, observe how the Enemy winds, and endeavour to have the Sun upon their backs at night; then an hour before Sunsetting they row with all their might towards the Ship or Gally till they come within a League of it, for fear of losing sight of it, and so continue: Then about midnight (the Signal being given) they pull up again amain towards the Vessel, half the Crew ready to fight, only expecting when they come together to board. Those in the Ship or Gally are astonish'd to be attack'd by 80 or 100 Vessels, which fill them full of Men, and in a moment bear all down: This done, they pillage what they find in Silver, or Goods of no great bulk, that cannot be spoil'd by the Water, as also the brass Guns, and what they think can serve them, then sink the Vessel and Men in it. This is the practice of the Cossacks: had they Skill to manage a Ship or Gally, they might carry it away, but they have not that knack. When they are to return home, the Guards are doubled upon the mouth of the Boristbenes; but tho weak they laugh at that, for when they have been forced to fight, they have often lost many Men, and the Sea has swallow'd some of their Vessels, for they cannot be all so good, but some must fail. Therefore they land in a Creek three or four Leagues East of Oczakow, where there is a Valley very low, about a quarter of a League in length, the Spring Tides sometimes overflowing it half a foot deep, and is about three Leagues over to the Boristhenes: there two or three hundred Cossacks draw their Boats across one after another, and in two or three days they are in the Boristhenes with their Booty. Thus they avoid fighting the Gallies that keep the mouth of the River of Oczakow. To conclude, they return to their Karbenicza, where they share the Spoil, as was said before.
Besides this they have another Refuge, they return by the mouth of Don through a Strait that lies between Taman and Kercy, and run up the mouth to the River Mius, and as far as this River is navigable, from whence to Taczawoda is but a League, and Taczawoda falls into the Samar, which runs into the Dnieper a League above Kudac, as may be seen in the Map. But they rarely return this way, because it is too long for them to return to Zaporouy. Sometimes they go this way out to Sea, when there is a great Force at the mouth of the Boristhenes to obstruct their coming out, or that they have but twenty or twenty five Boats.
When the Gallies meet them at Sea in the day time, they set them hard with their Guns, scattering them like so many Rooks, sink several, and put them in such a Consternation, that those who escape make haste to put in wheresoever they can. But when they fight with the Gallies, they do not ply their Oars, which are lash'd to the side by Withs; and when they have fir'd a Musquet, their Comrades give them another ready loaden to fire again, and thus they ply it without ceasing, and effectually. The Gallies are not able to board one of them, but their Cannon does them much harm. Upon these occasions they commonly lose two thirds of their Men, and seldom come off with half; but they bring rich Booty, as Spanish Pieces of Eight, Arabian Sequines, Carpets, Cloth of Gold, Cotton, Silks, and other Commodities of great value. Thus the Cossacks live, and these are their Revenues; for as for Trades they use none, but drinking and debauching among their Friends when they return home.To
