Page:Gregor The story of Bohemia.pdf/22

 rounding Germanic tribes continued to call the country Bohemia, from the Boi, and the people Bohemians.

The Slavs, and hence also the Čechs, were of medium size, heavily built, had dark-blue eyes, round faces, fair complexion, and brown hair. They were a hardy race, patiently enduring all hardships; such as hunger and thirst, heat and cold. They were experts in regard to rowing and swimming. They lived in settled communities, engaged in raising cattle, agriculture, and various mechanical arts. They built their houses of hewn timber, seeking the most solitary places for their location, in order to escape the depredations of roving, warlike tribes. For themselves, they loved not war, and took up arms only in self-defense.

The country being surrounded by Germanic tribes, that subsisted mostly by plundering their neighbors, the Čechs suffered much from the inroads made into their territory; and, doubtless, would have been destroyed, and passed away from the earth unknown to history, like many other nations before them, had they not found a mighty deliverer in Samo, one of the greatest warriors of that age.

Samo came from the land of the Franks, but it is supposed that he was a Slav, and went to the Bohemians to escape the destruction or bondage that threatened him from the overwhelming numbers of his enemies. The Avers, at this time, rising against the Bohemians, Samo carried on a long and bloody war against them, until their power was forever broken. The nation, out of gratitude, made Samo their ruler; and for many years lived in peace and security.