Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/195

 Rh wise, below Gratz, who dwell along the Muhr, as far as the Danube; then the Mysians, Servians, Bulgarians, and others dwelling as far as Constantinople, all speak the Sclavonic language; add to these the Bohemians, Lusatians, Silesians, Moravians, and those who dwell by the river Waag, in the kingdom of Hungary; the Poles also, and the widely ruling Russians, together with the Circasians, called the Quinquemontani, on the Black Sea; lastly, through Germany, the remains of the Vandals scattered here and there over the north beyond the Elbe. While these various nations pretend to be Sclavonians, the Germans promiscuously call all those who use the Sclavonic language, Wends, Winden, and Windisch,—a term taken only from the Vandals.

Russia extends near to the Sarmatian mountains, up to a short distance from Cracow; thence along the river Tyra, which the natives call Dniester, to the Black Sea, and across to the Dnieper. Some years since, however, the Turk took possession of Alba, otherwise called Moncastro [Bielograd], also situated at the mouth of the river Dniester, and under the dominion of the Waywode of Moldavia. The king of Taurica likewise crossed the Dnieper, and laying waste the country far and wide, built two fortresses,—one of which, called Ochakov, situated not far from the mouth of the Dnieper, is still in the possession of the Turk: but the space between these two rivers is now a desert. Moreover, in ascending the Dnieper, we come to the town of Circas [Cherkasui], lying towards the west, and then to the very ancient city of Kiev, formerly the metropolis of Russia; and on the opposite side of the Dnieper, is the still inhabited province of Sewera; and from thence, directly eastward, we come to the sources of the Don. Proceeding then a long distance by the course of the Don, as far nearly as the