Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/286

96 both as stipendiaries and as aspirants to the prince's favour, to go to battle.

They have small gelded horses, unshod, and with very light bridles, and their saddles are so adapted that they may turn round in any direction without impediment, and draw the bow. They sit on horseback with the feet so drawn up, that they cannot sustain any more than commonly severe shock from a spear or javelin. Very few use spurs, but most use the whip, which always hangs from the little finger of the right hand, so that they may lay hold of it and use it as often as they need; and if they have occasion to use their arms, they let it fall again so as to hang from the hand. Their ordinary arms are a bow, a javelin, a hatchet, and a stick, like a cæstus, which is called in Russian, kesteni; in Polish, bassalich. The more noble and wealthy men use a lance. They have also suspended from their arm oblong poignards like knives, which are so buried in the scabbard, that they can scarcely touch the tip of the hilt, or lay hold of them in the moment of necessity. They have also a long bridle perforated at the end, which they attach to a finger of the left hand, so that they may hold it at the same time as they use the bow. Moreover, although they hold the bridle, the bow, the short sword, the javelin, and the whip, in their hands all at the same time, yet they know how to use them skilfully without feeling any incumbrance.

Some of the higher classes use a coat of mail beautifully worked on the breast with a sort of scales and with rings; some few use a helmet of a peaked form like a pyramid.

Some use a dress made of silk stuffed with wool, to enable them to sustain any blows. They also use pikes.

They never have infantry or artillery in an engagement; for whatever they do, whether they are attacking, or