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 58 THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. naks were defeated, and had to seek refuge in the empire. Protection was afforded them, but they were always unruly subjects. Some of them had embraced Mahometanism, while others were pagans ; all were barbarian nomads. Towards the end of the same century the Uzes swept over Moldavia and Wallachia, crossed the Danube, and devastated the country as far south as Macedonia.' The imperial troops, with the aid of the Bulgarians and the newly protected Patchinaks, suc- ceeded in driving them across the Danube. Even in tliis case, however, permission was given to some of them to establish settlements in Macedonia. As we approach 1200 we find the Patchinaks a constant source of trouble. In 1148 a division of them crossed the Danube and invaded the empire. Under the vigorous rule of Manuel they were driven back, but they returned again and again, and in 1186 and 1187 united themselves with the Bulgarians to pillage Thrace. Their hostilities were encour- aged during the last years of the empire, when the dynastic struggles helped to weaken it. In 1200 they laid waste Mace- donia. Their race, however, was almost run. Another di- vision of the great Turkish horde was already attacking their rear. These were called simply Comans, the second half of the word Turcomans.'^ Like so many of their predecessors, they had come from Central Asia b}^ the great tract of country between Russia and the Black Sea. Their struggle was at first confined to the territory which forms the modern kingdom of Poumania. They are described, like other Turks, as of nomadic habits, armed with bows and arrows, lances and shields, and drinking mares' milk. In 1200, while the empire was troubled with a host of other enemies, the Comans ravaged Thrace, but were compelled to withdraw to meet an attack on their rear by the Russians. Yet again they returned with the Wallachs in 1201. Another race, with more vitality than most of those I have J Zonaras estimates their number at G0,000. 2 The Byzantine uriters are always loose in their geography, and some- times confound the Comans with the Polofzes, a Finnish peojilc wliicU still inhabited what is now South Russia.