es, as far as
the seven or thirteen ridges of rocks, which traverse the bed, and
precipitate the waters, of the river. At the more shallow falls it
was sufficient to lighten the vessels; but the deeper cataracts were
impassable; and the mariners, who dragged their vessels and their
slaves six miles over land, were exposed in this toilsome journey to the
robbers of the desert. At the first island below the falls, the Russians
celebrated the festival of their escape: at a second, near the mouth of
the river, they repaired their shattered vessels for the longer and more
perilous voyage of the Black Sea. If they steered along the coast, the
Danube was accessible; with a fair wind they could reach in thirty-six
or forty hours the opposite shores of Anatolia; and Constantinople
admitted the annual visit of the strangers of the North. They returned
at the stated season with a rich cargo of corn, wine, and oil,
the manufactures of Greece, and the spices of India. Some of their
countrymen resided in the capital and provinces; and the national
treaties protected the persons, effects, and privileges, of the Russian
merchant.

Chapter LV: The Bulgarians, The Hungarians And The Russians.--Part III.

But the same communication which had been opened for the benefit, was
soon abused for the injury, of mankind. In a period of one hundred and
ninety years, the Russians made four attempts to plunder the treasures
of Constantinople: the event was various, but the motive, the means,
and the object, were the same in these naval expeditions. The Russian
traders had seen the magnificence, and tasted the luxury of the city of
the Caesars. A marvellous tale, and a scanty supply, excited the desires
of their savage countrymen: they envied the gifts of nature which their
climate denied; they coveted the works of art, which they were too lazy
to imitate and too indigent to purchase; the Varangian princes unfurled
the banners of piratical adventure, and their bravest soldiers were
drawn from the nations that dwelt in the northern isles of the ocean.
The image of their naval armaments was revived in the last century,
in the fleets of the Cossacks, which issued from the Borysthenes, to
navigate the same seas for a similar purpose. The Greek appellation of
_monoxyla_, or single canoes, might justly be applied to the bottom of
their vessels. It was scooped out of the long stem of a beech or willow,
but the slight and narrow foundation was raised