to be favored by
the weakness of the principal enemy of Russia, as well as by the
approach of spring.

Iermak, leaving a part of his troop at Isker, embarked with the other
part on the Irtysh, which he descended, navigating toward the north. The
tribes of the neighborhood already recognized his power, so that he
advanced without obstacles as far as the mouth of the Armidzianka, where
he was stopped by Tartars who were still independent, and who, ensconced
in a fortress, refused to surrender. The fortress was taken by assault,
and the Cossack leaders shot or hanged the principal authors of an
obstinacy dangerous for the Russians. Terrified, the rest of the
inhabitants swore submission and fidelity to Russia, kissing a sabre
dipped in blood. The present cantons of Ratzin, Karbin, and Turtass
dared oppose no resistance. Farther on began the encampments of the
Ostiaks and the Vogules of the Kuda. There, on the steep bank of the
Irtysh their prince Demian, who had taken refuge in a fort with two
thousand warriors ready to fight, rejected all Icrmak's propositions.
According to the report of the annalist: "This little town possessed
within its walls a golden idol which was supposed to have been brought
from ancient Russia at the epoch when she embraced Christianity. The
Ostiaks kept it in a vase filled with water which they drank to revive
their courage. The Cossack leaders, having driven away the besieged
forces with their artillery, entered the town, but they could not
discover this precious idol."

The conquerers now continued their navigation. They perceived a crowd of
soothsayers who were offering a sacrifice to their famous idol of
Ratscha, conjuring it to save them from these terrible strangers. The
idol remained mute, the Russians advanced with their "thunder," and the
frightened soothsayers ran to hide themselves in the thickness of the
forests. It is there that the colony of Ratscha is found to-day, above
the Demiansk. Farther on in the canton of Tzingal, at the place where
the Irtysh, contracted by the mountains, precipitates its rapid course,
a multitude of armed men awaited the Cossacks. But a discharge of
musketry put them to flight, and the Cossacks took the little town of
Nazym, where they found only women and children, stricken with terror
and awaiting death. Iermak treated them with so much kindness that their
fathers and husbands did not delay in coming to find him with a tribute.

After reducing the ca