Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 2, 1851).djvu/111

Dnieper as far as Livonia. I may here remark, that the Circassians who dwell upon the Dnieper are Russians, and are distinct from those whom I have described above as dwelling in the mountains near the Black Sea. At the time that I was at Moscow, these people were governed by one Eustace Tascovitz, whom I have before spoken of as going with King Machmetgerei to Moscow; he was a man of great skill in military matters, and remarkable for his shrewdness, and from the frequent intercourse he had had with the Tartars, was able the more repeatedly to conquer them. He often even drew the Prince of Moscow himself, whose captive he had for some time been, into great dangers. In the same year that I was at Moscow, he showed remarkable skill in routing the Russians, a circumstance which I have thought worthy of description here. He led certain Tartars dressed in the Lithuanian costume into Russia, knowing that the Russians, taking them for Lithuanians, would fearlessly rush out upon them without hesitation. After having set an ambush in a suitable position, he awaited the arrival of the vengeful Russians. The Tartars, meanwhile, after depopulating the province of Severa, directed their march towards Lithuania; upon which the Russians, supposing them to be Lithuanians, changed their route, and, inspired with a thirst of vengeance, marched impetuously with a great force upon Lithuania. After laying waste the country, as they were returning laden with spoil, they were surrounded by Eustace, who came forth from his ambuscade, and were all of them slaughtered, to a man. When the Prince of Muscovy heard of this, he sent ambassadors to the King of Poland to complain of the injury which had been done to him. To which complaint the king replied: "That his people had not inflicted an injury, but had simply revenged one done to themselves." The Prince of Muscovy having been thus deceived on both sides, was ignominiously compelled to put up with his loss.