“Now these accounts of Akhmil and the Cossacks, which we have so distinctly commemorated, were collected with the utmost care; and noted by me on the instant, after many questions to investigate their accuracy, and much labour to ascertain their truth. How many sleepless nights have I passed in writing them, neglectful of repose, in the prosecution of my task!
The Khatman [Ataman] has now with him eighteen Polkonios (Colonels) or Pashas, each of whom governs many towns and forts of immense population; some four or five of them having the command each of fifty or sixty market-places. Their force in regular troops is sixty, fifty, or at least forty thousand fighting men; and the smallest of them has under him twenty market-towns and post-stations. In all, they have twenty thousand stations for their troops; the whole of which are gathered to Akhmil [Khmelnitsky] at the season of his expeditions, to the amount of more than five hundred thousand, practised and instructed to the utmost in the various arts and stratagems of war. At present, there appeared under his command about one hundred thousand valiant warriors, all in the prime of life and vigour, and expert horsemen and tacticians. Formerly, their armies were composed of peasants, without any experience whatever in warfare, who gained instruction as occasion led; but the youths just mentioned had all learnt horsemanship and bravery, and to throw the spear and fire the musket, from their infancy.
It is proper to remark, that all these troops are destitute of pay; but they sow their fields to whatever extent they please, and in due season reap their harvests and gather them into their barns; and no person takes from them one in ten, or any other portion, but they are entirely exempt from all such exactions: and this is the condition of the whole agricultural population of the Cossack country. They know nothing of imposts, or taxes, or tithes. But Akhmil gathers into his coffers all the receipts of custom taken on the frontier of his territory, from the merchants, and the excise on mead and beer and spirits, to the sum of one hundred thousand dinars yearly; and this suffices for his annual expenditure; for in addition to it he receives not an item…
After this we left Bogoslafi, on Thursday the twenty-third of Haziran: and our way fell through the camp of the Cossack army and Akhmil, where all the troops were at their quarters, in readiness for their march; and the Khatman sent to invite our Lord the Patriarch to come to him, intimating that for the sake of this visit he had delayed the commencement of the expedition. We entered, therefore, into the midst of the squadrons: and you might have seen the men, by thousands and tens of thousands, hastening and pressing forward to kiss the hand of the Patriarch, and his cross, on their knees ; so that the horses of the coach were unable to proceed for them, and we were alarmed and incommoded by their multitude.
At length we arrived at the tent of the Khatman Akhmil, a small and mean apartment, from which he came forth to meet the Patriarch; who, as the Khatman knelt at his feet, read over him the Prayer for War and Victory, and invoked a blessing upon him and his army. Then the Khatman took him by the shoulder, and led him into his tent; which was spread with no costly woollen carpets, but only with mats of the meanest quality: there he had been sitting at his dinner, with the table spread before him, and no other dish laid on it but a mess of boiled fennel. At the same time we observed the servants of the army fishing in the lakes around, for their own sustenance. What frugality and contentment! After the Khatman had made us drink some spirits, we rose up; and he went out with the Patriarch, who gave him his blessing; and we departed. As for the army in general, they have no tents: they plant the trunks or branches of trees round them, in the form of a tent, throwing their cloaks over the inclosure, to keep off the rain; and with this they are perfectly satisfied. God’s blessing be upon them!” (The Travels of Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch)
Paul of Aleppo (1627 – 1669) was a Syrian archdeacon, traveler, and writer. He accompanied his father, Patriarch Makarios III of Antioch, on a journey from Aleppo to Istanbul, Wallachia, Moldavia, Ukraine, and Muscovy in 1652–9. Paul’s journal of the journey provides valuable eyewitness details about the history, geography, culture, folkways, architecture, and religious life of the indigenous population. In Ukraine, their route started with Rashkiv on the Dnister River (10 June 1654).
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