[Footnote 30: The _Ssiem_ was one of the most incongruous phenomena of the Polish administration. Every landed proprietor had a voice in this assembly, which was convoked on every important occasion: such as the election of a king, the declaration of war, the conclusion of peace, &c., &c. The _veto_ of a single member was, _de jure_, sufficient to put a stop to any political or administrative measure proposed to these assemblies; _de facto_, however, the king availed himself of the support of some powerful magnates to enforce the execution of his will; but as this was only an infringement of the law, so it never failed to excite the opposition (very often, armed) of the malcontents. No wonder, then, if the _Ssiems_, forming the supreme constituent power in the state, brought upon Poland the miseries of which the history of that country is one long and uninterrupted story.] [Footnote 31: Polish cuirassiers wore brass helmets adorned on each side with small wings, like those allotted by mythology to the travelling cap of the Greek Hermes. Some of them, also, wore large wings fastened to their cuirass behind their shoulders.] [Footnote 32: The ancient fashioned Polish overcoats were put on over a sleeve coat, from Which they were distinguished by their colour, and had sleeves hanging behind the shoulders, and sometimes hooked together on the back for convenience' sake.] [Footnote 33: A very frequent practice of the Turks with their Zaporoghian prisoners was, to cover them with tar and then burn them alive.] [Footnote 34: The _arkan_ of the Cossacks is like the lasso of the Mexicans--a rope with a running slip-knot, which is thrown over the object of the Cossack's chase (a wild horse or an enemy). The Caucasian mountaineers make use of the same instrument, and, like the Cossacks of yore, often drag their prisoners at their horses' heels with the knot round their neck or their waist--the other end of the _arkan_ being tied to the saddle. This practice involuntarily reminds one of Achilles dragging the body of Hector tied to his chariot.] [Footnote 35: Gentlemen Officers.] [Footnote 36: The Nakaznoï or temporary Ataman was elected for ope single campaign, during which he had the full power of the Koschevoï, and at the conclusion he resigned it to the latter.] [Footnote 37: In the original, there follows here a list of Cossacks' names, perfectly uninteresting: and almost unpronounceable to an English reader. In several other places they have also been omitted.] [Footnote 38: Constantinople.] [Footnote 39: This is a usual phrase in Russian tales of olden times, when recording the deeds of knights fighting (for the most part singly) against swarms of infidels.]