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222 REGNARD’S JOURNEY TO LAPLANDs
and filver. Their drefs confifts of a man’s waiftcoat unbuttoned; and a petticoat; they
wear boots hke men.
‘There is no country in the world more flat than Poland ; we have travelled throngh
almoft the whole country without finding a fingle mountain; whence the country
being fiat, there are few rivulets, as they are unable to flow, on which account, the
water is very fcarce ; but, to make up for this deprivation, they make very good beer,
particularly at Varca, which is renowned throughout the country as being the beft.
All thefe extenfive plains are fown with corn, and it is exported to various parts of
Europe.
There is no fortified place in Poland, except Leopold, which is fituated on the
Tarkifh frontier : {till, however, thefe are fortifications in the Polifh manner, which the
French would willingly deftroy. It is by this means, they think, that they preferve
their liberty; and, having no place where they can intrench themfelves, they are
obliged to make ramparts of their bodies. ‘They are certain to beat the Turks, when
they choofe, as they have always done ; but neverthelefs, they do not ceafe to lofe
their country with them. ‘The Tartars are the enemies whom they fear moft: thefe
men do not feek after glory; they only defire booty, on which they live. Their
troops are never placed in regular order; they fall fuddenly on the enemy’s camp and
take every thing they can find; and at the firft found of the drum, which the captain
has fixed to the bow of his faddle, they retire and return a quarter of an hour after-
wards to attack fome other place ; fo that they are conftantly on the alert; by which
means they confound their enemies, and continually ftop and moleft them. ‘They are,
in fighting, particular in this refpect, that they fight when flying, and fhoot arrows from
behind their heads, which are difcharged upon their enemies. ‘They make frequent
incurfions into Poland, when the Poles do net pay them the ten thoufand cou/uques,
which they are obliged to furnifh them with every year, which are drefles made of
fheep’s fkins. ‘The Tartars, when making their incurfions, travel thirty or forty leagues
in one night, carrying with them a little fack filled with ftraw, attached to the head of
their horfes, who do not ftop, that they may eat it, and a piece of flefh which becomes
baked under the faddle; fo that, their enemies, unapprifed of their approach, they take
all that they can find in the country, men, women, and children, whom they afterwards
carry by the Black Sea, to fell at Conftantinople. But they have this peculiarity, that
they never attack fortified places; nor will forty thoufand Tartars attack a paltry
village, provided it be only fhut up with planks, becaufe they are afraid of ambufcades,
and they do not wifh to fight regularly.
The Poles are anxious to procure the alliance of the Tartars, and make ufe of it,
unlefs when at war with the Turks, for whom they always declare themfelves, as being
Mahometans, and rendered tributaries to the Grand Seignior, in confequence of which,
ifthe Ottoman race became extinét, the Khan of the lartars would fucceed to the
Empire. ;
King Cafimir had more than twenty thoufand of them, when the Swedes entered
Poland, but they did not await the enemy, and as foon as they knew that they were
only two leagues diftant from them, they fled as if they had been at their heels. _
The republic always maintains feven or eight thoufand regular troops on the frontiers,
to prevent the incurlions of the Tartars. The King does not maintain thefe troops ;
he only pays the Heydukes, the Semelles, and the Janizaries. The firft-mentioned are
dreffed in blue, with large buttons and plates of tin, and have bonnets made of felt upon
their heads. They have firelocks, and the bardiche, which they fay is a very good
weapon. The Semelles are other foldiers all armed in the fame manner ; but all the
Janizaries
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