43

COSSACKS WITH
THE WILD
WEST.

In pursuance of
their intention to assem-
ble together at the
World's Fair a congress
of the representative
horsemen of the world,
MESSRS. CODY and SALS-
BURY have had their
agents in all parts of the
earth looking for rough
riders who could com-
pete with or excel the
original riders of the
Wild West, the native
product of America. In
the Russian Cossack
they found a horseman
who style was new,
novel and striking, and one who could compete with the finest in the world. These Cos-
sacks, in the picturesque garb of the Caucasus, form the latest acquisition of the Wild West.
They are a troop of "Cossacks of the Causcasian Line," under the command of Prince
Soucca.

The Prince and his comrades, it is interesting to the public to know, belong to the same
branch of the great Cossack family, the Zaporogians, immortalized by Byron's "Mazeppa."
Mazeppa was the chief of the Zaporogian community of the Cossacks of the Ukraine.

When Byron's famous hero came to grief at the battle of Poltava, the Cossacks fled to
the Crimea, then Turkish territory, to avoid the vengeance of Peter the Great. Subsequently
they were deported to the Kuban, and settled along the river as military colonists to defend
the Russian frontier against the marauding tribes of the Caucasus.

On this dangerous frontier the qualities or horsemanship that made the name of
Mazeppa and his warlike followers household words throughout the whole of Europe, became
still further developed in the following generations, so that the Kuban Cossacks' quickly
became, in many respects, the most remarkable riders in the world.

On their lithe steppe horses as fierce and active as themselves, they proved themselves
more than worthy of their sires. During the heroic struggle of the Circassians quickly learned to
dodge within their guard and cut them down, they being among the most expert swordsmen
in the world.

FOREIGN TOURS AND TRIUMPHS.

Since the visit of "BUFFALO BILL'S" Wild West to England and its remarkable en-
gagement in London, at West Brompton, in 1887, a history and tour have been made such as
no organization of its magnitude and requirements ever accomplished.

A slight reference to this will be instructive and interesting, and the practical mind
can, partially, at a glance, recognize the difficulties and arduous duties involved in its com-
pletion. A volume would be more fitting to relate its travels, its trials, and triumphant ex-
periences. After the production in an especially erected mammoth building at Manchester
of an allegorical, pantomimic, and scenic representation of the history of American settlement
a return to the United States was made in a chartered steamship, Persian Monarch, of 6,000 tons