Christopher Columbus, they had discovered North America, and
instituted commerce with the natives."

It is not until the middle of the ninth century, that we obtain any
really reliable information respecting the inhabitants of central
Russia. They are described as a light-complexioned, flaxen-haired
race, robust, and capable of great endurance. Their huts were
cheerless, affording but little shelter, and they lived upon the
coarsest food, often devouring their meat raw. The Greeks expressed
astonishment at their agility in climbing precipitous cliffs, and
admired the hardihood with which they plunged through bogs, and swam
the most rapid and swollen streams. He who had the most athletic vigor
was the greatest man, and all the ambition and energy of the nation
were expended in the acquisition of strength and agility.

They are ever described as strangers to fear, rushing unthinkingly
upon certain death. They were always ready to accept combat with the
Roman legions. Entire strangers to military strategy, they made no
attacks in drilled lines or columns, but the whole tumultuous mass, in
wild disorder rushed upon the foe, with the most desperate daring,
having no guide but their own ferocity and the chieftains who led
small bands. Their weapons consisted of swords, javelins and poisoned
arrows, and each man carried a heavy shield. As they crossed the
Danube in their bloody forays, incited by love of plunder, the
inhabitants of the Roman villages fled before them. When pursued by an
invincible force they would relinquish life rather than their booty,
even when the plunder was of a kind totally valueless in their savage
homes. The ancient annals depict in appalling colors the cruelties
they exercised upon their captives. They were, however, as patient in
endurance as they were merciless in infliction. No keenness of torture