Maxime and Necetas obtained the privilege of carrying on commerce in all
their cities without paying any tax or duty.
While awaiting good news from Russia, the conquerors of Siberia did not
give themselves up to a sterile repose. They advanced by the Tavda as
far as the country of the Vogulitches, and near the mouth of that river
where the Tartar princes Labutan and Petschenieg held sway. In a bloody
engagement Iermak put them to flight on the shores of a lake; and the
annalist reports that at his time many human bones were still to be seen
there. But the timid inhabitants of the cantons of Koschutz and of
Tabarin paid the tribute demanded by the Cossack leader without a
murmur. These peaceful savages lived in an absolute independence, having
neither princes nor chiefs. They only gave their respect to certain rich
men, whose wisdom was generally recognized, and took them as judges in
their quarrels. They yielded an equal esteem to some pretended
soothsayers. One of these, gazing upon Iermak with a holy terror,
predicted long glory for him, but kept silence about his approaching
death. Here fable creates new giants among the dwarfs of Vogulie, who
are scarcely two archines in height. According to one of these stories,
the Russians saw with surprise, near the town of Tabarin, a giant two
fathoms tall, who seized a dozen men at a time and smothered them in his
arms.
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