COSSACK SCOUTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 5229, 19 March 1904, Page 10

COSSACK SCOUTS.

There are no bettor scouts in the woiTfl than the Cossacks. These men serve in the Russian army under special regulations. Service with them begins oi” the completion of the eighteenth year and lasts twenty years, of which seven are spent actually serving. These rules do not apply, however, to tho Ural Cossacks, who aro volunteers, although they servo actually one year. Since thedays when the allied armies entered Paris no part of the Russian army lias taken such a hold on the popular imagination as the Cossack cavalry.--■ Like the French Zouave and the Prussian Uhlan, tho Cossack has been enveloped with a certain amount of romance, and lives in storv far more than his less-known comrades in the Russian army. And this is not without reason, for the Cossack makes excellent fighting material. THE EYE AND SOUL OF THE ARMY On active service as scouts,' the Cossacks are the eye and soul of the ami y. ■ Like a pointer, they seem to smell the enemy when no one else thinks of liis existence. Neither Cossack nor his : horse seems to know what fatigue sleep. The horse in the Cossack’s hands is something of which tho greatest care must betaken, and this accounts for the seemingly tireless nature- of the Cossack’s mount. H a Commander in. the Hold wishes to send an older to a distant column whose exact position he. cannot locate, ho employs a Cossack, who is bound to find a means of delivering the order; for it. is said of the Cossacks that they can find their way anywhere. AS GUERILLA FIGHTERS. At guerilla warfare those splendid cavalry men are, of course, at their, best. Woo betide an army whose rear is harassed by Cossacks, for it will have no peace. In peace time there are 52 regiments of Cossacks —44 of six squadrons, and eight of four. There are, besides. 21 independent these figures arc considerably increased, there being then 130 regjmcnts of six squadrons, and eighteen of four, besides fifty-three independent squadrons. Tlie Cossack is armed, -with a rifle, without a bayonet, and with a sword, which, by the yay. has no guard. Front ranks in most Cossack regiments carry lances.