Cossacks in Dobruja, in 1786 (ENG)

"The village of Sfantu Gheorghe is inhabited by Cossacks, who live in 120 houses; these are poorly built and follow no rule, but their occupants are industrious, skillful craftsmen and sailors. They have their own churches and schools, and are engaged in active trading with Walachia and Moldavia, selling white sturgeon, carp and pike, eggs and cheese, and buying wheat and other foods and manufactured products. The locals are fearless sailors, who sail up to Galatzi and even Varna and Istanbul, and hate the Russians to death, as most of them have taken refuge during Emelyan Pugachev’s last rebellion. They seem shy, but in fact are very cunning. Their major flaw is drunkenness, therefore taverns have been outlawed in this place."

by Wenzel von Brognard, Austrian ambassador, during a 1786 trip aboard a Turkish sailing ship along the Dobrujan seacoast (nowadays Dobruja belong to Romania).