Travels Through Several Provinces of the Russian Empire: With an Historical Account of the Zaporog Cossacks, and of Bessarabia, Moldavia, Wallachia and the Crimea
By Pierce Balthasar Campenhausen, Freiherr von Pierce Balthasar Campenhausen
Published by Printed for Richard Phillips, by J.G. Barnard, 1808

The external appearance of the Wallachians, forms a
singular contrast with the state of degradation in which
they live. Their manly countenance, the axe which is suspended
from their girdle, the sheepskin, which is thrown
across the left shoulder, and fastened on the breast, reminds
one of the old Roman attire; the buskins which they
wear, all serve to give an. idea that the Wallachians are a
poor but warlike people, also one is indignant to find so
pinch weakness and pusillanimity, under such a bold and
dignified exterior. But although the oppression, under
which they have so long laboured, has degraded their cha-
lacter, it has not been capahle of obliterating those external
traces of energy and independence with which nature
has impressed them. ,

Follow this link to learn more about Moravian Vlachs.

If the Kanasz possesses a hut made out of branches, the brigand becomes his companion for the night. His relations with refugees and vagabonds of the forest are the result of circumstances ; he is their spy, their sentinel. In return for his services the brigands respect the animals he guards, and for which he is responsible ; but if the opportunity occurs of doing a stroke of business for himself, the Kanasz does not neglect to profit by it. He manages the little hatchet which he carries in his waist-belt with as much dexterity as the Spaniards the knife and the Italians the stiletto. The Kanaszes are fond of assembling together for games of skill, and hurl their axes, which whirl round and round in the air as they fly whistling into the trunk of a birch-tree at forty or fifty paces distant, with great exactness of aim. To the Hungarian peasant, as well as to the Russian and Wallachian, the hatchet is a weapon of warfare which he prefers to a gun. I have often seen in Transylvania the peasant going out to hunt bears with nothing but a single axe ; he lies in wait, and when the animal comes up, lets fly this axe, which splits open the animal’s head.

(Just to illustrate that the Carpathian axe culture was alive and well in Romania during the 19th century, I have made this post. The 1st picture I have posted with this little historical tidbit was titled balkan axe years ago when I snatched it from the web from some forgotten site. The second is an illustration of Dacian arms.)

“I was not a little surprised to
see emerge from thence a sturdy Wallack, carrying
the usual long staff, armed with an axe at one end.
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The ex-forester walked first, swinging his lantern as he
moved ; then came the Wallack volunteer, stumping
along with axe-headed staff.