[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, author's spelling has been retained. ]

LIFE OF SCHAMYL

LIFE OF SCHAMYL;

AND

NARRATIVE

OF THE

CIRCASSIAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE AGAINST RUSSIA. 

BY

J. MILTON MACKIE, AUTHOR OF "COSAS DE ESPAÑA"

BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY. CLEVELAND, OHIO:JEWETT, PROCTOR AND WORTHINGTON. NEW YORK: SHELDON, LAMPORT ANDBLAKEMAN. 

1856. 

PREFACE. 

The principal authors who have recently written on Circassia areBodenstedt, Moritz Wagner, Marlinski, Dubois de Montpéreux, Hommaire deHell, Taillander, Marigny, Golovin, Bell, Longworth, Spencer, Knight, Cameron, Ditson; and from their pages chiefly has been filled the easelwith the colors of which I have endeavored to paint the followingpicture of a career of heroism nowise inferior to that of the mostfamous champions of classical antiquity, of a war of independence suchas may not improperly be compared with the most glorious strugglesrecorded in the annals of liberty, and of a state of society perhaps themost romantic and the most nearly resembling that described in the songsof Homer which the progress of civilization has now left for theadmiration of mankind. 

CONTENTS. 

I. The Land of SchamylII. Its HistoryIII. The War with RussiaIV. His BirthplaceV. His Parents, Atalik, and TeacherVI. His Early EducationVII. His HorsemanshipVIII. The Circassian GamesIX. His Love of NatureX. HuntingXI. Camping OutXII. In the White MountainsXIII. SongsXIV. DancesXV. FestivalsXVI. His Religious EducationXVII. His MarriageXVIII. MaidsXIX. WivesXX. Female Slave-TradeXXI. Form of GovernmentXXII. Religious BeliefXXIII. OccupationsXXIV. MannersXXV. His Predecessors. --Mahomet-MollahXXVI. Khasi-MollahXXVII. Hamsad BeyXXVIII. Circassian Mode of WarfareXXIX. Russian Mode of WarfareXXX. His Personal AppearanceXXXI. Becomes Imam, and Continues the WarXXXII. Issues ProclamationsXXXIII. His Head-Quarters at AkhulgoXXXIV. The Siege of AkhulgoXXXV. The Expedition against DargoXXXVI. His Domestic LifeXXXVII. Prince Woronzoff at DargoXXXVIII. Schamyl's Proclamation to the KabardiansXXXIX. His Invasion of the KabardasXL. His System of GovernmentXLI. Recent Events

LIFE OF SCHAMYL. 

I. 

THE LAND OF SCHAMYL. 

Circassia--under which name the country occupied by a great number oftribes of which the Circassians are one, is best known toforeigners--lies in the Caucasus, a range of mountains which, running inthe direction between north-west and south-east, extends from the shoresof the Black Sea to those of the Caspian, and divides by its wall ofrock the two continents of Europe and Asia. 

The traveller approaching these mountains from the steppes inhabited bythe Cossacks subject to Russia, beholds at a distance of thirty miles asingle white conical summit towering high above the otherwise levelhorizon. This is the peak of Elbrus, the loftiest in the Caucasianchain, and called by the natives the Dsching Padischah, or great spiritof the mountains. Next, is seen the no less solitary top of Kasbek, situated further eastward, and its snows tinged by the first red rays ofthe morning. Then, the whole line of summits, "the thousand peaked, "rises to view; and finally, a lower range covered with forests, andhence called the Black Mountains, draws its dark and irregular outlineagainst the higher snows beyond. 

The waters shed from the northern declivities of the Caucasus, arereceived by two principal rivers, the Kuban and the Terek; while thosewhich flow down on the south side are gathered into the Rion and theKur, or ancient Cyrus. Of these streams the Kuban is the largest, andempties itself as does the Rion, into the Black Sea; the other tworunning eastward to the Caspian. 

The western portion more especially of the Black Mountains is heavilywooded. Gigantic oaks spread their branches above cliffs and summits, where in less favored climes only the cold pine would be able to find ascanty subsistence; while the spray of the Black Sea is dashed againstthe immense stems of the blood-wooded taxus, and the red andalmond-leaved willows sweep with their long branches the waves. The boxhere is a giant of the forest; the stern of the juniper measures oftenfifteen feet in circumference; and the vine climbing to the top of thelofty elm sends its tendrils across to the neighboring beech, hangingfestoons from tree-top to tree-top, and almost making of the forest onefar spreading arbor. Lower down the pomegranate hangs out its blossoms;the fig and wild pear their fruits; the laurel and the myrtle theirgreen leaves; while an infinite variety of creepers entwine themselvesaround every form, and wild flowering plants, from gorgeousrhododendrons and azalias to the lowly violet and arbutus, fill thewoods with sweet odors. 

The distant view of the Caucasus, so bold in its outlines and varied inits forms, surpasses in grandeur that of the Alps; and if from the smallnumber of lakes and glaciers, the interior aspects present less of thatexceeding beauty which characterizes the Swiss landscapes above those ofall other mountains, there is nevertheless a brilliancy of tints in thisoriental air, a glory of nearly five hundred miles of snow peaks, aluxuriance of woods on the lower ranges, and a degree of cultivation inthe valleys where the hand of man has been busy since times the mostremote, which render this mountain land one of the fairest portions ofthe globe, and worthy of having been, as by some traditions is reported, the cradle of the human race. 

The western portion of the mountains is fruitful to the height of fivethousand feet, and the eastern is frequently terraced with gardens. Thevalleys, green with meadows or golden with many varieties of grain, aredotted over with villages and clusters of cottages. White sheep in greatnumbers and jet black goats crop the hill-sides; while in lower pasturesfeed the buffalo and the camel. Herds of tame or half-wild horses roamat large through the glades; wild boars house among the reeds on theriver banks; and the chamois looks down from its rocks upon wild deerand gazelles grazing unscared in the vicinity of the habitations of man. 

II. 

ITS HISTORY. 

The Caucasus is celebrated as the scene of some of the most popularfables of Grecian antiquity, as well as of some of the earliesttraditions of the race. For while the ark of Noah is said to havegrounded on the top of Mount Elbrus before reaching its finalresting-place on the neighboring Ararat, it was on Kasbek thatPrometheus was chained to a rock for having stolen the fire of the godsand given it to mortals. In the mountain land of Colchis, Jason carriedoff the golden fleece, and Cadmus reaped a harvest of armed men fromsowing serpent's teeth in furrows turned by the fire-breathing bulls ofVulcan. Hither wandered that primitive race of men who were driven bythe Pelasgi from the regions of Olympus; on an island off the coast thepoets located the palace of Aurora, wherein were kept up the perpetualdances and songs of the hours, and where was daily reborn the sun; andfinally, between the present Little Kabarda and Svanethi existed, saythe traditions, the gallant state of the Amazons, until the heart oftheir otherwise unconquerable prophetess was taken captive by Thoulme, chief of the Circassians, while long afterwards the famous Ninacontinued to rule over the heroic sisterhood in Immeritia. 

The ancient Persians gave to the Caucasus the name of Seddi Iskender, orthe barrier of Alexander, who here met with the first check in hisattempt to subjugate the world. Rome early sent her conquering legionsto bring under the yoke the prosperous colonies of Greece on the shoresof the Euxine; and Pompey returning home from the East, after havingchased Mithridates from the Euphrates to Colchis and Dioscurias, gracedhis triumphal entry into the city with the gigantic sons of thesemountains. Genoa, in a later and more commercial age, made settlementson the Caucasian shore, whither she sent her argosies to be freightedwith grain, skins, tallow, and the fruits of the hive, and where she hasleft to this day the foundations of her walls and towers, her carvedstones and crosses, her sepulchres and a name. In more recent times, theprinces of the dynasties of the White Horde and the Golden Camp havecome from the Crimea to break their lances on the plains of the Kuma;Attila, Tamerlane, and Genghis Khan have swept in their victoriouscareer along the base of these rocky ramparts of freedom; the Persianand the Turk have waged occasional war with some of the Caucasiantribes, though never with more than partial and temporary success; andit is the Muscovite empire alone which has ever succeeded in throwingthe shadows of imminent subjugation over the landscape of these sunnyvales. 

Accordingly, the independence of most of these mountain tribes has beenmaintained from the earliest times to the present against all theattempts of their enemies of the plains. They have lived forgenerations, the memory of man runneth not to the end of, in theenjoyment of a large degree of natural liberty, in obedience to ancientlaws and usages, in the respect of age, virtue, and superiority in arms, and now furnish the only specimen left of tribes of men still living inall the simplicity, and retaining, along with the practice of some ofthe semi-barbarous vices, all the heroism of the so-called age of gold. 

Georgia, which lies on the southern declivities of the Caucasus, wasnominally converted to Christianity in the days of Constantine theGreat, when its heroic queen Thamar ruled over one of the most powerfulempires of western Asia; but beautiful on these mountain tops as werethe feet of those who brought the glad tidings and published peace, thedoctrines of the cross made but little impression on the benighted mindsof these worshippers in the temple of nature. Nor though Russia earlyendeavored to introduce the peaceful soldiers of the church into thefastnesses where she could not penetrate with her secular dragoons, thenative heart continued to hold to the simple religious rites handed downby tradition from the fathers, and finally relinquished them only withinthe last hundred years in exchange for the doctrines of the Prophet, which, though introduced a couple of centuries before, at the point ofthe spears of the Crimean Khans, were then first made plain andacceptable by missionaries from Turkey. 

For subsistence the Caucasian tribes have always relied mainly onpasturage and agriculture, also on the chase, on rapine and the spoilsof war, and on the exchange of their natural products and slaves for thesalt, gunpowder, and manufactured goods of foreigners. So constant forcenturies has been their attachment to the mountains that they havenever emigrated to the plains, the life of which they despise. Only theharems of Constantinople have an attraction for their females; and a fewrestless youth, wandering at different times into foreign parts, havefurnished bodyguards to the sultans of Turkey and the Khans of theCrimea; have served under the name of Mamelukes in Egypt, where MehemetAli could not control but only massacre them; and latterly have gracedthe parade days of the Russian capital, where, treated like pet lions, their fiery spirit of independence and impatience of discipline havebeen but mildly restrained by the Czar, and where such is their haughty, imposing bearing, that whenever the vulgar crowd in the streets givesway for the coming of any one, it has become almost a proverb to say, itis either a general officer in the army or a Circassian. 

III. 

THE WAR WITH RUSSIA. 

The contest between the Circassians and the Russians may be said to haveoriginated as far back as the middle ages. For it was in the tenthcentury that the grand duke Swätoslaff, overrunning a portion of theBosphoric territories, came into collision with the inhabitants of theCaucasus; and in the sixteenth, the Russians under the grand dukeWassiljewitsch made their appearance on the Caspian, on the westerncoast of which they established garrisons as far south as Tarku. In thelatter century also the Kabardian princes, whose territory consisting ofopen valleys was less defended by nature against the inroads of enemies, bowed their necks for a time in submission; and Georgia, on the Asiaticslope, took in the person of her king Alexander the oath of vassalage tothe Muscovite, obtaining a master where she had asked only for aprotector. But occupied during the next two hundred years with affairsat the north, the Russian princes lost their possessions and most oftheir influence in the Caucasus; and it was not until 1722 that thefar-seeing ambition of the great Peter brought him to the "Albaniangates" of Derbend, and even within sight of the sacred fires of thepromontory of Apsheron. 

It was permitted to this most gifted of the czars to behold thesemountains and get a glimpse of the fair Asiatic vales beyond, but not topossess them. In leaving, however, to his successors the legacy of hisboundless ambition, he pointed with his dying hand to the peaks ofElbrus and Kasbek; and ever since his race, extending itself on allsides, has not ceased to press onward in this pathway to ward the risingof the sun. 

Especially within the last quarter of a century has Russia occupiedherself in earnest with the conquest of the Caucasus. During that periodshe has maintained there constantly a large force, and latterly as manyas two hundred thousand men under arms. Year after year she hasdespatched her battalions to supply the places of those who had fallenby the shaskas of the Circassians or the still more deadly arrows of thefever, which in the most sickly seasons has cut off no less than onesixth of the whole army. She has sent thither also her best generals andadministrators from Jermoloff to Paskiewitsch and Woronzoff. The emperorNicholas went himself into these mountains at the risk of his life, toinspect and encourage by his presence the invading columns. Every systemof attack which the ingenuity of the St. Petersburg cabinet could devisehas in turn been tried; efforts have constantly been made to gain overby intrigue the tribes who could not be subjugated by force; the cross, joining its influence to the power of the sword, has endeavored to bringthe native mind under the dominion of a system of religion morefavorable to the aims of the autocrat; a superior civilization has heldout to the comparatively rude barbarians, its hands full of giftsdazzling and fatal to liberty; but hitherto mostly, if not all, in vain. The inhabitants of the upper and more inaccessible mountains have heldtheir independence above all price, fighting for their homes as themountaineer only will; and the chieftains who have been tempted bypreferment in the Russian army and the glitter of its epaulettes, by thehonors of the parades at Tiflis, and even by the imperial champaign, andthe sight of the ballet dancers of St. Petersburg, have disdained tosell a birthright of freedom inherited from a thousand generations inexchange for these high-flavored sops of an overreaching foreigndespotism. 

An intense interest of humanity, therefore, still hangs over thisprolonged contest between the forces of civilization and those of theprimitive state of nature, between the battalions of imperial authorityand the bands of democratic liberty; and the more intense because thisbarrier of nature and wall of freemen once completely carried, therewill remain no further hinderance to the victorious course eastward ofthat ambition which, possessing already the path to the orient by thenorthern snows, covets that also across the sands of the tropics. 

IV. 

HIS BIRTHPLACE. 

Schamyl, the principal hero of this war of independence, was born in theyear 1797. The place of his birth is Himri, an aoul or village in thedistrict of Arrakan, and in the north-western part of Daghestan, aterritory lying on the Caspian. It is situated on the river, calledlower down where it approaches the sea, the Sulak, but here the Koissu;and at a point just above where the main stream throws off that one ofits four branches which is termed the Andian Koissu. 

All these waters flow down, on the south, from the main Caucasian range;on the west, from the Andian offshoot; and on the east, from that of theKaitach; which two latter running, the one north-easterly and the othernorth-westerly until they meet, form the two sides of a triangle ofmountains having for its base the high Caucasus. The apex is just belowHimri, and consists of the escaped cliffs of two summits called theTouss-Tau and the Sala-Tau; while through a gorge between them isprecipitated the whole volume of the united branches of the Koissu. Himri, accordingly, together with the neighboring fortified aoul ofAkhulgo, is one of the keys of this triangular region of well-wateredhighlands, which is inhabited by a considerable number of warlike tribesknown collectively as the Lesghians, and which, with the territory ofDaghestan on the east, and that of Tchetchenia on the north, is theprincipal theatre of the great military achievements of Schamyl. 

The aoul of Himri is placed like an eagle's nest high on a rockprojecting from the mountain side. From the beautiful vale through whichwinds the Koissu, a narrow path cut out of the rock is carried zig-zagup a height of two or three hundred feet, and is exposed to be swept bystones let loose from above of any enemy that might be daring enough toattack this strong-hold. A triple wall supported by high towers adds thedefences of art to those of nature; while above, the place is shelteredby the overhanging brow of the mountain. 

Standing on one of these towers the native looks down upon the narrowbut fertile valley, divided in twain by the fast-flowing river. Severalof the surrounding mountains are laid out in terraced gardens; whilesome are partially covered with oaks and plane-trees; and others againare entirely bare, having instead of the drapery of foliage only thetints of gold or purple which the rising and the setting sun sheds overthe ruggedness of the limestone and the porphyry. Near at hand are seenone or two heights which are clad with perpetual snows; while westward, far away beyond the lower highlands, the view is terminated by the whiteform of Mt. Kasbek. 

The internal aspect of the aoul is less pleasing. Most of the streetsare steep and crooked, though the scattered position of the dwellings inothers, affords some sites both open and level. The roofs are generallyflat; the walls, almost destitute of windows, are rough with unhewnstones; and many of the houses lie half buried under the rocky mountainside. These are without numbers as the streets are without names. Here, moreover, rises no village spire to point the thoughts of menheavenward; no church bell rings out its merry festal peals, or tollsthe march to the grave; no sundial marks the succession of the hourswhich pass by unheeded all, save those of morning, noon, and evening;and in no public school-house is heard the low buzz of children conningtheir tasks. But the mollah calls to prayers from the minaret of ahumble mosque; and in a dark corner illumined by aslant rays from asmall high window in a wall, teaches to some half a dozen urchins thestrange Arabic letters and the chants of the Koran. From the going downof the sun until early morn not a light is seen throughout the aoul, norscarcely a sound heard, save the howling of the watch-dogs and theplaintive crying of the jackals in the forests. Indeed, the only hour inthe day when there is any appearance of life in these streets is atnoon, when the labors of the garden and the exercises of the games beingsuspended, many of the male inhabitants either sit about idle, or liesleeping like Italian lazzaroni, or stand grouped together in long, light-colored surtouts with a negligent grace and natural dignity notsurpassed in antique statues. Here and there one more diligent burnisheshis arms, and another grooms his horse. A few veiled women come and go, bearing jars of water or other burdens, though most of the femalepopulation are occupied in their apartments with the preparation offood, and in the labors of the loom and spindle; while young children, half-naked, play around the house doors and through the lanes with anactivity in strong contrast with the prevailing tone of grave andsomnolent repose. 

V. 

HIS PARENTS, ATALIK, AND TEACHER. 

Of the parents of Schamyl nothing is known; nor is this lack ofinformation greatly to be regretted, considering that they lived in astate of society where there is so little inequality of classes ordiversity of external condition. His father not being probably a chiefof the tribe, was a freeman and peer among his fellows, possessing likethem a small, amphitheatrical house, the husband of but one wife, owninga war-horse, and arms, besides a few sheep and goats, and the proprietorof a garden supported by terraces on a neighboring mountain side. 

Nor is it known who was his foster-father, or atalik; for according tothe custom prevalent in western, and to some extent in easternCircassia, he may at an early age have been adopted by some one in whosefamily he resided during the years spent in learning the rudiments ofletters and the art of war, and who sustained a relation towards himeven more intimate and affectionate than that of his own father. Theatalik would have supplied the boy with food and clothing, instruction, and a home, without expecting any other compensation than such plunderas the latter during his pupilage might bring in from the enemy, together with the gratitude through life of both himself and his family. And this he could well afford to do, being possessed of means somewhatsuperior to those of the majority of his clansmen. If descended from afamily among the first in the tribe and long illustrious in arms, hemight own as many as fifteen hundred head of cattle, and an equal numberof sheep, besides a small herd of horses and mares. Like the ancientpatriarchs, he would have his wives and his servants, some of themcaptured in forays, and all living together as one family in a stonehouse of several stories and defended by a high tower. 

This practice of transferring young children from the parental mansionto that of an atalik, seems to have had its origin in the same fear lestnatural affection might lead to effeminacy of character which inducedthe Spartans to send their infants on a shield to be delivered over tothe nursery of the State. In accordance with a similar custom, also, wasthe young Achilles intrusted by Peleus to the care of Chiron, thecentaur. For among the Circassians, as among the early Greeks, theprincipal object of education is to form the accomplished warrior. 

History has been fortunate enough, however, to get possession of thename of Schamyl's instructor, who is called Dschelal Eddin, and who, beginning the education of the future prophet by teaching him the Arabiclanguage, completed it by initiating him into the doctrines of theSufis. He still lives, a venerable man, and is said to be the onlyperson to whom his pupil in after-life ever granted his entireconfidence, and at whose feet he has been known ever to sit for counsel. 

The learning of letters, however, was not the boy's first lesson in thatcourse of training which prepared him to become a leader of the tribes;for as in the history of the race, so in the education of the warrior inthese mountains, the practice of horsemanship comes before the study ofbooks. 

VI. 

HIS EARLY EDUCATION. 

In the due course of Circassian education Schamyl could not have beenfour years old when he exchanged the amusement of building houses of mudand pebble-stones for that of backing horses. A couple of years laterhis atalik might even have presented him with a steed for the practiceof those arts of horsemanship wherein the Circassians excel the mostexpert riders in the world. The Koissu must also have submitted to thetriumph of his arms when their bone was still in the gristle, and duringthe warm season of the year have suffered, both at morning and evening, its torrent to be breasted by the daring young swimmer. To wrestle, theboy, without doubt, began almost as soon as he was able to stand alone;and to dance was learned without a master, whether according to thefigures practised in the ring of pleasure, or the more active stepstaken in the pantomimic fight. Shooting with the bow, the gun, and thepistol, is an exercise for Circassian boys at an age when those ofcountries more civilized are spelling, syllable by syllable, the lessonsof the primer and the catechism. The art of thieving adroitly is alsoreckoned an accomplishment by these mountaineers, as formerly by theSpartans, when the despoiled is an enemy, or at least a member ofanother tribe. And as in their council-rings there is as often anopportunity for the display of eloquence as ever there was before thewalls of ancient Troy, so the youth are taught both by observation andby direct lessons the art of persuasion. 

In early childhood Schamyl is said to have enjoyed a somewhat lessrugged health than his mates; and had the development of his mind beenforced by the training to which the children of civilization aregenerally subjected, being compelled to sit by the hour upon a bench andbreathe the unwholesome air of an over-heated school-room, very likelyafter having passed, during a brief season, for a youthful prodigy inthe eyes of an admiring, but inconsiderate circle of friends, he wouldhave closed his earthly career and been lamented as a genius for thisworld too brilliant and too good. But in this comparative state ofbarbarism, the boy's mind having been allowed more slowly and naturallyto unfold itself; and his body meanwhile being strengthened by a life inthe open air of the mountains, and by such athletic sports as wellsupplied the place of the games of the ancient Greeks and Romans, thisfine spirit was saved from premature decay, to the honor of his country, and the illustration of humanity. 

Nor could it have been long before these arts, all more or less havingreference to the formation of the skilful warrior, were put to the testof practice in actual service. There are reliable accounts of Circassianboys who at the age of ten years have gone to the wars, as unable to eator sleep on the approach of the enemy as in occidental countries are therustic lads on the eve of a muster of the county militia, at which inaddition to the show of red-coats and cocked hats there will be cakes, pop-beer, tumbling, and monkeys. Many a young mountaineer before he hasgot a beard has "bagged his five Russians. " At first, indeed, the boy isallowed only, it may be, to pass the night with the sentinels on thehills, or to watch the horses of the sleeping warriors, and afterwardssees his first battlefield, going out on an expedition in the quality ofpage of some chieftain, taking charge of his steed when he alights, andattending upon his person. 

In this preparatory training and the practice of these athletic sportsthe boy Schamyl must have passed the first dozen years of his life, living in the house of his atalik, and very rarely visiting that of hisfather. Nor even when he did so was it to sit, much less to eat in thepaternal presence, but only with his back reverently turned and his headstuck in a corner. 

But at the end of this period of discipline, having become more than atyro, if not already an expert in all manly exercises and warlike arts, the lad must have been restored to his parents by his foster-father. Theevent is always celebrated by a feast at which all the relatives of thetwo families are invited, and from which the atalik returns loaded withpresents, and with thanks. It is indeed a proud day for the youngster, because it is his putting on of the toga. Thenceforward, if not fully aman, he is at least a mad-cap or _deli-kan_. 

VII. 

HIS HORSEMANSHIP. 

Schamyl, now become a _deli-kan_, is said to have been so ambitious ofthe palm in all youthful games that whenever defeated he would brood fordays together over his disgrace in silent chagrin. From his childhood heknew not how to brook a superior. 

He therefore zealously continued his exercises, particularly those inhorsemanship. Like that of all Circassian youth it was his ambition notonly to sit his horse a perfect centaur, to dash at full speed up steepsand down precipices, to leap the chasm and to swim the torrent; but alsoon the gallop to discharge his weapons, in an instant unslinging his gunfrom behind his back, and as quickly returning it to its place; to hangsuspended from the side of the horse so as to avoid the aim of an enemy;to spring to the ground for the purpose of picking up something andagain vault into the saddle without halting; and to take aim with suchprecision as to hit the smallest and most inconveniently placed markwhile going at full tilt. 

The subduing of a half-wild horse in the herd which is allowed during aportion of the year to roam the woods and hills, is also a featfrequently practised by the Circassian cavalier, either for the sake ofsecuring the animal, or simply as an exercise in horsemanship. A rideror two armed with lassos plunge into the midst of the herd, andselecting one of the wildest of the stallions--for mares are not usedunder the saddle--secure him by throwing over his head the noose. Thenthe cavalier who is to make trial of his skill springs upon the back ofthe animal, which with dilated eyes and smoking nostrils exhibits thegreatest consternation. And now commences the contest between horse andrider. Furious as well as frightened the brute speeds like an arrow overthe hills or down the valleys. He turns and doubles, halts suddenly, rolls on the ground, crawls on his belly, dashes into the midst of theherd, and tries in all possible ways to get rid of the burden he has nofancy for. But the intrepid rider, self possessed, and constantly on thealert, sits upon his back as if a part of the animal, waving his hand intriumph after every struggle terminated in his favor; and there hecontinues to sit and hold the mastery until the strong steed, finallyexhausted by his efforts, covered with foam, out of breath, and cowed inspirit, acknowledges the superiority of his antagonist. 

When tamed, however, the Circassian horse is both perfectly gentle andattached to his master. The pet brought up in the yard is as playful asa kitten. The children gambol with him. His master fondles him, pattinghis neck and kissing his head. On festal days and occasions of ceremonyhe is decked out with red-cloth trappings; his neck is wreathed withmany-colored glass beads; ribands are tied in his mane; and bunches ofwild flowers nod from his foretop. The stranger may not praise theCircassian's wife or child for fear of shedding over them the maligninfluence of the evil eye, or for other reasons less fanciful; but tothe praises of his steed the warrior's ear is ever open. The faithfulanimal is his companion on all his excursions; he drinks with him thewaters which flow through the plains of the enemy; he looks down as wellas himself from the rock on the passing column and the squares ofinfantry; he shares with him the dangers of the bayonet and the bullet;and, neighing, participates too in the hurrah of the onset and theshouts of victory. Trained to take part in the ambuscade, he will creepafter his master like a dog, and lie crouching at his feet in silence. No unkind word is ever spoken to him; nor is he ever beaten; so that hisspirit is unbroken, and his attachment to his lord is manifested by thepleasure he takes in his caresses, the gladness with which, snorting andpawing the ground, he receives him on his back, the pride of step andeye with which he bears him off, the fury with which he dashes into thefight and pursues the enemy, and the intelligent fidelity with which heobeys every movement of the rein or the hand, dutiful until he fallsbleeding at last on the field of battle, or at a very advanced age isrelieved from further service, and with clipt tail and mane is turnedout to graze the peaceful pastures until the day of his death. 

There are a number of varieties of the Circassian horse, though withoutvery marked differences. Those of Kabarda are among the most famed; andexcellent cavalry horses are got by Pratof's stallions out of the Tartarand Kalmuck mares. These are valued at from two to three hundredroubles. The Turcoman breed also is highly esteemed, standing aboutfifteen hands high, in perfect training, and joining to the strength ofa bull the spirit of a lion. But universally throughout the Caucasus thenative horse is docile, fleet, capable of enduring very great fatigue, of supporting very great privations, possessed of the most undeniablemettle, and endowed with the largest measure of intelligence andaffection within the capacity of the animal's nature. In the best breedshis pedigree is kept with care; and the mark of his master is branded inthe shape of a horse-shoe, an arrow, or some similar device on hishaunches. 

VIII. 

THE CIRCASSIAN GAMES. 

Throwing the djerrid was perhaps the deli-kan's favorite equestrianamusement. To play this game a certain number of combatants, belongingoften to two different aouls or districts, assemble at an appointedplace, each mounted on his steed, and armed with a long white wand orstaff. At a given signal they all set off at full gallop in pursuit ofeach other, the object of the race being to give blows and avoidreceiving them. The staves accordingly are seen flying through the airin all directions. The dexterity with which the combatants manage toelude each other's blows, catch a stave thrown at them, pick up one fromthe ground, and that without alighting or losing a moment's time, is tothe stranger who for the first time beholds the sport truly astonishing. When a horseman who happens to be without a djerrid gets entangled amonghis opponents, he will be seen twisting and turning with the activity ofa wild-cat in order to elude the blows aimed at him; now completelyscreened under the belly of the horse, then lying at full length on hisback, and again stretched by his side, until regaining a djerrid hebecomes in turn the assailant. In this rough sport only the greatestagility and suppleness of limbs, combined with extraordinary physicalstrength, can secure the palm, while the less dexterous combatants maynot escape without the disgrace of broken heads. 

Another feat which only long practice will enable the young rider toperform, is one of archery. A mark is attached to the top of severallofty poles fastened together so as to elevate it to a considerableheight. Then a horseman starting a short distance from the pole ridestowards it at full speed, and just before reaching it, suddenly bendshis bow, stoops to the left side of his horse the instant before thelatter passes to the right of the pole, and then twisting himself aroundwith his face turned back and looking almost directly upwards, lets flythe shaft perpendicularly. The difficulty of the position, joined to thespeed of the horse, renders the hitting of the mark a proof of thehighest skill; and even where the competition is spirited, the victorsare few. 

Running for the flag is a game in which the fleetness and bottom of thehorse are tested perhaps more than the expertness of the rider. A numberof cavaliers having assembled, one of them taking a small flag, orcrimson scarf; or pistol cover embroidered by the fair hands of thebelle of the aoul, starts off on the gallop, his prize streaming in thewind like a meteor. The others, after having given him the advantage inthe start, pursue for the purpose of overtaking him; for whoeversucceeds in coming up with the flag-bearer takes his place, and so tothe end of the race. With grace and impetuosity they dash down thevalley, over the hills, and along the mountain side. The flag-beareraims to keep the lead not only by quick running but also by turning anddoubling, by taking advantage of the ground and placing obstaclesbetween himself and his pursuers. To the right, to the left, straightforward, over brooks and fences, across torrent and ravine, through woods and thickets, up hill and down dale, away sweeps the madcavalcade. 'Tis neck or nothing, and leaps that only dares the devil. Overtaken, the bearer of the flag yields it up to his successfulcompetitor, who shouting his triumphant _vo-ri-ra-ka_ hurries onwardswith the whole legion at his heels. So they race until the hardy horses, though eager as their riders for the victory, are obliged at last tohalt for breath. But after an interval of rest, starting with anotherhurrah the troop go over the course again, and perhaps again, until thecontest is ended, and some fortunate deli-kan is pronounced entitled tothe prize. 

It is a common occurrence during these games for a mounted horseman whenparticularly excited to throw up his cap; and this is always regarded asa challenge by any of his companions, unslinging, uncovering, andcocking his gun, to put a ball through it before it reaches the ground. Or a bonnet is purposely dropped, that some rider going at full speedmay display his agility by picking it up without drawing rein. Again, there is the game in which two mounted cavaliers set off at full speedholding each other by the hand, and each endeavoring by main strength ordexterity to pull his antagonist from the saddle. And finally, a partyof horsemen on arriving at a friendly aoul or place of generalgathering, is met by a company of persons on foot who, bearing branchesof trees, make a dash at the horses' heads in order if possible tofrighten them. This tests the skill of the riders, and also trains thehorses to rush without fear upon the enemy. 

IX. 

HIS LOVE OF NATURE. 

Schamyl in early youth exhibited a remarkable sensibility to the beautyand sublimity of nature. It is related of him by the aged men of Himrithat he was fond of climbing the neighboring mountains, and thatespecially at the going down of the sun he might be seen sitting on ahigh point of rock whence he could survey at the same time the valebelow and the fantastic summits which tower above it. There he would sitgazing at the snows red with the declining rays, and at the rocksglowing in the reflected purple of the clouds, until the valley and theglens connected with it were quite dark with the gatheringtwilight--gazing where far off to the westward the snow-clad peaks werestill burning brightly as with altar fires that reached toheaven--gazing where blazed longest of all the top of Kasbek, until fromits expiring spark the evening planet seemed to catch the light withwhich it flamed out in the sky above it, while gradually the lowermountains faded on the sight, and only the heavens and the highest peakswere bathed in the mild light of night. 

This moreover was enchanted ground. For on one side of the loftiest andmost grotesque of the heights around Himri, there leans against it alevel table rock of considerable extent which is perfectly desolate, andwhich the superstitious imaginations of the inhabitants of this aoulhave made the scene of almost as much witchery as was ever located onthe top of the Brocken. Often in the dead of night, say the villagers, strange fires are lighted on this dancing floor of the spirits, andwhich reflect on all the mountain sides a lurid and unearthly glare. Then the great white eagle which for a thousand years has housed in thehigh Caucasus hastens hither on wings which shake the air like thesighing of the night wind, or the howling of the coming tempest; andthen assemble here from fairy land the happy peris, who in this lightedchamber dance on fantastic toes until the day peeps over the mountaintops or the first cock crows in Himri. 

But while no one dared to tread this haunted rock after the going downof the sun, it was precisely here that Schamyl, whose intellect, self-illumined, early pierced through the blind which superstition bindsover the eyes of all mountaineers, often selected his seat and lingeredthrough the twilight far into the darkness of the evening. With histrustful love of nature he feared no supernatural powers; and while thecommon mind was filled with dread in the presence of phenomena which, real or imaginary, it could not explain, he found therein only suchsubjects for reflection as fascinated his imagination and filled hissoul with devout admiration of the creative spirit which pervades allthings. 

Once, some of his companions offended by some high, scornful words ofhis, let drop in the excitement of the games, resolved to waylay andmaltreat him on his return from the heights in the edge of the evening. They accordingly set upon the enthusiast as descending from the mountaintops his thoughts still lingered behind, but who quickly recovering hispresence of mind stood on the defensive. Numbers, however, overpoweredhim; and he fell bleeding from wounds on his head, arm, and body. Butbeing still able to regain his home, though faint with the loss ofblood, he bound up his wounds himself, and with the assistance of adoctoress skilled in simples, made such applications of herbs as at theend of several weeks restored him to health again. Ashamed, however, toacknowledge that he had been beaten even when the odds were greatlyagainst him, he said not a word respecting his illness to any one, saveto his revered teacher Dschelal Eddin, to whom he confidentially madeknown the circumstances of the encounter. 

X. 

HUNTING. 

Schamyl's love for exploring the mountains would naturally make him fondof hunting, as are his countrymen generally, when not occupied with thehigher game of war. 

The larger kinds of game being abundant in these mountains, and the useof small shot being unknown, bird-shooting is but little practised, andthe fowl fly in these heavens as unscared as in the original paradise. The nightingale sings in the thickets; the woodpecker makes the primevalwoods resound with his chisel; crows of the pink and black species croakfrom the dead branches of the oaks; ravens with dark red legs andscarlet bills build their nests in the top of the elms; detachments ofblue wood-pigeons cover the fields as numerous and as tame as sparrows;mergansers and golden-eyed ducks haunt in numerous flocks the runningwaters; and wild geese flying down in the month of December from theRussian wastes, halt on their way to the waters of Persia, and mixedwith swans, float in stately fleets on the shores of both the Euxine andthe Caspian. The falcon hawk also is constantly circling over the hillsand swooping down into the valleys; the eagle may be seen soaring abovehis eyrie on Elbrus or Kasbek; the rapacious vulture watches from thehigh overhanging points of rock the lower woods and pastures; themelancholy owl hoots through the night around the hamlets; and by theside of the lowly mountain tarn stands silent and solitary the pelicanof the wilderness. Only the wild turkey in the pinetree's top is a markfor the rifle; or the pheasant, darting up out of the path into theoverhanging branches, tempts occasionally the sharpshooter; while, onthe contrary, woodcock and snipe bore for worms in every marsh andmud-bank, undisturbed by setter or by pointer. 

The wild boar hunt is the chief sport in Circassian venery. This animalfrequents the banks of the rivers overgrown with reeds, and the ravinesof the mountains filled with thickets. Both the valleys and the marshesadjacent are ploughed by his snout; nor is the farmer's stock-yardentirely secure from the crunching of his tusks. He is hunted with dogs, generally resembling a cross between the greyhound and the colley of theScottish highlands. When found the furious beast will sometimes stand atbay, ripping up and tossing in the air a pack of enemies; but generallywith horrid gruntings and snortings he plunges down the ravine orcanters over the marsh, big almost as a Highland cow, driving aside thetall reeds or saplings as if simple spears of grass, a black monster, bristled, with projecting tusks, and eyes bloodshot. But thewell-directed rifle ball pierces at last his tough flanks; the enormousmass reeling rolls over in the mire; and the unclean carcass is left tobe feasted on by vultures and prowling wolves. 

There are elk on the Kuban; but the following of the fallow deer in thehills is more common. The hunter searches for the beds of the roes withdogs, or stalking the forests steals upon the herd when browsing uponthe tender twigs and the moss of trees, or cropping the herbs along theskirts of the pastures. There are several varieties of them, but alltolerably wild from being so much pursued in the chase; though the sightof this graceful animal is common enough in the farm-yards, where it hasbeen tamed, and where when young it is a great pet. 

A fine breed of greyhounds is kept for coursing the hares. These abound, burrowing in all the mountains, and everywhere nibbling with their sharpteeth the herbage. After a slight fall of snow they are easily tracked;and rarely does the hunter, on awaking in the morning, find the earthnewly clad with this white mantle that he does not call his hounds andset off for the fields. The keen air of the morning late in autumninvites to active exercise as the rising sun pours its crimson floodover the hills, all changed in a single night by the witchery of thenoiselessly fallen flakes. The dogs eye alternately the hills and theirmaster as they run; and the hunter with overflowing spirits and everynerve drawn tight enters rejoicing into the race. 

XI. 

CAMPING OUT. 

Occasionally in the autumnal months a party of huntsmen is made up foran excursion into the high Caucasus. Such expeditions constitute amemorable event in the life of the deli-kan; and it may well be believedthat Schamyl must have embraced the opportunity thereby offered ofbeholding the grandeur of nature amidst "the thousand peaks. "

There would be but little need of preparation. For the Circassian wearshis cartouche pockets constantly on his breast; any extra ammunition, together with a scanty supply of provisions, is easily attached to thesaddle-bow; the steed is always ready for service; the dogs are eager toset off; and so at short notice the whole party gallops out of the aoulwith hurrahs and pistol-firing. 

On the journey, however, they ride slowly. For the road is but a path inthe mountains, narrow and rugged, often steep of ascent and descent, forthe most part following by the side of the watercourses, and in the drybeds of the torrents, or winding around the mountain sides, by the edgeof precipices, and across chasms bridged only by the leap. Indeed sogreat are the difficulties of the way that the rider is very oftenobliged to dismount and allow his horse to follow after him as best hecan. 

At mid-day they halt for a couple of hours for luncheon; and with thegoing down of the sun they pitch their tent for the night. For thispurpose an opening in the forest beside a spring of water, or the bankof a running stream is selected, where the horses, relieved of theirsaddles, may find pasture. At morning and noon a little flour of milletand honey suffices for the meals. This in fact is the usualwar-provision, and is said to be a diet which gives strength to bothbody and mind. Being carried in a skin hung at the saddle-bow it soonferments, but is eaten afterwards with great relish, and may be kept inthis condition for a considerable length of time. A cup to convey thewater from the spring is made of the burdock leaf which also answers thepurpose of a carpet for the saying of prayers, and even furnishesafterward a grateful repast for the horses. To this frugal fare, however, will very likely be added at evening a pheasant or hare, aturkey or a deer shot on the road, and cooked either by being roastedbefore the fire, or laid, cut in slices, on live embers. Whatever chancegame the luck of the day may furnish for the supper, it will be sure tobe eaten with a relish that will need no sauce; though even with nothingmore than his unleavened bread and water the Circassian is perfectlycontented, and adds thanks therefor in his prayers. 

Supper finished, ablutions performed, and prayers said, the huntersunroll their blankets, placing one on the ground and the other overthem, with their feet turned towards the fire blazing with large logs ofwood; and so under the protection of the open heavens and the stars, which are the thousand watchful eyes of Allah, his simple childrensleep. 

In entering upon the region of the higher mountains the valleys grownarrower, showing only here and there a mere line of green, or oftener, the silver thread of torrents rushing headlong over the rocks. Strongwas the contrast when in an opening between the mountains the hunterlooked down upon the shepherd's cottage, with its shade of nut-bearingtrees and its fold of white fleeces, or upon a patch of cultivatedground high among the rocks to which the husbandman climbs for the sakeof a few handfuls of grain, or the pasture of his cow or goat; and when, on the other hand, he beheld around him, as was often the case, only themountain tops sparsely covered with dwarfed oaks and planetrees, therocks frequently naked save here and there the covering of moss, theimmense masses broken up into clefts and chasms, piled on top of eachother in forms the most shapeless and grotesque, an utter waste, and themore desolate from some wild bird of the mountains which occasionallyflapped its wings overhead, or the wild goat which startled sprang awayamong the distant rocks. 

Yet there are localities still higher up where from favorable exposurethe mountaineer pushes an adventurous plough, tilling his slope withrifle slung at his back, and gathering his harvest full three monthslater than in the plains below. Here, too, blooms the Caucasian rose orrhododendron, and the azalia-pontica, from the blossoms of which is madethe honey of that intoxicating quality mentioned by Strabo, and which, when mixed in small quantity with the ordinary mead, forms a beverage aspotent as the alcoholic liquors of the north. 

On reaching the snow-line of the Kasbek, at farthest, the progress ofthe hunters would be arrested. On their way hither they would haveoccasionally brought down a fallow deer or a fat bear, besides pheasantsand the wild hens of the mountains, hares, and large grey squirrels. They might even have had a shot or two at a wild sheep or buffalo, whichas well as horses sometimes roam untamed the mountains; and from time totime their rifles must have been tempted also by the porcupine crossingtheir path, by the fox surprised far from his hole, by the wild-catdriven into a tree, and even by the wolf prowling around their stepstowards nightfall. 

Here, with the never-melting snows not far overhead, they would findsmall stone houses erected expressly for the use of the chamois-hunter. For along these elevated crags runs and bounds the nimble rupicapra; incertain favorite tracts is occasionally met the ibex, roaming solitaryover his scanty pastures; and on the very highest rocks, where in winterthey lie with faces to the wind, insensible to the most intense cold, are seen herds of still another species of the wild goat resembling inshape the tamed one, but larger, having long beautiful horns, and fleshwith the dainty flavor of venison. 

XII. 

IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 

But proud as is the returning hunter of the beautiful chamois horns hungupon his saddle-bow, it could scarcely be otherwise than that the soulof one so smitten with the love of natural scenery as was Schamyl, should here be more occupied with contemplating the grandeur of themountain tops than in chasing the timid, graceful animals whichthereupon find a home. If in the course of his ascent he had kept hiseyes pretty steadily fixed upon the magnificent summits far off whitewith snows, but nearer blue with the ice which has led the Tartars togive to them the name of Ialbus or ice-mane; if lower down he had gazedwith admiration at the oaks which for two centuries had grasped withtheir roots and overspread with their branches the rocks in situationsto which upon the Alps and the Pyrenees only climbs the pine; and ifhigher up he had not passed by unnoticed even the lowly pink and rose ofthe mountains, blooming along the snow-line, but even there sought outby the bee and the butterfly of Apollo; how would he be overwhelmed withthe sublimity of the scene on finding himself in the dread company ofKasbek and the hundred other peaks which are his vassals! Standing onthe steps of the throne of this, like Elbrus, dsching padischah, or kingof spirits, he would gaze around upon a host of cones and needlesglittering in the sunlight, while far below lay the Black or woodedmountains, looking for the most part with the same face of precipicesupon the remoter steppes as do the White mountains on themselves. Indeedthere is wanting only the lakes of the Bernese Alps, glaciers asmagnificent as those of Chamouni, and cascades like the Staubbach andthe fall of the Aar to make this Caucasian range the most beautiful, asit probably is the most sublime, on the face of the earth. 

Still the Caucasus boasts of more majestic woods and a more luxuriantflora than the Alps; and when to its scenery is added the coloring lentit by the rising and the setting sun, there can be no higher beauty innature anywhere. Especially during the summer months travellers havenoted a remarkable purity of atmosphere in these mountains, andrepresent them as being full of light a considerable time before theappearing of the sun on the horizon; while in autumn there is sufficientvapor to furnish the landscape with that drapery of blue mist andvariously tinted clouds, so characteristic of the summer views of theAlps. In this long interval, between the break of day and the completesunrise, it seems to the dullest observer as if nature were standingwrapt in adoration of the great Creator. Clad in snows and ice thethousand peaks are like white-robed priests ministering in a temple notmade with hands; and when the loftiest tops are tipped with the purpleof the coming day, it is as it were the incense-burning censers whichthey swing high in heaven. Then the lower mountains, too, receive anadditional beauty when the level rays light up with a still brighter redthe mighty masses of porphyry, and the dark granite glows with avermilion not its own. Every variety and form of rock is transfigured bythe new-born light from heaven. The white chalkstone glitters from afar;the light grey feldspar assumes a warm flesh tint; the limestone becomesstraw color; the crystals of hornblende flash like fire-flies; and theveins of white quartz, running with their nodules of serpentine andchlorite through the dark clay-slate, gleam as do chain lightningsthrough the clouds. 

At sight of the gathering tempest the superstitious huntsman is notentirely exempt from terror. Some of the calcareous mountains, like theBeschtau, for example, being a perfect barometer, he knows, when theirtop becomes covered with clouds as with a hat, and their entire form isgradually enveloped in a mantle of mists, that there will be foulweather. Even the degree of wind and rain may be calculated with aconsiderable degree of certainty from the extent and different tints ofthe vapors; and if the indications are exceedingly threatening thehunter immediately erects his tent, if he have one, as on the ocean thesailor furls his canvas; or, lacking this protection, he seeks for theshelter of some projecting rock, or the entrance of a cavern. There whenthe sun is shrouded in clouds, and the blackness almost of night fallslike a pall over the mountains, when the wind howls around the summits, and the thunder with its infinity of reverberations rattles, and boundsfrom crag to crag throughout the chain, seeming to make the very rockstremble and totter, then affrighted he hears in the winds the flappingof the wings of that monstrous bird of the mountains whose age is athousand years; in the lightnings which play over the abyss he sees theglaring eyes and waving mane of the wild white horse who, issuing fromhis stall under the glaciers, races with the storm; and in the thundershears the resounding wheels of the chariot of Elijah kept, say some ofthe ancient Christian traditions, in the Redeemer's palace on the top ofKasbek. 

But in a brief hour the storm is overpast; for the changes of weather inthis range of mountains, extending from one great sea to another, aresudden in all seasons of the year excepting summer. The clouds arerapidly rolled away to the eastward where the bow of promise spans theheavens as brilliant as when it was first bent over the neighboringArarat, and where the accumulated piles of vapor are gorgeouslyburnished by the rays of the descending sun. Then rises over the brokenridge of the Black mountains the moon, just beginning, perhaps, to wane. How black indeed are they compared with the snow-white peaks which standbathed in the silvery light. How black, too, is the abyss out of whichrise the perpendicular cliffs, and the lofty conical shafts glitteringwith ice. The summits cast their long, sharply cut shadows athwart eachother; every leaf on tree or plant which still holds its raindropflashes as with a diamond; the night has not a breath of air; and naturelies entranced without a pulsation, save in the roar and trickling ofeverywhere falling waters. 

XIII. 

SONGS

It has been reported respecting the boy Schamyl that his parents beingpoor peasants he gained a livelihood by singing in the streets. Butwhile this, not comporting well with Circassian manners and modes oflife, is hardly to be credited, it is very probable that he began at anearly age to sing the simpler popular airs, and might even when no morethan four years old have amused his elders with his childish renderingof ballads above his comprehension. For the voice of song is often heardin these mountains; and, as in the days of Orpheus, the lyre still movesthe rock of the Caucasian heart, taming with its gentle influences itswildness, and softening its asperity. 

It is in songs that the Circassians, having no written language, havetreasured up what little they possess of history; and by the constantsinging of them have the traditions and myths of a very remote antiquitybeen handed down from generation to generation. 

The wandering minstrel is the principal schoolmaster in the Caucasus. Wherever he arrives there is a friendly dispute in the hamlets as to whoshall have the honor of rendering him the cup of hospitality. Everyhouse in the aoul is open to receive him; he has always the best ofentertainment; and his place in the social scale is, by general consent, fixed among the highest. He rehearses not only the legendary ballads tothe listening circle of men and children, but conveys in song from tribeto tribe the chronicle of recent events, and the latest intelligence ofthe doings of the common enemy. His numbers describe how in some lateforay the warriors, leaping down from the rocks, scattered theflax-haired Muscovites, and pillaged the stanitzas of the Cossacks. Hewails the lament of the hero fallen in the battle field. He brands thecoward and the traitor. He extols the green vales and strong rocks ofthe father-land; falls in every breast the love of independence; andcelebrates in tenderer notes the praises of the fair. 

His instrument is a kind of lyre not unlike our violin. It has but threestrings which are made of horse-hair; the bow is almost an arc; and thehead of the instrument rests, like that of the violoncello, on theground or the divan. 

Or the minstrel may accompany his strains upon the pipe, as is oftendone in the open air. Made of metal, even of silver, this instrument isone of considerable value; though more frequently it is a mere reed fromthe marshes of the Terek or the Kuban. It is usually about two feet inlength; has three holes for the fingers near its lower extremity, and ashort mouth-piece open at the sides. With something of the monotony ofthe bagpipe its notes are shrill; and when on the march among the hillsthe war-song is executed upon it, sometimes accompanied by the lyre, no"gathering" played to the pibroch ever more stirred the mountaineerheart in the highlands of Scotland. 

The Circassians also beguile the way on their journeys with ridingsongs. These are sung in alternate strains, one being generally aclamorous recitative, and the other a kind of choral fugue, strange andromantic, and heard with pleasing effect in the mountains. Often whentoiling at a foot-pace up the precipitous path of the torrent, ordescending equally slow into the pass gloomy with impending rocks anddrooping boughs, the travellers will burst involuntarily into a wild andplaintive lament over some fallen chieftain, one portion of the partysinging in subdued tones a hurried chant like the English litany, andthe other answering at the end of the stanzas with their full, mellowAy! ay! a-rira! which, like the pealing organ through the aisles, swellsand floats away between the rocky sides of the glen. 

Similar are the boat-songs on the Euxine and the Caspian. Of these thereis a great variety, and all are chanted to the measured movement of theoars, now stronger, now weaker, and each stanza followed by a chorus. Their A-ri-ra-cha always produces great effect on the rowers, and ismingled more or less with shouts, screams, and a mad-like laughter, while the long flat-bottomed canoe flies through the water driven bybending oars. 

All festal occasions in Circassian life are enlivened by the presence ofthe minstrel. He is present when the warriors of the tribe assemble tosit in the council ring beneath the oaks; and in the intervals betweenthe harangues of the orators who, sword in hand, urge the storming of aRussian fort or a raid upon the steppes, he fans the flame in theirbreasts by striking his lyre in praise of some hero illustrious in arms. When also a chieftain, desirous of raising a band of volunteers for someexpedition against the enemy, rides from aoul to aoul summoning all goodswords to follow, he transports along with him on the crupper of anattendant the aged minstrel, who at the gates sings the call to arms. His sightless eyeballs in frenzy roll, and the braves, both old andyoung, carried away now by his pathos and now by his rage, shout inchorus their ka-ri-ra, and spring into their saddles. And when at lastthe warrior's race finished, his companions bring him, lashed on hissteed, back at night to the aoul from which he rode so gayly forth inthe morning, and with arms locked around each other's necks standencircling the bard, the latter commences a monotonous but beautifullyplaintive wail, his voice subdued with sorrow, and running at the end ofthe lines upon the same note, which rapidly caught and prolonged is likean uncontrollable gust of anguish, until the brothers in arms, no lessimpassioned, break in with a chorus so sad, slow, and low that every eyewould fill with tears were it ever permitted the Circassian to weep forthe brave. 

But besides the music heard on these extraordinary occasions, thesinging of ballads coupled with the telling of stories is the commonentertainment of the Circassian winter evening. Then when the large logsof oak blaze on the hearth of the apartment reserved in every house forthe reception of guests, and the door of which remains hospitably openthroughout the day, a little company is assembled at nightfall to whileaway with song an hour or two before retiring to rest. The professionalminstrel, who is capable of extemporizing both words and melodies, maynot be present, but there will be some one, perhaps an aged blind man, or a lad skilled in music beyond his fellows, who can touch the lyre. Any person, however, happening to be present, _furore dulci plenes_, isat liberty to volunteer a song. 

It may be a humorous one, pointed with quaint wit, barbed with sarcasm, seasoned with homely proverbs, and acted out with singular powers ofmimicry and even of ventriloquism. But more frequently it will treat ofthe adventures of the hunter or the traveller, and the still graverthemes of war and love. If a solo, it will often be a rapid recitative, varied at short intervals by a few tenor and bass notes thrown in bythree or four other voices, and producing an effect like the swell andfall of the organ. If a trio or quartette, there will still be addedfrom time to time a heavy bass accompaniment, a sort of fugue, and inwar-songs often resembling the moaning of the sea in a storm, or thewailing over the dead brought home from the battle field. Other balladsagain will be more gay and lively, with responses executed by threedifferent parties alternately. Let whatever be the theme and whoever theperformers, as the song proceeds, and the feelings of all become wroughtup to the highest pitch of enthusiasm by the recital of the great deedsdone in battle, or gallant sacrifices dared in love, the voices of oneor more of the listeners will be sure to break into the strain; thewhole audience will join in the cheerful chirrup of hai-hai-cha! or thedirge-like wail of wai-wai-wai! and at the finale some deli-kan, inspired perhaps by the sight of maiden faces cautiously peering in atdoor or window, will scarcely be able to refrain from firing his pistolup the chimney, or even through the ceiling. 

How untrue the representation that a people in whose hearts lives thelove of songs like these are a race of freebooters! Listening constantlyto the praise of heroes, whether famous in the legends of antiquity orstill living surrounded with the respect of their fellows, the soul ofthe young warrior is early inspired with a love for war and glory. He, too, will be a hero. He will be the first in his district, the chief ofhis tribe, the praise of the mountains, and the terror of the plains. Hetherefore goes forth to distinguish himself in the fight, and bring hometrophies of his prowess. If theft is held in esteem by the Circassian, as formerly by the Spartan warrior, it is so mainly for its adroitness, a quality so necessary in circumventing the enemy; and if he exults instripping the discomfited Muscovite and Cossack of their arms andclothing, these are the tokens of his valor, and chiefly as such areprized by him. 

XIV. 

DANCES. 

Schamyl, though from boyhood exhibiting in manners and character acertain degree of thoughtful gravity beyond his years, was, like all hiscountrymen, a dancer. Nor does the Circassian dance require, for themost part, any levity of disposition in the performer; some varieties ofit being practised as a martial exercise, and with a decorum borderingon seriousness. In the war-dance the Lesghian, more particularly, isimperious in look as well as animated in action. He carries himselfhaughtily through all the evolutions, moving with equal grace andrapidity, keeping perfect time in his complicated steps, exhibiting anelasticity of tread, a suppleness of limbs, and a vigor of body trulyastonishing; while at the same time the fierce earnestness of hiscountenance and his noble bearing are, as it were, a challenge to hisenemies. Among European dances this warlike figure most resembles thehighland fling of Scotland. 

The dancing of the women appears tame and monotonous in comparison. Theirs is a slow movement, the principal charm of which is in its grace, and which requires for its execution a certain undulating motion of thebody rather than any extra exertion of the feet and legs. 

At all public festivals the two sexes always dance together. Generallyafter supping on roasted sheep or sodden kid, together with cakes ofpastry and the aromatic honey, followed on the part of the male portionof the company by brimming bowls of mead, they form a ring on thegreensward for their favorite pastime and crowning pleasure of thefeast. The circle is often a very large one, with a bonfire in thecentre during the evening. The daughters unveiled, are led down fromtheir tents, situated a little apart on the hill-side, by theircarefully muffled mothers, who with a prudence characteristic of them inother lands, also generally select from the candidates for the estate ofmatrimony such partners as may best suit both the present proprietiesand the future possibilities of the case. Without a trifle of coquetrythere is no dancing even in Circassia. The pipers then having takentheir places, strike up a merry measure, to which moves gracefully roundthe whole circle. The beaux are expected to look grave as judges or thecouncil ring itself, but the movement allows of a good deal of jammingand squeezing; so much so, indeed, that the fair ones are notunfrequently taken off their feet and borne around for short distancesby the force of the pressure. When they touch the ground, however, theirrobes being short and their trowsers tightly fastened above the ancle, the movement of their feet, which are almost always pretty, is shown offto advantage. 

It is a truly pleasing sight, the dance on the green of the valley, bydaytime beneath the wide spread shade of aged oaks, in the twilight bythe light of the harvest moon at its full, or with only the stars ofnight aided by the blazing pile of logs to illumine the scenes; whilethe long frocks of the deli-kans wave in concert with the skirts of themaidens, and youthful pleasure trips on tiptoe around the ring. 

There is also the clown's dance, generally executed at entertainmentsafter the mead or _boza_ has worked sufficiently on the brain to producea moderate degree of hilarity. It commences with a measured clapping ofhands; a few low notes succeed, which, as the audience joins in, swellinto a lively air; when some wild-looking "ghilly" in a long, tatteredcoat springs into the centre of the circle and begins shuffling. As heproceeds the singing grows gradually louder, accompanied from time totime with a more violent clapping of hands. Even shouts and screams areoccasionally added to spur him on. Excited to the highest pitch ofenthusiasm he then hops about with vigor, springing on the very pointsof his toes, and spinning around with great velocity, until suddenlydown he drops flat on the green with strange ventriloquial sounds, mingled with moans as if the fall had half killed him. Then he throwsoff a volley of witty impromptus which set the ring in a roar oflaughter; to these are added comical imitations of the cries of variousanimals; next he addresses some chieftain present in a strain of mockeloquence; and finally, the laughing devil leaping out of his eye, endshis buffoonery with dealing a pretty good whack or two over theshoulders of the most reverend seignor in the company, who, if hehimself is a serf, may be his own master. 

Frequently the dancer accompanies his motions more or less with hisvoice, being assisted also by the audience, who beat the measure withtheir hands, and chant the chorus of A-ri-ra-ri-ra. And as from time totime holding up his long garment behind with both hands, and bending hisbody low, he watches exultingly the movement of his feet, he shoutsaloud with plaintive voice as if undergoing severe pain instead ofexperiencing an ecstasy of delight. 

When the song of the dancer runs on love and vaunts the praises of somemaiden renowned for beauty, the young warriors present pledge their ownsweethearts in bowls of boza, and every few minutes discharge theirpistols or rifles in the air. This latter act is always regarded as achallenge to the whole company, and whoever has a charge of gunpowderleft immediately burns it in honor of the superior charms of hislady-love. 

The intervals of repose between the dances and songs are very naturallyfilled up by story-telling. For the Circassians are scarcely less fondof tales and fables than of music and the fling. Having no books theyhang eagerly upon the lips of whoever is skilled in recounting story, legend, and adventure, with the gift perhaps of throwing in scraps ofsong, proverbs, and jests, together with occasional displays of mimicry, feats in ventriloquism, grimaces, whistling, chirruping, and ringing allthe changes of laughter. The winter evening's log burns to embers whilesome clever, sweet-tongued narrator repeats some of the thousand and onetales of the war against the Russians, or recites the adventures of thechase on the Terek and in the higher Caucasus, or dwells in turn nowupon the ancient traditions of the tribes, and now on the wonders whichthe recent traveller has beheld in Tiflis, Constantinople, or St. Petersburg. The imagination of the mountaineer is ardent, however simplemay be his own manner of life, and he loves especially to hear of themarvels of either eastern or western magnificence; so that when after anevening spent in listening to such recitals he lays his head upon hismat or his saddle, it is full to bursting of hanging gardens and marblepalaces, high towers and the minarets of mosques, the gorgeousceremonies of courts, the array and glitter of parades, and the gaudystreet-pageants and bustle of affairs in the great metropolitan capitalsof the plains. 

XV. 

FESTIVALS. 

The Circassian year was pretty well crowded with festivals untilrecently, when the introduction of the Mahometan doctrines put an end toa good many of the merry usages of paganism. The hearts of the peoplecontinuing to cling with tenacity, however, to what was most pleasing inthe ancient superstitions, there are still left a considerable number ofthe old festal ceremonies and observances. At new year, at the beginningand ending of the March moon, at the gathering of the harvest, as wellas on many minor occasions throughout the year, the people assemble tohold their sacred feasts, when for lack of priests the aged and mostrevered warriors present to the divinities the prayers of thecongregation; the goat, the sheep, or the ox is sacrificed, andafterward feasted upon; libations of mead are poured, though less uponthe ground than down the throats of the worshippers; while unleavenedbread and cheese-cakes are devoured with a voraciousness very littleakin to devotion. Dances, songs, and stories are duly intermingled; alsoracing, wrestling, and leaping; and finally, the solemnity is closedwith exercises in sharp-shooting, and the discharge of firearms in theair. 

The season immediately following the harvest when the wheat, the millet, and the corn have been garnered up in the storehouses, and the winter'sfodder for the cattle has been stacked in the fields, is especially atime of merry-making. An unusual joy also attends the labors of securingthe crops. For the mowers sing their national airs in the meadows, andkeep time with the sweep of their scythes. Sometimes at the commencementof the hay-harvest they may be seen going into the fields in parties offifties; and any company of travellers happening then to be passing bywill be good-naturedly attacked with both scythes and shouts, pulledfrom their horses, and carried off in triumph. For their ransom theywill have to give at least a sheep to help out the evening's supper, besides honey enough to make mead for the whole company. And with such aprospect of feasting before them the laborers will return with increasedzest to their work, swinging gaily their short scythes worn well-nigh tothe backbone, roaming in parties hither and thither through the field, and attacking, amid songs and shoutings, the thickest masses of grass asif so many Russian _corps d'armée_. 

A pleasing rural sight indeed it is, the green valley glowing in thewarm sunlight, and its grass coarse, but savory to the cattle, lying inheavy swaths, or piled in stacks. Mixed with this are the juicychicory-stalks eight or ten feet in height, and tipped with light blueflowers. The sweet clover also, of both the white and red varieties, isscattered more or less among the taller grasses; so that the meadow isas fragrant as a bank of wild flowers, or a parterre in a garden. 

With rejoicings somewhat similar is the return of seed-time celebrated, except it is then the time for hopes instead of thanksgivings. And thejoy felt at this season when, the time of the singing of birds havingcome and the voice of the turtle being heard in the land, the grain iscommitted in faith of increase to the earth, is the greater inconsequence of a period of partial abstinence and renunciation of socialpleasures, analogous to the Christian lent, having preceded it. Forduring the month of March the Circassian puts himself on a low diet, refraining especially from the eating of eggs, and will neither hire, lend, borrow, or receive any thing from another, not even a light from aneighbor's house. So general seems to be the prompting of nature infavor of a period of fasting at the commencement of the spring. But theMarch moon once set there is immediately held a feast, at which what fewof the eggs laid by in the course of the month preceding have notalready in the course of the day been devoured, are fired at as a mark, and when the skins of the victims slain at the festival become thereward of the conquerors. 

There is no great variety in the Circassian festivals, for whatever bethe object of them, there is the same roasting of sheep and oxen, thesame singing and dancing, the same mark-firing, horse-racing, andathletic games. The private feasts, also, are accompanied withamusements very similar in character, excepting that there is generallya very long succession of dishes, with interchange of presents betweenhosts and guests, and also with the difference that religious ceremoniesare practised only on the more public occasions, the Circassian having, at least before the introduction of Mahometanism, no domestic worship, nor guiding his personal conduct by any religious sentiments separatefrom his sense of duty in the domestic and social relations, his feelingof honor, and love of country. 

XVI. 

HIS RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 

The principal part of the early training of Schamyl consisted in dailypractising the games and warlike exercises of his countrymen; but therewas besides the important teaching received from Dschelal Eddin. Thelatter had begun when the boy was still of tender age giving him lessonsin the Arabic tongue and grammar; and through a period of several yearshad continued expounding to him, probably in a class with others, thewisdom of the Koran, until he was sufficiently advanced in its knowledgeto be appointed to chant it in the messdshed during divine service. Still later he instructed his intelligent pupil in the Mahometanliterature and philosophy; no doubt, with acute elucidation ofdefinitions and first principles, with learned comments on the maxims ofthe Sunnite and Sufite doctors, and with various illustrations of thecharacter of the principal writers in oriental science and fiction, bothArabic and Persian. For the Daghestan teachers of theology, calledulemas or murschids, are not without repute for both subtilty anderudition; and Dschelal Eddin was one of the most learned among them. 

Like most of these professors the sage of Himri was one of the sect ofthe Sufis; and it was their view of the Mahometan system of doctrinewhich he made it the burden of his lectures to explain and impress uponthe mind of his pupil. 

At first, the latter was indoctrinated in the law of externals which iscalled the Scharyat, and is to be observed alike by all Moslems. Itprescribes prayers, almsgivings, fasting, pilgrimages, and ablutions, besides various rules to be observed in all the domestic and socialrelations. This is the common law of Mahometanism, the requirements ofwhich are supposed to be universally known, and may be complied with, atleast in the letter, without either learning or piety. 

Next was explained to him the higher law of the Tarykat, or "path" toperfection. The knowledge of this is not for the common people, but forthose only who endeavor to obey the commands of Allah, not as externalordinances and ceremonies, but because they appreciate their justness, and who practise virtue not merely for the promise of reward, but alsofrom a sincere admiration of its nature, and delight in its exercise. These alone are worthy of being initiated into the mystery of thetarykat. 

But the path to truth is not the truth itself. As only he who perseveresand pushes onward in a race finally arrives at the goal, so only by thecontinued and disinterested pursuit of truth is it finally found, andthe Sufi attains to the third stage in the spiritual life which iscalled the Hakyat. To reach this exalted condition of humanity thedisciple must restrain all his natural passions and moderate all hisdesires. In the denial of self he must labor for the good of others. Whatever contributes to refine the feelings, to exalt the thoughts, toextend the knowledge of the spiritual world, is to be desired; while thelust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life are to beas earnestly repressed and mortified. The seeker after the truth findsit only by frequent meditation amid the solitude of nature. Thither hewill go both to study the pages of the sacred books and to decipher thescroll of his own inner consciousness. Thither also will he repair tocommune with the one universal spirit which pervades all things, butwhich reveals itself especially to those who seek for it in the deepstillness of the forests, among the rocks of the mountains, and by thesecluded waterfalls and fountains. In this high communion alone is itthat man arrives at the perfection of which his nature is capable. 

The state of the hakyat fully attained, man has to take but one stepmore and he is perfect even as God is perfect. This is the state calledthe Maarifat. For whoever has passed through the preceding degrees ofperfection will at last be favored with intuitions in which, being inecstasy, his spirit will mingle with the infinite spirit, and humanitywill become divinity. To this condition of ecstasy the Sufis give thename of _h'al_. In it meditation having been carried so far as to resultin apathy and a total loss of self-consciousness, the flesh having beento such a degree mortified and annihilated as to admit of a temporaryseparation of the spirit from the body, and the personal self being socompletely relieved of the limitations of time and space that it returnsto its normal condition of universality, then the soul of the Sufi andthe soul of Allah are one. Both are infinite, all-knowing, impersonal, and the only reality. Whoever has thus beheld the unveiled face of Godis ever after superior to the law of externals, and is guided entirelyby the inner light of reason. He fears no punishment and is influencedby no hope of reward, save the sting and approval of his own conscience. When he gives alms it is not because the scharyat prescribes, but hisown heart prompts it; if he practises washings it is also not because heis required so to do by the Koran, but from himself regardingcleanliness as next to godliness. Henceforth his soul is vexed by nodoubts respecting spiritual truth; he is exposed to no errors of faith;he is elevated to a state of beatitude which is even independent of theperformance of good works; and being made a partaker of the unity of thedivine nature he knows no further distinction of sects, but regards thetrue believers of all creeds as brethren. "Whoso, " say the Habistan, "does not acknowledge that it is indifferent whether he is a Mussulmanor a Christian, has not raised himself to the truth, and knows not theessence of being. "

Such in brief was the system of religious doctrine which Schamyl learnedsitting at the feet of Dschelal Eddin. But that it was fully adopted byhim in the heyday of youth and in possession of an intellect aspenetrating as his feeling was ardent, is not to be believed. More orless of its influence, however, may be seen in the habits of temperanceand frugality uniformly maintained by him, in his perfect self-control, in his love for contemplation amid the solitude of nature, as well as byhis subsequently making it, at least theoretically, the rule of his lifeand the basis of his system of policy. 

XVII. 

HIS MARRIAGE. 

The age at which Schamyl took a wife is not known; but probably it wasnot over that of twenty-one. Nor, although later in life his haremconsisted of three ladies, one of whom was a beautiful young Armenian, can any positive information be given respecting the character or personof the one espoused first. In accordance with Circassian usages shemight have been selected by his atalik from the class of maidens inHimri whose circumstances in life were not unlike his own; or which isperhaps more likely to have been the case, she might have been one whowas preferred by the young man himself from his having been smitten byher grace in the dance on the green, or having received from her fairhands the embroidered scarf won as a prize in the games. 

However this might have been, the first step towards the marriage musthave consisted in carrying off the girl, nothing loth doubtless, throughthe agency of a party of his friends. This feat successfullyaccomplished, though frequently it is no more than a formality and merefiction in usage, the next thing to be done was to settle with herfather or friends the price of her. The market value of a maid inCircassia depends upon both her rank and her charms. If a belle of theblood of the chieftains of a tribe in the western Caucasus, she may beworth as much as two hundred and fifty pieces of merchandise, valued atone dollar each, besides eight or ten horses and four or fiveserf-girls, which is more than the price formerly paid by Homer'sheroes, as in the case of the

 Daughter of Ops, the just Pisenor's son, For twenty beeves by great Laertes won. 

But it is not probable that Schamyl gave for his wife more than a gun ora sabre, a horse or a couple of beeves. But this much it must certainlyhave cost him to get respectably married; for without gifts to herparents no Circassian young woman is ever given in marriage, unless insome such exceptional circumstances as when Agamemnon wishing to appeasethe wrath of Achilles after the robbery of Briseis proposed to replaceher by one of his own daughters, and said that "far from exacting fromhim the accustomed presents he would endow the girl with immenseriches. "

This rule, however does not apply to widows, who being considered as theproperty of the fraternity to which belonged the deceased husband, aregiven away gratis to whoever will accept of them. And while a female ofthis class would not fetch so much as a cow or a buffalo in the market, no man of course would ever deem it worth his while to be at the painsof the elopement. 

But in the case of a maid being carried off, unless a satisfactory dowrywere promptly given, a feud would arise between the parties which couldscarcely be settled without bloodshed. If, however, a young man beingdeeply smitten with love, or for any other reason, elopes with a fairone before he has accumulated a sufficient fortune to defray the expenseof such a luxury, it is common enough for him to pay down what money orvaluables he may have, and give security for the remainder. Thetransaction being like any other in business is done in plain words, andwithout any pretence on the part of the suitor of being actuated solelyby disinterested affection. 

Once the bargain struck there is a feast. When the parties have asufficiency of means, the relatives and friends assemble to the numberperhaps of several hundreds to celebrate the betrothals by a picnic anda dance from morning till night. A master of ceremonies with a long flatbaton as a symbol of authority makes his proclamation calling upon allpresent to lay aside their feuds, if any they have, and take theirplaces in the dance. The musicians with three-fingered pipes andtwo-stringed violins are drawn up in the centre of the ring, when eachgallant placing his arms under those of the damsels on either side, andinterlacing his fingers with theirs, they all move slowly around in theimmense circle, singing at the same time a sort of accompaniment to theinstrumental music, swinging the body gracefully backwards and forwards, and rising on the toes in such a way as to communicate an undulatingmotion to the whole ring as it goes round. Pistols would be fired everyfew minutes over the heads of the dancers, and mock onsets made upon thecircle by mounted horsemen, who would be driven back in turn by partiesarmed with branches of trees and making the air ring with their shouts. There would also be the usual horse-racing, wrestling, and running, besides the entertainment of the feast itself, which would be served bywaiters on horseback as well as on foot, and who together would keep upa brisk circulation of tables and trenchers. 

When finally the marriage day arrives, all dues under the matrimonialcompact having been paid or satisfactorily secured, the couple arejoined together with still more feasting and the observance ofadditional ceremonies. A friend of the bridegroom mounting on horsebackand taking on his crupper the maiden decked out in all her finery, andcovered with a long white veil, gallops off with her to the house ofsome relative where the wedding is to be celebrated. Received at thedoor by the matron of the house, she is conducted with grave formalityto the chamber set apart for her reception, where she awaits the arrivalof her lord, and lights the nuptial torch of pine sticks in order tokeep away any supernatural enemy who might be tempted to run off withher at this very nick of time. 

An elderly dame also now performs the mystic ceremony of walking threetimes around the bridal couch, repeating the while the words of someArabic charm, and afterwards placing by the bedside three earthen-warepots filled with corn, and containing each a lighted lamp. 

At last the hour of midnight arrived, the impatient bridegroom springinginto his saddle gallops to the house of his friend, and conducted intothe presence of his bride instantly rips open her corset with hisponiard. This is the conclusion of the ceremony by which is rather cutthan tied the Circassian knot of matrimony, there being neither priestnor magistrate employed to fasten it any more securely. 

XVIII. 

MAIDS. 

The bride of Schamyl must have been unlike her countrywomen generally, if she was not handsome. For the Circassian females have long been famedfor their beauty, not only being in demand for the supply of the Turkishharems, but having formerly been sought in marriage by the Hungariankings and the czars of Muscovy, as well as by the Byzantine princes andthe pashas of Stamboul. They are described by travellers as of goodheight having slight and pliant forms like the birch among trees, withcomplexion either fair or olive, the old Greek cast of features, andeyes and hair generally dark, though some writers in describing themsing also of

 The eyes' blue dalliance, And the golden hair. 

On their heads the girls wear a bonnet not unlike the Albanian skullcap, of scarlet or some other brilliant color, and trimmed with lace ofsilver. Beneath this their hair falls down their shoulders in braidswhich are confined at the end by a silver cord, or are tied like thetresses of the Cossack girls with bright ribbons that nearly sweep theground. Sometimes also these plaits are gracefully confined in a silkennetwork. 

Over the shift is worn a jacket of some gay color and confined in frontby silver clasps; or it may be simply a leathern corselet joinedtogether by stitches. In either case the waist is incased as it were ina straight jacket, which being put on at the age of ten or even younger, and worn constantly until the marriage night, restrains the fulness ofnature throughout the period of maidenhood. A skirt open in front andconfined around the waist by a scarf or girdle, falls sufficiently shortof the ankles to show the wide Turkish trowsers which are tied abovethem. 

Closely fitting morocco slippers cover the feet, which being kept asscrupulously clean as those of the Hindoo women, if not like theirsornamented with rings, are indoors frequently left bare; while out ofthe house a kind of wooden clogs are worn to avoid the dirt. Theslippers are sufficiently coquettish, being made of red or greenmorocco, and of a size to admit the foot only in part, with small highheels, and dainty, pointed toes slightly turned up. 

The hands, which as well as the feet are small, have the finger nailsdyed with the juice of the flowers of the balsamina, and are protectedin the open air by mittens. The natural colors of the face, however, aregenerally not heightened by the pencil, although the Circassian fair arepartial to the brightest tints in their apparel, being thereto invitedby the gorgeous lights of a landscape filled with a multitude of flowersand in which the very rocks and snows burn morning and evening with huesscarcely less brilliant and variegated. 

The daughters of families a little elevated above the general sociallevel, go to school in the mosques together with the boys, and aretaught like them to speak and write the Turkish. At home all areinstructed in the feminine arts of spinning and weaving, as well as inembroidery, the knitting of lace, the making of all articles of dress, and also the plaiting of straw mats and baskets. They often serve theguests of the master of the house, bringing water to wash the feet ofthe newly arrived, though not like the Mary of the Scriptures anointingthem with frankincense and wiping them with the hair of the head. Theaged men being like the stranger universally honored in Circassia, receive from the young maidens the most dutiful attentions; and it isalways their privilege to sit by the couch of the veterans brought homewounded from the wars. The one are petted throughout their secondchildhood with frequent presents of sweetmeats and baskets of nuts; andthe other feel their pains abated while the hands of the most beautifulof the tribe softly comb the tuft of hair left growing above theirbrows. But in return, these too are treated by the other sex withcorresponding courtesy; for every warrior is a gallant knight, everready, going and returning from the foray, to give his escort to thedamsel wishing to pass from hamlet to hamlet, and gracefully lifting herupon his crapper whenever by chance he meets her on foot in the valleys. 

The Circassian maid is said to have in her veins some of the blood ofthe Amazons who anciently bore the pharetra, and followed hunting inthese mountains. Her style of dress and measured gait, together with hersharing the martial sentiments of the society in which she lives, giveher still something of the port of Diana, and make her fit to be thewarrior's bride. But at the same time she is not lacking in the femininegraces. Dressed in brocade or in rags, the Circassian girl isrepresented by travellers as never awkward, and never failing to assumespontaneously the most easy and natural as well as the most dignifiedattitudes. Her manners have but little of the excessive reserveafterwards adopted when she becomes a wife. But so long as she is in themarket for a husband, she allows herself to be seen freely by all menwhether wishing or not to become purchasers. She goes abroad unveiled;dances with the other sex; mingles fearlessly though without effronteryamid the groups of men; kisses the hand of the stranger before seatingherself on the divan by his side; and, though truly modest and decorousin her deportment, she yields her cheek, almost without a blush, to thelips of the warrior who, returning from the slaughter of the enemy, feels entitled to claim those favors which in less fortunate lands canonly be stolen by swains the most dexterous and whose stars aid them. 

The Circassian girls are sparingly nourished, says an ancient writer, [A]living mostly on milk, bread of millet, and pastry. Delicate in her foodas she is neat in her dress, growing up in the healthy air of themountains, living in a society of simple tastes and natural habits, always treated with gallant courtesy by a race of men whose hearts aremostly moved by a love of war and of beauty, it is not strange thatnature should have preserved through so many generations something ofthe type of loveliness which adorned the world's age of gold, and whichin modern times has made the Caucasian head to be regarded by civilizedman as the truest image of his Maker. 

[Footnote A: Pallas]

XIX. 

WIVES. 

While the Circassian damsel, in her modest simplicity, is tolerant offreedoms not altogether consistent with occidental notions of propriety, and is generally ready enough to flee her tribe with a lover who happensto be unable to pay the dowry demanded by a too avaricious father orguardian, on becoming a married woman she takes the veil and retiresfrom the gaze of men almost as effectually as she would do by shuttingherself up in a convent. Now when she goes abroad, all her gay colorsare covered by the white mantle which envelops her whole figure. Hersanctum, if she lives in a hamlet, is separate from the other buildings, is inclosed by a wooden fence, and concealed by the foliage of trees andshrubbery. No males enter it, excepting those of her own family and theataliks of her children. Even her husband does not visit her in thedaytime, but steals to her couch under cover of the darkness of nightlike a paramour. When out of the house she scrupulously avoids meetinghis eye, and on perceiving him in the same path goes about or standsaside in order to avoid his notice. 

Having been bought with a price, she is rather the slave than thecompanion of her husband, who may have as many wives as he likes, orrather can pay for. She rises on his entrance into her apartments andremains standing until he is seated; and this in fact is a mark ofrespect paid by woman to all males, except they be serfs, but also tothe elders of their own sex. Latterly, however, the introduction ofMahometanism has brought even into these mountains a partial recognitionof those rights which in some western countries have recently securedfor the wife the blessings of financial as well as social independence. Under the law of the Koran she is nominally free; can hold property inher own right; and on the infringement of her privileges, may have thesatisfaction of prosecuting her husband at law and bringing him intocourt to answer her. 

The Circassian woman, however, not having as yet become accustomed toplace much reliance on her legal rights, contents herself with theexercise of those means of influence, if not of control, which have beengiven her by nature. Denied the pleasure of the society of her lordduring the day, when at evening he comes to her apartments, fatigued itmay be by the exercise of the chase or the exertions of the foray, shesmoothes the brows wrinkled by care, dissipates by gentle caresses thepains of overwearied nature, and wins over to the emotions of conjugallove, the soul which all day long has been vexed by angry passions andthe rage of war. 

As a wife she is faithful; for indeed the jealousy of a Circassianhusband is not to be endured. The disgrace of being sent home to herparents and of compelling them to pay back her purchase-money, wouldpierce her heart like a knife; not to mention other more barbarouspunishments with which the haughty warrior instantly avenges anyencroachment on his honor. 

She is not only dutiful, but diligent in his service. She prepares withher own hands his food; she makes all his clothes, covering them withstitches until they become a raiment of needle-work; and helped by herdaughters she even manufactures his shoes and caps, his tent and shaggycloak, besides embroidering the coverings of his arms and the trappingsof his war-horse. To the Circassian woman therefore might be addressedthe commands of Telemachus to Penelope:--

 Your widowed hours apart, with female toil And various labors of the loom, beguile. 

Nor in her poverty does she refuse the severer labors of the garden andthe field. Frequently she delves in the earth by the side of her Adam. Sometimes she earns in the sweat of her brows the bread of both, whilehe combats the invaders of their common country in pass and plain, orpractises his athletic games in the peaceful valley, or even sits idleby the house-door, interrupting his listlessness only to burnish aweapon or caress his steed. And in the higher and more barren mountains, if the reports of travellers are to be credited, his better half, asmodest and still more industrious than the first mother, may be seenpicking the flinty soil during the heats of the day decked out with noneof the finery worn on occasions of ceremony, but clad simply in that onegarment deemed indispensable in all countries having made the smallestprogress in civilization. [A]

[Footnote A: Dubois. ]

The headdress of the married woman is not the tiara of the maid, butsome kind of plain or ornamental stuff wound round the head in the formof a turban, and with ends falling gracefully down on the shoulders. This completely covers the hair which is worn short, with curls in theneck. Over it on going out is thrown a veil of snow-white muslin whichdescending mingles its folds with those of the mantle. This latter isoften a large square of European woollen of the finest texture that canbe afforded by the wearer; and whether fine or coarse has always apicturesque look in the distance; and nearer by is generally worn with acertain degree of womanly coquetry which lends grace to its folds, andto the dullest eyes reveals half-glimpses of the beauty concealedbeneath. 

Here the fashions of dress, whether for males or females, never change. Garments therefore not being thrown aside or altered with every month'svariation of style as in the west, are frequently made of costlymaterials and adorned with such elegance of needle-work as to renderthem almost as precious as the sacred poet's vesture of gold wroughtabout with divers colors. This applies of course to garments of ceremonychiefly. A very fine paraja or mantle of camel or goat's hair, a skirtof brocade, or a scarf ornamented with silver thread will sometimesoutlast a generation, and be handed down an heirloom even tograndchildren. The belle who putting on the apparel which possibly apreceding century has fabricated, does not find herself in an antiquatedcut nor with stitches placed amiss, loses no time of course in dreamingof new fashions, nor self-respect in being obliged to parade in the oldones. Her only fashionable foible is that of knitting silver lace, shenot having as yet been initiated into the mystery of making Chineseboxes and card-racks, dolls' dresses and family portraits in worsted. 

XX. 

FEMALE SLAVE-TRADE. 

Serfdom, to a limited extent, exists in the Caucasus, more particularlyin the western part. It is, however, a comparatively mild form ofbondage, the only real slaves in the mountains being the captives takenin war who are compelled to do most of the hewing of wood and thedrawing of water. The serfs are rarely transferred with the land, andnever without their own consent. In return for their services theyreceive maintenance, clothing, lodging, and some yearly gratuity. Wivesare furnished them gratis; and while their sons remain the serfs of themaster, the money received for the daughters when sold in marriage isequally divided between him and the father. Their occupations consist incultivating the soil, taking care of horses and cattle, and waiting inthe guest-house; they being under no obligation to serve in war or evengive attendance on journeys. Often they farm the land of their mastersfor half the product. They also have the right of purchasing theirfreedom at the price of a certain number of oxen; and if ill-treated mayflee to another master for protection, who on payment of a moderatecompensation to their former owner is entitled to retain them. Sociallythey are on a footing of almost equality with their lords, wearing thesame dress, living in similar houses, partaking of about the same diet, sharing in all games and festivities, and associating on all occasionswith freemen as if they were their peers. 

The well-known Circassian slave-trade is confined to the sale offemales. In the eastern Caucasus girls are rarely bought and sold exceptin marriage; but in the western they are exported to supply the haremsof the Turks, more especially those of Constantinople. At one time thistrade was forbidden by Russia, and all of her subjects found engaged init were sent to Siberia; but in 1845 it was again legalized on conditionthat the females to be exported into Turkey should take out letters ofRussian protection, the object being partly to conciliate theCircassians, and partly to create a class of persons resident in thedominions of the sultan who should depend upon the czar as theirprotector and lord paramount. 

Even when prohibited, however, the traffic was carried on by means ofsmall craft which under protection of Russian papers obtained atTrebizond under pretence of going to Kertsch for grain, braved thedangers of the winter voyage when from the inclemency of the weather theRussian cruisers had been withdrawn from the coast of Circassia, andtaking in their precious cargo of souls landed it at Sinope or Samsoun. Thence conducted privately to Trebizond, they were finally conveyed byTurkish and Austrian steamers to Constantinople. 

These girls were the daughters of the serfs and poorer class of persons;those of nobles, chiefs, and men of means being rarely if ever sold tothe slave-merchant. Sold they however must be even if they remain athome, the Asiatic doctrine prevailing in the Caucasus that the womanshould be bought, not given in marriage, and where a dowry in additionto a wife would be the gilding of refined gold and adding sugar to thehoney-comb. The married woman is the property of her lord--or was untilnominally set free by the introduction of the law of the Koran. The ideaof becoming the slave of a master was therefore nearly synonymous in themind of a maid of low degree with that of becoming the wife of ahusband; and to make the journey to Constantinople for the purpose ofbeing bought by a wealthy Turk, was looked forward to by many a one as asettlement in life preferable to remaining at home the wife of a poorpeasant. This sentiment was encouraged by the sight, not uncommon inCircassia, of females who after having obtained an education and acompetency in Constantinople have returned to reside in their owncountry. It is also well known to the humblest maiden that the highofficers in the Turkish state often take to themselves wives of thedaughters of the Caucasus, who, if they do not return to the land oftheir fathers, at least play, in that of their adoption, a part insociety superior to that of the wives of even chiefs and princes in themountains. 

Accordingly, it is not generally looked upon by the Caucasian femaleborn in poverty, as a misfortune to be sold into Turkish captivity. Shepleases her fancy, on the contrary, with imagining that she will becomethe wife of, it may be, the sultan himself, or of a pasha, or of theadmiral of the fleet. She will be the light of the harem of a nabob withmany tails. She will be dressed in rich silks and velvets, and adornedwith gold and jewelry. She will live in the great aoul of Stamboul, in asakli by the Golden horn, or in the woods that skirt the Sweet Waters. Nor, poor thing, does she know or stop to consider that she may bethrown into those same beautiful waters sewed up alive in a sack. Many aone, no doubt, leaves her home however humble with a sigh of regret;many a one sheds bitter tears of shame when made to stand forth halfnaked in the marketplace; and many a one even in the gorgeous halls andperfumed chambers of Constantinopolitan princes, tired of the watchingof eunuchs and of the bickerings of rivals, would gladly exchange allthe luxuries of the harem for the freedom of a hut in her nativemountains. 

Still it is the testimony of travellers that the great majority of poorfemales in Circassia are as ready to go to Stamboul as pilgrims toMecca. When captured by Russian cruisers on the voyage, some of themhave been known to cast themselves into the sea or to drive a knife intotheir hearts rather than submit to become wives to the enemies of theircountry, the hated Muscovites; but they have no aversion to the Turk. Often they suffer somewhat on the voyage for lack of suitable shelter, food, and clothing; and generally they arrive at Constantinople muchbetter subjects for the Turkish bath than the harem. But they are oftenplaced in seminaries to be educated for the places they are to occupy inthe houses of the great; being on their arrival frequently not more thantwelve years of age, and always destitute of the few accomplishmentsconsidered indispensable in the families of Turks of any distinction. Abeautiful young Circassian, when thus prepared for the life of theharem, will sometimes sell for as much as twenty or even thirty or fortythousand piastres, though the ordinary price might not be more than fiveor ten thousand. But even in Circassia an Englishman has been known topay for a wife "three hundred and twenty-five pieces of cotton cloth, "valued there at upwards of six thousand piastres. Since the repeal ofthe Russian law forbidding the slave-trade, however, the price of thismerchandise has greatly fallen in the market. 

There is no evil, however great, without some good; and to theCircassian trade in female slaves is to be traced the superiority, bothof physiognomy and of blood, which belongs to the modern Turk above theTartar of the steppe and of the desert. 

XXI. 

FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 

The society of which Schamyl on reaching the age of manhood became amember in full was a free democracy. In the western Caucasus the varioustribes, such as the Kabardians, the Ubighé, and the Adighé, who are theCircassians proper, live under a form of social organization more orless feudal and aristocratic; but in the eastern, among the Lesghians, the Tchetchenians, and the inhabitants of Daghestan, there is for themost part no distinction of classes. Several small tribes in this latterdivision which are of Tartar origin are indeed governed by khans; buteven among them where the form of government is despotic, as well aswest of the Terek where it is aristocratic, there prevails such a spiritof personal independence together with such an equality of civil rightsand social conditions, that the Circassians in general may best becharacterized as associations of free brothers, not unlike the Germansas described by Tacitus. 

More especially is this true of the Lesghians of whom is Schamyl. Amongthem previously to the establishment of his system of government, therewas no other chief of the state than he who by general consent led thewarriors of the tribe on their expeditions against the enemy. Nor didsuch office of leader outlast a foray or a campaign. In time of peaceall were brothers, free and equal before the law, with only suchdiversity of social condition as might result from a difference innatural gifts or in the favors of fortune. Whoever had been endowed withmost commanding powers, whoever was foremost in valor and the exerciseof all manly virtues, was in fact a chieftain though without theformality of an election; he was king though without a title; andbetween the natural and the divine right to govern there was practicallyno difference. 

The public affairs of the tribe were regulated in general assembly. Thefreemen came together at their own will to sit in the council ring onthe greensward beneath the trees. In these meetings no officer claimedprecedence as a right, but all granted it by consent to the elders andthose most distinguished for valor and the gift of speech. The counselsof age and experience were heard first. The wise man also, whoever hewas, the valiant in arms, the influential from worth of character, allgave their opinion; but most the assembly hung upon the sweet tongue ofeloquence. For the orator has ample scope in the free assemblies of theCircassians. When he rises to speak, especially if he be advanced inyears, the principal men of the tribe sometimes even come forward andreverently kiss his robe. If possessed of more of the impetuosity ofearly life, he will perhaps clash into the ring on horseback andharangue the assembly from the saddle. Then if in the midst of hisimpassioned volubility any Hotspur interrupt the orator, the latterfoams with rage and would transgress all bounds of propriety if thelifted hand of some elder did not instantly restore silence. 

When the object of the meeting is to agree on an expedition against theenemy, the favorite topic and constant burden of eloquence is theoppression and the cruelty of the Russians. As the speaker dilates upontheir burnings and shedding of blood, the aoul laid low by theirartillery, the women violated, the youth carried away captive, thetribes gradually driven back into the mountains, his voice rages withindignation or wails in the plaintive tones of unaffected sorrow. Hiseye flashes beneath the shaggy, contracted brows; the clenched fist isrelaxed only to grasp shaska or poniard; the blood rushes and returnsfrom the cheek; and the chest heaves with violently struggling emotions. Mean-while in reply is heard the low, half-stifled sob; theirrepressible tears trickle down the sunburnt cheeks of those who weepfor their country, if not their friends; teeth are clenched and browsare knit and sabres are half-drawn; while at intervals is respondedamen! amen! and at the conclusion a shout of applause breaks from theuniversal throat, and rings through the air until the echoing hill-sidesgive it back to each other in boisterous accord. 

New laws are rarely made by this assembly, the tribe being governed verymuch by custom and ancient usage. Whenever these prove an insufficientrule of action, the Koran, in those parts of the mountains where it hasbeen introduced, is appealed to. Of course, in a state of society sosimple and unchanging there is little need of that constant lawmakingand unmaking deemed so indispensable in free and more civilizedcommunities. Whatever rules of conduct have been longest established andfound to meet the necessities of many generations, are by theseprimitive mountaineers held most sacred. To execute laws, therefore, notto make them, is the principal object of what little government existsin the Caucasus. Offenders are tried in the council ring; punishmentsconsist mostly of fines, which if not paid by the guilty individualhimself, must be by his family or his tribe; and crimes against personswhich are not thus compounded are prosecuted by the injured party andthose of his blood even to the third and fourth generations. 

Hence arise those numerous feuds which, arraying family against familyand tribe against tribe, produce a degree of mutual alienation of whichgreat use has been made by the Russians in their war of subjugation. Forthe right of revenge is one of the three great principles on which isbased the whole system of Circassian usage, the exercise of hospitalityand respect for age being the two others. But to limit the sway of thisold law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth under whichintestine wars prevailed, as formerly among the clans of Scotland, andsuits at law were protracted from generation to generation, as in thechancery of England, fraternities have latterly been established andoaths imposed on the members, whereby the ends of justice have beenbetter secured as well as domestic peace greatly promoted. For an oathtaken over even a few amulets is sufficient to secure the fulfilment ofan engagement; and when formally administered upon the Koran suspendedfrom two rifle-rests, the warrior, who never trembled before, is, by thesimple ceremony, agitated with dread, and having deposited his rifle, his pistol, or his bow, will die but what he will keep his word. 

The barbarity of this law of blood has also been always more or lesscounteracted by the affectionate respect for age, wherever met with, which runs through the code of Circassian manners, as well as by such anuniversal practice of hospitality as keeps the door of the apartment forguests standing wide open from one end of the year to the otherthroughout the mountains, and which enables even the foreigner to enterthe country unharmed, by placing himself under the protection of anychieftain he may select for his konak or guardian. 

XXII. 

RELIGIOUS BELIEF. 

The religious belief of the countrymen of Schamyl formerly partook ofthe simplicity of their mode of government. Not a century ago they werealmost entirely pagan, performing their religious ceremonies not intemples made with hands, but in groves, in the shadow of whosemelancholy boughs dwelt many divinities. They believed also in one GreatSpirit whose presence filled immensity, and who was likened to no livingthing, nor fashion of a man. To him were subject all inferior powers whopresided over the seasons of the year, over various localities, over thelives of the lower animals, and over all the doings and destinies ofmankind. 

Merissa, for example, was the protector of bees; and at her festivals, celebrated at the season of gathering in the sweets of the hive, all theviands and beverages with which the worshippers regaled themselves, wereprepared with honey. Still more powerful was Seozeres, who held insubjection the winds and waters, and who being at the same time theguardian of animals, tempered the air to the shorn flock and brought thesprings out of the rocks for the supply of the herd. Tliebse had thecare of smiths and all the cunning workmanship of forges, and at hisfete libations were poured in honor of him upon the hatchet and theploughshare. Domestic happiness and good-fellowship among neighbors werepresided over by the three sisters denominated fates in the mythology ofthe Greeks, and who besides interfered on the field of battle to throwtheir invisible shield over the favorite warrior; who sped the travelleron his way; and to whom the father on bringing his family across a newthreshold offered sacrifice and invocation. 

Most of the religious festivals were celebrated at either seed-time orharvest. In the first instance, when the grain was scattered over thefurrows in the hope that the land would yield its increase, the sowersupplicated the friendly interposition of the heavenly powers; in thelatter, after having laid up in storehouses the winter's supply of cornand wine, the reaper returned thanks to the celestial givers of all goodthings, and made merry with his friends in feasts. Nor at this season, when the sight of nature's decay dashes with a certain degree of sadnesseven the hilarity of the ingathering of crops did the pious mountaineersforget their dead, but uniting with the autumn which spreads over thegraves the gorgeous pall of its many-colored leaves, they likewisestrewed there whatever wild flowers bloomed in the mountains so late inthe year. For they, too, believed in the life beyond the tomb, whereinthere should be no _fana Muscov_ to infest the mountains of happiness, and where the warrior, laying aside his rifle and his bow, should hearno more of war beyond the home-march at beat of which he would enterwithin the gates of paradise. 

Various attempts have been made to introduce Christianity among thesetribes, though with little success. If asked at what period was made thefirst one, the Circassian replies with an air of indifference, _Allahbilleer, --God knows!_ There is an old tradition that the religion ofJesus was first taught here by St. Matthew, an opinion which may havehad its origin in the fact that the form of cross which is called by hisname is sometimes found in the mountains. Others attribute the firstbringing in of the gospel to the crusaders who, having survived thedisasters of their expedition to the holy land, fled hither for refuge. For some of the smaller Osetian tribes still wear on their garments theMaltese cross in red cloth, and paint the figure of the same on theiriron bucklers. At any rate the Christian cross is well known at thepresent day, in many parts of the Caucasus, where it is found in stoneerected in solitary places, but oftener of metal suspended from thebranches of oak trees. In this situation it is found accompanied bynumerous votive offerings, and is an object of sincere though blindadoration. In more recent times the Russians have endeavored to imposetheir form of religion on those tribes who have come under the yoke oftheir dominion; and since the middle of the sixteenth century theTartars, in disputing with the Muscovites for the possession of theCaucasus, have likewise taken more or less pains to introduce thedoctrines of the Koran. This endeavor has been followed up by the Turksalso, whose missionaries have finally succeeded in converting most ofthe tribes to at least nominal Mahometanism. Indeed the mountaineer wasalways strongly inclined to accept the fatalistic dogma so generallyprevalent in the East, and now sums up his faith in the saying, "Everything is _kismet_, destiny; and a man, whatever his inclinations, mustbow to fate. Such is the will of Allah. "

Still, the new faith has taken stronger hold of the chiefs andmagistrates than of the main body of the people, whose heart remains, inno small degree, pagan. The popular sympathies everywhere cling to theold superstitions and the time-hallowed ceremonies. Some of the smalltribes on the Caspian, continue to turn with feelings akin to adorationtowards the rising and the setting sun, while on the promontory ofApsheron the white-robed priests still maintain the sacred service oftheir fires. The people like also to keep the merry feasts kept by theirfathers before them. They love their mead and the wine forbidden by theprophet. The venerable oaks beneath which they have been accustomed toworship are still looked upon with awe, and in the murmuring of theboughs of the sacred groves the popular imagination still hears thefootfalls of the divinities as did Adam those of God when in the cool ofthe day he walked in the garden of Eden. 

XXIII. 

OCCUPATIONS. 

The Circassians still entertain the ancient nomadic idea that the soilis common property. Occupancy, however, gives a title for the timebeing; and individuals consider the land enclosed or improved by them astheir own. But it is usage that no person shall claim more land than hecan fairly occupy; and at his decease it is either divided equally amonghis sons, or is enjoyed by them in common. This, nevertheless, does notprevent the chiefs and nobles in certain parts of the country fromcultivating considerable tracts by means of serfs and captives, to whomin many instances are supplied the means and appliances of farming oncondition of their making return of one half of the products in kind. Nor is the lot of these laborers a hard one; for oftener will they beseen racing, wrestling, pitching quoits, and sleeping under the hedgesand wattled fences than bending over the short-tailed plough or hoe. 

Agriculture, in its season, is prosecuted with such a degree ofdiligence, however, as suffices to supply the few simple wants of themountaineer. The soil of the valleys and river bottoms, which arecleared by setting fire to the long grass and brushwood, generallyyields a large increase of every species of grain. Here also cotton, tobacco, indigo, and the vine are indigenous; many of the fruits of themost favored climes of Europe are found wild in the woods, as the peach, the pear, and the cherry; almonds and nuts of various kinds abound; theolive yields its oil; the mulberry feeds the silkworm; the figtree ispurple with fruit; the pomegranate ripens its crimson pulp; the palmdoes not refuse its dates; and, in short, in the vales and slopes whichextend from the level of the steppes up to the snow-line of themountains there is almost every variety of grain and fruit which growsbetween the tropics and the poles. 

But though the soil, watered by innumerable streams and irrigated by thesprings of the mountains, is exceedingly productive, the implements ofhusbandry are all of the rudest. The plough with its short and almostperpendicular handles, its flat and arrow-shaped share, barely scratchesthe ground; the coarse but sweet grasses are mown with a stubbed scythe;and the wains are heard creaking through the hills on revolving axles, with wheels hewn out of solid pieces of wood, and in every respect asprimitive as those used by Priam and his Trojans. Nor less so are thesledges for transporting hay down from the upper mountains; for theyconsist of a long limb of a tree trimmed on one side, while upon thebranches of the other is reared the conical stack which, when the snowhas fallen in winter, is easily drawn down into the valleys. 

Agricultural operations are performed by aid of oxen, mules, and asses, but not by the horse, this animal being held in too much esteem to beemployed in any way except under the saddle. There is an exception tothis, however, in the case of threshing grain, which, as in patriarchaltimes, is done by driving half a dozen horses at full gallop around alittle circular paddock used as a threshing-floor. In grinding the corn, too, horses are employed to turn the wheel; though the lighter seeds, such as millet, are generally ground by the women in handmills similarto those mentioned in the Christian Scriptures. 

The Circassians are not only tillers of the soil, but also keepers offlocks and herds. Indeed they are no less proud of the sheep and cattleon their thousand hills than were the patriarchs who anciently pitchedtheir tents between the Tigris and the Euphrates, or in the pleasantvalleys of the land of promise. Multitudes of black, long-haired goatsbrowse among the rocks; white broad-tailed sheep nibble the plants ofthe hill-sides; small oxen of the Hungarian dun color graze in thevalleys; the larger buffaloes wallow in the marshes; and herds ofhorses, tame or half wild, roam freely through woods and pastures. Themore wealthy herdsmen count their animals by hundreds; and a few even bythousands. 

The two principal ornamental arts and mysteries in the Caucasus arethose of the armorer and the saddler. Upon the weapons of the warriorand the trappings of his steed are spared neither pains nor expense. Beautiful designs are traced on the sword-blades, which also areunsurpassed for temper; their hilts and those of poniards are mountedwith jewels; the stocks of rifles and pistols are inlaid with gold, silver, brass, and mother-of-pearl; while saddles and bridles arewrought with a profusion of nicely set stitches, with precious stones, and metals, besides being set off with toys and various tinsel. 

In addition to the smiths employed in the maintenance and repair of armsthere are but few artificers. For every family constructs its own houseand most of its furniture, which last, excepting the necessary iron potsand wooden platters for cooking and serving meals, consists simply of afew stools, benches, chests, small round tripod tables, mattresses, cushions, coverlets, and mats. In the plaiting of these last theCircassians especially excel, and while they annually receive manystuffs from Turkey and Persia, they send back in return considerablenumbers of these articles woven of the flags of the Kuban and the Terek. 

The principal foreign trade of the country consists of such imports assalt, gunpowder, cottons, woollens, silks, silver thread, needles, smallmirrors, drugs, coffee, Turkish soap, dried figs, raisins, lead, steel, iron, both in bars and manufactured; and of such exports as skins, furs, wax, honey, chestnuts, tallow, woods, grain, and tobacco. Thisinterchange of commodities is effected mostly by the way of the twoseas; although strings of camels, piled high with merchandise, theproperty of Armenians, may occasionally be seen wending their waythrough the mountains, and going on also to gladden the daughters of thenorthern steppes with the gay silks, shawls, and carpets of the south. 

XXIV. 

MANNERS. 

The manners of the Circassians are characterized by a remarkable degreeof natural politeness. In social intercourse they rarely indulge inunseemly levity, or violate their rules, though simple, of goodbreedingand manly behavior. Even their dances and games are executed with acertain degree of decorous reserve; and on their warlike expeditionstheir habitual sedateness, and proud sense of self-respect, stand verymuch in the place of military discipline. 

Their mode of salutation is by raising the right hand to the head, andsometimes lifting their caps. It is also a mark of high respect to kissthe hand of a stranger of distinction and place it on the forehead. Theystrike hands together in token of amity; and females part from eachother by a gentle embrace with their right arms, and then a clasping oftheir right hands. While in addressing each other the men make use ofwhat we call the Christian name, and whatever the difference of rank, treat each other generally with the familiarity of brothers. Still, theynever fail to do honor to a chief by half rising from their seat on hisentrance into a room, and by standing up erect in case he be of superiorage. If, however, while sitting at meat he at any time decline theproffered bowl of mead or wine, it will very likely be offered to anyelderly serf who may be standing by, though clothed in rags; nor wouldany guest at the feast disdain to add to the gift a portion from his owndish of meat or pastry. 

This respect for age, taking the place of that for rank, runs throughthe whole style of Circassian manners. The decision of an aged mansettles all minor controversy; when he speaks in the council ring themost loquacious keep silence; if in anger he strike a blow even, it isnot returned; wherever he moves the crowd make way for him; in winterhis is the warmest corner by the fireside; in summer the young girlsspread his mat on the verandah and fan his slumbers; it is an honor tolight his chibouque; when he wishes to ride every one is ready to saddlehis steed, and a dozen lads run to help him down on his return. "Doublyaccursed, " says the Circassian proverb, "is the man that draweth downupon himself the malediction of the aged. "

In his hospitality the Caucasian vies with the Arab of the desert. Ahouse, or at least an apartment is kept ready by every man of substancefor the reception of strangers, its door never being closed by day, anda pile of logs always blazing on the hearth in winter evenings. Theguest of distinction on arriving is assisted to alight by his host, whosays to him on crossing the threshold, "Henceforth consider my father asthy father and my mother as thy mother. " He then with his own handsrelieves the stranger of his arms and hangs them on the wall. As sungthe ancient Grecian bard--

 And now with friendly force his hand he grasped, Then led him in within his palace halls; His coat of mail and glittering helm unclasped, And hung the splendid armor on the walls; For there Ulysses' arms, neglected, dim, Are left, nor more the conqueror's crown will win. 

Only after repeated solicitations on the part of the guest, and when allothers present have taken their seats, will the host consent to sit downhimself; and even then he will crouch down at a respectful distance onthe floor. After the repast, served perhaps by the sons of the house, water is brought in by maid-servants, that the guest may wash his handswhile they carefully do the same office for his feet. In a corner of theroom, or by the side of the hearth in winter, is spread a silken couch, with a luxurious pile of cushions and coverlets brought from Turkey orPersia; while sometimes a member of the family sleeps on guard by thedoor way. 

Departing, the distinguished guest is accompanied out of the aoul by agallant array of horsemen singing in full chorus their war songs; withperhaps a wandering minstrel to chant the praises of some hero; and itmay be an astrologer or soothsayer to predict a happy termination to thejourney of the guest they speed on his way. With equal comfort, if withless ceremony, is entertained the humbler traveller, who is entitled toask shoes for his feet and a coat to his back of any man who has asupply of these necessaries; while a party of warriors on their journeymay demand no less freely a kid from the flock or an ox from the herd. For there are three virtues, says a Circassian proverb, either one ofwhich entitles the possessor to celebrity--bravery, eloquence, orhospitality--more literally, a sharp sword, a sweet tongue, or fortytables. 

Though females are bought and sold in Circassia, and are deemed ratherthe helpmates than the companions of man, a chivalrous regard for thesex characterizes this race of warriors; and in no nation perhaps iswoman in circumstances of exposure more certain of receiving respectfultreatment. The warrior may place his arms around the neck of the maidenand let its steel-clad burden weigh gracefully upon her shoulders, butthe familiarity which is modestly allowed as if it were that of a fatheror a brother does not degenerate into insult. And when the fair girl hasonce won this violently beating heart, and becomes the warrior's bride, she turns as coy as a western damsel in her teens. After marriage thefading of her early maidenly beauty is concealed as much as possiblefrom the uxorious eye; in her white mantle her form is always graceful;by the evening fireside her presence never ceases to be a naturalornament and charm; and thus is kept up through a period of years, inthe absence of confidential social intercourse, at least a certainportion of the illusion of first love. 

But the principal characteristic of the manners of the Circassianwarrior consists in his graceful, manly air and bearing. A strong senseof personal independence, of superiority even, is expressed in hislooks, motions, and attitudes. Conscious of physical energy and braveryof soul, he has ever the self-possessed air of a man who knows no fear. The chivalrous sentiments of war fire his eye, distend his breast, andgive erectness to his figure. His tread is as light as that of anApollo; his repose as stately as that of an Aristides. Indeed it couldnot be otherwise than that there should be a native grace and dignity inthe port of such lovers of liberty and their country as, for example, Mansur Bey, who said, "While the soul is in my mouth this country shallnever be given to the Russian; when I die, I can no longer help it. " TheCircassian chieftain's blunt honesty and simple love of truth, hisfreedom from sordid selfishness and detestation of unmanly indulgences, give to his manners that stamp of heroism which all men admire in aSickingen or a Cid. Even his vices, his hatred of an enemy, his contemptfor a foreigner, his jealousy of rivals, his implacable love of revenge, have in them a dash of barbaric greatness, and nothing of the pettymeanness of the vices of civilization and the times of peace. 

XXV. 

HIS PREDECESSORS. --MAHOMET-MOLLAH. 

It was several years after Schamyl had taken his place in society as awarrior of full age, that his name first appeared in the annals of theCircassian war of independence. This was in connection with the siege ofHimri, where he served as murid or disciple under the chieftainKhasi-Mollah. 

This leader sprang up about the year 1830, and commenced a war ofresistance to Russian encroachment in the eastern Caucasus, which wasdestined greatly to exceed in importance that which since the treaty ofAdrianople had been waged by the Circassians proper in the western. Forthe latter contest, though a gallant and a successful one, has not downto the present time amounted to more than a guerilla, often interruptedby long intervals of quiet, and never prosecuted with any regularity ofplan or permanent union of forces. 

In the eastern Caucasus the flame of the war which has now been ragingfor a quarter of a century, was originally kindled at the torch ofreligious fanaticism. For Khasi-Mollah was a disciple of oneMahomet-Mollah, who was a cadi in the aoul of Jarach, in the khanate ofKurin, and who was reputed to be the wisest alim or teacher of Mahometanrighteousness in the territory of Daghestan. The patriotic heart of thislearned doctor had long been burning within him when, in the year 1823, he was induced, through the representations of one of his former pupils, to make a visit to another holy man in Schirwan, Hadis-Ismail by name, who expounded the Sufite doctrine to him more fully, and made apractical application of it to the political condition of hiscountrymen. 

"Of what use, " said finally Hadis-Ismail to Mahomet-Mollah, "is ourgoing through the prescribed routine of prayers, our exact performanceof ablutions, our adherence to the letter of the Scharyat, while theSufis daily curse the followers of Omar? Let all true believers nolonger contend against each other, but against the infidels. Campaignsto drive back the Muscovite are better than pilgrimages to worship atKerbelah, and prayers to Allah are an abomination unless followed by acall to arms. "

These were the words which Mahomet-Mollah had been waiting for years tohear spoken; and returning to Jarach he openly preached a crusade inbehalf of freedom and the true faith. Immediately the report of thiscalling of all believers to arms against the Giaours spread likewildfire through Daghestan and the country of the Lesghians. Disciplescame from afar to hear the new doctrine; and catching a portion of thefanatical zeal of the murschid, who enforced his views by depicting thebarbarities then recently committed by the Russians in the neighboringdistrict of Kara-Kaitach, they carried his burning words from aoul toaoul until the fury of the people burst out in a general rising to repelthe advance of the invaders. 

At this period the greater part of Daghestan, a territory lying on theCaspian, and eastward from the Lesghian highlands, had been broughtunder the yoke of the Russians. General Jermoloff, then governor-generalof the Caucasus, had been very successful in extending the imperialdominion and influence, being himself no less a hero than the Circassianchieftains, possessing a noble form, a soul of bravery, hardy, persevering, and chivalrous. He secured by his gentle treatment therespect of those tribes which submitted to his rule, and by his ruthlessseverity made a terrible example of those who refused to do so. Going inadvance of his arms, his intrigue penetrated into the fastnesses of themountaineers, and taking advantage of the mutual jealousy of the tribes, fanning the hate of private feuds, widening the breach between the twohostile religious sects, and tempting all the chiefs by the promise ofimperial honors, the people by the offer of free trade at the forts andmarket towns, it succeeded in gradually preparing the way for the adventof Russian intervention and authority with force of arms throughout allthe less mountainous portions of Daghestan. 

When, then, the active and sagacious governor heard that Mahomet-Mollahwas preaching in Jarach a holy war against the Muscovites, and that hehad erected in his house an altar before which the murids who came infrom all the neighboring parts hourly prayed and said, "Moslem waragainst the infidel! war against the infidel! death to the Giaour!" hesent a request to Arslan, khan of the Kasi-Kumucks, in whose territorywas Jarach, that he should seize upon the person of the mollah. ButArslan, fearing to lay violent hands upon a teacher so venerated by thepeople, suffered him to escape into the adjacent territory of Avaria. There he lived until the recall of General Jermoloff permitted him toreturn to his native district; having meanwhile diligently called uponall believers to forget their sectarian differences, upon the members ofthe different tribes to lay aside their animosities, and upon all loversof their country to rise in arms and drive back the infidel dogs who haddared invade the sanctity of the mountains. 

"The first great law of our prophet, " said he to the people, "is a lawof freedom. No Moslem shall be a slave, much less shall he acknowledgethe rule of the foreigner and the unbeliever. And the second law is likeunto the first. The Moslem shall be a soldier of Allah and his prophet, an enemy in arms of all infidels. For whosoever will not leave house, wife, and child, yea all that he hath or hopeth for to draw the swordfor his faith, he shall not pass over the bridge El-Sirat into paradise. The Moslem shall keep the scharyat; but all his giving of alms to thepoor, all his prayers and ablutions, all his pilgrimages to Mecca arenothing so long as the eye of a Muscovite looks upon them. Yea, yourmarriages are unlawful and your children bastards while there is aMuscovite in your midst. For who can serve both Allah and the Russian!"

XXVI. 

KHASI-MOLLAH. 

Among the murids of Mahomet-Mollah the foremost was Khasi-Mahomet, better known as Khasi-Mollah. After having spent much time sitting atthe feet of the patriotic and fanatical murschid, he returned to hisnative aoul of Himri, and began his career as leader of the popularmovement against Russia by sending to the neighboring tribes missivesfull of such reproof and exhortation as he had been in the habit ofhearing at Jarach. This he continued to do until it became manifest thatthe time for decisive action had arrived, when accompanied by aconsiderable body of disciples, among whom was Schamyl, he sallied forthon an expedition of proselytism, and made his way first to the powerfulaoul of Tcherkei, situated lower down on the Koissu, and in theterritory of the Tchetchenians. 

Assembling the warriors in a council ring, Khasi-Mollah said sharply tothem, "Ye men of Tcherkei, ye are too much inclined to evil doing. Yeare guilty of idleness, of lying, of deceit, even as are others. TheChristians have their gospel, the Jews their talmud, and we the koran;but in what are we better than others while we keep not the holyscharyat? There is but one path for us to paradise--it is the war path. Death to the Muscovites, and to all who are with them! Hate and waragainst the red-haired dogs, the unbelievers!"

Thereupon rose up an aged man of Tcherkei and said in reply, "Preach tous the scharyat; and we will obey it. We will cease from hating androbbing, and from all the sins you truly lay to our charge. But theRussians hold our chief men as hostages in Andrejewa; our herds arepastured in valleys subject to them; we are hemmed in on all sides bytheir strong places; every attempt we make to shake off their yoke onlybrings down on our heads retribution; and we cannot fight. "

"Bide your time, " rejoined Khasi-Mollah; "only be ready when I call; theday of your deliverance is at hand. "

Then having received from the people a solemn promise that they wouldobserve the scharyat, confirmed by a pouring out upon the ground of allthe wine laid by in the aoul, as well as by the breaking of the winevessels, he continued on his journey. Aoul after aoul was visited. Wherepersuasion failed, threats of fire and sword were resorted to; and inmany instances promises of adherence were guaranteed by hostages sent toHimri. And so by dint of argument, intimidation, and force, the newdoctrine of political Sufism was in the course of a few months diffusedover the greater part of the Lesghian highlands. 

Here and there, however, the more aged ulema[A] rejected the teachingthat the taking up of arms against the infidels was the best fulfilmentof the law of the scharyat, as for example in Chunsach, the principalaoul of Avaria, where, owing to strong Russian influence, the viewprevailed that it was not expedient to run the risk of losing what ofliberty was left by vainly attempting to regain that which had beenlost. Accordingly Pachu Biké, who here bore rule under the title ofKhaness, prayed Khasi-Mollah not to enter the Avarian territory; but hepersisting, she called together her warriors to resist him. They, however, fearing at first to face the determined band of murids, sheseized a sword and cried out, "Go home, ye men of Chunsach, and gird onyour wives the swords ye are unworthy to bear yourselves!" Thereupon thewarriors, stung with shame, followed the amazon who immediately putherself at their head and drove back Khasi-Mollah, though supported by aforce of eight thousand men. 

[Footnote A: Plural of alim. ]

This repulse turned the hearts of many of the recently converted awayfrom the new prophet; so that when in the summer of 1830, General VonRosen, who had taken the command of the army after the brief andinefficient career in the Caucasus of Paskievitch, the successor ofJermoloff, marched on Himri to crush the germ of war which was preparingto unfold itself in this part of the mountains, the chief men of theneighboring aouls hastened in great numbers to give in their adhesion tothe supremacy of the Russians. So general in fact was the appearance ofsubmission that Von Rosen, staying his advance, let Himri go unpunished. 

"The enemy are smitten by Allah with blindness!" exclaimed Khasi-Mollahas he heard that the Russians were retracing their footsteps withoutpenetrating further into the mountains. "They could not see theiradvantage. As is written in the book of the prophet, 'With blindnesswill I smite them!'"

This interpretation of the turning back of Von Rosen, struck the heatedimaginations of the mountaineers with such force that they all regardedit as a miraculous interposition of Allah in behalf of the new prophet;and when Khasi-Mollah, taking advantage of this sudden turn of men'sminds towards him, defeated a detachment sent under Prince Bekovitsch todisperse a gathering of murids in the woods of Tchunkeskan, his fameincreased in the land, and a large number of warriors flocked around hisstandard. 

The next year, therefore, he was enabled to perform the great feat ofcapturing Tarku, an important place on the Caspian, and of laying siegeto the fortress of Burnaja which overlooks it. The reinforcements of theenemy compelled him indeed to retire; but not until after several daysof desperate fighting, and when he had literally strewn the streets ofTarku with his dead. Then devastating the unfriendly aouls on the Sulak, beating General Emanuel in a pitched battle, converting by fire andsword the district of Tabasseran which had held with the Russians, blockading the strong town of Derbend until it was relieved by superiornumbers, and storming Kisliar on the Terek whence he carried awaycaptives and much treasure, he terminated the conquests of the season bycaptivating the heart of a daughter of Mahomet-Mollah, whom he took towife, and then retired into winter quarters in Himri. 

Shortly before he had issued the following call, written in Arabic, tothe tribes of Daghestan:--

"Hear all ye men of Daghestan! Our next breaking into the territory ofthe unfriendly tribes will be like the rising red of the morning. Bloodwill mark our track; fire and desolation will be left behind us; andwhat words cannot describe shall be executed in deeds. But accept thenew doctrine and your lives shall be spared, and your property left inyour possession. The song of the nightingale in the spring will be thesign of our coming. So soon as the snow melts on the mountains, and thenew year puts on its green, we shall sweep over the hostile aouls, taking by force what is denied to forbearance. We are the terror of theunbelieving, but the strength and refuge of the faithful; and he whofollows us shall have peace and eternal life. Amen. "

But in Himri was destined to terminate the brief career of glory run byKhasi-Mollah. With the first singing of birds he did indeed go forth, carrying devastation beyond the Russian lines, even from Kisliar toWladikaukas, from the Caspian to the central Caucasus; but the Russiancommander-in-chief, accompanied by General Williaminoff, Prince Dadian, and the valiant Austrian Kluke Von Klugenau, forced the prophet toretire and take refuge behind the triple walls of Himri. Thereupon, during the retreat, the warriors who had been compelled to join hisstandard contrary to their inclination, gradually fell off; one by onethe chieftains deserted him as they saw the superiority of the forces ofthe enemy; even the principal murid, Hamsad Bey, deceived, it is said, by forged proclamations issued in the name of the prophet, separatedhimself from a leader whose fortunes were so evidently on the wane; andwhen October's unfallen leaves were still covering the hills of Himri, the Russian bayonets arrived to add their gleam to the gorgeousness ofthe autumnal decay of nature. 

There was now no escape for the faithful few who still adhered to thecause of Khasi-Mollah, among whom was Schamyl. The artillery under thedirection of General Williaminoff soon brought down the towers of loosestones over the devoted heads of the murids in Himri. But they met theirfate chanting verses from the Koran. No man had a thought of surrender, though the paths into the mountains were all in the possession of theenemy. From street to street and from house to house fought the men ofHimri. Their granite rocks were as red with blood as the leaves of thetrees with the glory of the autumn. Khasi-Mollah, though from hispriestly character he did not himself bear arms, fell surrounded by thedead bodies of sixty of his disciples. Schamyl also lay at his feetbored through by two balls, and was left there by the enemy for dead. When the Russians found the corpse of Khasi-Mollah, the right hand stillpointed to heaven, the left grasped the beard, and over the face wasspread the placid expression of a dream instead of the last agony. 

Khasi-Mollah was of a short stature, with small eyes, a thin, longbeard, and a countenance somewhat marked by smallpox. 

XXVII. 

HAMSAD BEY. 

The manner of Schamyl's escape and recovery from the wounds received atHimri never having been explained by himself, was believed by themountaineers to have been miraculous. Certain it is he survived toreceive the mantle of the heroic Khasi-Mollah, though in descending tohim it rested for a short time on the shoulders of Hamsad Bey. 

This leader possessed neither the fanatical zeal of his predecessor northe military genius of the still greater prophet who came after him; butbeing consecrated by Mahomet-Mollah as the successor of Khasi-Mollah, notwithstanding his separation from the latter previously to the fightat Himri, he was universally acknowledged as the chief of the new party. The first of the two years of his rule was spent by him in makingpreparations for taking the field, during which time he had the addressto gather together a considerable number of Russian deserters whom heformed into a separate corps commanded by their own officers, and inwhom, being attached to him by good treatment, he placed such entireconfidence that he even made them his bodyguard. This was something newin the annals of Circassian warfare; but it was an innovation of shortduration and very questionable utility, inasmuch as such a perfectmachine as the Russian soldier could work to little advantage by theside of the Circassian warrior with his impetuous impulses and actionindependent of the word of command. 

The only feat of arms attempted during this year by Hamsad Bey was asuccessful attack on the aoul of Chergow, in the Mechtulinian district;but the spring following he concentrated his forces, amounting to sometwelve thousand men, in the aoul of Gotsatl, in Avaria, eighteen werstseast of Chunsach, for the purpose of striking a blow at Russianascendency in the neighboring districts of Daghestan. But to do thiseffectually it was necessary first to put an end to the influence of theenemy in Avaria itself, and to substitute his own spiritual authority asmurschid in place of the deference paid there to the hereditary khans. 

Accordingly Hamsad Bey marched on Chunsach, where Pachu Biké with herthree sons held for the Muscovites. Pitching his tent before thispopulous aoul, he sent in his herald to the khaness requiring her toadopt the new religion of hatred against the Russians, and to join herforces with his to drive them out of the country. Pachu Biké, who had soheroically taken up arms against Khasi-Mollah, now thought it moreprudent to try the fortune of negotiation, and for that purpose sent hertwo eldest sons, Omar Khan and Abu-Nunzal, to treat with the murschid. But the latter having got the princes in his possession, caused them tobe put to death; then followed up his treachery by seizing upon theunresisting aoul; and having decapitated the khaness herself, destroyedall of the reigning race save her youngest son Bulatsch Khan, a ladeleven years of age, who was then not present in Chunsach. 

The submission of all Avaria, together with several adjacent districts, followed these acts of barbarous severity on the part of Hamsad Bey; butthe avenger of blood followed close behind him. Two brothers, Osman andHadji-Murad, being foster-brothers of Omar Khan, resolved to satisfy thelaw which requires in Circassia, as formerly in Judea, that whosoeversheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. They were at thetime murids of Hamsad Bey, but being urged on by their father, a manvenerable in years, and opposed to the reformed party in religion, theywere induced to set their allegiance to the law of vengeance beforetheir loyalty to their chief, and accordingly conspired to take him off. Forty of their relations and friends joined the conspiracy, all takingan oath on the Koran to be faithful to each other, and never to restuntil they had slain Hamsad Bey. But one among them proved to be atraitor. Going straightway to the murschid he revealed the plot of thetwo brothers. But the Bey, confiding in the loyalty of disciples who hadgiven him so many proofs of fidelity, would not listen to the tale, andpeacefully resumed the sleep from which he had been awakened to hear it. 

On the morrow he fell dead in the mosque of Chunsach, pierced by thepistol balls of the two murids. One of them, Osman, instantly receivedthe reward of his treachery in the loss of his life at the hands of theattendants of the prophet; but the other, Hadji-Murad, escaping in theconfusion of the moment, brought the crowd outside to his assistance byraising the cry of, "Down with the murids. " With sabre and pistol theyrushed into the house of Allah, and in a moment all its stones were redwith the blood of his children. Only thirty out of the one hundredmurids of Hamsad Bey escaped from the mosque with their lives. Theseflying before the excited multitude sought refuge in the neighboringtower; but this being built of wood was set on fire by the order ofHadji-Murad. Then of the thirty, some precipitated themselves headlongfrom the top of the tower; others fell fighting; Mahomet-Hadshi-Jaf, thesame who had betrayed the conspirators, being sorely wounded was takencaptive; only one escaped, as if by miracle--it was Schamyl. 

XXVIII. 

CIRCASSIAN MODE OF WARFARE. 

Such were the leaders under whom Schamyl served his apprenticeship inthe art of war. But from his youth up he had also been trained for thegreat military part he was to play in life by engaging in those raidsand forays by means of which the Circassians were wont at that period toharass and keep at bay the enemy. For while from lack of unanimity amongthe tribes, from want of a hero like Schamyl to lead them, from thesuperiority of the Russian forces, or from whatever other cause, themountaineers were engaged in no great, combined movements ofself-defence, there was notwithstanding constantly kept up, by most ofthe tribes of both the eastern and the western Caucasus, the runningfire of the guerilla, and the predatory expeditions of a war of theborder. 

Such expeditions were set on foot either by some chieftain who rode fromaoul to aoul calling upon the brave to follow him; or by a summons sentabroad to the warriors of a certain district inviting them to assemblein the council ring at a given time and place for the purpose ofagreeing upon an attack upon some fort, or a foray within the lines ofthe enemy. The spot selected for holding the assembly would be someconvenient hill-top or vale shaded by trees. There, with no little rudeeloquence, accompanied by the singing the praises of heroes, the subjectof the proposed expedition would be considered, and the course to bepursued be determined by a majority of voices. With scarcely theformality of an election, the general preference would select somechieftain to head the incursion, if finally agreed upon. And to set offif the occasion pressed, would hardly require more preparation than thespringing into their saddles; for at the bows of these could quickly behung a sufficiency of provisions for their simple wants, whileammunition and arms are always worn about their person. 

The Circassian spares his horse when he can, and generally rides slowlyto the scene of contest. Indeed, the route admits of no hurrying; for itoften leads along precipices which would turn almost any head but hisown; winds a narrow, rugged path over the mountains; picks its way alongthe rocky bed of the torrent; dives into forests tangled with vines andbrambles; and cannot always turn aside even from the bog and thequagmire. But his hardy steed never tires; and up hill or down daletoils patiently, bravely, cheerfully, as if conscious that he was goingon to meet the armed men, and smelling afar off the future battle, thethunder of the captains, and the shouting. Sometimes the party travelsthrough the night, each warrior being muffled in a shaggy capote orbourka, which covers not only the rider but the entire back of hissteed. Above protrude the barrels of the rifles, while below dangle thehorse-tails, making, by their constantly dangling to and fro, thenight-march a very promenade of hobgoblins. 

But on the longer expeditions the war party halts at night. Some greenspot having been selected where there is pasturage and water, the horsesare tethered, or allowed to graze under care of persons appointed towatch them. Their saddles furnish a pillow at night, and their cloth acarpet to sit upon. Each person contributes from the leathern bottlesand bags at his saddle-bow a portion towards the general mess, which isprepared by a certain number of the party in turn; and while it is beingmade ready, the others having said their evening prayers and performedtheir ablutions resign themselves to the soothing influences of thechibouque, if not prohibited, and to the cordial of coffee, if they haveany. The supper at the very best will consist of hot millet or barleycakes, and the savory pilaff of minced mutton and millet or rice. Alittle honey will be sure to be added, and possibly dried fruits. This, however, is on the supposition that there are a few sumpter horsesloaded with provisions, as is generally the case when the party is alarge one. There may also have been more or less game picked up by theway. A bowl of mead or _skhone_ is generally to be had by theCircassian, let the supper it accompanies be never so scanty; and thesharp appetite which heaven sends to those journeying through the hillsin the saddle, will season even a little sour milk and a few cakes ofmillet and honey, if there be nothing else, with more than the savor ofa feast. The chieftain fares no better than his clansmen; all share inthe mess alike. 

The supper finished, and every man having carefully cleansed hisweapons, loaded and primed his guns and pistols, placed his sabre by hissaddle-pillow, while his faithful poniard guards the side it neverleaves, and finally a short prayer for protection having been offered toAllah, the sentinels also being duly set, the warrior who is to fall inbattle on the morrow lies down to sleep as peaceful as that of the babehe has left behind in the aoul, and soft as if the canopy overhead werenot the star-spangled curtain of the skies. If the party have tents, asis sometimes the case, they are pitched by cutting down branches oftrees for lack of poles, and then covering them with the mats and feltswhich have been transported in bales on horseback. These simplestructures serve sufficiently well to keep out wind and rain; while theboughs of many kinds of trees furnish a couch both elastic and fragrant. 

Watch fires, too, are often kept burning through the night; and in coldweather they serve likewise to keep warm those sleeping around them. When the fires are numerous they light up with picturesque effect thegrim-faced rocks and the solemn woods. A whole mountain side even may beilluminated by the multitude of flames, making the granite, porphyry, and limestone glow with colors more gorgeous than those borrowed fromthe light of day. Or the gloom of the deep glen is dissipated anddevoured by the lambent tongues of fire, while the rocks over againsteach other burn with the additional radiance reflected from their faces. Beacon answers to beacon from cliffs and hilltops. Perhaps the enemy'sfires far off diffuse a glow through another quarter of the heavens. Thereeds of the Kuban and the Terek set on fire by the Russians to destroythe ambuscades of the mountaineers, touch with a dull red tint the lownorthern horizon; here and there conflagrations raging in thegrass-grown steppes show at night where lie the vast and dreary confinesof the Muscovite; while perhaps the moon sinking below the Blackmountains draws, with a line of silver, the broken outline of theirridges, leaving in the blackness of midnight the vast forests andoutcropping rocks below. 

When the first faint blush of breaking day suffuses the eastern sky faroff above the Caspian, the warrior's eye already open is straining tocatch it. His tent is struck; his horse saddled; his arms girded on; andhe ready for the march. As the gray dawn deepening to crimson fills themountains ere the sun be risen with its increasing, all-pervading light, the horsemen descend in small parties from the already purple heightsinto the mists which hang their thin veils over the depths of thevalleys. Their arms reflect the beams of the risen sun, and the red orpurple in their caps is heightened by the glow of the mountain tops. Gaily they gallop down the easy declivities, their horses snuffingeagerly the fresh air of the morning, but their ragged banners too wetwith the dews of night to flaunt upon the zephyrs that, newly risen, scarcely move their wings. The foremost riders, gaining the open valleyscreened by an intervening mountain from the plain of the enemy, pranceover it, and companies of horse coming in from different directions jointhe general rendezvous until, all counted, they may amount to two orthree hundred, or as many thousand men. For seldom does a Circassianchief lead on a raid into the enemy's country with either less than theformer number or more than the latter. 

The guides now come in from reconnoitring the posture of affairs on thesteppe on the other side of the mountain. In accordance with theiradvice most probably had the expedition been originally agreed upon; forthey had represented the enemy's flocks and herds as left unguarded saveby the shepherds, the villages undefended except by the boors, and theposture of things generally to be such as to promise a certain victorywith booty and captives. Now they come in, having taken a final surveyfrom some wooded nook on the hill-side of the boundless steppeanprospect, as from his cottage on the cliff the fisherman looks out uponthe level waste of the ocean. The Terek is reported sufficiently low tobe forded; for the stream which in the higher mountains pours down withheadlong fury its waters, transparent save where the white and redcrystals which form its bed are concealed by the foam, creeps throughthe steppe a sluggish, muddy current, passable with safety at certainpoints and certain stages of the water. In the plain beyond stands aCossack village or stanitza, together with a small fort or krepostsurrounded by mud walls, armed with a piece or two of artillery, andgarrisoned by a small body of infantry. It is one of the chain ofsimilar Cossack settlements which, called "the line" of the Caucasus, stretches from the mouth of the Kuban to that of the Terek; and as theinvaders penetrate further and further into the mountains, they carrythis system of Cossack colonies and fort defenses with them, so that thechain forged to bind within its thousand links the liberties of all thetribes is gradually drawn tighter and tighter. 

Over against the ford, and at no great distance from it, stands aCossack guard-post. It is constructed of four poles twenty or more feetin height, which below are fastened in the earth and support on theupper extremity a seat or lookout. To this the Cossack climbs by meansof a ladder, and there he sits by day and by night watching the forestof reeds on the river banks, watching the level sweep of the steppe oneither side, watching the opposite hills and mountains. Forlorn indeedwould be the poor Cossack notwithstanding he has before his eyes theglory of the Circassian hills and the distant snow-summits mingling withthe clouds, were it not for the bottle of schnapps by his side, and thestroking of his long moustache. For weeks and months he may watchwithout seeing a single Circassian. But when he does, he instantlykindles his beacon fire, and descending seizes his lance left leaningagainst one of the four posts, and springing upon his horse which standsfastened to another, gallops to the stanitza. In all haste the women andchildren fly to the fort; the soldiers drive in the swine or cattlewhich feed on the grass around it; the sentinels fire the cannon to givethe alarm to the neighboring stanitzas; and every Cossack within soundof the signal-firing, vaulting into the saddle and putting his steed tohis mettle, hastens lance in hand to drive back the enemy. 

But ere he arrives, though fleet be his steed, very likely theCircassian band, having previously succeeded in reaching the riverunobserved, have swept like a tempest over both fort and stanitza. Anoath of fidelity which even more than any divinity awes the Circassianmind and rules it, having previously been administered on a pocketedition of the Koran to each warrior by his chief, and each one beforesallying from his place of concealment in reeds, woods, or hills, havingdismounted to put up with raised hands in silence a brief prayer toAllah, as well as to tighten his saddle-girths, at a given signal allspring forward like the roused lion out of his lair. Giving their horsesthe rein they have no need of spurs. In a moment they are across theopen space which lies between their cover and the fortress, though somemay have fallen from the enemy's well-aimed guns and musketry. They areat the gates; they leap the ditch; they climb the wall; they spring downinto the enclosure; at the same time raising a war-cry which resemblingthe shrill, melancholy, and fearfully wild howl of the jackal, fillswith unnatural, and even insane consternation the troops who for thefirst time hear it. It is now quick work, and the struggle fearful. Butthe agile and light-limbed mountaineers are more than a match for theheavy, slow-wilted Russians; and though in cold blood the former do nottake the life of an enemy, now fury-driven they are swift to smite andnever spare; while above the clash of sabres and bayonets, above theshouting and the musketry, rises the voice of the Circassian chief wholeads on and deals out destruction until the last Muscovite bites thedust. 

The stanitza making no resistance, the work of pillage is soon done;whereupon the troop having picked up their dead and wounded, turn theirhorses' heads again towards the mountains. When the Cossacks come inwith their reinforcements it is too late. They are only in time tobehold the stanitza in flames, the fort in ruins from the explosion ofits magazines, and the victors, their cruppers piled high with goods, and women, just gaining the opposite bank, or crossing the hill-top, onthe other side of which lie both safety and freedom. 

Sometimes the Circassians dash through between the forts withoutstopping to attack them, and suffering, perhaps, somewhat from thecross-fire, gain the country beyond the line, where they find moreabundant spoils and no resistance. But on their return, they are sure toencounter the Cossacks drawn up at the ford, or some other pointconvenient for disputing the passage to an enemy encumbered with booty. These Russian hirelings, however, the freemen of the mountains despise, and with superior horses ride them down. Only when the espionage whichis maintained among all the tribes on the border--for everywhere thereare souls which can be bought for gold--succeeds in procuring for theirenemies information of any incursion before it takes place, is the forayrendered unsuccessful and the troop cut off. 

XXIX. 

RUSSIAN MODE OF WARFARE

The Russian mode of conducting the invasion of the Caucasus has beendifferent at different times. When the Emperor Nicholas, after thetreaty of Adrianople in 1829, revived the old war with Circassia inorder to compel by force of arms the acknowledgment of those pretendedrights of supremacy which by that treaty had been made over to him byTurkey, he supposed that his Cossacks, aided by a small force ofinfantry, would be sufficient to intimidate the mountaineers and toaccomplish his purpose. Earlier in the century, Russia had acquired fromPersia the vast provinces of the southern Caucasus, and had afterwards, partly by the consent of the tribes and partly by force, succeeded inkeeping open the two great routes to these possessions, the one alongthe Caspian, and the other over the centre of the chain by the pass ofDariel. It remained therefore to subjugate only that portion of theCaucasus not included in the territories adjacent to these two roads, and lying the larger portion of it south of the Kuban, and the smallersouth of the Terek. 

Nicholas accordingly sent his proclamations into the mountains saying, "Russia has conquered France, put her sons to death, and made captivesof her daughters. England will never give any aid to the Circassians, because she depends on Russia for her daily bread. There are only twopowers in the universe--God in heaven, and the emperor on earth! Whatthen do you expect? Even though the arch of heaven were to fall, thereare Russians enough to hold it up on the points of their bayonets!" Atthe same time, while the Cossack colonies which had been planted in linealong the northern banks of the Kuban and the Terek were reinforced fromthe hordes of their brethren on the Black Sea and the Don, the longspears of these united horsemen were strengthened by the bayonets of afew thousand infantry--the vanguard of hundreds of thousands who were tocome after them. 

But the Circassians heard with incredulous ears the big words of thelieutenants of the czar. They knew not, besides, why he should pretendto rule over them. The Turks had indeed enjoyed the privilege ofestablishing fortified places of trade on their coasts, and as most ofthe tribes had been converted from paganism by Mahometan missionaries, they looked upon the sultan as their spiritual head and Allah'svicegerent, but they did not consider their free mountains as in anysense his domain, nor liable by any treaty stipulations to betransferred to another superior, much less to the unbelieving Padischahof the "flax-haired Christian dogs, " and their old enemies, theMuscovites. Accordingly, like true and independent men and the sons ofsires who without let or hinderance had pastured their flocks in thesemountains since the days of the patriarchs, they refused to give up theancient freedom of their homes, built on the rocks, at the bidding ofthe minions of the autocrat of the North. 

The Cossacks who came galloping across the steppes on small, shaggyhorses, and armed with unwieldly lances, the mountaineers looked uponwith contempt. They sabred them and rode them down. As for the Russianinfantry, they were terror-struck at the sound of the yell with whichthese centaurs of the mountains dashed into the thickest of their ranks, shooting them down with pistols, striking back their bayonets with theirsabres, leaping from their saddles to poniard them, and the next instantgone on a gallop with the wind. The soldier who had been at the retreatfrom Moscow, and at the crossing of the Borodino, and who was a good andtrue grenadier, sturdy, brave, obedient to the word of command, felt allhis forces desert him before the onset of such reckless riders andaccomplished swordsmen. Once across the Kuban or the Terek, he neverfelt sure of his life, for there was always a Circassian lying in waitfor him. When the column was wending its way through the narrow valleywherein nature held her supreme and silent reign, save that the tinybrook ran with gurgling sounds over its rocks and pebbles, or thenightingale made the thickets vocal with its song, or the bees flittingfrom flower to flower diffused through the air a pleasing murmur, wherein the oak spread its peaceful branches against the sky, the beechleaning over the path shed a grateful shade, and the vine hanging infestoons from elm to maple invited the weary soldier to refresh his lipswith their purple clusters, there lay hid in this sweet solitude ahundred men and more armed for battle; and when the invaders no moresuspected danger from the peaceful hill-sides than the bird from thesnare of the fowler, Instant, through copse and heath arose Bonnets and spears and bended bows; On right, on left, above, below, Sprung up at once the lurking foe. 

Then instead of the singing of the brook, the carol of the nightingale, and the humming of the sweet-mouthed bees, were heard the rifle's sharpcrack and the rattling of the musketry; the brook ran red with the bloodof the slain; and the Russians, like the Roman legions cut off in thewoods of the Germans, were left with none to bury them. 

Nor even within the walls of the forts was the Russian soldier entirelysafe from his wily adversary. For when silently beneath the moon thesentry is pacing the narrow rounds of the krepost, suspecting no enemywithin a dozen leagues, but thinking rather of the hut on Polish plainsor shores of Finnish lake fondly called a home, some Adighé or Lesghianwho, unable to rest until he has slaked his thirst for vengeance in theblood of an infidel, has stolen down from the mountains and lain hid aday in the reeds of the river bank, creeps at nightfall like a wildbeast out of his lair, glides unseen by the guard-post of the Cossack asthe latter is taking perhaps a final pull at his bottle of schnapps, andcrawling up within sight of the very beard of the sentinel, picks himoff. 

Accordingly the army of the emperor, instead of making an easy conquestof the Caucasus, was obliged to remain for the most part shut up in thechain of their miserable forts and kreposts. Here, when these fortifiedplaces were not boldly assaulted and carried by storm, as oftenhappened, the troops fell a gradual prey to fevers and dysenteries, orto the want of those supplies which the peculation of the officers incharge of them continually either withheld or adulterated. The forts, situated on the coast of the Black Sea, could be relieved only duringthat half of the year which was suited for navigation; while those onthe Kuban and the Terek were dependent on the precarious suppliesconveyed overland at such times as the roads were passable. To keep upthe spirits of the imprisoned garrisons the men were made to sing byword of command; and the dance was introduced as a military exercise. The Caucasus in fact became a southern Siberia, where the average lifeof the soldier was but three years. 

Taught at length by repeated and disastrous failures that this method ofattacking the Circassians was a fatal error, the czar next adopted theplan of sending into the mountains heavy masses of infantry supported bypowerful trains of field artillery. These with great labor penetrated acertain distance into the interior for the purpose of opening roads fromone important fortress to another, and guarding them with chains of mudforts or kreposts. They made reconnoissances in various directions, succeeded in isolating and subduing some of the districts lying on theKuban and Laba rivers, and completed the subjugation of the more opencountry of the Kabardan tribes, who were obliged to accept terms ofneutrality. 

At the same time the invaders adopted the additional plan of blockadingthe mountains both by sea and land. Besides the line of fortressescommenced by Peter the Great on the Terek, extended by Catherinewestward, and now completed from sea to sea, similar establishments werecreated on all the points of the Black Sea coast which couldconveniently be approached by water. Under pretence of carrying out arigid system of quarantine regulations and tariff laws, the object wasto cut off the Circassians from all foreign intercourse, and especiallyfrom trade with the Turks, who were in the habit of supplying them witharms, gunpowder, salt, and various necessary articles of manufacture. Atthe same time, the Russians endeavored by making certain marts of theirown free to the mountaineers, to induce them gradually to exchange thehabits of war for those of trade and friendly intercourse with theiradversaries. Emissaries were sent among the tribes to attempt to winthem over to this change of policy; rank in the army was offered to thechiefs; or they were tempted by pensions; and even by the introductionof foreign brandy as well as foreign gold, efforts were made to spreadthe fatal net of Russian influence along all the footpaths of freedom inthe mountains. 

The Circassians liked the taste of the foreign liquor, and their eyeswere not insensible to the charms of coined gold, of which they hadbefore seen but little. The epaulettes also and stars and ribands weresuch baubles as were well adapted to captivate the fancy ofsemi-civilized chieftains; and the Russian fabrics were a temptation toall, especially to the women; but to the honor of the Circassians, thetribes with few exceptions disdained to sell their birthright ofindependence for a mere mess of pottage. Relations of trade and amitycould be established only with the tribes whose position on the frontiercompelled them to be neutral. The chiefs in the interior, though oftenjealous of each other, held themselves too high to be bought by thecommon enemy for a price; and the intrigue of the czar was on the wholeas unsuccessful as his arms. 

The Circassians at first made little or no change in their mode ofwarfare to meet the new tactics of the invader. Still despising the menwho dwelt in plains notwithstanding their cannon "made the earth totremble and the fruit drop from the trees, " they continued from time totime to storm the kreposts sabre in hand. They leaped out of theirplaces of ambush upon the columns which attempted to penetrate intotheir fastnesses; and attacking the more numerous enemy in dense massesas formerly practised by the Turkish spahis, setting all modern tacticsat defiance, and bent on bearing down every thing before them by the madfury of their onset, they rushed upon the Russian squares and guns as ifthey had been the mere branches of trees used in their own mock-fights. 

For the most part they were victorious; but every victory cost them muchprecious blood, a fresh supply of which could not so easily be obtainedas was the case with the viler sort which flowed in the veins of theimperial serfs and peasants. They were therefore obliged in the end tobecome less prodigal of it, and to adopt a system of guerilla warfarebetter adapted to the comparative fewness of their warriors and theextraordinary strength of their natural means of defence. To cut offconvoys, to surprise outposts, to hover about the march of the enemy'scolumns, to lie in wait for them in the passes of the mountains, to pickoff their officers from behind rocks and bushes, to attack in numbersonly in cases of great moment and when the nature of the ground rendereda successful dash practicable before the straggling column could formsquare, and to undertake the storming of fortified places, and theplundering of hostile districts only when these were left comparativelydefenceless, was finally the method of warfare which experience hadforced upon the tribes at the period when Schamyl appeared on the sceneas their leader. 

XXX. 

HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 

Schamyl was thirty-seven years of age when he was raised to the rank ofa murschid and leader of the tribes. At that period in his prime, he hadoutgrown the early delicacy of his constitution, and was a warrior asdistinguished in personal appearance as in character and intellectualculture. He was of middle stature; had fair hair, since turned to white;grey eyes overshadowed by thick, well-drawn brows; a mouth, like hishands and feet, small; a regular, so-called Grecian nose; and acomplexion remarkable among his countrymen for its fairness and delicacyof skin. He had the light, elastic Circassian tread, with littlemovement of his arms walking, an erect carriage, and a naturally nobleair and bearing. Perfectly master of himself and of his countenance, sternly self-collected even in moments of the greatest danger; holdingin perpetual balance the ardor of the warrior and the calm of theprophet, he impressed with awe all who came into his presence. As heregarded himself as an instrument in the hands of a higher power, andheld according to the doctrine of the Sufis that all his thoughts anddecisions were the immediate inspiration of Allah, so he condemned todeath the traitor and conferred the shaska of honor on a murid withequal calmness, manifesting neither anger nor satisfaction, almost asimpassive and impersonal as fate itself. But while his ordinary mannerwas thus calmly commanding, his eloquence was as fiery as it waspersuasive. "Flames sparkle from his eyes, " said Bersek Bey, "andflowers are scattered from his lips. "

Schamyl is said to have put on a white mantle, indicative of hispriestly character as the second prophet of Allah; but his ordinarydress and arms were the same as those in use, with trifling variations, among all Circassians. They wear a surtout resembling a militaryPolonaise, without a collar, closely fitting the body, descending to theknees, and secured around the waist by a leathern girdle, which isornamented according to the wealth or fancy of the wearer. On eitherbreast of this garment are attached cartridge-pockets made of moroccoleather of different colors, usually containing twenty-four rounds ofball cartridge, and at the same time decking the chest and protectingit. Beneath is a tunic, often richly embroidered, and of a gay color. The trousers are loose, excepting that from the ankle to the knee thefolds are confined to the leg by straps. The calpac or cap has a crownsimilar in color to the cartridge-pockets, with a band of long, blackgoat's hair or white sheep's wool, which hanging down about the browsimparts a wild fierceness of expression to the dark, flashing eyes, andboldly cut features. Sometimes a chieftain will also wind around his capa shawl in the form of a turban, his head being shaven after the mannerof the Turks, though the tuft on the crown is generally much larger. Theshoes are made of a single piece of leather, and neatly show the form ofthe foot. Under the other garments is worn a shirt of either silk orcalico, besides that of mail sometimes put on in war; and over all isthrown in cold weather an ample cloak called a _bourka_, woven ofsheep's wool or goat's hair, and impervious to rain. 

This convenient and picturesque costume is also set off by much silverlace, embroidery, and all the elegant artifice of needle-work, but stillmore by the various arms without which no Circassian appears in public. A rifle is slung across the shoulders by a belt, this weapon havingtaken the place of the bow and arrows which are now seldom seen exceptas an ornament and mark of distinction. The sabre, called a shaska, issuspended by a silken cord in the Turkish fashion. In the girdle arestuck a pair of pistols, and a short, double-edged cama, resembling thesword of the ancient Romans. This latter arm in close conflicts with theRussian infantry is particularly dreaded from the dexterity with whichit is wielded, a single stroke generally sufficing to sever a limb, while recovery from its stab is almost hopeless. Attached to the girdlealso are a powder-flask, a small metallic box containing fat to anointthe rifle-balls, a purse of skin for carrying flints, tinder, and steel, and not unfrequently a hatchet, or knife in a sheath. The sabre issilver-hilted, without a guard; and its scabbard, richly embroidered, iscomposed of several pieces of morocco of different colors. The pistolsalso are mounted with silver; the poniard has often precious stones inits handle, and its sheath is inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Sometimes ajavelin in addition to other arms is carried, which is hurled to aconsiderable distance with an aim that rarely errs. Having a groove atthe but-end, it is used also as a rest for the rifle, besides serving asa pole in leaping among the rocks. 

Coats of mail with casques of steel, cuirasses, cuisses, brassards, andgauntlets, formerly much used and worth from ten up to three hundredoxen, are now little esteemed; though chain armor, resembling that ofthe ancient Persians, is still worn occasionally by the chiefs oftribes. This is generally of considerable antiquity, exquisitelywrought, of perfect temper, light, elastic, and fitting the bodyclosely. There are also still in use a good many swords, now diminishedby use a third or more in width, which have come down from the Genevese, Venetians, Milanese, and Spaniards of the middle ages. Of these theToledan blade is the most common; and travellers curious in antique armshave noted one possessing the genuine silvery lustre, and engraved withthe picture of a Spanish cavalier, together with the motto, _Ad majoremgloriam Dei_; another which was dedicated to God, and marked, _Annodomini_ 1664; another showing on one side an imperial crown, encircledby a wreath of laurel, and on the other a globe surmounted by a cross, with the inscription underneath in old English characters, _VivaEspagna_; and others, finally, inlaid with gold, and having the head ofthe Saviour, or some saint engraved over such inscriptions as, _Par myDey y par my Rey_, or, _Ne me tire pas sans raison et ne me remets passans honneur_. Nor is the modern Circassian sabre one of metal inferiorto that of the ancient workmanship; but a blade as flexible as that ofDamascus, long and heavy, yet bending like a reed, and when inlaid andornamented with gold valued as high as three hundred roubles, or evenmore. 

The wealth of a Circassian consists very much in his arms and horses. Itmay even happen that a chieftain may wear a coat which is out at theelbows, and especially when going to battle, --for though he may fallhimself he always thinks it a pity to waste a new doublet and hose upon"the dog of a Muscovite, "--and yet be the possessor of a balteus for hisbow as richly jewelled as was Diana's, and a corytos in the superb styleof the ancient Persians, as found represented on Persepolitanbas-reliefs. The trappings of his horse also may be made costly withRussian leather and chased silver ornaments. Nor in the case of a leaderless illustrious than Schamyl even, would it be a thing impossible forhis saddle to be covered with blue velvet, adorned with black enamelledsilver plates, stirrups of massive silver, and bridle no lessbrilliantly ornamented, the work of the cunning artificers of Armenia. 

In all these costly trappings of war does the Circassian leader takegreat delight, nor did Schamyl himself disdain them; and when fullyarrayed in them, as on all festal occasions at least he is sure to be, with brawny shoulders and thin flank, a peculiarly airy, winged gait, anaturally unconstrained and noble air, a countenance displaying thehighest type of manly beauty, and eyes passionate even to an intensitybordering upon fierceness, Murat was not a gayer horseman, Bayard not abetter knight, nor is the Apollo Belvidere more like a god. 

XXXI. 

BECOMES IMAM, AND CONTINUES THE WAR. 

At the time of Hamsad Bey's death Mahomet-Mollah being no longer livingto select and consecrate a new leader of the tribes, that Schamylattained to the honors of the succession was very much owing to theexertions of his venerable teacher Dschelal Eddin. For the latter wasthen the most eminent murschid left in the eastern Caucasus, where hissayings passed current among a large number of the tribes as oracles. Schamyl's principal rival was Taschaw-Hadji, an influential chieftainwho resisted the supremacy of the new Imam, as he was called, until theyear 1837, when he formally gave in his adhesion. This opposition, however, while it lasted, considerably hindered the growth of Schamyl'sinfluence among the tribes, and restrained the freedom of his actionagainst the Russians. The emissaries of the latter meanwhile did allthey could to fan the discord, so that several chiefs with their clanswere either won over to the side of the common enemy, or were at leastrendered unwilling to cooperate with the Imam in his efforts to extendthe new faith and prosecute the war. 

Of this Russian party in the highlands Avaria still remained thehead-quarters; and during the first four years of Schamyl's imamship hisaims were chiefly directed towards the subjugation of this district. Hadji-Murad, who after the assassination of the Avarian princes hadcontinued at the head of affairs in Chunsach, early foresaw that thiswould be his policy. Accordingly he lost no time in sending to theRussian commander-in-chief a request that he would despatch an armedforce to take possession in the name of the emperor of the khanate, thenvacant by the death of the youngest son of Pachu Biké, who had beenassassinated, as was said, by order of Schamyl. 

Thereupon General Lasskoi being placed in command of a considerable bodyof troops, was ordered to march on Chunsach, and to sweep the country onhis way of all opposition. Advancing accordingly in the autumn of 1834against Himri, he captured the place after a slight resistance, itspopulation having been greatly reduced since the defeat experiencedthere under Khasi-Mollah. But as the victor was about to proceed furtheron his march, Schamyl arrived with his murids, took the aoul by storm, and inflicted a severe loss upon the enemy, though greatly his superiorin numbers. When, however, this news reached the fortress ofTemir-Chan-Schura, Kluke von Klugenau, one of the bravest generals inthe Caucasus, instantly setting out for Avaria, collected on his way thescattered troops of General Lasskoi, destroyed the aouls which refusedto receive him, and made his entrance in triumph into Chunsach. There heset up as khan under the protection of Russia, Achmed-Mahomet-Mirza, andafter having taken possession of the principal passes leading intoDaghestan, returned without molestation to Temir-Chan-Schura. 

Schamyl persevered, nevertheless, in his attempts to conquer theAvarians. In the year 1835, he captured the strong aoul of Gotsatl, andpenetrated as far into the country as Chunsach, whence however he wasobliged speedily to retire on the coming up of General Reout with a verymuch larger force. In the year following, his efforts were againthwarted by the determined resistance of Hadji-Murad, as well as by awant of unanimity among his own followers growing out of the continuedrivalry between himself and Taschaw-Hadji. 

But the year 1837 was destined to bring along in its course twoimportant events which should settle forever the question of Schamyl'sright to the imamship, and show the great superiority of his genius overthat of all his rivals. The first of them was the complete overthrow hebrought upon Count Iwelitsch, who had been sent to cut him off at theaoul Aschiltach; and the second was his heroic defence at Tiletli, astrongly fortified aoul in the district of Gumbet. 

The latter achievement was especially memorable. Opposed to him wasGeneral Fesi at the head of eight battalions of regular troops, andabout twelve thousand militia drawn from that portion of Daghestansubject to Russia. These forces were also flushed with victory, forGeneral Fesi after having marched from Derbend to Chunsach had erected acitadel there, had driven Ali Bey, one of Schamyl's murids, out of thefort of Akhulgo, and had then come to the rescue of lieutenantButschkieff; who with a considerable detachment was hard pressed bySchamyl himself in the neighborhood of Tiletli. 

After the union of these two forces the murids were but a handful incomparison. But their leader determined to make a stand, and to holdTiletli, of which he had got possession, to the last. The Russianshaving the advantage not only of superior numbers but also of artillery, of which the Circassians were at that time entirely destitute, attemptedimmediately to carry the place by storm. In this they failed; butfinally after very severe losses they succeeded in getting possession ofone half of the aoul. Yet with such valor and intelligence was the otherportion defended, that General Fesi was content to give over fighting, and fortify himself where he was. Schamyl did the same; and with acourage which excited the admiration of his followers, established hishead-quarters in the face of the enemy, only a screen of a few housesintervening. 

In this situation General Fesi could not remain long for want ofprovisions. But to retreat in the face of an enemy victorious becausenot subdued would be attended with disgrace if not with danger. Accordingly the Russian commander, disquieted besides by rumors ofrevolt in different parts of Daghestan, resolved to come to terms withhis adversary, and retire under cover of them. 

To accomplish this purpose, and yet do it in such a way as to give thecolor of a great triumph to what was in reality a most humiliatingcheck, was a problem not after all of very difficult solution. All thatwas necessary was to require of Schamyl to take an oath of fealty to theemperor on the condition of being left in possession of not onlyTiletli, but all the Lesghian highlands. And this Schamyl would be readyenough to do provided he might have the privilege of making theengagement in the presence of neither murids nor Russians. For an oathtaken under such circumstances would be no oath at all, inasmuch asSchamyl holding to the Mahometan as well as Romanist doctrine that nofaith is to be kept with infidels, and considering the Muscovites to benot only such but even half devils, and _feroe naturoe_, would feelhimself in conscience under no obligations whatever to abide by what hehad sworn to. 

So it was arranged. Schamyl took the oath of fealty to the emperor inthe presence of Achmed-Mahomet-Mirza, the new khan of Avaria, and gavehostages. By both parties the ceremony was regarded as a farce; but invirtue of it General Fesi retired from the enemy's country in safety, and sent his despatches to the commander-in-chief, summing up theresults of the campaign of 1837, as follows:--

"A fortress built in Chunsach; all Avaria pacified; a number ofpreviously unconquered mountain tribes subjected; many aouls andfortified places destroyed; Tiletli taken by storm; and Schamyl so hardpressed as to be obliged to swear fealty to the emperor forever andever. "

Accordingly in Tiflis and St. Petersburg it was for a time believed thatSchamyl had submitted, and that the Lesghian highlands and all Daghestanwere to be incorporated into the empire. At the same time the veryclever General Fesi, covered with imperial praises, stars, and garters, was regarded by all as the hero of the war of the Caucasus. 

XXXII. 

ISSUES PROCLAMATIONS. 

In consequence of these successes the fame of Schamyl went abroadthrough all the Lesghian country, as the greatest chieftain since thedays of Khasi-Mollah. Taschaw-Hadji, unable any longer to set himself inopposition to the general will, publicly acknowledged the supremacy ofhis rival, and became thenceforth one of his most devoted supporters. Many tribes also who before had favored the Russians, or at least hadnot taken sides with the murids, now rallied around the new leader whosedeeds were everywhere made the theme of declamation by the ulema and ofsong by the bards. "Schamyl is Imam and the second prophet of Allah, "was the universal cry; and multitudes came in from all sides but to seethe face of one who by word of mouth, and without drawing a sword, haddriven the army of invasion out of the highlands. 

Taking advantage of this rising tide of favor, Schamyl issued variousproclamations to his army and the tribes, one of which was as follows:--

"In the name of Allah, the almighty, the merciful!

"Praised be his name who hath led us in a path of light, and hath madeus strong in his holy faith! Praised be he who hath laid the foundationsof his power in the mountains, and hath set us to guard and to keep it;who hath strengthened our arm for the overthrow of the enemy, and hathmade our tongue eloquent in declaring his doctrines unto all believers;who in the drops of rain sendeth us his blessing, whose love shines downupon us out of the stars, and whose mercy is infinite unto all whobelieve in his name!

"Ye warriors of Daghestan! When the leader of the Russians sent forthhis call to you in the month of Schewal to seduce you from your faith inthe truth of my mission, there arose doubt and murmuring among you; andmany of you became unfaithful and forsook me. Then I was angry and saidin my heart--The unsteadfast! they have verified the words of theProphet when he saith, "'God showeth you his wonders that ye may be wise; but your heart isharder than stone, yea, harder than stone; for among the rocks are thesources of the brooks; out of the rock when cloven asunder flow thewaters; and smitten with the fear of the Almighty the great stones falldown from the tops of the mountains. But of a truth unto God are knownall your doings!'

"But with the few, they who remained faithful, I went forth against theunbelievers, slew their leader, and drove them away in flight. When thenye saw that God was with me, ye returned repenting, and desired to beadmitted once more into the ranks of the warriors, and I received you. Iled you from victory to victory, and promised you God's forgiveness foryour fault if ye continued in the faith as it is written in the book ofthe Prophet when he saith, "'They who return and fight for their faith in God, they shall bepartakers of his mercy, for he is merciful and slow to anger. '

"Ye have seen how small was the number of our warriors in comparisonwith the hosts of the enemy, and yet they gave way to us, for strengthis with the believers. The Russians have taken Akhulgo and have razedits walls. Allah permitted this to chastise you for your unbelief; forhe knows all your projects and all your thoughts. But I mocked at thepower of your enemies, and drove them from Aschiltach, and smote them atTiletli, and turned their deeds to shame. When afterwards the Pacha(General Fesi) with his great army drew near Tiletli to revenge theslain, and when in spite of our brave resistance, he succeeded in takingpossession of one half the aoul, so that day after day we looked for thelast decisive struggle, then suddenly Allah lamed his arm and darkenedhis sight so that he could not use his advantages, but hastened awaywhence he came. No one drove our enemies save their evil consciences, for their unbelief made them afraid, and they fled to escape from thesight of the true believers. 

"So doth God punish those who walk not in his ways! But unto us hath hesaid through his Prophet, "'Whosoever wages the holy war for my sake, him will I lead in my ways. '

"Verily God is with those who do his will! Ye have seen that thoughgreat be the numbers of the unbelieving, they must ever fail. When theysent to Hamsad Bey, and summoned him to surrender, they said, 'Lay downyour arms; all opposition is vain; the armies which we send against youare like as the sands on the sea-shore innumerable!' But I answered themin his name and said, 'Our hosts are like the waves of the sea whichwash away the sands and devour them!'

"Ye have seen that my words came to pass. But the looks of the Russiansare falsehood, and their words are lies. We must destroy the works oftheir hands, and slay them wherever we find them, in the house or in thefield, by force or by cunning, so that their swarms shall vanish fromthe face of the earth. For they multiply like lice, and are as poisonousas the snakes that crawl in the steppe of Muhan. Ye have seen that theanger of God follows them. But unto us hath the Almighty said by hisProphet, "'Whosoever goeth forth to fight for his faith and persevereth unto theend, him will God reward and bestow upon him his mercy. '

"And further hath God spoken unto us by his Prophet, saying, "' Say not of those who fall striving for the faith, They are dead, butsay rather, They live; for this understand ye not. '

"Therefore lay to heart that which I have declared unto you, and bestrong, and hold fast together like the tops of the mountains above yourheads, and forget not the words of the Prophet when he saith, "'Slay the enemies of God; drive them out of the places whence they havedriven you; for temptation is worse than death. ' Amen. "

XXXIII. 

HIS HEAD-QUARTERS AT AKHULGO. 

The Russians took a year to recover from the disastrous effects ofGeneral Fesi's feat of arms at Tiletli, attempting nothing in 1838, beyond several small and unsuccessful expeditions into the highlands, and contenting themselves with making preparations for the greatcampaign of the season following. On the other hand, so general was theenthusiasm among the tribes in favor of Schamyl and the war ofindependence, that he succeeded in collecting under his banners thegreatest military force which had been seen in those regions since thedays when Nadir-Shah overran Daghestan. The mountains were filled withhis murids, who went from aoul to aoul preaching the new doctrine of thesecond prophet of Allah, and summoning all the warriors to rally aroundthe chieftain commissioned by heaven to deliver the land from thethreatened bondage to Russia. These missionaries in arms having friendsand relatives in all the tribes, obtained everywhere a hearing and afoothold. The aouls which refused to join their party were threatenedwith destruction; and if they persisted in their refusal, their flocksand herds were driven off, their lands and vineyards laid waste, andtheir habitations razed to the ground. From others whose fidelity was tobe suspected, hostages were taken. Schamyl would allow of no neutrality;whoever was not for him was against him. Accordingly by the end of theyear 1838 he had rebuilt the forts which had been destroyed by the enemythe season previous, and had so far extended his rule that all of theLesghian highlands lying north of Avaria, including Andi, Gumbet, Salatan, and Koissubui, together with a considerable portion ofTchetchenia, and all the more mountainous districts of Daghestan, weresubject to him. 

His head-quarters he established in the aoul Akhulgo, a Tartar namesignifying a gathering place in time of trouble, and now famous inCircassian annals for the siege sustained there in the campaignfollowing. It is situated in the district of Koissubui, on the rightbank of the Andian branch of the Koissu near its junction with the mainstream, only a short distance northwest of Himri, and about sixty werstsby the most direct route from the Russian line. Like an eagle's nest itis perched on the top of an isolated, conical peak of rock, rising onone side perpendicularly six hundred feet above the Koissu, and of suchfantastic formation as to lead to the saying that it was by divinepermission the work of the devil. The river nearly surrounds it. On thetop is the aoul, which is divided into old and new Akhulgo, beingtogether a circumference of something less than a couple of wersts. Anarrow path admitting only two persons to walk abreast, winds up therock, which has three terraces formed by nature, and favorably situatedfor defence. Around in the near distance rise other less elevated rocksand cliffs, some of them tufted with oaks and beeches, others naked andtime-stained, and all together forming a scene of such stern wildness aswas well fitted for a hiding-place of liberty, or for its immolation. 

The experience of the war having already proved that the high towers ofstone such as had been built in the highlands up to the time of thedeath of Khasi-Mollah, were worse than useless as a means of defenceagainst the Russian artillery, inasmuch as their defenders were exposedto be buried under their ruins, Schamyl instructed, it is said, byPolish deserters, now changed entirely the system of his fortifications. To prevent his defences at Akhulgo from being toppled down by theenemy's cannon, he made them to consist mainly of trenches, earthenparapets, and covered ways, while the saklis, which are a kind of hutbuilt of loose stones, partly underground, were also converted intoregular casements. These various fortifications, arranged with muchskill, commanded all the approaches to the fortress, and everywhereexposed an attacking enemy to a great number of cross-fires. The riflewould indeed have to serve instead of cannon; but in the hands of theCircassian, though not discharged very rapidly inasmuch as it is cleanedafter every shot, it was a weapon the Russians had good cause to dread. 

Made strong therefore both by nature and by art, Akhulgo was the rock onwhich Schamyl resolved to plant his standard in the struggle for lifeand death known to be at hand. Herein he collected a large supply ofprovisions and munitions of war; hither he brought, as to a place ofsafety, many of the families of his murids; and here he kept in custodythe hostages which had been taken from the tribes of Koissubui, Gumbet, and Andi. The garrison was composed of the flower of his warriors; whilesome fifteen thousand men besides, partly mounted and partly on foot, stood ready for the fight, every one having taken a solemn oath to driveback the Russians or perish in the attempt. 

But while Akhulgo was the place where Schamyl had resolved to make afinal stand for the liberty of the mountains, there were other pointsalso where he proposed to stop, if possible, the march of the invaders. It was in the plan of the campaign which he had drawn up that when theRussians advanced from their forts in lower Daghestan they should beattacked in the rear by the Tchetchenians who had espoused his side inthe contest, and whose position on the Koissu was favorable to theexecution of such a manoevre. But in case the enemy should succeed inpenetrating into the mountains, the aoul of Buturnay was fixed upon asthe point where the first resistance should be made; while a detachmentof friendly Tcherkejians, or Salatanians, about three thousand strong, were to attack the enemy in the rear. In case, however, of a defeat atButurnay, his troops would fall back upon a still stronger position atArguani, and which during the year had been fortified in every waypossible. After that, also, there would remain the natural barrier ofthe swiftly flowing Koissu; and finally Akhulgo itself, beyond which nofurther retreat was thought of, as there he and all his murids wouldeither conquer or die. 

It was a plan of campaign well devised, provided only the tribesappointed to attack the enemy in the flank and rear could be reliedupon; but without their efficient coöperation the only chance ofsuccessful resistance would be on the rock of Akhulgo. 

XXXIV. 

THE SIEGE OF AKHULGO

In the month of May, 1839, all things being ready, the Russianexpedition commenced its march into the mountains. General Grabbe, anactive and resolute officer in command of the left flank of the army ofthe Caucasus, had collected from the fortresses along the line where itcrosses the Sulak, a force of nine battalions and seventeen pieces ofartillery. They were his very best troops, including a part of thecelebrated regiment "Count Paskievitsch, " and with them he pressedforward with such rapidity towards Buturnay, and then attacked it withsuch impetuosity, that Schamyl was obliged at once to relinquish allhope of making a stand there. His allies, the Tcherkejians, taken bysurprise at the suddenness of the enemy's advance, had not time to cometo his assistance; the Salatanians were overawed by the extraordinarydisplay of force made on their borders; and the Tchetchenians, alarmedby the bold face with which the Russian commander opened the campaign, and by his success at several minor points of conflict, took counsel ofprudence, and failed to make the promised diversion on the line. 

Schamyl, therefore, after a two hours' resistance fell back on Arguani. Here relying on a stronger position, and finding himself at the head ofabout ten thousand men, he awaited the coming up of the enemy. Thecontest which then took place lasted two days. Schamyl lost nearlyfifteen hundred men in killed and wounded, and was beaten. It was themost bloody fight which had then occurred in the history of the war, andwould have put an end at once to the campaign had not the Lesghians, every man of them, been determined to stand by their Imam and theirliberty to the last. Instead, therefore, of scattering after a defeat sodecisive, as might have been expected of mountaineers so littleaccustomed to regular warfare, they heroically threw themselves intoAkhulgo. 

The invaders having at length taken possession of both banks of theKoissu, and easily repulsed an attack of six thousand mountaineers ledon by Achwerdu Mohamet, who had recently deserted from the Russianservice, set themselves down on the twelfth of June before Akhulgo, closely investing it. General Grabbe hoped at first to induce the enemyto surrender by showering them with bombs, balls, and rockets; but whilehe succeeded in destroying many of the fortifications and stone houses, the subterranean defences remained undamaged. From these and the workson the terraces the besieged answered with their rifles, sparing indeedof their ammunition, but taking an unerring, deadly aim. Nowhere couldthe Russians show a head above their defences without imminent risk oflosing it. Nor was their entire force scarcely adequate to man theposts; so that frequently the same troops who had worked all day in thetrenches were obliged to stand guard during a portion of the night. Still they worked with hearty good-will, gradually carrying forwardtheir batteries, cutting their way through the soft, porous rock, andsheltering themselves from the rifle-balls of the enemy by means ofgabions and stone walls. During the early part of the siege the Russiancamp was abundantly supplied with provisions; the Koissu gave themabundance of good water; the neighboring forests furnished wood forcooking the evening's soup; their fragrant boughs made easy beds atnight; while numerous watch fires warmed the feet of the sleepingsoldiers as they lay stretched beneath the stars. Even a certain degreeof hilarity prevailed in the camp, so different from the prison of thekrepost, where the daily drill, the appointed roll of the drum, and theenforced dance and song but poorly relieved the still, dull monotony. But the mirth was often ill-timed; for when refreshed by the evening'spottage and his cup of _wodka_, the Cossack sat carolling a ditty ormeditating on the charms of the fair one left behind on the Don, suddenly a ball from the rifle of some watchful mountaineer would sendhim tumbling headlong into the Koissu. Or when the grey-coatedgrenadiers in the intervals between the roar of the artillery and thetumult of the trumpets, feeling their hearts stirred by a suddenenthusiasm, would break out into chanting, the half devotional, halfmartial air would often prove a dirge for some poor comrade struck downwith the chorus on his lips by the ball of an invisible enemy. 

The enthusiasm on the other side was less gay, but more intense. Besidesthe crack of the rifle, the only sounds from the fortress which felldown on the air when it was still, were the muezzin's call to prayer, orthe shout of triumph when some frenzy-driven murid, sallying from hishiding-place, leaped suddenly into the midst of an exposed party of theenemy, and at the price of his own life sent twice, thrice, four timesas many unbelieving souls to hell. For in the progress of the siege manya warrior who was doomed by his oath to death, and was become impatientof the hour, grasping a shaska in his right hand, a pistol in his left, and holding a poniard clenched between his teeth, sprang down from therocks upon some too adventurous squad of the enemy--as terrible anapparition as a ghost, or a bomb-shell--discharging his pistol at thebreast of one, cleaving with his shaska the head of another, and thenrushing shaska in one hand and poniard in the other, upon the rest, until he fell pierced through with bayonets, but having first sweetenedthe bitterness of death with a terrible vengeance. Of such heroicself-sacrifice is the Circassian capable!

Twice was the moon renewed in the slow progress of this siege. Atlength, having previously got possession of one of the detached towersof the fortress, and having been reinforced by five battalions and ninepieces of artillery, the Russians, despairing of reducing the place byblockade, attacked it by storm. But they did not get above the firstterrace; and from that they were beaten back with severe loss, --of thethree battalions of the splendid regiment "Count Paskievitsch, " whichled the assault, only one returning. Nevertheless, General Grabbe wasnot to be disheartened. Another and still another assault was made; andafter a loss of nearly two thousand men the second terrace was finallycarried. Then Schamyl seeing that his fortunes were becoming desperatesent a request to the Russian commander to treat respecting terms ofpeace. What his intentions were in so doing is not known; though it wasthe opinion of General Grabbe that he was not sincere; and when thelatter demanded Schamyl's son as a hostage previously to the opening ofnegotiations, the matter was dropped. Probably the Imam was desirous ofmaking an arrangement similar to that which under somewhat similarcircumstances had been agreed upon with General Fesi; but he had now adifferent man to deal with. 

The contest therefore was recommenced on the seventeenth of August withnew fury. Then for four successive days Akhulgo was a scene of heroismequalled only by its horror. The Russian soldiers evinced that ferociousbravery of which the serf nature is capable when its blood is up, whilethe Circassians, driven to despair, sought to avenge beforehand thelives they so gallantly laid down. High on the battlements, as atintervals the smoke of the two hostile fires cleared away, could be seenfemale forms, shaska or rifle in the little hand, encouraging thewarriors by their side, pressing on with them wherever the danger wasmost imminent, and displaying a heroism greater even than that of theirown amazons of old, inasmuch as they fought for their lords as well asfor liberty. 

But fortune finally favored the besiegers. Their sappers having carrieda covered way up to the foot of a portion of the fortress which hadnewly been constructed, and the Circassians becoming anxious to learnthe cause of the strange noises constantly heard beneath their feet, aparty of the latter imprudently went out to reconnoitre, when the chiefof a battalion who lay in wait with his men on the second terrace, seizing upon the advantage offered, not only drove the exploring partyback into the fortress, but also went in with them. The Circassianswithin, however, seeing that the Russians were mixed up with their owncomrades refrained from firing. This gave the other battalions time tohasten to the support of the party which they saw had gained the summit, when a hand to hand conflict ensued in which both sides fought, the onewith the bravery of despair, the other with that of victory. Butsuperior numbers prevailed; and four times stormed the fortress fell. Ofthe mountaineers that lay dead on the top of the rock the Russianscounted, according to some of their accounts, fifteen hundred, accordingto others, more likely to be true, seven hundred; of the wounded, fromnine hundred to five hundred; while their own loss was set down asconsiderably less than one half these numbers. Several hundred prisonersalso were taken, consisting of women and children; for of men there werenone left. With the blood of these the Koissu was already red, and theirbodies were thrown in afterwards. 

But Schamyl, who had often been seen during the final conflictsurrounded by his white turbaned murids, was nowhere to be found. Thefortress, all the approaches to which were strictly guarded, wasransacked; every nook and corner explored; but the Imam was nowhere tobe found. Alas! for General Grabbe, that but one man should escape fromAkhulgo, and he Schamyl. His single head would have made up for the lossof the three thousand Russian heads laid low in the siege; but withoutit the victory was barren, all its spoils a mere rock in the mountains!

The manner of Schamyl's escape was kept secret by him, as before hadbeen the case at Himri and at Chunsach; but among the reports respectingit which were circulated in the mountains, the following one was mostgenerally credited. 

On the fall of the fortress a number of its defenders took refuge incertain caves and holes in the rock, into which they let themselves downby means of ladders. In one of these was Schamyl with a few of hismurids. Attacked by the enemy, this one held out longer than the others;but the rock being guarded on all sides, escape was thought impossible. The murids, however, having devised a plan for preserving the life oftheir chief by the loss of their own, constructed from materialspreviously collected in the cave, a raft of sufficient size to carryseveral persons, and letting it down at night into the river below, thenfollowed themselves. The guard on the bank observing this manouvre, immediately gave chase to the raft, those on horseback plunging into thestream, those on foot running along the bank, and all together pouringtheir fire into the little party of murids among whom was, as theysupposed, Schamyl. But the attention of the enemy once turned away fromthe cave, the wily chieftain let himself down into the water, swam theriver, and in another moment was safe under the protection of the rocksand the forest. 

Certain it is that early in the month of September, Schamyl reappearedin the aoul Siassan, in the woods of Itchkeria. There, partly for thesake of ransoming the families of his nearest relatives and most devotedmurids taken captive in Akhulgo, he sued for peace, and offered to givein pledge of sincerity two of his own sons as hostages. But GeneralGrabbe insisting as a preliminary condition that Schamyl should take uphis residence in an aoul friendly to the Russians, the negotiations werenot proceeded with. 

Thereupon, General Grabbe having razed Akhulgo, having laid acontribution in sheep and cattle on some districts, taken hostages fromothers, and received the bread and salt of submission from all the aoulsthrough which he passed, returned in triumph to Temir-Chan-Schura. Greatthereupon was the rejoicing in all the fortresses of the Russianline--in all the Cis and Trans-Caucasian provinces--and in St. Petersburg itself where the emperor ordered a medal to be struckcommemorative of this brilliant feat at arms, and copies of it to bedistributed among the brave soldiers who had taken part in it. 

XXXV. 

THE EXPEDITION AGAINST DARGO. 

The defeat at Akhulgo did not turn away from Schamyl the hearts of hiscountrymen. On the contrary, now thrice delivered by Allah out of thehands of the infidels, he was regarded by them with the greaterveneration. Though escaped with only his life and his arms, when heappeared in the aouls of Itchkeria, a territory lying north of theAndian branch of the Koissu, the mountaineers received him as a prophetcome directly from God, and mounting their horses followed him. The newsof his coming ran before him through all the highlands; the warriorshalf drew their shaskas at hearing it; the chieftains of theTchetchenians who had received the cross of St. George from theRussians, tore it from their breasts; and the bards striking with afrenzy of inspiration their lyres, chanted the miraculous deliveranceand great deeds of this successor of Mahomet. 

Thus going from aoul to aoul preaching faith in Allah and war againsthis enemies, sending out also disciples to visit in his name the remoterdistricts, threatening death to all who held with the Russians, heredriving away flocks and herds, and there taking hostages, he in a fewmonths succeeded in rallying around his standards great numbers of theTchetchenians, of the Lesghians, and of the various tribes of Daghestan. Disgusted by the treatment he received at the hands of the Russians, aswas also the case with most of the highland tribes who had recently beenobliged to submit their necks to the yoke of bondage, even his old enemyHadji-Murad came over to the side of the Imam, bringing the greater partof Avaria with him. The spirit of fanatic war swept over the wholeeastern Caucasus like a tempest; and those tribes, like the Salatanians, who from the nearness of their position to the Russian line were obligednominally to acknowledge the supremacy of the czar, burned in theirhearts to join again the standard of revolt. 

His head-quarters Schamyl now established in Dargo, an aoul consistingof about seventy houses, and situated some fifty miles northwest fromAkhulgo, in that part of Tchetchenia inhabited by the Itchkerians. Though an open aoul, Dargo was sufficiently protected by the mountainsand the thick forests which everywhere covered them; for here theprimeval woods had never been disturbed by the axe of any pioneers ofcivilization. The oaks stretched out against the sky their twistedbranches crowned with the glory of two centuries; the beeches with theirinnumerable leaves spread out a wider shade than those which in Italyinspired the pastoral reed of Virgil; the round-topped elms towered highabove the gracefully pointed birches, and the trembling poplars; whilebelow in many localities a vast variety of flower-bearing plants, vines, and creepers formed a tangled web as beautiful to the eye and fragrantto the sense as to the feet impenetrable. 

But instructed by the disasters of the campaign of Akhulgo, Schamylresolved no more to concentrate his forces and attempt to meet the enemyface to face. Accordingly, apportioning them among his chief murids, such as Achwerdu-Mahomet, Schwaib-Mollah, Ulubuy-Mollah, Taschaw-Hadji, Dschewad-Khan, and Hadji-Murad, besides retaining a considerable forceunder his own command, he was enabled to overawe a very great number oftribes, and to threaten the Russians simultaneously at various points. Inroads were made at one time into the land of the Kumucks, that ofSchamchal, and Avaria; at another, the Russian line was threatened; andagain, the forts were attacked on the road to Kisliar. If hard pushedthe murids retreated; wherever opportunity offered they struck a blowand suddenly retired; those tribes who wavered in their allegiance foundthemselves unexpectedly visited with retribution; and when theTchetchenians, aggrieved by Schamyl's apparent neglect of theirinterests, took advantage of a wound received by him to send messengersto Tiflis to sue for peace, immediately he appeared in their midst, terrifying rather than winning them back to the cause of the patriots. 

Such remained the state of affairs until the year 1842, when GeneralGrabbe, less benefited by experience than his antagonist, resolved tomake an expedition against Dargo, similar to that of Akhulgo. Differingin his views of the proper mode of conducting the war from his superior, Governor-general Golowin, who resided in Tiflis, away from the scene ofactual hostilities, and who was in favor of the less aggressive systemof a blockade, he had then just returned from St. Petersburg, whither hehad gone to explain his plans of action to the imperial cabinet, andwhence partly in consequence of his representations the emperor had senthis minister of war, Prince Tschernitscheff to inspect the militaryposts in both Cis and Trans-Caucasia. To surprise then the Prince, uponhis arrival on the left flank of the line of operations, by a splendidfeat of arms which should serve to demonstrate the correctness of hisown theory of procedure, General Grabbe undertook the expedition againstDargo. 

On the twenty ninth of May, accordingly, he set out at the head ofthirteen battalions, or about eight thousand six hundred foot-soldiers. Of cavalry, on account of the difficult nature of the march, he tooknone, excepting a few Cossacks to attend upon his own person. Everysoldier was loaded down with sixty cartridges, and provisions for eightdays in his knapsack. The guns, four and six pounders, were drawn eachby four horses; and there were besides a few baggage-wagons, which weredragged with still more difficulty over ground where wheels never rolledbefore. 

At the close of the first day's march, the soldiers as they lay aroundtheir camp-fires congratulated themselves that they had not heard on theway the report of a single rifle; though some of the sharpshooters ofthe vanguard pretended that they had seen here and there the slenderform of a Circassian flitting like an apparition or a wood-demon behindthe large-stemmed trees. But after the soldiers, having cooked and eatentheir pottage and swallowed the refreshing draught of _wodka_, hadstretched their limbs wearied with the hard day's march upon thesweet-smelling herbs and branches, suddenly a rattling volley ofmusketry brought every man to his feet. The Circassians were upon them. But in the dark they could not discern the enemy scattered about amongthe trees, and could fire only wherever they saw a flash. The contest, however, did not prove to be a serious one, from lack of certain aim, comparatively few falling on either side; but the firing continued atintervals through the night effectually scared away sleep, and therebyrendered the soldiers less fit for the duties of the day following. 

When the morning dawning lit up the darkness of the woods, not aCircassian was to be seen. The enemy had in fact begun to put his newtactics into execution, worrying the march he had no wish to arrest, andgiving the column of invaders only a foretaste of the retribution whichawaited them for daring to profane by their presence the woods free fromthe foundations of the world. During the freshness of the early morningthe column advanced unhindered save by the unevenness of the ground, thethick-standing trees, and the undergrowth which in many places almostbarred the way which it beautified. But towards noon, as the route ledthrough a ravine in the forest, the firing recommenced. A considerablebody of Circassians posted behind the trees poured a murderous volley inupon the vanguard. The number of the wounded increased to such a degreethat the horses and wagons were not sufficient for their transportation. Thereupon several of the higher officers, their minds weighed down withsad presentiments, advised the commanding general to relinquish anexpedition which at every step seemed to be involved in greaterdifficulties and more serious dangers. But the heart of General Grabbewas set upon entertaining the imperial minister of war with thecelebration of a great victory; and he kept on. 

On the second evening of the march the tents were pitched in a small, open meadow in the hills, skirted by the forest; yet the weary soldierswere not lulled to sleep by the soft murmuring of the night wind in thetree tops, nor by the silvery tinkling of the brook which flowed throughthe green; but all night long the sharp crack of rifles and the whizzingof bullets drove away repose, and filled the before silent woods withthe tumult and the pains of a pandemonium. Nor did the rising sunscatter the enemy with the darkness, but at every step of the morning'smarch the pitiless missiles of destruction were hurled from invisiblefoes upon the now nearly decimated column. 

Twelve wersts more, and it would be at the end of its march. The littleaoul of Dargo, perched on a hill-top, was even descried in thetransparent distance. But the eyes which were turned towards it behelddeath staring them in the face still nearer; and at length GeneralGrabbe, seeing that to reach his destination however near would imperilthe entire column, --and that for a purpose which by this time he musthave perceived to be utterly futile, --gave the order to retreat. 

Then as the Circassians, estimated to have been nearly six thousandstrong, saw that the advanced guard had wheeled about, and that thecolumn was retracing its footsteps, their enthusiasm mounted to frenzy;and slinging their rifles behind their backs they rushed upon theenemy's centre shaska in hand. Several times they broke through it. Butthe well-disciplined soldiers restoring as often the disordered ranksfought bravely; for they fought for their lives, the Circassians givingno quarter. Still, as the day wore away many a comrade wearied out byboth marching and fighting, exhausted from loss of blood, and tormentedby thirst still more than by his wounds, dropped behind the column, andthrowing away his knapsack in despair, resigned himself to death at thehands of the first warrior who should come up with him. 

At night no soul was allowed any other sleep than that of death. Thoughthe enemy was reluctant to waste his powder in the darkness, yet he keptclose by the side of his victims; while the wolves of the forestfollowed howling behind. As the captain at sea when the tempest roarsaround his vessel ready to ingulf it stands watching through the dismalhours of the night by the wheel, so did the officers of this forlorncolumn stand around the bivouac fires vociferating orders which in theconfusion and the darkness could but imperfectly be executed. And whenat last day broke over the mountain tops, the first beautiful day ofJune, the soldiers looked at its blush in the east with faces pallidwith watching and haggard with despair. 

Three hundred times, as was estimated, did the soldier discharge hismusket, until from want of cleaning it could be used no longer. Theofficers, who to prevent their coats from being a mark for the rifleshad put on those of common soldiers, still recognized by theirsharp-eyed foe by means of the superior cast of lineaments and themanlier carriage, were picked off--thirty-six out of sixty. A drummertaken captive was compelled to beat his drum as a signal indicating thedirection of the march, but which led those who followed its call intothe midst of their enemies. Six cannon at one time fell into the handsof the Circassians, who in attacking the artillery especially displayeda strength of muscle in wielding the shaska, and an agility of limb inparrying or avoiding the bayonet-thrust, which excited the wonder aswell as the dread of the enemy. 

But the brave Lieutenant-colonel Wittert, burning with shame at the lossof the guns, led on his men to the rescue; when took place one of themost terrible encounters on the march. The officers led the attack swordin hand and the hurra in their throats; while the soldiers advanced onthe run with fixed bayonets. The first man, Lieutenant-colonel Hahn, wholaid his hand on a cannon, fell back dead; and many shared his fate; forthe mountaineers fought for the possession of "the emperor's pistols"like tigers for their prey; some climbing into the tops of the trees thebetter to take aim at the rescuers below; and when hit themselvesfrequently lodging in the branches, where they continued to hang aconvenient carrion for the foul birds of the forest. 

Schamyl arriving at the head of his riders, --alas! for him, toolate, --attacked the column of invasion as it was about coming out of theforests. Having intrusted his foot-soldiers to his principal murids, hehad been going the rounds of the aouls, collecting his mounted men, andnot expecting that the enemy would so soon turn back. Had he arrived ontheir line of march two days earlier, not a Russian of them all wouldhave ever again seen a krepost. As it was, two thousand left their bonesin the woods to be picked by wolves and vultures. The rest succeeded inreaching Girsel-aoul, a fortress on the line about fifty miles north ofDargo, but in sorry plight indeed. Preparations had been made there fora military triumph, with salvos of cannon, music, and colors flying; andthe minister of war, Prince Tschernitscheff, had most inopportunelyarrived to witness it; but instead he beheld the battalions marching inwith faintly beating drums, the men haggard from fatigue and want offood, their uniform tattered and blood-stained, and the officers sadderstill at the loss of so many brave soldiers sacrificed in vain. 

When some months afterward the minister of war made to the emperor hisreport on the state of affairs in the Caucasus, General Grabbe wasimmediately recalled, and his chief, Governor-general Golowin, likewise. 

XXXVI. 

HIS DOMESTIC LIFE. 

Schamyl's head-quarters continued for several years to be at Dargo, where aided by Polish deserters he built a residence somewhat superiorin style to the houses generally seen in the eastern Caucasus. It wassurrounded by a double row of strong palisades with a filling of smallstones and earth, and was approached through a single gateway guarded bysentinels. Near this, on the inner side, stood a tower for defence, irregular in shape, and built of stone. Still beyond was the principalbuilding in the inclosure inhabited by the Imam and his harem. Like thetower, this was constructed of stones not, as is usually the case, smeared on the sides by clay, but laid in a kind of mortar; was of twostories, with a stairway outside leading to the chambers; had a verandahon one side and a balcony on the other; and was covered by a flat rooffrom which frowned a couple of Russian six-pounders. There were alsoseveral smaller outbuildings for the servants, the guard, and for thestoring of provisions. Of these there were always kept on hand aconsiderable quantity, such as maize, wheat, barley, and millet, allpreserved in large casks hollowed out of logs. In the inclosure waslikewise a fountain of water brought down from the hills, besides stallsfor horses, pens for cattle, and coops for poultry. A number of muridswere always on guard about the establishment; and when Schamyl went tothe mosque they walked by his side with drawn shaskas. 

If built in other respects like the Circassian dwellings, as isprobable, the house would have but a single door, only a few smallwindows to admit the light, and these very likely of either parchment orpaper. Generally the floor is of hard earth, which is kept cleanlyswept, is sprinkled in hot weather with water, and is partially coveredwith mats. Around two or three sides of the room runs the divan; thechimney is constructed in an outer wall not projecting into the room asin the houses of the western Caucasus; and there is very littlefurniture. The divan, however, answers the purpose of both seat and bed;for while during the daytime the inhabitants sit upon it on their heelsafter the fashion of the Turks, at night with the addition ofmattresses, pillows, and coverlets, it is a sufficiently convenientcouch for the Asiatic, who lies down to rest without undressing. Insummer many persons have their mattresses spread under the verandah; or, wrapping themselves in their felt bourkas, lie down to their reposeunder the trees. But in winter all sleep around the fire, the warmestcorner being always occupied by the master of the house, an elder, or aguest, in case there be one. 

If the proprietor is rich the divan will be furnished at considerableexpense, it being the custom of eastern Asia to lavish expenditure moreupon the furniture of the habitation than upon the habitation itself. Covered with red leather and stuffed with hair, the divan is suppliedwith cushions of some dark, rich silk, and bolsters sprigged with goldand silver; its mattresses are bordered with velvet; the coverlet is ofquilted brocade, or a gay muslin of various colors studiously arranged, and fringed with satin; and there may even be clean white sheeting. Above the divan the walls will be hung with beautifully wrought mattingor carpets brought from Stamboul. Small tablets likewise are sometimesplaced around the room, inscribed with verses from the Koran in theArabic characters. But the principal ornament of the walls are the arms, which, suspended from wooden pegs, gleam and flash in thefire-light--sabres, pistols, rifles, coats of mail, bows and quivers, besides bridles, saddles, and housings. For on entering the house, thewarrior lays aside all his weapons save the poniard, and his guest doesthe same. 

The apartments for females and children are always separate from theothers, and are frequently in a building by itself. Here with nolook-out from windows on the passing world, the news of which it wouldbe an impropriety in a Circassian to question his wives about, they plytheir tasks, spinning, weaving, embroidering, and knitting silver lacein an obscurity illumined by scanty rays of sunlight. The walls of theseapartments are hung with dresses, not with arms. Strung also upon linesacross the room are various specimens of female industry, as embroiderednapkins, handkerchiefs, veils, silken bodices, and anteris glitteringwith threads of gold and silver; in the corners are piles of large boxescontaining the bedding of the house; while on shelves are arranged chinaand glass ware, with various culinary utensils of brass, copper, orglazed pottery, kept for show, while the wooden are for use. Here alsothe loom has its place, at which are woven all the plainer stuffs wornin the family. 

It falls to woman's lot in these mountains as well as out of them toprepare the food of the household. The Circassian still retaining muchof the patriarchal simplicity of living, eats when he is hungry, withoutregard to set hours; nor is there any gathering of the family around thesocial board, every member generally taking his meals by himself, andthe males under no circumstances eating with the females. The flesh ofsheep and goats is the kind of meat in most common use. This is preparedin savory ragouts well seasoned with salt, pepper, coriander seeds, andcapsicums; or, being cut in pieces, is roasted on small iron spits, themorsels taken from the saddle, and the fat of sheep-tails beingconsidered the most dainty. Meats also are preserved by salting, smoking, and drying. Still oftener, however, they are boiled, and theirjuices eaten in a kind of pottage with millet in it, being the same asthe Sclavonian and Polish _cachat_, the use of which extends as far westas the Adriatic, while on the southern side of the Caucasus, even toCentral Asia, the pilaff is made with rice. Throughout the Caucasusmillet is the favorite grain, of which cakes are made by being baked onhot flat stones or iron plates. The wheaten loaf likewise is common inmany localities, and so the cake of Turkey corn. All these differentkinds of bread are eaten with honey, great quantities of which are takenfrom the hives of wicker-work or bark of trees, and of an exceedinglydelicious quality, owing to the wild thyme and other aromatic herbs fedon by the bees. The Circassians have a good many vegetables, though theyare not particularly fond of this kind of diet. Cucumbers which areapparently indigenous in these regions are, however, in much favor; andmore or less use is made of melons, gourds, pumpkins, beets, onions, carrots, cabbages, asparagus, artichokes, and beans. Fish are still lessliked, though the rivers abound in salmon-trout, and numerous othervarieties. On the other hand, the consumption of fruit is veryconsiderable, particularly of apples, pears, cherries, peaches, grapes, olives, figs, pomegranates, almonds, walnuts, and chestnuts, many ofwhich kinds grow wild in the woods. 

All Circassians are very fond of a kind of sour milk peculiar to theEast, called by them _skhou_, and by the Turks and Tartars _yaourte_. This is taken sometimes pure, sometimes flavored with a little sugar androse-water, or is boiled with millet or maize. Said to be remarkablyrefreshing, its origin is traced back to Abraham, who obtained itdirectly from the Almighty; or as another tradition says, it wasbestowed originally by an angel on Hagar when driven out from the houseof her lord she was fainting with heat and thirst in the desert. Ittakes the place very much of spirituous and fermented liquors, in theuse of which the mountaineers are exceedingly temperate. A kind of mead, not very potent, however, is made by them of millet, honey, and water, and is decidedly a superior beverage to

 The one called _kuas_, whereby the Russie lives, Small ware, water-like, but somewhat tart in taste. 

This mead is the liquor principally drunk at feasts, and of thisformerly were oblations poured out to the gods. More or less wine alsois drunk in the Caucasus, always of a light quality, and more resemblingchampagne than the other wines of Europe. Its use being prohibited bythe Koran, is discountenanced by the Sufis and Schamyl's party. Nevertheless there are here and there those among the faithful whocontinue to say, Ma sopra tutto nel buon via ho fede; E credo che sia salvo che gli crede. 

And since latterly the Russians have introduced their brandy, the numberof believers is not small, who, on mounting their steeds, will take astirrup cup of schnapps when offered. 

On the whole, the Circassians are remarkably temperate in both meats anddrinks; in this simplicity of living, as in so many other respects, still preserving a striking resemblance to the manners and customs ofthe Greeks of the earliest ages. At their feasts and entertainmentsgiven to strangers, however, there is always a great profusion ofdishes, which are served in succession on small, three-legged trays; anda generous hosts is known as a man of "forty tables. " On journeys andwarlike expeditions, on the contrary, the mountaineer is contented withbarely, a little millet, sour milk, and honey, all of which are easilytransported in leathern bottles at his saddle-bow. Nor at home on allordinary occasions does he want more, a morsel of meat perhaps beingadded. But though simple the fare, its cookery is pronounced not badeven by Europeans; and the traveller has much less reason here than insome other oriental countries to demand of his host the _dish parasi_, or indemnification for the wear of his teeth. 

For temperance of living Schamyl has always been remarkable even amonghis countrymen. His house accordingly has not been one of feasting, though a moderate number of guests are constantly entertained by him. Nor is it to be supposed that either of his three legitimate wives servetables, however probable it may be that this office is performed by thehandmaidens of whom, according to the fashion of the East, he keeps acertain number in his house, captured Russian females being especiallypreferred. 

Of his wives one is an Armenian, and if the half that is told of her inthe mountains be true, of a beauty not unlike that attributed by thenoble English bard to Theresa. 

 She had the Asiatic eye, Such as our Turkish neighborhood Hath mingled with the Polish blood, Dark as above us is the sky But through it stole a tender light, Like the first moonrise of midnight; Large, dark, and swimming in the stream, Which seemed to melt to its own beam; _All_ love, half languor, and half fire, Like saints that at the stake expire. 

In severe dignity of features and stateliness of carriage the Armenianfemales are not unlike the Circassian and the Georgian. In thesemountains, however, the former do not wear the brown mantle in whichthey wrap themselves at Constantinople, but long black veils which fallin graceful folds to the feet, and display the shape like the drapery ofthe old Greek statues. Beneath is a silken wrapper confined by a girdlerichly ornamented with gold and silver. The trousers are full, andcommonly of bright colored Indian cotton. Their headdress is generally ashawl gracefully twisted into the form of the turban; while their hands, fingers, and ears are always decorated with ornaments of gold andsilver. In this attractive costume these fair ones from the south sideof the mountains are highly esteemed by the Circassian chieftains, though few can afford to pay the high prices often demanded by theirsires. For the Armenian merchant is the Jew of the Caucasus, and havingsold every thing else, will even sell his country's daughters. Destituteof all patriotic feeling, his whole soul bound up in his gains, hebrings into these mountains all the spirit of trade there is in them, ever calculating, figuring, discounting, and bargaining with a patiencewhich ends only with life itself. So different is the spirit of manamong the woods and snows of the Caucasus and in the sunny vales whichlie around the foot of Ararat. 

Captives, male as well as female, are common in the households of theCircassian chiefs, and formed doubtless a part of Schamyl's domesticestablishment. Generally they are put to hard labor in the fields; butthe reports of barbarous treatment brought back by the few Russians whohave escaped from slavery in the Caucasus are for the most part greatlyexaggerated. Often, on the contrary, they become favorites with theirmasters, to whom they are serviceable in introducing Europeanimprovements. They invariably receive kind treatment at the hands of thefemales, and are frequently allowed to take wives and have households oftheir own. Still, as the Circassian carried away into captivity alwaysregrets his native mountains and will return to them, if possible, sothe lowlander often pines for the plains from which he has been torn. Treated ever so kindly the Cossack will sigh when he remembers thefreedom with which he once roved the steppes, lance in hand, on hisshaggy little steed; and the Kalmuck also when he thinks of his hut halfburied in the sands on the shore of the Caspian, whence he was wont tosally forth with his falcon on his fist, and letting it fly at theheron, followed himself almost as swiftly on the gallop. 

XXXVII. 

PRINCE WORONZOFF AT DARGO. 

Governor-General Golowin was succeeded by General Neidhart, an officerwho had served with distinction in the war against Napoleon, andafterward in the bloody strife in Poland, and who had won the reputationof being not only an able commander, but a skilful administrator, and aman of sterling worth of character. He was sent into the Caucasus tocarry out the system of defence and gradual conquest which had beenapproved of at St. Petersburg in opposition to that of aggressiveinvasion, the results of which had been so disastrous under hispredecessor. 

But it was by no mere change of men or plans that such a master-spiritas Schamyl was to be conquered. Nothing daunted by the arrival on thescene of action of a new opponent, he broke through the Russian line, captured the fortress of Unzala, and devastated Avaria. While makingDargo his headquarters where he had collected considerable stores ofammunition and provisions, he with unabating zeal went the rounds of allthe neighboring tribes, keeping alive the ardor of those who werefriendly to him, and visiting with condign punishment those who tooksides with the enemy. Neidhart standing mainly on the defensive wasunable to make any progress in either conciliating or subjugating thehighlanders, and at the end of two years had rather lost ground thangained it. He therefore in his turn was recalled in disgrace to giveplace to a commander the most distinguished who had been sent to theCaucasus since Jermoloff. 

This was Prince, then Count Woronzoff. Having served like GeneralNeidhart in the French and Polish wars, he had afterward, as governor ofthe Crimea, acquired such a degree of popularity as had not been enjoyedbefore since the days of Potemkin, the favorite of Catherine. The ownerof forty thousand serfs, and said to be the handsomest Russian livingafter Nicholas himself, he possessed also the highest order ofadministrative talent, a complete knowledge of the art of war, and themost heroic qualities of character. Fully appreciating his worth theemperor in calling him to the command of the army of the Caucasus, invested him with such extraordinary powers as procured for him amongthe Circassians the title of "the Russian half-king. " The power of lifeand death over the natives was given him; he was authorized to putofficers in the army of every grade on trial for offences; could removeand appoint all civil functionaries up to the sixth grade; and couldbestow various military honors and rewards without the confirmation ofthe emperor. This was indeed a generous gift of power, --and that simplyfor the sake of putting down the chieftain of a few rude tribes in themountains. 

But after having made it, the emperor became desirous once more ofstriking a blow such as should justify this change of administration, avenge the disaster of the expedition against Dargo, and even put animmediate end to the war. Nothing short of the capture of this sameDargo would answer his purposes. Such an undertaking was indeed contraryto the best judgment and wishes of the new commander; but expressly togratify his sovereign, as he said, Woronzoff finally consented to leadanother Russian column into the forests of Itchkeria. 

It was in the summer of 1845, and only a few months after Woronzoff'sarrival in the mountains. With a force of ten thousand infantry and afew hundred Cossacks, he set out for Dargo, taking instead of thenorthern track previously followed by General Grabbe, the route by theriver Koissu and through the district of Andi. On their march to itsprincipal aoul, called also Andi, the Russians were not attacked by themountaineers, though closely watched by them. Here and there smallparties would appear in the distance, but they seemed to be disposed, asusual, to spare their powder, and contented themselves with occasionallyrolling down stones upon the heads of their adversaries as they passedthrough the narrower defiles. The column therefore advanced with goodspirits, having full rations, confiding in their new leader, and ratherunderrating than dreading an enemy who attacked them with stones insteadof bullets. 

At Gogatel, a small fort situated south of the Andian range, which runsparallel with the Andian branch of the Koissu, Woronzoff established adepot of such provisions and munitions of war as could not convenientlybe transported further. This was but a single day's journey from Dargo;and on the seventeeth of July, all preparations having been fully made, and summer being in mid-reign, the order of march was given out for themorrow. 

The soldiers, lightly laden, set off cheerfully by the light of theresplendent dawn; and before the freshness of the morning was gone theyhad crossed by the pass of Retschel into the beech-woods of Itchkeria. Then began the fight. The hostile tribes of all the region round were upin arms, and waiting in the depths of the woods for the enemy. As hisvanguard reached the first narrow and precipitous defile they werereceived by a murderous fire from behind numerous trunks of trees which, felled across the way, served as breast-works for the one party andobstacles to the progress of the other. Besides these barricades, thebarriers no less difficult of removal, which were woven by nature, ofthousands of vines and flower-bearing creepers, the narrowness andsteepness of the paths, added to the opposition of the enemy, renderedthe march so difficult that on an average it did not exceed one and ahalf wersts the hour. Still Woronzoff fought his way through; and as theshades of night began to gather under the woods he was in sight ofDargo. But it was the aoul in flames which, joined to the reappearingstars, now lit up the way; for Schamyl, having gathered togetherwhatever of wood, straw, and grain could not be taken away, had set itall on fire, thereby leaving to the enemy the conquest of merely theblackened stone walls of the houses. Indeed the burning ruins of his ownresidence supplied the bivouac fires by which the weary soldiers cookedtheir evening meal, and then lay down to sleep. 

The next day the fight was renewed. Schamyl had retired with a force ofabout six thousand warriors to a height which commanded the aoul, andthence opened a fire upon the Russians with their own cannon, thetrophies of former victories. The "emperor's pistols" consumed indeedtoo much powder to be fired with any great rapidity, nor did themountaineers know how to take aim over a six-pounder as well as they didalong the barrels of their rifles; still one ball came bounding into thevery tent of the staff of officers, and it became necessary, therefore, in order to prevent accidents, to scale the height. After not a littlehard fighting this was finally done at the point of the bayonet; but theCircassians retired, dividing the honors of the field with the enemy, for they carried off the guns. 

Dargo was taken, but not Schamyl. What then was to be done? Woronzofffinally decided that he would send the half of his force back to Gogatelto get a supply of provisions, and on their return push through thewoods and regain the Russian line by the route northward. But thismovement on Gogatel gave the mountaineers another chance at theirenemies. With Schamyl at their head and strengthened by reinforcements, they attacked the escort party both going and returning. The Circassiansgive themselves no rest until they have had blood for blood; and the twopreceding days their own had flowed pretty freely. Not satisfied withthe slow though certain work of the rifle they now rushed in upon thebattalions, and with shaska and poniard fought hand to hand. GeneralsWiktoroff and Passek fell defending themselves with their swords. Rainand tempest made the battle still more terrific. The brave GeneralKlucke did his best; but when he arrived at Dargo he had left thirteenhundred of his men, together with the two generals, behind in the woods. Three hundred mules also with their packs, and a considerable number ofwagons loaded with grain, besides one cannon, fell into the hands of theenemy. 

But with what of the convoy was saved Count Woronzoff set out from Dargoon his return. The soldiers were put on half rations, and the horses hadnothing to eat but grass. Through the valley of the Aksai, to theRussians a valley of death, inasmuch as General Grabbe had before strewnit with his slain, led the way. Nor was it now scarcely less wet withblood. For Schamyl's men fought the retiring battalions step by step. Wherever the mountains projecting up to the very bank of the Aksai leftonly a narrow passage for the troops, the way was stopped by barricades. The Circassians taking aim from behind the rocks and the beech trees, brought down so many victims that the few horses of the Cossackssufficed not to transport the wounded, so that whoever was disabled wasnecessarily abandoned to his fate. 

When then the commander saw that so many of his brave soldiers were leftbehind to fall into the hands of a foe whose hate left no room in hisbreast for mercy, he resolved to make a halt, and send forreinforcements. Fortunately for him some natives who, bribed by largesums of gold, had undertaken under cover of night to carry despatches tothe fortress of Girsel-aoul, succeeded in getting through, and conveyingto the garrison intelligence of the hazardous situation of theircountrymen. Thereupon three thousand infantry and three hundred Cossacksunder General Freitag hastened to their relief. And great indeed was thejoy of the famished battalions when their comrades arriving shared withthem the contents of their knapsacks, took the wounded upon theirhorses, and helped to beat off the enemy. The march then proceededwithout further difficulty, and on the first of August the conquerors ofDargo, less three thousand of their dead, arrived in safety atGirsel-aoul. 

For this sad service of his master, heralded at St. Petersburg andthrough Europe as a great victory--and such are Russian victories in theCaucasus--Count Woronzoff was made a Prince! But when a few monthsafterward he met the emperor at Sebastopol for the purpose of exchangingviews respecting the future conduct of the war, it is understood thatthe latter became at last fully convinced that the Caucasus could not besubjected by the method of direct invasion, but only by adhering to thepolicy of gradually drawing closer and closer around the mountains theline of the fortresses, in connection with the use of light, movablecolumns as a means of supporting them. Accordingly no more hostileexpeditions into the interior have since been undertaken, and no moresuch triumphs as that at Dargo have been gazetted. Woronzoff, convincedhimself that the successful termination of the war was to be hoped foronly from long-continued perseverance in maintaining the armed blockadeand active siege of the mountains, contented himself during the half adozen years of his command in the Caucasus with attempting to carrythese views into execution, and also in endeavoring to accomplish theAugean task of cleansing the administration of both government and armyof the corrupt practices which had long prevailed in both. In the latterundertaking he met with a good degree of success; but in the former, though aided by all army in both Cis and Trans-Caucasia of from onehundred and fifty to two hundred thousand men, he made on the whole noprogress. Nor have his successors, Generals Read and Mouravieff beenable to do more. The genius of Schamyl and the Circassian love ofliberty, combined with the natural resistance of Caucasian rocks andforests, have proved to be more than a match for them. 

XXXVIII. 

SCHAMYL'S PROCLAMATION TO THE KABARDIANS. 

Nor only did the double wall of rocks and human breasts throbbing withthe love of independence prove impenetrable to the Russian columns ledon by a chief of transcendent abilities, but that wall was graduallystrengthened and enlarged. Schamyl could not be kept within bounds. Theyear after the fall of Dargo he broke through the cordon of fortresses, and pouncing upon the neutral provinces of Kabarda, performed the mostbrilliant exploit in his whole career. 

The Kabardas, the great and the little, are twin provinces lying on thenorthern side of the Caucasian range midway between the two seas, and ina north-westerly direction from the Lesghian and Tchetchenian highlands. It is a land of green valleys and sunny hill-sides, more broken on theside where it joins on to the mountains; softly undulating in thecentral portions; and to the north, where it falls down to the banks ofthe Terek and to the level of the steppes, a plain almost as smooth as asheet of water. Here, until the coming of the Russians, a people mainlypastoral had kept their flocks and herds for centuries. Simple in theirmodes of life, yet trained to arms, they were of the blood of thegallant race of the Adighés or Circassians of the western Caucasus. Scarcely less lovers of freedom than the tribes who dwelt higher up inthe mountains, nor less ready to lay down their lives in defence of it, they contended for a quarter of a century or more with the invaders whocame into their land, pretending to a right to rule over them. But inthis long period of resistance the chivalry of the Kabardas wasgradually wasted, whereas army after army came out of the north as froma womb of men which was inexhaustible. These semi-barbarous knights hadalso to contend with a more advanced civilization; and nature besideshad not come to their aid with those bulwarks of rock and forest withwhich she so fondly encircled the free homes of the highlanders. A halfcentury ago, accordingly, they were finally obliged to succumb tosuperior numbers, though not to superior valor. But they came out of thecontest with the honors of war, it being stipulated in theircapitulation that they should retain their arms, and be still governedby their chiefs, on condition of acknowledging the supremacy of theczar. Gradually, however, as the foreign civilization got a footholdwith its advantages of trade and its superior modes of tillage, theinfluence of the conquerors grew stronger. Their colonists, consistingmostly of Germans, pushed forward into the fertile and pleasant valleys. Many of the chiefs, long courted by gifts and pensions, were seducedinto favoring the Russian ascendency; a species of militia was draftedamong the warriors to assist in the subjugation of the other tribes; andthe hot young bloods, captivated by the sight of the epaulettes andplumes of the imperial cavalry, allowed themselves to be enrolled in itsranks, and formed that splendid body of horse having the guard of theperson of the empress in St. Petersburg. 

Previously to his invasion of the territory of these RussianizedKabardians, Schamyl had made various attempts to incite them to throwoff their yoke. He had sent emissaries to scatter among them hisproclamations, urging them in glowing words to strike a blow forindependence and for Allah; he had caused these to be followed by manyof his most eloquent murids who preached in their valleys that new faithof the union of all believers in a holy war against the infidels whichhad taken such strong root among the rocks of the mountains; and finallyhe had despatched his zealous partisan Achwerdu-Mahomet at the head ofan armed force to compel them to take sides with him. But the Kabardianswho, formerly converted from paganism to Muscovite Christianity andafterward to Mahometanism, were not zealots in religion, turned a deafear to both proclamations and preaching, and even put Achwerdu-Mahometto death. For alike despising the threats of Schamyl, and fearing theartillery of the Russians, they determined to remain neutral. Thefollowing is one of the proclamations referred to, and may be taken as aspecimen of Schamyl's State papers. 

"In the name of Allah, the all-merciful, whose gracious Word flows likethe spring before the eyes of the thirsty wanderer in the desert, whohas made us the chief pillars in the temple of his faith, and thebearers of the torch of freedom! Ye warriors of great and littleKabarda, for the last time I send to remind you of your oath, and toincite you to war against the unbelieving Muscovites. Many are themessages I have already sent, and the words I have spoken to you; but yehave scorned my messengers and have not regarded my admonitions. Therefore hath Allah given you over into the hands of your enemies, andyour aouls to the sword of the spoiler; for the Prophet hath said, "'The unbelievers who will in nowise believe shall God deal with as withthe vilest of the beasts. '

"Say not in reply: we believe, and have always held the doctrines of theProphet holy. Verily, God will punish you--liars. Say not: we faithfullyperform our washings and our prayers, give alms, and fast, as it iswritten in the Koran. Verily, I say unto you, for all this shall yeappear black-faced before the judgment-seat of Allah. The water shallbecome mud in your mouths; your alms, the wages of sin; and yourprayers, curses. The true believer has the faith in his heart, and thesword in his hand; for whoso is strong in faith is strong in battle. More accursed even than our enemies are ye; for they are ignorant andwander in darkness; but the light of truth shone before you, and ye havenot followed it. Say not: they have overpowered us and by their greatnumbers put us to flight. For how often shall I repeat to you the wordsof the Prophet when he says, "'Ye faithful, though the unbelieving come against you by hosts, turnnot your back to them; for whoso then turneth his back, even though inthe thick of the fight, him shall the wrath of God smite, in hell shallbe his resting-place, and verily the way thither is not pleasant!'

"Wherefore have ye doubted the truth of my mission, and listened ratherto the threats of the enemy than to my admonitions? God himself hathsaid, "'Rouse, O Prophet, the faithful to battle; for twenty of you standingfast shall overpower two hundred, and a hundred of you shall put toflight thousands of the unbelieving, for they are a people that have noknowledge. '

"God has made your way easy, for he knew that you were weak. Had yejoined yourselves in league with us, ye would never have become theslaves of the infidels, and their touch had never defiled you. But nowis it not easy to wash yourselves clean of their dirt. Was it then I whounited together the tribes of the mountains, or was it rather the powerof God working through me with wonders? The Prophet saith, "'Though thou hadst squandered on them all the treasures of the earth, thou couldst not have united their hearts; but God hath made them one, for he is almighty and all-wise. O Prophet, with God and the faithful onthy side, thou hast nothing to be afraid of. '

"Believe not that God is with the many! He is with the good, and thegood are always fewer than the bad. Look about you, and see if my wordsbe not true. Are there not fewer noble war-steeds than bad ones? Arethere not fewer roses than weeds? Is there not more mud than pearls, andmore lice than cattle? Is not gold scarcer than iron? And are we notbetter than the gold, and the roses, and the pearls, and all the horsesand cattle put together? For all the treasures of the earth pass away;but we are immortal. But if the weeds be more numerous than the roses, shall we instead of rooting them out, suffer them to grow and choke thenoble flowers? And if the enemies be more than we, shall we, instead ofhewing them down, suffer them to take us in their snares? Say not: theenemy has conquered Tscherkei, and destroyed Akhulgo, and takenpossession of Avaria. When the lightning strikes one tree, do all theothers bow their heads and cast themselves down, lest it strike themalso? O ye of little faith! would that ye might take example from thegreen wood! Verily, the trees of the forest might shame you if they hadtongues. Or when the worm destroyeth one kind of fruit, do then all theother kinds perish for fear lest they may be pierced through also?Wonder not that the unbelievers multiply so rapidly, and send army afterarmy to take the place of those whom we cut off; for I say unto you thatthousands of mushrooms and poisonous weeds shoot up out of the earth, while one good tree is growing to maturity. I am the root of the tree offreedom; my murids are the trunk; and ye the branches. But think notbecause one branch rots the whole tree will go to ruin. Verily, therotten branches will God lop off and cast them into hell-fire; for he isa good husbandman. Repent, therefore, and return to the ranks of thosewho fight for the faith, and my grace and protection shall overshadowyou. But if ye continue to trust to the enticing words of theflax-haired Christian dogs rather than to my warnings, I will surelyfulfil that which Khasi-Mollah long ago promised you. Like dark cloudsshall my warriors overshadow your aouls, and take by force what yourefuse to kindness; blood shall mark my path, and terror and desolationshall follow in my footsteps; for where words do not suffice, deedsshall. "

Of the Russian proclamations in the Caucasus, on the other hand, thefollowing, issued in reply to Schamyl's, may serve as a specimen. 

"In the name of God, the almighty. 

"The Adjutant-general, commander of the Caucasian corps, and chief ofthe civil government of the Cis and Trans-Caucasian territories, to theKhans, Beys, Cadis, Effendis, Mollahs, and to all the people ofDaghestan and Tchetchenia. 

"The commotions and bloodshed which during so many years have takenplace among the Caucasian mountaineers have attracted the most seriousattention of our lord, the emperor; and his Imperial Majesty hasresolved this year to introduce the reign of peace and prosperity intoall these unhappy districts. To carry this purpose into execution freshtroops have arrived, and in case of need still greater numbers can bedrawn from the terrible hosts of Russia. And how numerous, and powerfulare her armies, those of you who have been in that country can besttell. 

"Ye inhabitants of Daghestan and Tchetchenia! I assure you that thesetroops have in nowise been sent to root out the doctrine of Mahomet andto destroy his people, but simply for the punishment of Schamyl and hisfollowers. For he is a shameless deceiver, who from purely personalmotives, from the desire of self-aggrandizement and the love ofdominion, has stirred up the tribes to revolt, and exposed them to allthe horrors of war; who seeks himself to avoid every danger, while hedelivers you, deluded ones, to death; who preaches equality of rightsand abolition of all hereditary rights of property simply to getpossession himself of the inheritances of your khans and beys; who fillsyour aouls with his murtosigators, who spare neither the lives nor theproperty of the innocent inhabitants; who lays on your settlements theburdens of his taxes and the hateful yoke of his despotism; who callshimself your protector and defender, while everywhere his presence ismarked by death and desolation. So, for example, was it in Khasikumuck, Avaria, and Andi, in the Sechamschal district, and in Itchkeria, wherehe acted such a faithless and inhuman part towards the inhabitants ofthe aoul of Zoutera, sparing neither the aged, nor women, nor children. In place of your ruined prosperity he gives you nothing but false anddelusive promises, as when he encouraged you with the hope of the speedyappearance of a Turkish army for your relief; whereas the sultan hasjust renewed to us his word never to interfere in the affairs of theCaucasian tribes, in opposition to their rightful emperor. 

"Ye people of Tchetchenia and Daghestan! Soon will the Russian armyappear in your midst. And I repeat to you that our troops will come onlyto deliver you from the yoke of your oppressor, to protect the weak, andthose who turn from the error of their ways with repentance, as well asall those who have risen in revolt against the power of the despot. Inthe name of the great ruler of men, the emperor of all the Russias, whohas delivered all power into my hands to punish the fomenters of strifeas they deserve, but who nevertheless desires to throw over theiroffences the covering of his gracious forgiveness, do I promise fullpardon to all those who by word or deed have labored for the cause ofSchamyl, provided they now come to me with tokens of repentance andsubmission. I promise that all necessary means shall be taken for thepreservation of your faith, of your mosques, of your customs and usages, and of the rights of property of all those who will now presentthemselves before me and take the oath of subjection and fidelity. Allthese their rights and privileges shall be placed on secure andever-enduring foundations. 

"But at the same time I inform you that all the aouls and tribes whojoin the party of Schamyl and oppose themselves to our rightfulauthority shall be subjected to the most terrible punishments. The sameshall be inflicted also on all those who seek to retire into themountains, and all those who, having fled thither, do not immediatelyreturn to their former habitations. And these habitations likewise shallbe razed to the ground. 

"As to the tribes of Akuska and Zudakera, the conditions on which theirsubmission will be accepted will be made known to them by the commanderof the forces in Daghestan. 

"Ye people of Tchetchenia and Daghestan! In this year will your destinybe decided. It depends on yourselves. Choose! In case you submityourselves to the rightful and beneficent rule of Russia, you willreceive the inexpressibly great gift of the grace of our lord theemperor, who watches equally over the happiness and prosperity of allhis subjects. But if you obstinately continue in your errors, and placeyourselves in the ranks of our enemies, you will share in the punishmentinflicted on Schamyl, and will be torn in pieces by the claws of theRussian eagle, which at the same time appears at the rising of the sunand where it goes down in the west, and which wings its flight overElbrus and Kasbek as though they were mere mole-hills. "

XXXIX. 

HIS INVASION OF THE KABARDAS. 

The black cloud of vengeance, though so small as not to be noticed bythe Kabardians, was now gathering in the south-east. Schamyl, surveyingthe posture of affairs in the spring of 1846, with the eye of a warriorwho was at the same time a prophet, saw that the concentration ofRussian troops was mostly in the fortresses of Temir-Chan-Chura andGrosnaja; that Woronzoff was busy looking after his kreposts and hisstanitzas; and that consequently there was an opening for himself bymeans of fast galloping to break through the enemy's line, and make araid in the Kabardas. It was an inspiration of genius to conceive theplan; it would require the boldest riders in the world to execute it. 

But notwithstanding the loss of Dargo, the year preceding, "SultanSchamyl, " as the mountaineers sometimes fondly called him, had attainedto such an influence that he was now at the head of the largest forcewhich had ever been mustered in the highlands. Among the tribes of thewestern Caucasus, their proudest chiefs, Guz-Bey, and Dschimbulat, hadnever been able to raise a troop for crossing the Kuban of more thanfour thousand riders; Scheik Mansur, the Schamyl of the eastern Caucasusin the preceding century, and Khasi-Mollah had never taken the fieldwith upward of eight thousand; nor had the Russians in their hostileincursions, as at Akhulgo and Dargo, assembled under their eagles agreater force than from twelve to fourteen thousand. But the Imam afterall the losses of the preceding years had now under him no less thantwenty thousand warriors, a large proportion of them cavalry, andwaiting only his order to spring into their saddles. 

In the beautiful month of May, when nature in bud and full leafthroughout the mountains inspired the breast of the warrior as well asof the husbandman with hope, Schamyl set forth for the Kabardas. Theweek before, the highlands lay as peaceful in the midst of the spring'sblossoming as they had under the protecting mantle of the winter'ssnows. The steed was cropping the first tender blades of grass in thevale, long unaccustomed to the bit and saddle which hung suspendedagainst his master's wall; while the Lesghian himself was sittinglistless at the door of his sakli apparently basking without a thoughtof war in the genial beams which shine in the time when the singing ofbirds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land. 

But suddenly there was a hot riding of messengers from one end of thelittle empire of the Imam to the other. In a week all the men of Himri, Akhulgo, and Dargo, the riders of Arrakan and Gumbet, Avaria andKoissubui, Itchkeria and Salatan, the dwellers on the four branches ofthe Koissu and the still blood-stained banks of the Aksai, Lesghians, Tchetchenians, and warriors of Daghestan, tribes of different origin andspeaking various dialects, but freemen all, were in the stirrup, shaskasat their sides, and millet at their saddle-bows. 

Two rivers flowed between their land and the Kabardas; and across theirwar-path ran two lines of hostile fortresses. Among these latter was thestrong-hold of Wladikaukas, besides others scarcely less impregnable;and in them all lay an army of seventy thousand troops well armed andready for service. In the intervals between stretched the settlements ofthe Cossacks; and beyond, the Kabardians themselves had been bornwarriors, and still retained their arms. On the other hand, Schamyl hadno artillery, and no regular convoys of provisions and ammunition. Without fortresses, depots, or communications of any sort to fall backupon in case of need, he would in fact have nothing behind him to relyupon, but only that which was before. It would be therefore a dash at aventure, and with, for order of march, "The devil take the hindmost. "

But the Imam was conscious of his strength, and was justly proud of histwenty thousand men of the mountains, every one of whom held in contemptthe plains below and all they that defended them. Seeing beforehand boththe victory and the way of escape, he confidently set forward. It was atthe season of the year when the banks of the rivers were filled fullfrom the melting of the snows in the mountains; but the horses swamwhere they could not ford the currents. To no purpose was it that theCossack, seeing from his tall look-out the approach of the foremostriders of this host, lighted his beacon, or that the sentries of thekreposts fired their alarm-guns. Schamyl rode down the Cossacks, plundered the stanitzas, and left behind the forts which were notcarried amid the whirlwind of his first coming. There was no stopping;and before the garrisons along the line knew that Schamyl had come, hewas gone; and when the Kabardians believed that the braggart who hadthreatened their land with plundering was shut up in his mountains sixhundred wersts away, he was in their midst. 

No less than sixty populous aouls of the Kabardians were plundered;twenty Cossack stanitzas were destroyed; and ravaging on either side thelands through which he passed, the Imam seriously threatened the strongplaces of Mosdok, Jekaderinograd, and Stavropol. It was easy gallopingover the smooth valleys and softly rolling hills of the Kabardas; norhaving once broken the bounds of the mountains were Schamyl's riderscontent to turn back their horses until they had watered them on theKuban, and even filled with consternation the stanitzas on the stillmore distant banks of the Laba. 

To retreat from these remote steppes in safety to the mountains wasindeed a triumph. For the generals Freitag and Nestoroff, on hearing thenews of Schamyl's incursion, had immediately mustered their battalions, and occupied the Terek to intercept his return; and the Cossacks, thoseof the Don, of Tchernomozen, and of the line, riding at full speed, hadcome in from the plains with a strength of several thousand lances. Schamyl well knew that he could not retire by the way in which he hadadvanced. But when the work of devastation and pillage was done, hesuddenly turned his horses' heads south from Jekaderinograd; overran theCossack colonies in that direction; and with a considerable number ofKabardians forced into his ranks, with his cruppers loaded with thebooty of the plains, and his saddle-bows well furnished with both milletand mutton, regained the mountains. It was still the beautiful month ofMay when his riders unloosed their saddle-girths at the doors of theirsaklis; the time of the singing of birds was not past; nor had the voiceof the turtle yet ceased in the land. 

XL. 

HIS SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. 

But the one half is not told respecting the genius of Schamyl after therecital of his military exploits simply; for he is not moredistinguished as a warrior than as a ruler and a lawgiver. Out of theheterogeneous materials of numerous independent tribes, separated fromeach other in many instances by blood-feuds, speaking various dialects, and having traditions and customs more or less differing, he hasorganized a form of society in which all these discordant elements havebeen brought into harmony. Where before there were tribes, there is nowa State; where there were many warlike leaders and hereditary chiefs ofclans, there is now one supreme ruler; in the place of usage andtradition, there is the reign of law and order; and instead of aresistance of clans fighting bravely but without concert, there is awell-organized system of defence, with concentration of powers andunanimity of action. It is an organization called forth by theexigencies of a state of perpetual war, and one wherein individualliberty is necessarily and rightfully sacrificed to the commonindependence. 

The foundations of this militant state were laid on the rock ofreligious fanaticism, the cleft between the two sects of Omar and Alihaving been finally cemented together in the new faith of the Sufis. This great work was begun by the predecessors of Schamyl, but to him isdue the credit of having carried it on to perfection, until now the warof sects has been completely merged in the war against the common enemy, and hatred of the "blonde unbelievers" is synonymous with love of Allahand faith in the Prophet. Of this united church Schamyl is the head, heis acknowledged as the second great prophet and Allah's vicegerent, appointed to defeat his enemies and to maintain the liberty originallygranted by him to the sons of the mountains. Twice in the year he isbelieved to hold direct communications with heaven, retiring for thatpurpose to the privacy of his inner apartments, or the solitude of somecave or retreat among the rocks. There for three weeks he performs hispriestly worship with fasting, prayer, and the reading of the Koran, until at length he beholds in a vision the spirit of the Prophetdescending out of heaven in the form of a dove, and receives from it thedivine commands. On returning from his place of seclusion he deliversthese to the assembled congregation of his murids and murschids, andexhorts them with the rapt eloquence of a messenger come directly fromGod to persevere in the holy war against the Muscovites. Awed by thesolemn tones of his voice and by the almost supernatural shining of hiscountenance, the congregation accepts his words as the inspiration ofthe Almighty, and bows itself in prayer. Then going out of the mosque hechants a verse from the Koran, and harangues the multitude outside, whothereupon sing a hymn which is half a battle song, and drawing theirshaskas swear anew fealty to the faith, and eternal hate against Russia. And finally, the ceremony over, all separate amid shouts of, "God isgreat; Mahomet is his first prophet; and Schamyl his second!"

The territory over which Schamyl bears rule is divided into provinces, districts, and aouls. A convenient number of aouls forms a district, andfive districts a province. Over the latter are set governors who have acontrol in things both spiritual and temporal which is wellnigh supreme;but for the rightful exercise of which they are answerable to the Imamwith their lives. Next in authority are the chiefs of districts, who arecalled naibs, and whose duties consist in maintaining a supervision overthe inhabitants, collecting the revenues, raising recruits, settlingfeuds, and enforcing due obedience to the law of the scharyat. Finally, in every aoul resides a cadi, or elder, who is required to make reportsto his naib of all important occurrences, to keep the peace, to deliverup persons accused of crimes, to promulgate the orders and proclamationsof his superiors, and to keep swift horses constantly standing saddledand bridled for the instant despatch of messengers of State. 

Every naib, moreover, is bound to maintain in his district an armedforce of three hundred riders, to be raised in the manner following. Every ten houses furnish a warrior, the family from whom he is takenbeing free of all taxes during his lifetime, and the other nine being atthe expense of his equipment and maintenance. This soldier is to beready to march at the minute, and may not lay aside his arms even atnight. In addition, every male from fifteen years of age to fifty isliable to be called out for the defence of his aoul, or, inextraordinary cases, for active service in the army. At the same timethe horseman of every ten houses takes command of the men on foot fromthose houses. 

Separate from his standing army Schamyl has also a guard constantlyattached to his person, which is made up by selection from his murids. They are called by way of distinction Murtosigators. Into their numbernone are admitted save warriors of well-tried valor, zealous for thefaith taught by the murschids, and devoted partisans of the Imam. Calledto the high office of guarding the person of their prophet, they mustkeep themselves pure from whatever in the world might tempt them to aneglect of duty, or even make life too dear to them. If unmarried, theymust remain so; if married, they must have no intercourse with theirfamilies. They must exercise temperance in living, and strictly keep thescharyat. The extension of the new faith, the maintenance of thesupremacy of the Imam, and the triumph of his arms over his enemies, must be the aim of their every thought and endeavor. 

In number the murtosigators are about one thousand, and are organized onthe decimal system, every ten having a leader, and every ten leadersagain a superior, as is the case also in the regular army. They receivea regular monthly pay, besides a share in all spoils. In time ofcomparative peace, while one half of them keep watch over the life ofthe imam, rendering access to him a matter of extreme difficulty, theother half act as lay preachers of his political Sufism; and in time ofactual war, they are the soul of his army, caring not for their livesbut only for his, leading the raid, covering the retreat, a strong wallof defence around the faithful, and the terror of the enemy, by whom notone of them has ever been taken alive. 

In imitation of the grades of office in the Russian armies, Schamylestablished a difference of rank among his own chieftains. Three of hismost eminent partisans received titles corresponding to those ofgenerals; and a number of his murids, especially the chiefs of themurtosigators, were made captains. At the same time these high officerswere distinguished by decorations after the European fashion. Thegenerals were authorized to wear on each breast stars of silver; thecaptains had silver plates of an oval form; and the chiefs of the guardwho had distinguished themselves by acts of extraordinary heroism werepresented with medals bearing complimentary inscriptions in the Arabiccharacter. There were also various other rewards of military meritestablished, such as epaulettes of beaten silver, daggers with silverhilts, and ensigns decorated with fine needle-work. And to correspondwith these marks of honorable distinction were instituted badges ofdisgrace, such as the patch sewed on the back, and the rag tied aroundthe right arm. Finally, a system of military punishments was introduced, comprising various fines, imprisonment, and death. 

For a revenue Schamyl does not depend, like his predecessors, on thefifth of the booty taken from the enemy, and the fines imposed forviolations of the scharyat, but has introduced a regular system oftaxation. A poll-tax to the amount of a silver rouble, or its value inkind, is levied on every family; one tenth of the produce of the landgoes into the public treasury; the property of every person dyingwithout direct heirs, falls to the government; and the wealthaccumulated in the mosques and shrines, consisting of the gifts of thepious, has been applied to the uses of the State, the mollahs receivingregular pay in exchange, and the wandering dervishes, who lived onvoluntary contributions, having either been incorporated into the armyor driven out of the country. Economical in the use of his revenues andliving himself in a style of simplicity scarcely superior to that of hiscomrades in arms, the Imam has accumulated considerable funds, and isknown to have deposited in secret places in the woods of Andi andItchkeria treasures of gold, precious stones, and various valuables. Thesinews of his war are not indeed gold and silver, but love of freedomand hatred of the infidel; still he understand as well as the rulers ofcountries more civilized, that riches are a strong ally; and moreover hecan neither issue paper-money nor live by borrowing. But while he haswisely laid up in store for the conduct of the war and the upholding ofhis government whatever could be saved by frugal and simple living, hehas always dealt out with a liberal hand the means necessary forrewarding acts of extraordinary valor or self sacrifice, for makingconverts to the faith of the Sufis, or for winning over to his side ahostile tribe or chieftain. 

The mountaineers acknowledging the rule of Schamyl do not number morethan about six hundred thousand, the entire population of the Caucasusbeing estimated at a million and a half. The forces of the Imam havenever exceeded twenty thousand. On the other hand, the Russian army inthe mountains during the last dozen years has consisted of from onehundred and fifty to two hundred thousand men of all arms. These havebeen distributed indeed throughout both Cis and Trans-Caucasia, aportion of them being occupied in vainly endeavoring to conquer theCircassians proper in the western extremity of the mountains, but agreater proportion, say from fifty to one hundred thousand, beingconcentrated along the line of the Tchetchenian and Lesghian highlands. According to the Russian ordnance accounts of the year 1840, their totalexpenditure of artillery cartridges was 11, 344, and of musket cartridges1, 206, 675. Large expenditure, and small result. 

XLI. 

RECENT EVENTS. 

During the last few years the Imam has kept the Czar well at bay. Sincethe capture of Dargo, the Russians have made few incursions, andreported no more victories. And on the other hand, the mountaineersmaking only now and then a razzia, or storming a krepost, have beencontented to allow the enemy the quiet enjoyment of his prison-housesalong the line, on the condition of his not leaving them. Schamyl seemsto be well aware that his best ramparts are the rocks, and his palisadesthe primitive forests. To leave these for the sake of attackingfortified places bristling with cannon, and which if captured he couldnot hold, would be a useless waste of blood too precious to be spilledwithout cause. And, besides, he must know that he is contending not onlyagainst superior numbers, but also a more perfect knowledge of the artof war, and that therefore his only hope of ultimate success can rest onthe interposition of that Providence which guides the world's destiny. 

At length that heavenly power seems to be coming to his relief. Fornearly half a century he has been holding in his hand the keys of thegreat pathway from southern Russia to the East, despite the utmostefforts of the czar to wrest them from him. In vain did the emperorNicholas visit the Caucasus to cheer on his troops; in vain did thegrand-duke Alexander, the present emperor, take part in the campaign of1850; or Prince Baratinksky in 1852 attempt by his bravery to overaweTchetchenia. From Jermoloff to Woronzoff and Mouravieff the emperor hassent to the Caucasus his best generals, who have devised or put intoexecution every possible system of both attack and defence for the sakeof destroying this nest of mountaineers; the banks of the Kuban and theTerek have been covered with Cossacks until their lances stand as thickas the river-reeds; ten thousand times in the year, it has beenestimated, does the cannon roar through these valleys, and ten hundredthousand times does the musket ring; but the mountains stand firm; thehills are not shaken; the flag of freedom, though but a rag tied to aspear, still floats from the summits of Andi and the Solo-Tau; andSchamyl still holds the mountain path which leads from Russia to thevalleys of Persia and the plains of Hindoostan. 

England, comprehending at last that the progress of Russia eastward, ifnot checked, would at no very distant day threaten the security of herown dominion in Asia, has in concert with France commenced a war which, if carried to a successful and true issue, will bring about theevacuation of the Caucasus by the Russian arms, and shut on them, atleast during the present generation, this gate of the Orient. Should thewar stop short of this result, the subjugation of this strong-hold ofliberty will not probably be postponed long beyond the decease of itspresent heroic defender; and the student of history will search in vainto discover the purposes of Providence to accomplish which this child ofgenius and of nature was raised up. 

It is not strange, however, that Schamyl should not fully comprehend, ashe appears not to do, the nature of the deliverance which would seem tobe preparing for him. Attempts are said to have been made to induce himto adapt his policy to the peculiar state of the relations of easternand western Europe, and to coöperate with the enemies of Russia byattacking her lines in the Caucasus now that they are beginning to beweakened from the suspension of the usual reinforcement. France has sentpresents of muskets to the Caucasus, and England has despatcheddiplomatic agents. But hitherto the Imam has not departed from the lineof policy which was traced out previously to the breaking out of the warin Europe, and with sole reference to the posture of affairs in theCaucasus. It is said, and probably with truth, that he distrusts theovertures of alliance made to him. For since the government of GreatBritain refused to demand redress for the capture by the Russians of the"Vixen, " an English vessel trading on the coast of Circassia incontravention, as was alleged, of their laws of blockade, and therebyvirtually declined to acknowledge the rights and independence of theCircassians, the latter have lost all faith in that intervention ofEngland in their favor which for a time they had been encouraged inentertaining. For the name of the great Napoleon, the sultan of thewest, --for into what parts of the earth has his name not goneforth?--they cherish the most profound admiration; but they do not knowhis nephew, nor have they ever been brought into any relations whetherof trade or diplomacy with France. Moreover, the words, "ally, " and"protector, " have become almost words of ill-omen in the Caucasus, fromthe fact that the Russians, like the Persians and the Turks before them, have always used these terms to mask their designs of interference andultimate conquest. The wily Imam therefore distrusts the Franks though_dona ferentes_, and dreads lest they who should come into the mountainsas allies might remain there as masters. He prefers to continue trustingin himself and Allah, and to let the unbelievers fight their ownbattles. Nor, indeed, is it quite certain that herein he does not actwisely. 

It has been supposed by some, though without sufficient reason, that therecent restoration to Schamyl of one of his sons who had been taken awayin his boyhood to Russia and there educated, has had some influence inrendering him more disposed to be on terms with his enemies. Thisinteresting event occurred, however, in the course of a regular exchangeof prisoners, and in the manner following. 

His son, together with a ransom of forty thousand silver roubles, wasdemanded by Schamyl in return for the deliverance from captivity of twoRussian princesses, the princess Tschattchavadse, and the princessOrbelian, with the children of the latter, all of whom had some monthsbefore fallen into the hands of some of his followers. This was finallyagreed to, and the interchange was effected by Schamyl in person. Distrustful, however, to the last moment, he came to the appointed placeof rendezvous on the banks of the frontier river Mitschik accompanied bya force of some six thousand warriors and several field-pieces. Thenhaving taken up his position on the right bank while the Russiansoccupied the left, he sent forward another of his sons, Khasi-Mahomet, with thirty murids to escort the captives. At the same time a party ofriflemen commanded by Major-general Von Nikolai advanced from the otherside, having in charge Jamal Eddin, the son who was to be exchanged, anda carriage containing the ransom money. When then Jamal Eddin came downto the ford, the thousands of his countrymen who covered the neighboringheights set up a shout of thanksgiving, and chanted the _EstaphirAllah_. Then having crossed the river, he put on a Circassian dress, andin company with his brother and the Russian officers climbed the hillwhere, surrounded by his murids, and having a large parasol held overhis head, sat the Imam. When the son who had been lost and was foundapproached, the heart of the venerable father was deeply moved; andstretching out his hand for the young man to kiss, he then embraced him, and wept. 

The report of the interview, published in Tiflis, states that Schamyl atthe close of it, after having bowed courteously to the officers andthanked Baron Nikolai for the kindness with which he had treated hisson, exclaimed, as if involuntarily, "Now I believe in the honor of theRussians. " This however, is doubtful. 

The interview, it may be added, was memorable also from the circumstancethat it was the first time since the year 1839 that any Russian is knownto have seen the face of Schamyl. All present were struck with itexpressiveness as they also were favorably impressed by his noble andprepossessing manners. 

THE END.