The Circassian Chief: A Romance of Russia
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them by theinstigation of the Russians, to be suspicious of strangers comingwithout a recommendation to them. Any one, however, who may visit theircountry under the protection of one of their chiefs, they are ready toprotect to the utmost with their lives, each noble vieing with the otherin paying their guest attention.
They have the deepest veneration for age, listening to the counsels oftheir elders, and obeying their commands.
To the female sex also, they pay the most chivalrous devotion. Theirminstrel's highest theme, next to their warrior's deeds, is the praiseof woman's charms, and the proudest noble treats the lowly maiden withevery consideration and respect, nor thinks himself demeaned in aidingher in any occupation in which she may be engaged.
The lower orders are in the habit of sending their daughters to theConstantinopolitan matrimonial market, (for so it is to them,)receiving, however, some valuable consideration, to insure their safearrival there. The Circassians also take every precaution to hearcontinually of the welfare of their daughters in Turkey; nor do theyever compel them to go against their will, or, as in the more civilisedcountries of Europe, drive them to contract a hateful marriage, or offerthem the dreadful alternative of being immured for life in a convent.The nobles never allow their daughters to marry, except with one oftheir own rank, and when they send them to Stamboul, it is to become thechief sultana of some Pacha's harem, an arrangement the fair girlsconsider the happiest fate which could befall them, though exchangingthe liberty of their mountains for riches, splendour, and a prison, butgaining what they never could at home, entire liberty, on the death oftheir lord, and frequently considerable wealth. The Circassian girlsare much prized in the Turkish harems, beyond their beauty, for theirvarious useful and ornamental accomplishments.
We have said that there are no towns, the people living in villages,hamlets, or detached dwellings. The houses consist only of a groundfloor, built of wood plastered over, and neatly thatched. The dwellingof a chief consists of several separate divisions: the anderoon, orwomen's apartments; that of the lord himself; and the guest-house;besides the houses of the servants, the granaries, and stables for thehorses and cattle.
It is curious to see the interior of what appears a humble cottage,filled with rich couches of silk, magnificent Turkey carpets, splendidarmour and weapons, inlaid tables and other valuable articles.
Some of the villages are fortified, but in a manner to afford noprotection against cannon. They are generally situated by the side ofsome limpid stream, and in the most picturesque situations.
They speak a language entirely different from any other known tongue;but Turkish and Arabic is understood by many of their chiefs, who haveserved in Turkey and Egypt. Several also have been in the Russianservice; but have returned to their native country to defend her rights,in preference to indulging in luxury and ease under a despot.
They say that their fighting men amount to two hundred thousand; butevery man amongst them is a warrior.
The arts are at a very low ebb among them, though they possess thegreatest skill in forging their armour and weapons, which they embossbeautifully. They also work in gold and silver embroidery; but it mustbe confessed they are totally ignorant of science, nor have they even awritten language, and very few among them can read Turkish, though theypay the greatest respect to the Koran, with which they administer theiroaths.
They are very industrious, having brought their lands into the higheststate of cultivation, thus enabling them within a small extent ofcountry, aided by the fertility of the soil, to support a largepopulation. The farms are kept with the greatest neatness, andsurrounded with thriving orchards. They possess also large flocks andherds.
On all public occasions and when engaged in war, the chiefs wearcomplete suits of splendid armour, much like that of the ancientPersians, from whose country they sometimes procure it at the presentday. On a foray, when activity is most requisite, and they wish not tobe distinguished from their followers, they have under their ordinarydress, light coats of chain armour of most exquisite workmanship, manyof which are made in the country, and others come from Persia. Theypossess rifles and pistols, but many still use the long bow and arrow,with which they can take the most deadly aim. They have also longswords, and the broad two-edged dagger, such as was used by the Romansof old, a most murderous weapon in their hands. They use also a sharpstraight sabre without a guard to the hilt. The ordinary dress of allclasses is elegant and picturesque.
There are numerous wild animals in Circassia, such as bears, wolves,jackals, and stags, which the people eagerly hunt. Their horses arecelebrated for speed and strength, and they are perhaps the most experthorsemen in the world.
We will now sum up the character of the Circassians. No one, even theirenemies, can deny that they possess the most heroic bravery andundaunted courage, the most devoted love of liberty, are hospitable tothe utmost of their means, generous in the extreme, virtuous in theirlives, and abstemious in their habits; that they venerate age, arecourteous and gentle to their women, polished in their manners to eachother, more especially to strangers, humane to their prisoners, have afirm reliance on the goodness of the divinity, a deep sense of religion,and the strictest regard to an oath, which is inviolable among them; andyet, this being no highly coloured or overdrawn character, these are thepeople, whom the Russian stigmatise as untameable barbarians, whom itwill be a benefit to the human race to sweep from the face of the earth.
Volume 2, Chapter V.
The now calm, glass-like waters shone with a rich glow of orange tintreflected from the sky, as the sun rose in majestic glory from his oceanbed. The sails of the Turkish bark caught the radiance, as, impelled bya gentle air, she glided through the sea of molten gold.
As the deep glow gradually faded from the horizon, leaving a clear viewof the ocean's margin, the man from the mast-head shouted in tones ofdelight, "Abasa! Abasa! land! land! the land of Circassia!" The effectwas electrical. All on board turned their gaze towards the east. TheHadji and the devout Mahometans ceased from their morning prayer; theseamen mounted the rigging; and, as a light gauze-like veil of mist wasdrawn up to the sky, the blue mountains of the lofty Caucasian rangeappeared just rising above the waters in the far distance.
Ivan's heart beat with enthusiastic delight as he gazed on the land ofhis birth, the land of all his most romantic aspirations. Theaccomplishment of his eager wishes--the fulfilment of his vow--would notmuch longer be deferred. His earnest gaze was fixed on the scene, asmountain after mountain, and hill after hill, rose to view.
As the zebeque glided swiftly towards land, the more minute details ofthe landscape could be distinguished; mountains of every fantastic formwere seen piled one on another, clothed with verdure from the brightwater's edge to the topmost peak, where they seemed lost in the pureblue sky. Trees of various foliage bent over precipitous and ruggedcliffs, bounding a smiling valley, through which meandered a sparklingstream; by its banks grazed herds of cattle while numerous horsesgalloped in unrestrained freedom over the velvet lawn.
The zebeque had made the shore rather too far to the south of theirdestination, and as she coasted calmly along, Ivan gazed with enrapturedand untiring eye on the lovely scene. Far as the eye could reach, upthe sides of the steep sloping hills, numerous flocks of white sheepwere seen quietly grazing, and from craig to craig, bounded nimbly withlong and slender limbs the jet black goats.
He looked on the unostentatious abodes of his countrymen, their littlecots built on the slopes of the gently swelling hills, amid fields ofripening corn, their farm yards surrounded by groves of trees coveredwith fruit, from among which the thin smoke from their domestic hearthscurled upward in wreathy pillars. All around appeared the abodes ofcontentment and peace--how sadly deceitful and treacherous. In anotherday all might be laid waste, and a howling desert usurp its place.
The lately dignified Hadji, excited to the most enthusiastic delight,walked the deck with the activity of youth, pointing out to Ivan thenames of the di
fferent little inlets, bays, valleys, and mountains asthey coasted along.
They were saluted too, as they passed, by many a band of warriors,hastening towards the scene of strife in the north, where their invadershad landed. Many a gallant chief, in his war array, his bright armourglittering in the sun, galloped by, waving his shining sword to salutethem, attended by a band of followers, shouting defiance to their foes,and singing hymns of victory.
No one seemed to enter into Ivan's feelings so well as young Conrin,whose eyes brightened with delight unusual to him as he gazed ever andanon at his master's countenance: and then turned them towards thelovely scene, whose beauties he seemed to enjoy the more that they wereseen by one he loved.
The spot where the Reis had appointed to land was near the Bay of Pchad,in sight of which they soon came. Here a dense forest covered, withthickest foliage, both the mountain side and the shore to the verywater's edge, affording a secure shelter to the inhabitants,