YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Gift of
Sarah S. Lane

LIFE OF SCHAMYL.

LIFE OF SCHAMYL;

NARRATIVE

CIRCASSIAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE AGAINST RUSSIA.

BY
J. MILTON MACKIE,
AUTHOR OF "COSAS DE ESPANA."

BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY.
CLEVELAND, OHIO:
JEWETT, PEOCTOE AND WOETHINGTON.
NEW YORK : SHELDON, LAMrORT AND BLAKEMAN.
185G.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by
JOHN P. JEWETT AKD COMPANY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

CAMBRIDGE :
ALLEN AND FARN1LAM, STERE0TYPER3 AND PRINTERS.

PREFACE

The principal authors who have recently written
on Circassia are Bodensfedt, Moritz Wagner, Mar-
linski, Dubois de Montpe'reux, Hommaire de Hell,
Taillander, Marigny, Golovin, Bell, Longworth,
Spencer, Knight, Cameron, Ditson ; and from their
pages chiefly has been filled the easel with the col
ors of which I have endeavored to paint the fol
lowing picture of a career of heroism nowise
inferior to that of the most famous champions of
classical antiquity, of a war of independence such
as may not improperly be compared with the most
glorious struggles recorded in the annals of liberty,
and of a state of society perhaps the most roman
tic and the most nearly resembling that described
in the songs of Homer which the progress of civ
ilization has now left for the admiration of man
kind. (v)

CONTENTS.

FAOH
I. The Land op Schamyl,  1
II. Its History,  5
HI. The War with Eussia,  11
IV. His Birthplace,  15
V. His Parents, Atamk, and Teacher, . . 20
VI. His Earlt Education,  24
VII. His Horsemanship  29
VHI. The Circassian Games  34
IX. His Love of Nature  39
X. Hunting  43
XI. Camping out  48
XII. In the White Mountains .... 54
XIH. Songs  60
XIV. Dances  69
XV. Festivals  76
" "XVI. '. His Eeligious Education .... 81
XVII. His Marriage  87
XVIII. Maids  94
XIX. Wives .  101
XX. Female Slave-trade  108
(vii)

XIV. Man-neks . . 134
[XV. His Predecessors. — Mahomet-Mollah . 141 »
XVI. Kiiasi-aTollah ... . . 147 »
;VII. Hamsad Bey . . . . . 156 '
VIII. Circassian Mode of Warfare . 161 •
XIX. Russian Mode of Warfare . . 174
CXX. His Personal Appearance 185
XXI. Becomes Imam, and continues the War . 193 '.
rXU. Issl-es Proclamations . 201
XIII. His Head-Quarters at Akhulgo . . 207
XIV. The Siege of Akhulgo . . . 213
CXV. The Expedition against Dap.go . . 223 '
XVI. His Domestic Life . . . 233
IV EC. Prince Woronzoff at Daego . 251
VIII. Sciiamyl's Proclamation to the Kaeaediax-. 202
XIX. His Invasion of the Kaisakdas . . 276
XL. His System of Government . . o$3i
XLI. Recent Events . . _ 293

LIFE OF SCHAMYL.

I.
THE LAND OF SCHAMYL.

Circassia — under which name the country
occupied by a great number of tribes of
which the Circassians are one, is best known
to foreigners — lies in the Caucasus, a range
of mountains which, running in the direction
between north-west and south-east, extends
from the shores of the Black Sea to those
of the Caspian, and divides by its wall of rock
the two continents of Europe and Asia.
The traveller approaching these mountains
from the steppes inhabited by the Cossacks
subject to Russia, beholds at a distance of
thirty miles a single white conical summit
1

2 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
towering high above the otherwise level
horizon. This is the peak of Elbrus, the
loftiest in the Caucasian chain, and called by
the natives the Dsching Padischah, or great
spirit of the mountains. Next, is seen the
no less solitary top of Kasbek, situated further
eastward, and its snows tinged by the first red
rays of the morning. Then, the whole line
of summits, "the thousand peaked," rises to
view ; and finally, a lower range covered with
forests, and hence called the Black Mountains,
draws its dark and irregular outline against
the higher snows beyond.
The waters shed from the northern declivi
ties of the Caucasus, are received by two
principal rivers, the Kuban and the Terek;
while those which flow down on the south
side are gathered into the Bion and the Kur,
or ancient Cyrus. Of these streams the
Kuban is the largest, and empties itself, as
does the Bion, into the Black Sea ; the other
two running eastward to the Caspian.
The western portion more especially of the
Black Mountains is heavily wooded. Gio-antic
oaks spread their branches above cliffs and
summits, where in less favored climes only

THE LAND OF SCHAMYL. 6
the cold pine would be able to find a scanty
subsistence ; while the spray of the Black Sea
is dashed against the immense stems of the
blood-wooded taxus, and the red and almond-
leaved willows sweep with their long branches
the waves. The box here is a giant of the
forest ; the stem of the juniper measures
often fifteen feet in circumference ; and the
vine climbing to the top of the lofty elm
sends its tendrils across to the neighboring
beech, hanging festoons from tree-top to tree-
top, and almost making of the forest one far
spreading arbor. Lower down the pomegran
ate hangs out its blossoms ; the fig and wild
pear their fruits; the laurel and the myrtle
their green leaves ; while an infinite variety
of creepers entwine themselves around every
form, and wild flowering plants, from gor
geous rhododendrons and azalias to the lowly
violet and arbutus, fill the woods with sweet
odors. The distant view of the Caucasus, so bold
in its outlines and varied in its forms, sur
passes in grandeur that of the Alps ; and if
from the small number of lakes and glaciers,
the interior aspects present less of that exceed-

4 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
ing beauty which characterizes the Swiss
landscapes above those of all other mountains,
there is nevertheless a brilliancy of tints in
this oriental air, a glory of nearly five hun
dred miles of snow peaks, a luxuriance of
woods on the lower ranges, and a degree of
cultivation in the valleys where the hand of
man has been busy since times the most
remote, which render this mountain land one
of the fairest portions of the 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 five thousand feet,
and the eastern is frequently terraced with
gardens. The valleys, green with meadows
or golden with many varieties of grain, are
dotted over with villages and clusters of cot
tages. White sheep in great numbers and jet
black goats crop the hill-sides ; while in lower
pastures feed the buffalo and the camel.
Herds of tame or half-wild horses roam at
large through the glades; wild boars house
among the reeds on the river banks ; and the
chamois looks down from its rocks upon wild
deer and 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 popular fables of Grecian
antiquity, as well as of some of the earliest
traditions of the race. Eor while the ark of
Noah is said to have grounded on the top of
Mount Elbrus before reaching its final resting-
place on the neighboring Ararat, it was on
Kasbek that Prometheus was chained to a
rock for having stolen the fire of the gods
and given it to mortals. In the mountain
land of Colchis, Jason carried off the golden
fleece, and Cadmus reaped a harvest of armed
men from sowing serpent's teeth in furrows
turned by the fire-breathing bulls of Vulcan.
Hither wandered that primitive race of men
who were driven by the Pelasgi from the
regions of Olympus; on an island off the
1* (5)

6 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
coast the poets located the palace of Aurora,
wherein were kept up the perpetual dances
and songs of the hours, and where was daily
reborn the sun; and finally, between the
present Little Kabarda and Svanethi existed,
say the traditions, the gallant state of the
Amazons, until the heart of their otherwise
unconquerable prophetess was taken captive
by Thoulme, chief of the Circassians, while
long afterwards the famous Nina continued
to rule over the heroic sisterhood in Imme-
ritia. The ancient Persians gave to the Caucasus
the name of Seddi Iskender. or the barrier of
Alexander, who here met with the first check
in his attempt to subjugate the world. Borne
early sent her conquering legions to bring
under the yoke the prosperous colonies of
Greece on the shores of the Euxine ; and
Pompey returning home from the East, after
having chased Mithridates from the Euphrates
to Colchis and Dioscurias, graced his trium
phal entry into the city with the gigantic
sons of these mountains. Genoa, in a later
and more commercial age, made settlements
on the Caucasian shore, whither she sent her

ITS HISTORY. 7
argosies to be freighted with grain, skins, tal
low, and the fruits of the hive, and where she
has left to this day the foundations of her
wallsand towers, her carved stones and crosses,
her sepulchres and a name. In more recent
times, the princes of the dynasties of the
White Horde and the Golden Camp have
come from the Crimea to break their lances
on the plains of the Kuma ; Attila, Tamer
lane, and Genghis Khan have swept in their
victorious career along the base of these
rocky ramparts of freedom ; the Persian and
the Turk have waged occasional war with
some of the Caucasian tribes, though never
with more than partial and temporary success ;
and it is the Muscovite empire alone which
has ever succeeded in throwing the shadows
of imminent subjugation over the landscape
of these sunny vales.
Accordingly, the independence of most of
these mountain tribes has been maintained
from the earliest times to the present against
all the attempts of their enemies of the
plains. They have lived for generations, the
memory of man runneth not to the end of, in
the enjoyment of a large degree of natural

LIFE OF SCHAMYL.

liberty, in obedience to ancient laws and
usages, in the respect of age, virtue, and supe
riority in arms, and now furnish the only
specimen left of tribes of men still living in
all the simplicity, and retaining, along with
the practice of some of the semi-barbarous
vices, all the heroism of the so-called age of
gold. Georgia, which lies on the southern decliv
ities of the Caucasus, was nominally converted
to Christianity in the days of Constantine the
Great, when its heroic queen Thamar ruled
over one of the most powerful empires of
western Asia ; but beautiful on these moun
tain tops as were the feet of those who
brought the glad tidings and published peace,
the doctrines of the cross made but little
impression on the benighted minds of these
worshippers in the temple of nature. Nor
though Russia early endeavored to introduce
the peaceful soldiers of the church into the
fastnesses where she could not penetrate with
her secular dragoons, the native heart contin
ued to hold to the simple religious rites handed
down by tradition from the fathers, and finally
relinquished them only within the last hun-

ITS HISTORY. 9
dred years in exchange for the doctrines of
the Prophet, which, though introduced a
couple of centuries before, at the point of the
spears of the Crimean Khans, were then first
made plain and acceptable by missionaries
from Turkey.
For subsistence the Caucasian tribes have
always relied mainly on pasturage and agri
culture, also on the chase, on rapine and the
spoils of war, and on the exchange of their
natural products and slaves for the salt, gun
powder, and manufactured goods of foreigners.
So constant for centuries has been their at
tachment to the mountains that they have
never emigrated to the plains, the life of
which they despise. Only the harems of Con
stantinople have an attraction for their fe
males ; and a few restless youth, wandering at
different times into foreign parts, have fur
nished body-guards to the sultans of Turkey
and the Khans of the Crimea; have served
under the name of Mamelukes in Egypt,
where Mehemet Ali could not control but
only massacre them; and latterly have graced
the parade days of the Russian capital, where,
treated like pet lions, their fiery spirit of in-

10 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
dependence and impatience of discipline have
been but mildly restrained by the Czar, and
where such is their haughty, imposing bear
ing, that whenever the vulgar crowd in the
streets gives way for the coming of any one,
it has become almost a proverb to say, it is
either a general officer in the army or a Cir
cassian.

III.
THE WAR WITH RUSSIA.

The contest between the Circassians and
the Russians may be said to have originated
as far back as the middle ages. For it was
in the tenth century that the grand duke
Swatoslaff, overrunning a portion of the Bos-
phoric territories, came into collision with the
inhabitants of the Caucasus ; and in the six
teenth, the Bussians under the grand duke
Wassiljewitsch made their appearance on the
Caspian, on the western coast of which they
established garrisons as far south as Tarku.
In the latter century also the Kabardian
princes, whose territory consisting of open
valleys was less defended by nature against
the inroads of enemies, bowed their necks for
a time in submission ; and Georgia, on the
(ii)

12 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
Asiatic slope, took in the person of her king
Alexander the oath of vassalage to the Mus
covite, obtaining a master where she had
asked only for a protector. But occupied
during the next two hundred years with
affairs at the north, the Russian princes lost
their possessions and most of their influence
in the Caucasus ; and it was not until 1722
that the far-seeing ambition of the great
Peter brought him to the " Albanian gates "
of Derbend, and even within sight of the
sacred fires of the promontory of Apsheron.
It was permitted to this most gifted of the
czars to behold these mountains and get a
glimpse of the fair Asiatic vales beyond, but
not to possess them. In leaving, however, to
his successors the legacy of his boundless am
bition, he pointed with his dying hand to the
peaks of Elbrus and Kasbek ; and ever since
his race, extending itself on all sides, has not
ceased to press onward in this pathway to
ward the rising of the sun.
Especially within the last quarter of a cen
tury has Russia occupied herself in earnest
with the conquest of the Caucasus. During
that period she has maintained there con-

THE WAR WITH RUSSIA. 13
stantly a large force, and latterly as many
as two hundred thousand men under arms.
Year after year she has despatched her bat
talions to supply the places of those who had
fallen by the shaskas of the Circassians or the
still more deadly arrows of the fever, which
in the most sickly seasons has cut off no less
than one sixth of the whole army. She has
sent thither also her best generals and admin
istrators from Jermoloff to Paskiewitsch and
WoronzofF. The emperor Nicholas went him
self into these mountains at the risk of his
life, to inspect and encourage by his presence
the invading columns. Every system of at-
tack which the ingenuity of the St. Peters
burg cabinet could devise has in turn been
tried; efforts have constantly been made to
gain over by intrigue the tribes who could
not be subjugated by force; the cross, joining
its influence to the power of the sworcl, has
endeavored to bring the native mind under
the dominion of a system of religion more
favorable to the aims of the autocrat ; a su
perior civilization has held out to the compar
atively rude barbarians, its hands full of gifts
dazzling and fatal to liberty; but hitherto
2

14 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
mostly, if not all, in vain. The inhabitants
of the upper and more inaccessible moun
tains have held their independence above all
price, fighting for their homes as the moun
taineer only will ; and the chieftains who
have been tempted by preferment in the Rus
sian army and the glitter of its epaulettes, by
the honors of the parades at Tiflis, and even
by the imperial champaign, and the sight of
the ballet dancers of St. Petersburg, have
disdained to sell a birthright of freedom in
herited from a thousand generations in ex
change for these high-flavored sops of an
overreaching foreign despotism.
An intense interest of humanity, therefore,
still hangs over this prolonged contest between
the forces of civilization and those of the
primitive state of nature, between the battal
ions of imperial authority and the bands of
democratic liberty; and the more intense
because this barrier of nature and wall of
freemen once completely carried, there will
remain no further hinderance to the victorious
course eastward of that ambition which, pos
sessing already the path to the orient by the
northern 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 the year 1797.
The place of his birth is Hirnri, an aoul or
village in the district of Arrakan, and in the
north-western part of Daghestan, a territory
lying on the Caspian. It is situated on the
river, called lower 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 of its 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 the Kaitach ; which two latter
running, the one north-easterly and the other
(15)

16 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
north-westerly until they meet, form the two
sides of a triangle of mountains having for its
base the high Caucasus. The apex is just
below Himri, and consists of the escaped cliffs
of two summits called the Touss-Tau and the
Sala-Tau ; while through a gorge between
them is precipitated the whole volume of the
united branches of the Koissu. Himri, ac
cordingly, together with the neighboring for
tified aoul of Akhulgo, is one of the keys of
this triangular region of well-watered high
lands, which is inhabited by a considerable
number of warlike tribes known collectively
as the Lesghians, and which, with the terri
tory of Daghestan on the east, and that of
Tchetchenia on the north, is the principal
theatre of the great military achievements
of Schamyl.
The aoul of Himri is placed like an eagle's
nest high on a rock projecting from the moun
tain side. From the beautiful vale through
which winds the Koissu, a narrow path cut
out of the rock is carried zig-zag up a height
of two or three hundred feet, and is exposed
to be swept by stones let loose from above of
any enemy that might be daring enough to

HIS BIRTHPLACE. 17
attack this strong-hold. A triple wall sup
ported by high towers adds the defences of
art to those of nature ; while above, the place
is sheltered by the overhanging brow of the
mountain. Standing on one of these towers the native
looks down upon the narrow but fertile val
ley, divided in twain by the fast-flowing river.
Several of the surrounding mountains are laid
out in terraced gardens; while some are par
tially covered with oaks and plane-trees ; and
others again are entirely bare, having instead
of the drapery of foliage only the tints of
gold or purple which the rising and the set
ting sun sheds over the ruggedness of the
limestone and the porphyry. Near at hand
are seen one or two heights which are clad
with perpetual snows; while westward, far
away beyond the lower highlands, the view is
terminated by the white form of Mt. Kasbek.
The internal aspect of the aoul is less
pleasing. Most of the streets are steep and
crooked, though the scattered position of the
dwellings in others, affords some sites both
open and level. The roofs are generally flat ;
the walls, almost destitute of windows, are
2*

18 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
rough with unhewn stones ; and many of the
houses lie half buried under the rocky moun
tain side. These are without numbers as the
streets are without names. Here, moreover,
rises no village spire to point the thoughts of
men heavenward; no church bell rings out
its merry festal peals, or tolls the march to
the grave ; no sundial marks the succession
of the hours which pass by unheeded all, save
those of morning, noon, and evening ; and in
no public school-house is heard the low buzz
of children conning their tasks. But the
mollah calls to prayers from the minaret of a
humble mosque ; and in a dark corner illu
mined by aslant rays from a small high win
dow in a wall, teaches to some half a dozen
urchins the strange Arabic letters and the
chants of the Koran. From the going down
of the sun until early morn not a light is seen
throughout the aoul, nor scarcely a sound
heard, save the howling of the watch-dogs
and the plaintive crying of the jackals in the
forests. Indeed, the only hour in the day
when there is any appearance of life in these
streets is at noon, when the labors of the war
den and the exercises of the games beino- gUS.

HIS BIRTHPLACE. 19
pended, many of the male inhabitants either
sit about idle, or lie sleeping like Italian laz-
zaroni, or stand grouped together in long,
light-colored surtouts with a negligent grace
and natural dignity not surpassed in antique
statues. Here and there one more diligent
burnishes his arms, and another grooms his
horse. A few veiled women come and go,
bearing jars of water or other burdens, though
most of the female population are occupied
in their apartments with the preparation of
food, and in the labors of the loom and spin
dle ; while young children, half-naked, play
around the house doors and through the lanes
with an activity in strong contrast with the
prevailing tone of grave and somnolent repose.

V.
HIS PARENTS, ATALIK, AND TEACHER

Of the parents of Schamyl nothing is
known; nor is this lack of information
greatly to be regretted, considering that they
lived in a state of society where there is so
little inequality of classes or diversity of
external condition. His father not being
probably a chief of the tribe, was a freeman
and peer among his fellows, possessing like
them a small, amphitheatrical house, the hus
band of but one wife, owning a war-horse,
and arms, besides a few sheep and goats, and
the proprietor of a garden supported by ter
races on a neighboring mountain side.
Nor is it known who was his foster-father
or atalik ; for according to the custom preva
lent in western, and to some extent in eastern
(20)

HIS PARENTS, ATALIK, AND TEACHER. 21
Circassia, he may at an early age have been
adopted by some one in whose family he
resided during the years spent in learning the
rudiments of letters and the art of war, and
who sustained a relation towards him even
more intimate and affectionate than that of
his own father. The atalik would have sup
plied the boy with food and clothing, instruc
tion, and a home, without expecting any other
compensation than such plunder as 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 somewhat superior to those of the
majority of his clansmen. If descended from
a family among the first in the tribe and long
illustrious in arms, he might own as many as
fifteen hundred head of cattle, and an equal
number of sheep, besides a small herd of
horses and mares. Like the ancient patri
archs, he would have his wives and his ser
vants, some of them captured in forays, and
all living together as one family in a stone
house of several stories and defended by a
high tower.

22 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
This practice of transferring young children
from the parental mansion to that of an ata
lik, seems to have had its origin in the same
fear lest natural affection might lead to effem
inacy of character which induced the Spar
tans to send their infants on a shield to be
delivered over to the nursery of the State.
In accordance with a similar custom, also, was
the young Achilles mtrusted by Peleus to the
care of Chiron, the centaur. For among the
Circassians, as among the early Greeks, the
principal object of education is to form the
accomplished warrior.
History has been fortunate enough, how
ever, to get possession of the name of
Schamyl's instructor, who is called Dschelal
Eddin, and who, beginning the education of
the future prophet by teaching him the
Arabic language, completed it by initiating
him into the doctrines of the Sufis. He still
lives, a venerable man, and is said to be the
only person to whom his pupil in after-life
ever granted his entire confidence, and at
whose feet he has been known ever to sit for
counsel. The learning of letters, however, was not

HIS PARENTS, ATALIK, AND TEACHER. A 6
the boy's first lesson in that course of train
ing 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 in these
mountains, the practice of horsemanship
comes before the study of books.

VI.
HIS EARLY EDUCATION.

In the due course of Circassian education
Schamyl could not have been four years old
when he exchanged the amusement of build
ing houses of mud and pebble-stones for that
of backing horses. A couple of years later
his atalik might even have presented him with
a steed for the practice of those arts of horse
manship wherein the Circassians excel the
most expert riders in the world. The Koissu
must also have submitted to the triumph of
his arms when their bone was still in the
gristle, and during the warm season of the
year have suffered, both at morning and even
ing, its torrent to be breasted by the daring
young swimmer. To wrestle, the boy, with
out doubt, began almost as soon as he was
(24)

HIS EARLY EDUCATION. 25
able to stand alone ; and to dance was learned
without a master, whether according to the
figures practised in the ring of pleasure, or
the more active steps taken in the pantomimic
fight. Shooting with the bow, the gun, and
the pistol, is an exercise for Circassian boys
at an age when those of countries more civil
ized are spelling, syllable by syllable, the les
sons of the primer and the catechism. The
art of thieving adroitly is also reckoned an
accomplishment by these mountaineers, as
formerly by the Spartans, when the despoiled
is an enemy, or at least a member of another
tribe. And as in their council-rings there is
as often an opportunity for the display of elo
quence as ever there was before the walls of
ancient Troy, so the youth are taught both
by observation and by direct lessons the art
of persuasion.
In early childhood Schamyl is said to have
enjoyed a somewhat less rugged health than
his mates ; and had the development of his
mind been forced by the training to which
the children of civilization are generally sub
jected, being compelled to sit by the hour
upon a bench and breathe the unwholesome
3

26 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
air of an over-heated school-room, very likely
after having passed, during a brief season, for
a youthful prodigy in the eyes of an admiring,
but inconsiderate circle of friends, he would
have closed his earthly career and been
lamented as a genius for this world too bril
liant and too good. But in this comparative
state of barbarism, the boy's mind having
been allowed more slowly and naturally to
unfold itself, and his body meanwhile being
strengthened by a life in the open air of the
mountains, and by such athletic sports as well
supplied the place of the games of the ancient
Greeks and Romans, this fine 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 having reference to the
formation of the skilful warrior, were put to
the test of practice in actual service. There
are reliable accounts of Circassian boys who
at the age of ten years have gone to the
wars, as unable to eat or sleep on the approach
of the enemy as in occidental countries are
the rustic lads on the eve of a muster of the
county militia, at which in addition to the

HIS EARLY EDUCATION. 27
show of red-coats and cocked hats there will
be cakes, pop-beer, tumbling, and monkeys.
Many a young mountaineer before he has got
a beard has " bagged his five Russians." At
first, indeed, the boy is allowed only, it may
be, to pass the night with the sentinels on the
hills, or to watch the horses of the sleeping
warriors, and afterwards sees his first battle
field, going out on an expedition in the qual
ity of page of some chieftain, taking charge
of his steed when he alights, and attending
upon his person.
In this preparatory training and the prac
tice of these athletic sports the 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 his father. Nor even
when he did so was it to sit, much less to eat
in the paternal presence, but only with his
back reverently turned and his head stuck in
a corner. But at the end of this period of discipline,
having become more than a tyro, if not al
ready an expert in all manly exercises and
warlike arts, the lad must have been restored
to his parents by his foster-father. The event

28 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
is always celebrated by a feast at which all
the relatives of the two families are invited,
and from which the atalik returns loaded with
presents, 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 a man, 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 of the palm in all
youthful games that whenever defeated he
would brood for days together over his dis
grace in silent chagrin. From his childhood
he knew not how to brook a superior.
He' therefore zealously continued his ex
ercises, particularly those in horsemanship.
Like that of all Circassian youth it was his
ambition not only to sit his horse a perfect
centaur, to dash at full speed up steeps and
down precipices, to leap the chasm and to
swim the torrent ; but also on the gallop to
discharge his weapons, in an instant unsling-
ing his gun from behind his back, and as
3 * (29)

30 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
quickly returning it to its place ; to hang sus
pended 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 some
thing and again vault into the saddle without
halting ; and to take aim with such precision
as to hit the smallest and most inconveniently
placed mark while going at full tilt.
The subduing of a half-wild horse in the
herd which is allowed during a portion of the
year to roam the woods and hills, is also a feat
frequently practised by the Circassian cava
lier, either for the sake of securing the ani
mal, or simply as an exercise in horsemanship.
A rider or two armed witli lassos plunge into
the midst of the herd, and selecting one of
the wildest of the stallions — for mares are
not used under the saddle — secure him by
throwing over his head the noose. Then the
cavalier who is to make trial of his skill
springs upon the back of the animal, which
with dilated eyes and smoking nostrils exhib
its the greatest consternation. And now com
mences the contest between horse and rider.
Furious as well as frightened the brute speeds
like an arrow over the hills or down the val-

HIS HORSEMANSHIP. 31
leys. He turns and doubles, halts suddenly,
rolls on the ground, crawls on his belly, dashes
into the midst of the herd, and tries in all
possible ways to get rid of the burden he has
no fancy for. But the intrepid rider, self-
possessed, and constantly on the alert, sits
upon his back as if a part of the animal,
waving his hand in triumph after every strug
gle terminated in his favor ; and there he con
tinues to sit and hold the mastery until the
strong steed, finally exhausted by his efforts,
covered with foam, out of breath, and cowed
in spirit, acknowledges the superiority of his
antagonist. When tamed, however, the Circassian horse
is both perfectly gentle and attached to his
master. The pet brought up in the yard is
as playful as a kitten. The children gambol
with him. His master fondles him, patting
his neck and kissing his head. On festal days
and occasions of ceremony he is decked out
with red-cloth trappings ; his neck is wreathed
with many-colored glass beads ; ribands are
tied in his mane ; and bunches of wild flowers
nod from his foretop. The stranger may not
praise the Circassian's wife or child for fear

32 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
of shedding over them the malign influence
of the evil eye, or for other reasons less fan
ciful ; but to the praises of his steed the war
rior's ear is ever open. The faithful animal
is his companion on all his excursions; he
drinks with him the waters which flow through
the plains of the enemy ; he looks down as
well as himself from the rock on the passing
column and the squares of infantry ; he shares
with him the dangers of the bayonet and the
bullet ; and, neighing, participates too in the
hurrah of the onset and the shouts of victory.
Trained to take part in the ambuscade, he
will creep after 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 his spirit is unbroken, and his
attachment to his lord is manifested by the
pleasure he takes in his caresses, the gladness
with which, snorting and pawing the ground,
he receives him on his back, the pride of step
and eye with which he bears him off, the fury
with which he dashes into the fight and pur
sues the enem}-, and the intelligent fidelity
with which he obeys every movement of the
rein or the hand, dutiful until he falls bleed-

HIS HORSEMANSHIP. 33
ing at last on the field of battle, or at a very
advanced age is relieved from further service,
and with dipt tail and mane is turned out to
graze the peaceful pastures until the day of
his death.
There are a number of varieties of the
Circassian horse, though without very marked
differences. Those of Kabarda are among the
most famed ; and excellent cavalry horses are
got by Pratof 's stallions out of the Tartar and
Kalmuck mares. These are valued at from
two to three hundred roubles. The Turco
man breed also is highly esteemed, standing
about fifteen hands high, in perfect training,
and joining to the strength of a bull the spirit
of a lion. But universally throughout the
Caucasus the native horse is docile, fleet, ca
pable of enduring very great fatigue, of sup
porting very great privations, possessed of the
most undeniable mettle, and endowed with
the largest measure of intelligence and affec
tion within the capacity of the animal's na
ture. In the best breeds his pedigree is kept
with care ; and the mark of his master is
branded in the shape of a horse-shoe, an
arrow, or some similar device on his haunches.

VIII.
THE CIRCASSIAN GAMES.

Throwing the djerrid was perhaps the deli-
kan's favorite equestrian amusement. To
play this game a certain number of comba
tants, belonging often to two different aouls or
districts, assemble at an appointed place, each
mounted on his steed, and armed with a long
white wand or staff. At a given signal they
all set off at full gallop in pursuit of each
other, the object of the race being to give
blows and avoid receiving them. The staves
accordingly are seen flying through the air in
all directions. The dexterity with which the
combatants manage to elude each other's
blows, catch a stave thrown at them, pick up
one from the ground, and that without alight
ing or losing a moment's time, is to "the
(34)

THE CIRCASSIAN GAMES. 35
stranger who for the first time beholds the
sport truly astonishing. When a horseman
who happens to be without a djerrid gets
entangled among his opponents, he will be
seen twisting and turning with the activity
of a wild-cat in order to elude the blows
aimed at him; now completely screened
under the belly of the horse, then lying at
full length on his back, and again stretched
by his side, until regaining a djerrid he be
comes in turn the assailant. In this rough
sport only the greatest agility and suppleness
of limbs, combined with extraordinary physi
cal strength, can secure the palm, while the
less dexterous combatants may not escape
without the disgrace of broken heads.
Another feat which only long practice will
enable the young rider to perform, is one of
archery. A mark is attached to the top of
several lofty poles fastened together so as to
elevate it to a considerable height. Then a
horseman starting a short distance from the
pole rides towards it at full speed, and just
before reaching it, suddenly bends his bow,
stoops to the left side of his horse the instant
before the latter passes to the right of the

36 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
pole, and then twisting himself around with
his face turned back and looking almost di
rectly upwards, lets fly the shaft perpendicu
larly. The difficulty of the position, joined to
the speed of the horse, renders the hitting of
the mark a proof of the highest skill; and
even where the competition is spirited, the
victors are few.
Running for the flag is a game in which the
fleetness and bottom of the horse are tested
perhaps more than the expertness of the
rider. A number of cavaliers having assem
bled, one of them taking a small flag, or crim
son scarf, or pistol cover embroidered by the
fair hands of the belle of the aoul, starts off
on the gallop, his prize streaming in the wind
like a meteor. The others, after having given
him the advantage in the start, pursue for the
purpose of overtaking him ; for whoever suc
ceeds in coming up with the flag-bearer takes
his place, and so to the end of the race. With
grace and impetuosity they dash down the
valley, over the hills, and along the mountain
side. The flag-bearer aims to keep the lead
not only by quick running but also by turn
ing and doubling, by taking advantage of the

THE CIRCASSIAN GAMES. 37
ground and placing obstacles between him
self 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 mad cavalcade. 'Tis neck or nothing,
and leaps that only dares the devil. Over
taken, the bearer of the flag yields it up to
his successful competitor, who shouting his
triumphant vo-ri-ra-ka hurries onwards with
the whole legion at his heels. So they race
until the hardy horses, though eager as their
riders for the victoty, are obliged at last to
halt for breath. But after an interval of rest,
starting with another hurrah the troop go
over the course again, and perhaps again, un
til the contest is ended, and some fortunate
deli-kan is pronounced entitled to the prize.
It is a common occurrence during these
games for a mounted horseman when partic
ularly excited to throw up his cap ; and this
is always regarded as a challenge by any of
his companions, unslinging, uncovering, and
cocking his gun, to put a ball through it be
fore it reaches the ground. Or a bonnet is
purposely dropped, that some rider going at
4

38 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
full speed may display his agility by picking
it up without drawing rein. Again, there is
the game in which two mounted cavaliers set
off at full speed holding each other by the
hand, and each endeavoring by main strength
or dexterity to pull his antagonist from the
saddle. And finally, a party of horsemen on
arriving at a friendly aoul or place of general
gathering, is met by a company of persons on
foot who, bearing branches of trees, make a
dash at the horses' heads in order if possible
to frighten them. This tests the skill of the
riders, and also trains the horses to rush with
out fear upon the enemy.

IX.
HIS LOVE OF NATURE.

Schamyl in early youth exhibited a re
markable sensibility to the beauty and sub
limity of nature. It is related of him by the
aged men of Himri that he was fond of climb
ing the neighboring mountains, and that
especially at the going down of the sun he
might be seen sitting on a high point of rock
whence he could survey at the same time the
vale below and the fantastic summits which
tower above it. There he would sit gazing
at the snows red with the declining rays, and
at the rocks glowing in the reflected purple
of the clouds, until the valley and the glens
connected with it were quite dark with the
gathering twilight — gazing where far off to
[391

40 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
the westward the snow-clad peaks were still
burning brightly as with altar fires that
reached to heaven — gazing where blazed
longest of all the top of Kasbek, until from
its expiring spark the evening planet seemed
to catch the light with which it flamed out in
the sky above it, while gradually the lower
mountains faded on the sight, and only the
heavens and the highest peaks were bathed
in the mild light of night.
This moreover was enchanted ground. For
on one side of the loftiest and most grotesque
of the heights around Himri, there leans
against it a level table rock of considerable
extent which is perfectly desolate, and which
the superstitious imaginations of the inhabi
tants of this aoul have made the scene of
almost as much witchery as was ever located
on the top of the Brocken. Often in the
dead of night, say the villagers, strange fires
are lighted on this dancing floor of the spirits,
and which reflect on all the mountain sides a
lurid and unearthly glare. Then the great
white eagle which for a thousand years has
housed in the high Caucasus hastens hither on
wings which shake the air like the sighing of

HIS LOVE OF NATURE. 41
the night wind, or the howling of the coming
tempest ; and then assemble here from fairy
land the happy peris, who in this lighted
chamber dance on fantastic toes until the day
peeps over the mountain tops or the first
cock crows in Himri.
But while no one dared to tread this haunted
rock after the going down of the sun, it was
precisely here that Schamyl, whose intellect,
self-illumined, early pierced through the blind
which superstition binds over the eyes of all
mountaineers, often selected his seat and lin
gered through the twilight far into the dark
ness of the evening. With his trustful love
of nature he feared no supernatural powers ;
and while the common mind was filled with
dread in the presence of phenomena which,
real or imaginary, it could not explain, he
found therein only such subjects for reflection
as fascinated his imagination and filled his
soul with devout admiration of the creative
spirit which pervades all things.
Once, some of his companions offended by
some high, scornful words of his, let drop in
the excitement of the games, resolved to
waylay and maltreat him on his return from
4*

42 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
the heights in the edge of the evening. They
accordingly set upon the enthusiast as descend
ing from the mountain tops his thoughts still
lingered behind, but who quickly recovering
his presence of mind stood on the defensive.
Numbers, however, overpowered him ; and he
fell bleeding from wounds on his head, arm,
and bod}-. But being still able to regain his
home, though faint with the loss of blood, he
bound up his wounds himself, and with the
assistance of a doctoress skilled in simples,
made such applications of herbs as at the end
of several weeks restored him to health again.
Ashamed, however, to acknowledge that he
had been beaten even when the odds were
greatly against him, he said not a word re
specting his illness to any one, save to his
revered teacher Dschelal Eddin, to whom he
confidentially made known the circumstances
of the encounter.

X.
HUNTING.

Schamyl's love for exploring the mountains
would naturally make him fond of hunting,
as are his countrymen generally, when not
occupied with the higher game of war.
The larger kinds of game being abundant
in these mountains, and the use of small shot
being unknown, bird-shooting is but little
practised, and the fowl fly in these heavens
as unscared as in the original paradise. The
nightingale sings in the thickets ; the wood
pecker makes the primeval woods resound
with his chisel ; crows of the pink and black
species croak from the dead branches of the
oaks; ravens with dark red legs and scarlet
[43]

44 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
bills build their nests in the top of the elms ;
detachments of blue wood-pigeons cover the
fields as numerous and as tame as sparrows ;
mergansers and golden-eyed ducks haunt in
numerous flocks the running waters ; and wild
geese flying down in the month of December
from the Bussian wastes, halt on their way to
the waters of Persia, and mixed with swans,
float in stately fleets on the shores of both
the Euxine and the Caspian. The falcon
hawrk also is constantly circling over the hills
and swooping down into the valleys ; the
eagle may be seen soaring above his eyrie on
Elbrus or Kasbek ; the rapacious vulture
watches from the high overhanging points of
rock the lower woods and pastures ; the mel
ancholy owl hoots through the night around
the hamlets ; and by the side of the lowly
mountain tarn stands silent and solitary the
pelican of the wilderness. Only the wild
turkey in the pinetree's top is a mark for the
rifle ; or the pheasant, darting up out of the
path into the overhanging branches, tempts
occasionally the sharpshooter ; while, on the
contrary, woodcock and snipe bore for worms

HUNTING. 45
in every marsh and mud-bank, undisturbed
by setter or by pointer.
The wild boar hunt is the chief sport in
Circassian venery. This animal frequents the
banks of the rivers overgrown with reeds, and
the ravines of the mountains filled with
thickets. Both the valleys and the marshes
adjacent are ploughed by his snout ; nor is
the farmer's stock-yard entirely secure from
the crunching of his tusks. He is hunted
with dogs, generally resembling a cross be
tween the greyhound and the colley of the
Scottish highlands. When found the furious
beast will sometimes stand at bay, ripping
up and tossing in the air a pack of enemies;
but generally with horrid gruntings and
snortings he plunges down the ravine or can
ters over the marsh, big almost as a Highland
cow, driving aside the tall reeds or saplings as
if simple spears of grass, a black monster,
bristled, with projecting tusks, and eyes blood
shot. But the well-directed rifle ball pierces
at last his tough flanks ; the enormous mass
reeling rolls over in the mire ; and the un
clean carcass is left to be feasted on by vul
tures and prowling wolves.

46 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
There are elk on the Kuban ; but the fol
lowing of the fallow deer in the hills is more
common. The hunter searches for the beds
of the roes with dogs, or stalking the forests
steals upon the herd when browsing upon the
tender twigs and the moss of trees, or crop
ping the herbs along the skirts of the pas
tures. There are several varieties of them,
but all tolerably wild from being so much
pursued in the chase ; though the sight of
this graceful animal is common enough in
the farm-yards, where it has been tamed, and
where when young it is a great pet.
A fine breed of greyhounds is kept for
coursing the hares. These abound, burrow
ing in all the mountains, and everywhere
nibbling with their sharp teeth the herbage.
After a slight fall of snow they are easily
tracked; and rarely does the hunter, on
awaking in the morning, find the earth new
ly clad with this white mantle that he does
not call his hounds and set off for the fields.
The keen air of the morning late in autmnn
invites to active exercise as the rising sun
pours its crimson flood over the hills, all
changed in a single night by the witchery of

HUNTING. 47
the noiselessly fallen flakes. The dogs eye
alternately the hills and their master as they
run ; and the hunter with overflowing spirits
and every nerve drawn tight enters rejoicing
into the race.

XI.
CAMPING OUT.

Occasionally in the autumnal months a
party of huntsmen is made up for an excur
sion into the high Caucasus. Such expedi
tions constitute a memorable event in the life
of the deli-kan ; and it may well be beheved
that Schamyl must have embraced the oppor
tunity thereby offered of beholding the gran
deur of nature amidst " the thousand peaks."
There would be but little need of prepara
tion. For the Circassian wears his cartouche
pockets constantly on his breast ; any extra
ammunition, together with a scanty supply
of provisions, is easily attached to the saddle
bow ; the steed is always ready for service ;
the dogs are eager to set off; and so at short
[48]

camping out. 49
notice the whole party gallops out of the aoul
Avith hurrahs and pistol-firing.
On the journey, however, they ride slowly.
For the road is but a path in the mountains,
narrow and rugged, often steep of ascent and
descent, for the most part following by the
side of the watercourses, and in the dry beds
of the torrents, or winding around the moun
tain sides, by the edge of precipices, and
across chasms bridged only by the leap. In
deed so great are the difficulties of the way
that the rider is very often obhged to dis
mount and allow his horse to follow after him
as best he can.
At mid-day they halt for a couple of hours
for luncheon ; and with the going down of
the sun they pitch their tent for the night.
For this purpose an opening in the forest be
side a spring of water, or the bank of a run
ning stream is selected, where the horses,
relieved of their saddles, may find pasture.
At morning and noon a little flour of millet
and honey suffices for the meals. This in fact
is the usual war-provision, and is said to be a
diet which gives strength to both body and
mind. Being carried in a skin hung at the
5

50 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
saddle-bow it soon ferments, but is eaten after
wards with great relish, and may be kept in
this condition for a considerable length of
time. A cup to convey the water from the
spring is made of the burdock leaf, which also
answers the purpose of a carpet for the say
ing of prayers, and even furnishes afterward
a grateful repast for the horses. To this fru
gal fare, however, will very likely be added
at evening a pheasant -or hare, a turkey or a
deer shot on the road, and cooked either by
being roasted before the fire, or laid, cut in
slices, on live embers. Whatever chance
game the luck of the day may furnish for the
supper, it will be sure to be eaten with a rel
ish that will need no sauce ; though even
with nothing more than his unleavened bread
and water the Circassian is perfectly contented,
and adds thanks therefor in his prayers.
Supper finished, ablutions performed, and
prayers said, the hunters unroll their blankets,
placing one on the ground and the other over
them, with their feet turned towards the fire
blazing with large logs of wood ; and so un
der the protection of the open heavens and
the stars, which are the thousand watchful
eyes of Allah, his simple children sleep.

CAMPING out. 51
In entering upon the region of the higher
mountains the valleys grow narrower, show
ing only here and there a mere line of green,
or oftener, the silver thread of torrents rush
ing headlong over the rocks. Strong was the
contrast when in an opening between the
mountains the hunter looked down upon the
shepherd's cottage, with its shade of nut>bear-
ing trees and its fold of white fleeces, or upon
a patch of cultivated ground high among the
rocks to which the husbandman climbs for the
sake of a few handfuls of grain, or the pas
ture of his cow or goat ; and when, on the
other hand, he beheld around him, as was
often the case, only the mountain tops
sparsely covered with dwarfed oaks and plane-
trees, the rocks frequently naked save here
and there the covering of moss, the immense
masses broken up into clefts and chasms, piled
on top of each other in forms the most shape
less and grotesque, an utter waste, and the
more desolate from some wild bird of the
mountains which occasionally flapped its
wings overhead, or the wild goat which
startled sprang away among the distant rocks.
Yet there are localities still higher up

52 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
where from favorable exposure the moun
taineer pushes an adventurous plough, tilling
his slope with rifle slung at his back, and
gathering his harvest full three months later
than in the plains below. Here, too, blooms
the Caucasian rose or rhododendron, and the
azalia-pontica, from the blossoms of which is
made the honey of that intoxicating quality
mentioned by Strabo, and which, when mixed
in small quantity with the ordinary mead,
forms a beverage as potent as the alcohohc
liquors of the north.
On reaching the snow-line of the Kasbek,
at farthest, the progress of the hunters would
be arrested. On their way hither they would
have occasionally brought down a fallow deer
or a fat bear, besides pheasants and 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, which as
well as horses sometimes roam untamed the
mountains ; and from tune to time their rifles
must have been tempted also by the porcu
pine crossing their path, by the fox surprised
far from his hole, by the wild-cat driven into
a tree, and even by the wolf prowling around
their steps towards nightfall.

CAMPING OUT. OO
Here, with the never-melting snows not far
overhead, they would find small stone houses
erected expressly for the use of the chamois-
hunter. For along these elevated crags runs
and bounds the nimble rupicapra ; in certain
favorite tracts is occasionally met the ibex,
roaming solitary over his scanty pastures ;
and on the very highest rocks, where in win
ter they lie with faces to the wind, insensible
to the most intense cold, are seen herds of
still another species of the wild goat resem
bling in shape the tamed one, but larger, hav
ing long beautiful horns, and flesh with the
dainty flavor of venison.

5*

XII.
IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.

But proud as is the returning hunter of
the beautiful chamois horns hung upon his
saddle-bow, it could scarcely be otherwise than
that the soul of one so smitten with the love
of natural scenery as was Schamyl, should here
be more occupied with contemplating the
grandeur of the mountain tops than in chasing
the timid, graceful animals which thereupon
find a home. If in the course of his ascent
he had kept his eyes pretty steadily fixed
upon the magnificent summits far off white
with snows, but nearer blue with the ice which
has led the Tartars to give to them the name
<S4)

IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 5 b
of lalbus or ice-mane ; if lower down he had
gazed with admiration at the oaks which for
two centuries had grasped with their roots
and overspread with their branches the rocks
in situations to which upon the Alps and the
Pyrenees only climbs the pine ; and if higher
up he had not passed by unnoticed even the
lowly pink and rose of the mountains, bloom
ing along the snow-line, but even there sought
out by the bee and the butterfly of Apollo ;
how would he be overwhelmed with the sub
limity of the scene on finding himself in the
dread company of Kasbek and the hundred
other peaks which are his vassals ! Standing
on the steps of the throne of this, like Elbrus,
dsching padischah, or king of spirits, he would
gaze around upon a host of cones and needles
glittering in the sunlight, while far below lay
the Black or wooded mountains, looking for
the most part with the same face of preci
pices upon the remoter steppes as do the
White mountains on themselves. Indeed
there is wanting only the lakes of the Bernese
Alps, glaciers as magnificent as those of Cha-
mouni, and cascades hke the Staubbach and
the fall of the Aar to make this Caucasian

56 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
range the most beautiful, as it probably is the
most sublime, on the face of the earth.
Still the Caucasus boasts of more majestic
woods and a more luxuriant flora than the
Alps ; and when to its scenery is added the
coloring lent it by the rising and the setting
sun, there can be no higher beauty in nature
anywhere. Especially during the summer
months travellers have noted a remarkable
purity of atmosphere in these mountains, and
represent them as being full of light a consid
erable time before the appearing of the sun
on the horizon ; while in autumn there is suf
ficient vapor to furnish the landscape with
that drapery of blue mist and variously tinted
clouds, so characteristic of the summer views
of the Alps. In this long interval, between
the break of day and the complete sunrise, it
seems to the dullest observer as if nature
were standing wrapt in adoration of the great
Creator. Clad in snows and ice the thousand
peaks are like white-robed priests ministering
in a temple not made with hands ; and when
the loftiest tops are tipped with the purple
of the coming day, it is as it were the incense-
burning censers which they swing high in

IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 57
heaven. Then the lower mountains, too, re
ceive an additional beauty when the level
rays light up with a still brighter red the
mighty masses of porphyry, and the dark
sranite glows with a vermilion not its own.
Every variety and form of rock is transfig
ured by the new-born hght from heaven. The
white chalkstone glitters from afar ; the light
grey feldspar assumes a warm flesh tint ; the
limestone becomes straw color ; the crystals
of hornblende flash like fire-flies; and the veins
of white quartz, running with their nodules
of serpentine and chlorite through the dark
clay-slate, gleam as do chain hghtnings through
the clouds.
At sight of the gathering tempest the su
perstitious huntsman is not entirely exempt
from terror. Some of the calcareous moun
tains, like the Beschtau, for example, being a
perfect barometer, he knows, when their top
becomes covered with clouds as with a hat,
and their entire form is gradually enveloped
in a mantle of mists, that there will be foul
weather. Even the degree of wind and rain
may be calculated with, a considerable degree
of certainty from the extent and different

58 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
tints of the vapors ; and if the indications are
exceedingly threatening the hunter immedi
ately erects his tent, if he have one, as on the
ocean the sailor furls his canvas ; or, lacking
this protection, he seeks for the shelter of
some projecting rock, or the entrance of a
cavern. There when the sun is shrouded in
clouds, and the blackness almost of night falls
like a pall over the mountains, when the wind
howls around the summits, and the thunder
Avith its infinity of reverberations rattles, and
bounds from crag to crag throughout the
chain, seeming to make the ATery rocks trem
ble and totter, then affrighted he hears in the
winds the flapping of the wings of that mon
strous bird of the mountains Avhose age is a
thousand years ; in the lightnings Avhich play
over the abyss he sees the glaring eyes and
waving mane of the wild Avhite horse Avho, is
suing from his stall under the glaciers, races
with the storm ; and in the thunders hears the
resounding Avheels of the chariot of Elijah
kept, say some of the ancient Christian tra
ditions, in the Redeemer's palace on the top
of Kasbek.
But in a brief hour the storm is overpast ;

IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 59
for the changes of Aveather in this range of
mountains, extending from one great sea to
another, are sudden in all seasons of the year
excepting summer. The clouds are rapidly
rolled aAvay to the eastward where the bow
of promise spans the heavens as brilhant as
when it was first bent over the neighboring
Ararat, and where the accumulated piles of
vapor are gorgeously burnished by the rays
of the descending sun. Then rises over the
broken ridge of the Black mountains the
moon, just beginning, perhaps, to wane. How
black indeed are they compared with the
snoAv-Avhite peaks which stand bathed in the
silvery light. How black, too, is the abyss out
of which rise the perpendicular cliffs, and the
lofty conical shafts glittering with ice. The
summits cast their long, sharply cut shadows
athwart each other; every leaf on tree or
plant which still holds its raindrop flashes as
with a diamond ; the night has not a breath
of air; and nature lies entranced Avithout a
pulsation, save in the roar and trickling of
everywhere falling waters.

XIII.
SONGS

It has been reported respecting the boy
Schamyl that his parents being poor peasants
he gained a liA'elihood by singing in the
streets. But while this, not comporting well
Avith Circassian manners and modes of life, is
hardly to be credited, it is very probable that
he began at an early age to sing the simpler
popular airs, and might even when no more
than four years old have amused his elders
with his childish rendering of ballads above
his comprehension. For the voice of song is
often heard in these mountains ; and, as in
the days of Orpheus, the lyre still moves the
rock of the Caucasian heart, taming with its
(60)

SONGS. 61
gentle influences its Avildness, and softening its
asperity. It is in songs that the Circassians, having
no written language, have treasured up what
little they possess of history; and by the
constant singing of them have the traditions
and myths of a very remote antiquity been
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 ham
lets as to who shall have the honor of render
ing him the cup of hospitality. Every house
in the aoul is open to receive him ; he has
always the best of entertainment ; and his
place in the social scale is, by general consent,
fixed among the highest. He rehearses not
only the legendary ballads to the listening
circle of men and children, but conveys in
song from tribe to tribe the chronicle of re
cent events, and the latest intelligence of the
doings of the common enemy. His numbers
describe how in some late foray the warriors,
leaping down from the rocks, scattered the
flax-haired Muscovites, and pillaged the stan-
itzas of the Cossacks. He wails the lament
6

62 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
of the hero fallen in the battle field. He
brands the coward and the traitor. He extols
the green vales and strong rocks of the
father-land ; fans in every breast the love of
independence ; and celebrates in tenderer
notes the praises of the fair.
His instrument is a kind of lyre not unlike
our Aaolin. It has but three strings Avhich
are made of horse-hair ; the bow is almost an
arc ; and the head of the instrument rests,
hke that of the Aaoloncello, on the ground or
the divan.
Or the minstrel may accompany his strains
upon the pipe, as is often done in the open
air. Made of metal, even of silver, this in
strument is one of considerable value ; though
more frequently it is a mere reed from the
marshes of the Terek or the Kuban. It is
usually about two feet in length ; has three
holes for lie fingers near its lower extremity,
and a short mouth-piece open at the sides.
With something of the monotony of the bag
pipe its notes are shrill ; and Avhen on the
march among the hills the war-song is exe
cuted upon it, sometimes accompanied by the
lyre, no •• gathering " played to the pibroch

SONGS. 63
ever more stirred the mountaineer heart in
the highlands of Scotland.
The Circassians also beguile the Avay on
their journeys Avith riding songs. These are
sung in alternate strains, one being generally
a clamorous recitative, and the other a kind
of choral fugue, strange and romantic, and
heard Avith pleasing effect in the mountains.
Often when toiling at a foot-pace up the pre
cipitous path of the torrent, or descending
equally slow into the pass gloomy with im
pending rocks and drooping boughs, the trav
ellers Avill burst involuntarily into a wild and
plaintive lament over some fallen chieftain,
one portion of the party singing in subdued
tones a hurried chant like the English litany,
and the other answering at the end of the
stanzas Avith their full, mellow Ay ! ay ! a-ri-
ra! Avhich, like the pealing organ through
the aisles, swells and floats away between
the rocky sides of the glen.
Similar are the boat-songs on the Euxine
and the Caspian. Of these there is a great
variety, and all are chanted to the measured
movement of the oars, now stronger, now
weaker, and each stanza followed by a chorus.

64 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
Their A-ri-ra-cha always produces great effect
on the rowers, and is mingled more or less
with shouts, screams, and a- mad-like laugh
ter, while the long flat-bottomed canoe flies
through the water driven by bending oars.
All festal occasions in Circassian life are
enlivened by the presence of the minstrel.
He is present when the warriors of the tribe
assemble to sit in the council ring beneath the
oaks ; and in the intervals between the ha
rangues of the orators who, sword in hand,
urge the storming of a Russian fort or a raid
upon the steppes, he fans the flame in their
breasts by striking his lyre in praise of some
hero illustrious in arms. When also a chief
tain, desirous of raising a band of volunteers
for some expedition against the enemy, rides
from aoul to aoul summoning all good swords
to follow, he transports along with him on the
crupper of an attendant the aged minstrel,
who at the gates sings the call to arms. His
sightless eyeballs in frenzy roll, and the
braves, both old and young, carried away now
by his pathos and noAV by his rage, shout in
chorus their ka-ri-ra, and spring into their
saddles. And when at last, the warrior's race

SONGS. 65
finished, his companions bring him, lashed on
his steed, back at night to the aoul from which
he rode so gayly forth in the morning, and
with arms locked around each other's necks
stand encircling the bard, the latter com
mences a monotonous but beautifully plain
tive wail, his voice subdued Avith sorrow, and
running at the end of the lines upon the
same note, Avhich rapidly caught and pro
longed is hke an uncontrollable gust of an
guish, until the brothers in arms, no less im
passioned, break in with a chorus so sad, slow,
and low that every eye would fill Avith tears
were it ever permitted the Circassian to weep
for the brave.
But besides the music heard on these extra
ordinary occasions, the singing of ballads
coupled with the telling of stories is the com
mon entertainment of the Circassian winter
evening. Then when the large logs of oak
blaze on the hearth of the apartment reserved
in every house for the reception of guests, and
the door of which remains hospitably open
throughout the day, a httle company is as
sembled at nightfall to while away with song
an hour or two before retiring to rest. The
6*

66 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
professional minstrel, who is capable of extem
porizing both Avords and melodies, may not 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 pres
ent, furore dulci plenes, is at liberty to volun
teer 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 of mimicry and even of ven
triloquism. But more frequently it will treat
of the adventures of the hunter or the trav
eller, and the still graver themes of Avar and
love. If a solo, it will often be a rapid recit
ative, varied at short intervals by a few tenor
and bass notes throAvn in by three or four
other voices, and producing an effect hke the
swell and fall of the organ. If a trio or
quartette, there will still be added from time
to time a heavy bass accompaniment, a sort
of fugue, and in war-songs often resembling
the moaning of the sea in a storm, or the
Availing over the dead brought home from the
battle field. Other ballads again will be more

SONGS. 67
gay and lively, with responses executed by
three different parties alternately. Let what
ever be the theme and whoever the perform
ers, as the song proceeds, and the feehngs of
all become wrought up to the highest pitch
of enthusiasm by the recital of the great
deeds done in battle, or gallant sacrifices dared
in love, the voices of one or more of the lis
teners will be sure to break into the- strain ;
the whole audience will join in the cheerful
chirrup of hai-hai-cha ! or the dirge-like wail
of wai-wai-wai! and at the finale some deli-
kan, inspired perhaps by the sight of maiden
faces cautiously peering in at door or Avindow,
will scarcely be able to refrain from firing his
pistol up the chimney, or even through the
ceiling. How untrue the representation that a peo
ple hi whose hearts lives the love of songs
like these are a race of freebooters ! Listen
ing constantly to the praise of heroes, whether
famous in the legends of antiquity or still
living surrounded with the respect of their
fellows, the soul of the 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

68 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
district, the chief of his tribe, the praise of
the mountains, and the terror of the plains.
He therefore goes forth to distinguish him
self in the fight, and bring home trophies 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 in stripping the dis
comfited MuscoAite and Cossack of their arms
and clothing, these are the tokens of his valor,
and chiefly as such are prized by him.

XIV.
DANCES.

Schamyl, though from boyhood exhibiting
in manners and character a certain degree
of thoughtful gravity beyond his years, was,
like all his countrymen, a dancer. Nor does
the Circassian dance require, for the most part,
any leAity of disposition in the performer;
some varieties of it being practised as a mar
tial exercise, and Avith a decorum bordering
on seriousness. In the war-dance the Les-
ghian, more particularly, is imperious in look
as Avell as animated in action. He carries
himself haughtily through all the evolutions,
moAing Avith equal grace and rapidity, keep
ing perfect time in his complicated steps, ex
hibiting an elasticity of tread, a suppleness of
(69)

70 LIFE- OF SCHAMYL.
limbs, and a vigor of body truly astonishing ;
while at the same time the fierce earnestness
of his countenance and his noble bearing are,
as it were, a challenge to his enemies. Among
European dances this warlike figure most
resembles the highland fling of Scotland.
The dancing of the Avomen appears tame
and monotonous in comparison. Theirs is a
slow movement, the principal charm of AAThich
is in its grace, and which requires for its exe
cution a certain undulating motion of the
body rather than any extra exertion of the
feet and legs.
At all public festivals the two sexes always
dance together. Generally after supping on
roasted sheep or sodden kid, together with
cakes of pastry and the aromatic honey, fol
lowed on the part of the male portion of the
company by brimming bowls of mead, they
form a ring on the greensAvard for their favor
ite pastime and crowning pleasure of the
feast. The circle is often a Arery large one,
with a bonfire in the centre during the even-
ing. The daughters unveiled, are led doAvn
from their tents, situated a httle apart on the
hill-side, by their carefully muffled mothers,

DANCES. 71
AA'ho with a prudence characteristic of them
in other lands, also generally select from the
candidates for the estate of matrimony such
partners as may best suit both the present
proprieties and the future possibilities of the
case. Without a trifle of coquetry there is no
dancing even in Circassia. The pipers then
having taken their places, strike up a merry
measure, to which moves gracefully round
the Avhole circle. The beaux are expected to
look graA'e as judges or the council ring it
self, but the movement allows of a good deal
of jamming and squeezing ; so much so, in
deed, that the fair ones are not unfrequently
taken off their feet and borne around for short
distances by the force of the pressure. When
they touch the ground, however, their robes
being short and their trowsers tightly fastened
above the ancle, the movement of their feet,
Avhich are almost always pretty, is shown off
to advantage.
It is a truly pleasing sight, the dance on
the green of the valley, by daytime beneath
the Avide spread shade of aged oaks, in the
tAAilight by the light of the harvest moon at
its full, or Avith only the stars of night aided

72 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
by the blazing pile of logs to illumine the
scenes ; while the long frocks of the deh-kans
wave in concert with the skirts of the maidens,
and youthful pleasure trips on tiptoe around
the ring.
There is also the clown's dance, generally
executed at entertainments after the mead or
boza has worked sufficiently on the brain to
produce a moderate degree of hilarity. It
commences with a measured clapping of
hands ; a few low notes succeed, which, as the
audience joins in, swell into a lively air ; when
some wild-looking " guilty " in a long, tat>
tered coat springs into the centre of the circle
and begins shuffling. As he proceeds the
singing grows gradually louder, accompanied
from time to time with a more violent clap
ping of hands. Even shouts and screams are
occasionally added to spur him on. Excited
to the highest pitch of enthusiasm he then
hops about Avith Aigor, springing on the very
points of his toes, and spinning around Avith
great velocity, until suddenly down he drops
flat on the green with strange ATentriloquial
sounds, mingled with moans as if the fall had
half killed him. Then he throws off a volley

DANCES. 73
of witty impromptus Avhich set the ring in a
roar of laughter ; to these are added comical
imitations of the cries of various animals;
next he addresses some chieftain present in a
strain of mock eloquence ; and finally, the
laughing devil leaping out of his eye, ends
his buffoonery Avith deahng a pretty good
whack or two over the shoulders of the most
reverend seignor in the company, Avho, if he
himself is a serf, may be his own master.
Frequently the dancer accompanies his mo
tions more or less with his voice, being assisted
also by the audience, who beat the measure
Avith their hands, and chant the chorus of
A-ri-ra-ri-ra. And as from time to time hold
ing up his long garment behind with both
hands, and bending his body low, he watches
exultingly the movement of his feet, he
shouts aloud Avith plaintive voice as if under
going severe pain instead of experiencing an
ecstasy of delight.
When the song of the dancer runs on love
and vaunts the praises of some maiden re
nowned for beauty, the young warriors pres
ent pledge their own sweethearts in bowls of
boza, and every few minutes discharge their
1

74 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
pistols or rifles in the air. This latter act is
always regarded as a challenge to the Avhole
company, and whoever has a charge of gun-
poAvder left, immediately burns it in honor of
the superior charms of his lady-love.
The intervals of repose between the dances
and songs are very naturaUy filled up by
story-telling. For the Circassians are scarcely
less fond of tales and fables than of music and
the fling. Having no books they hang eagerly
upon the lips of whoever is skiUed in recount
ing story, legend, and adventure, Avith the
gift perhaps of throAving in scraps of song,
proverbs, and jests, together with occasional
displays of mimicry, feats in ventriloquism,
grimaces, Avhistling, chirruping, and ringing
all the changes of laughter. The Avinter
evening's log burns to embers Avhfle some
clever, SAveet-tongued narrator repeats some
of the thousand and one tales of the Avar
against the Russians, or recites the adventures
of the chase on the Terek and in the higher
Caucasus, or dAvells in turn now upon the an
cient traditions of the tribes, and iioav on the
Avonders Avhich the recent traveller has beheld
in Tiflis, Constantinople, or St. Petersburg.

DANCES. 75
The imagination of the mountaineer is ardent,
however simple may be his OAvn manner of
life, and he loves especially to hear of the
marvels of either eastern or Avestern magnifi
cence ; so that when after an evening spent
in listening to such recitals he lays his head
upon his mat or his saddle, it is full to burst
ing of hanging gardens and marble palaces,
high towers and the minarets of mosques, the
gorgeous ceremonies of courts, the array and
glitter of parades, and the gaudy street-
pageants and bustle of affairs in the great
metropolitan capitals of the plains.

XV-
FESTIVALS.

The Circassian year was pretty weU crowded
with festivals untU recently, when the intro
duction of the Mahometan doctrines put an
end to a good many of the merry usages of
paganism. The hearts of the people contin
uing to cling AAith tenacity, however, to Avhat
was most pleasing in the ancient superstitions,
there are still left a considerable number of
the old festal ceremonies and obseiwances.
At new year, at the beginning and ending of
the March moon, at the gathering of the har-
A-est, as AveU as on many minor occasions
throughout the year, the people assemble to
hold their sacred feasts, when for lack of
priests the aged and most revered Avarriors
(TC)

FESTIVALS. 77
present to the divinities the prayers of the
congregation ; the goat, the sheep, or the ox
is sacrificed, and afterward feasted upon ; li
bations of mead are poured, though less upon
the ground than down the throats of the
worshippers ; Avhile unleavened bread and
cheese-cakes are devoured AAith a voracious
ness very little akin to devotion. Dances,
songs, and stories are duly intermingled;
also racing, wrestling, and leaping ; and
finaUy, the solemnity is closed AAith exercises
in sharp-shooting, and the discharge of fire
arms in the air.
The season immediately foUoAving the har
vest when the wheat, the millet, and the corn
have been garnered up in the storehouses,
and the winter's fodder for the cattle has been
stacked in the fields, is especiaUy a time of
merry-making. An unusual joy also attends
the labors of securing the crops. For the
mowers sing their national airs in the mead-
oavs, and keep time with the sweep of their
scythes. Sometimes at the commencement
of the hay-harvest they may be seen going
into the fields in parties of fifties ; and any
company of traveUers happening then to be
7 *

78 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
passing by wUl be good-naturedly attacked
with both scythes and shouts, pulled from
their horses, and carried off in triumph.
For their ransom they wiU have to give at
least a sheep to help out the evening's sup
per, besides honey enough to make mead for
the whole company. And with such a pros
pect of feasting before them the laborers wiU
return Avith increased zest to their Avork,
swinging gaily their short scythes worn AveU-
nigh to the backbone, roaming in parties
hither and thither through the field, and at
tacking, amid songs and shoutings, the thick
est masses of grass as if so many Russian
corps d'armee.
A pleasing rural sight indeed it is, the green
valley gloAving in the Avarm sunlight, and its
grass coarse, but savory to the cattle, lying in
heavy swaths, or pfled in stacks. Mixed with
this are the juicy chicory-stalks eight or ten
feet in height, and tipped Avith light blue flow
ers. The SAveet clover also, of both the Avhite
and red varieties, is scattered more or less
among the taller grasses ; so that the meadow
is as fragrant as a bank of Avild floAvers, or a
parterre in a garden.

-5

FESTIVALS. 79
With rejoicings somewhat similar is the
return of seed-time celebrated, except it is
then the time for hopes instead of thanksgiv
ings. And the joy felt at this season when,
the time of the singing of birds having come
and the A'oice of the turtle being heard in the
land, the grain is committed in faith of in
crease to the earth, is the greater in conse
quence of a period of partial abstinence and
renunciation of social pleasures, analogous to
the Christian lent, having preceded it. For
during the month of March the Circassian
puts himself on a low diet, refraining espe
cially from the eating of eggs, and wUl neither
hire, lend, borrow, or receive any thing from
another, not even a light from a neighbor's
house. So general seems to be the prompt
ing of nature in favor of a period of fasting
at the commencement of the spring. But
the March moon once set there is immediately
held a feast, at which what few of the eggs
laid by in the course of the month preceding
have not already in the course of the clay
been devoured, are fired at as a mark, and
when the skins of the victims slain at the fes
tival become the reward of the conquerors.

80 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
There is no great variety in the Circassian
festivals, for whatever be the object of them,
there is the same roasting of sheep and oxen,
the same singing and dancing, the same mark-
firing, horse-racing, and athletic games. The
private feasts, also, are accompanied Avith
amusements very similar in character, except
ing that there is generally a very long succes
sion of dishes, with interchange of presents
between hosts and guests, and also Avith the
difference that rehgious ceremonies are prac
tised only on the more pubhc occasions, the
Circassian haAing, at least before the introduc
tion of Mahometanism, no domestic worship,
nor guiding his personal conduct by any relig
ious sentiments separate from his sense of
duty in the domestic and social relations, his
feeling of honor, and loATe of country.

XVI.
HIS RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.

The principal part of the early training of
Schamyl consisted in daily practising the
games and Avarlike exercises of his country
men ; but there Avas besides the important
teaching received from Dschelal Eddin. The
latter had begun when the boy was still of
tender age giving liim lessons in the Arabic
tongue and grammar ; and through a period
of several years had continued expounding
to him, probably in a class Avith others, the
wisdom of the Koran, until he Avas sufficiently
advanced in its knowledge to be appointed to
chant it in the messdshed during divine ser
vice. StiU later he instructed his inteUigent (81)

82 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
pupil in the Mahometan literature and philos
ophy ; no doubt, with acute elucidation of
definitions and first principles, AAith learned
comments on the maxims of the Sunnite and
Sufite doctors, and with various iUustrations
of the character of the principal Avriters in
oriental science and fiction, both Arabic and
Persian. For the Daghestan teachers of the
ology, caUed ulemas or murschids, are not
without repute for both subtilty and erudi
tion ; and Dschelal Eddin Avas one of the most
learned among them.
Like most of these professors the sage of
Himri was one of the sect of the Sufis ; and
it Avas their view of the Mahometan system
of doctrine which he made it the burden of
his lectures to explain and impress upon the
mind of his pupil.
At first, the latter Avas indoctrinated in the
laAv of externals which is caUed the Schaiyat,
and is to be observed alike by aU Moslems.
It prescribes prayers, almsgivings, fasting, pil
grimages, and ablutions, besides various rules
to be observed in all the domestic and social
relations. This is the common laAV of Ma
hometanism, the requirements of Avhich are

HIS RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 83
supposed to be universaUy known, and may
be complied with, at least in the letter, with-
out either learning or piety.
~~"^ Next Avas explained to him the higher law
of the Tarykat, or "path" to perfection.
The knowledge of this is not for the common
people, but for those only who endeavor to
obey the commands of Allah, not as external
ordinances and ceremonies, but because they
appreciate their justness, and Avho practise
virtue not merely for the promise of reward,
but also from a sincere admiration of its na
ture, and dehght in its exercise. These alone
are Avorthy of being initiated into the mys
tery of the tarykat.
But the path to truth is not the truth itself.
As only he who perseveres and pushes on-
Avard in a race finally arrives at the goal, so
only by the continued and disinterested pur
suit of truth is it finally found, and the Sufi
attains to the third stage in the spiritual hfe
Avhich is called the Hakyat. To reach this
exalted condition of humanity the disciple
must restrain all his natural passions and mod
erate all his desires. In the denial of self he
must labor for the good of others. Whatever

84 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
contributes to refine the feelings, to exalt the
thoughts, to extend the knoAvledge of the spir
itual world, is to be desired ; Avhile the lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of
life are to be as earnestly repressed and morti
fied. The seeker after the truth finds it only
by frequent meditation amid the solitude of
nature. Thither he avUI go both to study the
pages of the sacred books and to decipher
the scroll of his own inner consciousness.
Thither also wiU he repair to commune AAith
the one universal sphit which pervades all
things, but which reveals itself especiaUy to
those AA'ho seek for it in the deep stillness of
the forests, among the rocks of the mountains,
and by the secluded waterfalls and fountains.
In this high communion alone is it that man
arrives at the perfection of AA'hich his nature
is capable. The state of the hakyat fully attained,
man has to take but one step more and he is
perfect eA'en as God is perfect. This is the
state called the Maarifat. For Avhoever has
passed through the preceding degrees of per
fection will at last be favored Avith intuitions
in Avhich, being in ecstasy, his spirit wUl min-

HIS RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 85
gie Avith the infinite spirit, and humanity avUI
become divinity. To this condition of ecstasy
the Sufis give the name of h'al In it medi
tation having been carried so far as to result
in apathy and a total loss of self-consciousness,
the flesh havmg been to such a degree morti
fied and annihilated as to admit of a tempo
rary separation of the spirit from the body,
and the personal self being so completely re
lieved of the limitations of time and space
that it returns to its normal condition of uni-
versahty, then the soul of the Sufi and the
soul of AUah are one. Both are infinite, all-
knowing, impersonal, and the only reahty.
Whoever has thus beheld the unveiled face
of God is ever after superior to the law of
externals, and is guided entirely by the inner
hght of reason. He fears no punishment and
is influenced by 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 his own heart prompts
it ; if he practises Avashings it is also not be
cause he is required so to do by the Koran,
but from himself regarding cleanhness as next
to godliness. Henceforth his soul is vexed by
8

86 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
no doubts respecting spiritual truth; he is
exposed to no errors of faith ; he is elevated
to a state of beatitude which is even inde
pendent of the performance of good works ;
and being made a partaker of the unity of
the divine nature he knoAvs no further distinc
tion of sects, but regards the true believers
of all creeds as brethren. " Whoso," say the
Habistan, "does not acknoAvledge that it is
indifferent whether he is a Mussulman or a
Christian, has not raised himself to the truth,
and knows not the essence of being."
Such in brief was the system of rehgious
doctrine which Schamyl learned sitting at the
feet of Dschelal Eddin. But that it was fully
adopted by him in the heyday of youth and
in possession of an inteUect as penetrating as
his feeling Avas ardent, is not to be believed.
More or less of its influence, however, may be
seen in the habits of temperance and frugality
uniformly maintained by him, in his perfect
self-control, in his love for contemplation amid
the solitude of nature, as avcU as by his sub
sequently making it, at least theoretically, the
rule of his life and the basis of his system of
policy.

XVII.
HIS MARRIAGE.

The age at which Schamyl took a Avife is
not known ; but probably it was not over that
of twenty-one. Nor, although later in life his
harem consisted of three ladies, one of whom
was a beautiful young Armenian, can any pos
itive information be given respecting the
character or person of the one espoused first.
In accordance with Circassian usages she
might have been selected by his atalik from
the class of maidens in Himri whose circum
stances in life were not unlike his own ; or
which is perhaps more hkely to have been the
case, she might haAre been one Avho was pre
ferred by the young man himself from his

88 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
having been smitten by her grace in the
dance on the green, or having received from
her fair hands the embroidered scarf won as
a prize in the games.
However this might have been, the first
step towards the marriage must have consisted
in carrying off the girl, nothing loth doubt-
less, through the agency of a party of his
friends. This feat successfully accomplished,
though frequently it is no more than a for
mality and mere fiction in usage, the next
thing to be done Avas to settle Avith her father
or friends the price of her. The market ATalue
of a maid in Circassia depends upon both her
rank and her charms. If a belle of the blood
of the chieftains of a tribe in the western
Caucasus, she may be worth as much as two
hundred and fifty pieces of merchandise, val
ued at one doUar each, besides eight or ten
horses and four or fiA^e serf-girls, Avhich is more
than the price formerly paid by Homer's he
roes, 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 MARRIAGE. 89
his wife more than a gun or a sabre, a horse
or a couple of beeves. But this much it must
certainly have cost him to get respectably
married ; for Avithout gifts to her parents no
Circassian young woman is ever given in
marriage, unless in some such exceptional cir
cumstances as when Agamemnon wishing to
appease the Avrath of Achilles after the rob
bery of Briseis proposed to replace her by
one of his OAvn daughters, and said that " far
from exacting from him the accustomed pres
ents he would endow the girl with immense
riches." This rule, however, does not apply to wid-
oavs, Avho being considered as the property of
the fraternity to which belonged the deceased
husband, are given away gratis to whoever
will accept of them. And while a female of
this 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 pains of the elopement.
But in the case of a maid being carried off,
unless a satisfactory dowry were promptly
given, a feud would arise betAveen the parties
which could scarcely be settled without blood-
8*

90 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
shed. If, however, a young man being deeply-
smitten Avith loATe, or for any other reason,
elopes with a fair one before he has accumu
lated a sufficient fortune to defray the ex
pense of such a luxury, it is common enough
for him to pay down what money or ATalua-
bles he may have, and give security for the
remainder. The transaction being like any
other in business is done in plain words, and
without any pretence on the part of the suitor
of being actuated solely by disinterested af
fection. Once the bargain struck there is a feast.
When the parties have a sufficiency of means,
the relatives and friends assemble to the num
ber perhaps of several hundreds to celebrate
the betrothals by a picnic and a dance from
morning till night. A master of ceremonies
Avith a long flat baton as a symbol of author
ity makes his proclamation caUing upon aU
present to lay aside their feuds, if any they
have, and take their places in the dance. The
musicians Avith three-fingered pipes and two-
stringed violins are drawn up in the centre
of the ring, Avhen each gallant placing his
arms under those of the damsels on either

HIS MARRIAGE. 91
side, and interlacing his fingers with theirs,
they all move slowly around in the immense
circle, singing at the same time a sort of ac
companiment to the instrumental music,
swinging the body gracefully backwards and
forwards, and rising on the toes in such a Avay
as to communicate an undulating motion to
the whole ring as it goes round. Pistols
would be fired every few minutes over the
heads of the dancers, and mock onsets made
upon the circle by mounted horsemen, who
would be driven back in turn by parties armed
with branches of trees and making the air
ring with their shouts. There would also be
the usual horse-racing, Avrestling, and running,
besides the entertainment of the feast itself,
which Avould be served by waiters on horse
back as well as on foot, and who together
Avould keep up a brisk circulation of tables
and trenchers.
When finaUy the marriage day arrives, all
clues under the matrimonial compact having
been paid or satisfactorily secured, the couple
are joined together Avith still more feasting
and the observance of additional ceremonies.
A friend of the bridegroom mounting on

92 LIFE OF SCHAMY'L.
horseback and taking on his crupper the
maiden decked out in all her finery, and cov
ered Avith a long white veU, gaUops off with
her to the house of some relative Avhere the
wedding is to be celebrated. Beceived at the
door by the matron of the house, she is con
ducted with grave formahty to the chamber
set apart for her reception, where she aAvaits
the arrival of her lord, and Ughts the nuptial
torch of pine sticks in order to keep avray
any supernatural enemy who might be
tempted to run off with her at this very
nick of time.
An elderly dame also now performs the mys
tic ceremony of walking three times around
the bridal couch, repeating the whUe the
words of some Arabic charm, and afterwards
placing by the bedside three earthen-ware
pots filled Avith corn, and containing each a
a lighted lamp.
At last the hour of midnight arrived, the
impatient bridegroom springing into his sad
dle gallops to the house of his friend, and
conducted into the presence of his bride in
stantly rips open her corset Avith his poniard.
This is the conclusion of the ceremony by

HIS MARRIAGE. 93
which is rather cut than tied the Chcassian
knot of matrimony, there being neither priest
nor magistrate employed to fasten it any
more securely.

XVIII.
MAIDS.

The bride of Schamyl must have been
unlike her countrywomen generaUy, if she
Avas not handsome. For the Chcassian fe
males have long been famed for their beauty,
not only being in demand for the supply of
the Turkish harems, but having formerly been
sought in marriage by the Hungarian kings
and the czars of Muscovy, as weU as by the
Byzantine princes and the pashas of Stam-
boul. They are described by traA'ellers as of
good height, having slight and pliant forms
like the birch among trees, AAith complexion
either fair or olive, the old Greek cast of feat
ures, and eyes and hair generally dark,
[0J1

MAIDS. 95
some write]
also of

though some writers in describing them sing

The eyes' blue dalliance,
And the golden hair.
On theh heads the girls wear a bonnet not
imUke the Albanian skullcap, of scarlet or
some other briUiant color, and trimmed with
lace of sUver. Beneath this their hair falls
down theh shoulders^ in braids Avhich are con
fined at the end by a sflver cord, or are tied
like the tresses of the Cossack girls with
bright ribbons that nearly SAveep the ground.
Sometimes also these plaits are gracefully con
fined in a silken network.
Over the shift is worn a jacket of some gay
color and confined in front by silver clasps;
or it may be simply a leathern corselet joined
together by stitches. In either case the waist
is incased as it were in a straight jacket,
which being put on at the age of ten or even
younger, and worn constantly untU the mar
riage night, restrains the fulness of nature
throughout the period of maidenhood. A
skirt open in front and confined around the
waist by a scarf or girdle, faUs sufficiently

96 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
short of the ankles to showr the wide Turkish
trowsers which are tied above them.
Closely fitting morocco slippers cover the
feet, Avhich being kept as scrupulously clean
as those of the Hindoo women, if not like
theirs ornamented Avith rings, are indoors fre
quently left bare ; while out of the house a
kind of Avooden clogs are Avorn to avoid the
dirt. The slippers are sufficiently coquettish,
being made of red or green morocco, and of a
size to admit the foot only in part, AAith smaU
high heels, and dainty, pointed toes slightly
turned up.
The hands, which as AveU as the feet are
small, have the finger nafls dyed Avith the
juice of the floAvers of the balsamina, and are
protected in the open air by mittens. The
natural colors of the face, hoAvever, are gen
erally not heightened by the pencil, although
the Circassian fair are partial to the brightest
tints in their apparel, being thereto knifed
by the gorgeous lights of a landscape filled
with a multitude of flowers and in AA'hich the
very rocks and snows burn morning and even
ing with hues scarcely less brflliant and va

riegated.

MAIDS. 97
The daughters of families a little elevated
above the general social level, go to school in
the mosques together with the boys, and are
taught like them to speak and write the
Turkish. At home aU are instructed in the
feminine arts of spinning and AveaAing, as
well as in embroidery, the knitting of lace,
the making of all articles of dress, and also
the plaiting of straw mats and baskets. They
often serve the guests of the master of the
house, bringing water to wash the feet of the
newly arrived, though not like the Mary of
the Scriptures anointing them with frankin
cense and wiping them with the hair of the
head. The aged men being hke the stranger
universally honored in Circassia, receive from
the young maidens the most dutiful atten
tions ; and it is always their privilege to sit
by the couch of the veterans brought home
wounded from the wars. The one are petted
throughout theh second childhood Avith fre
quent presents of sweetmeats and baskets of
nuts ; and the other feel their pains abated
while the hands of the most beautiful of the
tribe softly comb the tuft of hah left growing
above their brows. But in return, these too
9

98 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
are treated by the other sex AAith correspond
ing courtesy ; for every Avarrior is a gaUant
knight, ever ready, going and returning from
the foray, to give his escort to the damsel
wishing to pass from hamlet to hamlet, and
gracefully lifting her upon his crupper AA'hen-
ever by chance he meets her on foot in the
vaUeys. The Circassian maid is said to have in her
veins some of the blood of the Amazons who
anciently bore the pharetra, and foUowed
hunting in these mountains. Her style of
dress and measured gait, together Avith her
sharing the martial sentiments of the society
in Avhich she lives, give her still something of
the port of Diana, and make her fit to be the
warrior's bride. But at the same time, she is
not lacking in the feminine graces. Dressed
in brocade or in rags, the Chcassian girl is
represented by traATellers as never awlavard,
and never failing to assume spontaneously the
most easy and natural as well as the most
dignified attitudes. Her manners have but
little of the excessive reserve afterAvards
adopted when she becomes a wife. But so
long as she is in the market for a husband,

MAIDS. 99
she alloAvs herself to be seen freely by all
men AAThether Avishing or not to become pur
chasers. She goes abroad unveiled;- dances
Avith the other sex ; mingles fearlessly though
without effrontery amid the groups of men ;
kisses the hand of the stranger before seating
herself on the divan by his side ; and, though
truly modest and decorous in her deportment,
she yields her cheek, almost without a blush,
to the lips of the warrior who, returning from
the slaughter of the enemy, feels entitled to
claim those favors which in less fortunate
lands can only be stolen by swains the most
dexterous and AAThose stars aid them.
The Chcassian girls are sparingly nourished,
says an ancient Avriter,* living mostly on milk,
bread of mUlet, and pastry. Dehcate in her
¦ food as she is neat in her dress, groAving up
in the healthy air of the mountains, living in
a society of simple tastes and natural habits,
always treated with gallant courtesy by a
race of men whose hearts are mostly moved
by a love of war and of beauty, it is not
strange that nature should have preserved
through so many generations something of the
* Pallas.

100 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
type of lovehness which adorned the world's
age of gold, and Avhich in modern times has
made the Caucasian head to be regarded
by civihzed man as the truest image of his
Maker.

XIX.
WIVES.

While the Circassian damsel, in her modest
simplicity, is tolerant of freedoms not altogether
consistent with occidental notions of propriety,
and is generally ready enough to flee her
tribe Avith a lover who happens to be unable
to pay the dowry demanded by a too avari
cious father or guardian, on becoming a mar
ried woman she takes the veil and retires
from the gaze of men almost as effectually as
she would do by shutting herself up in a con
vent. Now when she goes abroad, all her
gay colors are covered by the white mantle
which envelops her Avhole figure. Her sanc
tum, if she lives in a hamlet, is separate from
9* (ioi)

102 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
the other buildings, is inclosed by a wooden
fence, and concealed by the foliage of trees
and shrubbery. No males enter it, excepting
those of her OAvn famUy and the ataliks of
her children. Even her husband does not
visit her in the daytime, but steals to her
couch under cover of the darkness of night
like a paramour. When out of the house she
scrupulously avoids meeting his eye, and on
perceiving him in the same path goes about
or stands aside in order to avoid his notice.
Having been bought with a price, she is
rather the slave than the companion of her
husband, aaIio may have as many AviA^es as he
likes, or rather can pay for. She rises on his
entrance into her apartments and remains
standing untU he is seated ; and this in fact
is a mark of respect paid by Avoman to all
males, except they be serfs, but also to the
elders of their OAvn sex. Latterly, howev
er, the introduction of Mahometanism has
brought even into these mountains a partial
recognition of those rights Avhich in some
western countries have recently secured for
the Avife the blessings of financial as AveU as
social independence. Under the Liav of the

WIVES. 103
Koran she is nominally free ; can hold prop
erty in her oavii right ; and on the infringe
ment of her privfleges, may have the satisfac
tion of prosecuting her husband at law and
bringing him into court to answer her.
The Circassian Avoman, hoAvever, not having
as yet become accustomed to place much reli
ance on her legal rights, contents herself Avith
the exercise of those means of influence, if
not of control, which have been given her by
nature. Denied the pleasure of the society
of her lord during the day, when at evening
he comes to her apartments, fatigued it may
be by the exercise of the chase or the ex
ertions of the foray, she smoothes the brows
wrinkled by care, dissipates by gentle ca
resses the pains of overAvearied nature, and
Avins over to the emotions of conjugal love,
the soul which all day long has been vexed
by angry passions and the rage of war.
As a wife she is faithful ; for indeed the
jealousy of a Circassian husband is not to be
endured. The disgrace of being sent home
to her parents and of compelling them to pay
back her purchase-money, would pierce her
heart like a knife ; not to mention other

104 LIFE OF SCHAMY'L.
more barbarous punishments with which the
haughty warrior instantly avenges any en
croachment on his honor.
She is not only dutiful, but diligent in his
service. She prepares with her own hands
his food ; she makes aU his clothes, covering
them with stitches untU they become a rai
ment of needle-work; and helped by her
daughters she even manufactures his shoes
and caps, his tent and shaggy cloak, besides
embroidering the coverings of his arms and
the trappings of his war-horse. To the Ch
cassian woman therefore might be addressed
the 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 and the field. Fre
quently she delves in the earth by the side
of her Adam. Sometimes she earns in the
sweat of her brows the bread of both, while
he combats the invaders of theh common
country in pass and plain, or practises his
athletic games in the peaceful valley, or even
sits idle by the house-door, interrupting his

WIVES. 105
listlessness only to burnish a weapon or caress
his steed. And in the higher and more bar
ren mountains, if the reports of travellers are
to be credited, his better half, as modest and
still more industrious than the first mother,
may be seen picking the flinty soil during the
heats of the day decked out with none of the
finery worn on occasions of ceremony, but
clad simply in that one garment deemed in
dispensable in all countries having made the
smallest progress in civilization*
The headdress of the married woman is
not the tiara of the maid, but some kind of
plain or ornamental stuff wound round the
head in the form of a turban, and with ends
faihng gracefully doAvii on the shoulders. This
completely covers the hair which is worn
short, with curls in the neck. Over it on
going out is thrown a veil of snoAv-white mus
lin which descending mingles its folds with
those of the mantle. This latter is often a
large square of European woollen of the finest
texture that can be afforded by the wearer ;
and whether fine or coarse has ahvays a pic
turesque look in the distance ; and nearer by
* Dubois.

106 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
is generally worn with a certain degree of
womanly coquetry which lends grace to its
folds, and to the duUest eyes reveals half-
glimpses of the beauty concealed beneath.
Here the fashions of dress, Avhether for
males or females, never change. Garments
therefore not being thrown aside or altered
with every month's variation of style as in
the west, are frequently made of costly ma
terials and adorned with such elegance of
needle-work as to render them almost as
precious as the sacred poet's vesture of gold
wrought about with divers colors. This ap
plies of course to garments of ceremony
chiefly. A very fine paraja or mantle of
camel or goat's hair, a skirt of brocade, or a
scarf ornamented with silver thread Avill some
times outlast a generation, and be handed
down an heirloom even to grandchildren.
The belle who putting on the apparel which
possibly a preceding century has fabricated,
does not find herself in an antiquated cut nor
with stitches placed amiss, loses no time of
course in dreaming of new fashions, nor self-
respect in being obliged to parade in the old
ones. Her only fashionable foible is that of

AVIVES. 107
knitting silver lace, she not having as yet
been initiated into the mystery of making
Chinese boxes and card-racks, dolls' dresses
and family portraits in worsted.

XX.
FEMALE SLAVE-TRADE.

Serfdom, to a limited extent, exists in the
Caucasus, more particularly in the western
part. It is, however, a comparatively mild
form of bondage, the only real slaves in the
mountains being the captives taken in AA-ar
who are compelled to do most of the heAving
of wood and the draAAing of Avater. The
serfs are rarely transferred Avith the land, and
never without their own consent. In return
for their services they receive maintenance,
clothing, lodging, and some yearly gratuity.
Wives are furnished them gratis ; and Avhile
their sons remain the serfs of the master, the
money received for the daughters Avhen sold
(108)

FEMALE SLAAT3-TRADE. 109
in marriage is equally divided between him
and the father. Their occupations consist in
cultivating the sou, taking care of horses and
cattle, and Avaiting in the guest-house ; they
being imder no obligation to serve in war or
eAren give attendance on journeys. Often
they farm the land of their masters for half
the product. They also have the right of
purchasing their freedom at the price of a
certain number of oxen; and if ill-treated
may flee to another master for protection,
who on payment of a moderate compensation
to their former owner is entitled to retain
them. SociaUy they are on a footing of al
most equahty with their lords, Avearhig the
same dress, living in similar houses, partaking
of about the same diet, sharing in all games
and festivities, and associating on all occa
sions AAith freemen as if they Avere their peers.
The well-known Chcassian slave-trade is
confined to the sale of females. In the east
ern Caucasus girls are rarely bought and sold
except in marriage ; but in the Avestern they
are exported to supply the harems of the
Turks, more especially those of Constantino
ple. At one time this trade Avas forbidden by
10*

110 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
Bussia, and aU of her subjects found engaged
in it Avere sent to Siberia ; but in 1845 it Avas
again legalized on condition that the females
to be exported into Turkey should take out
letters of Russian protection, the object being
partly to concihate the Circassians, and partly
to create a class of persons resident in the
dominions of the sultan who should depend
upon the czar as theh protector and lord par
amount. Even when prohibited, however, the traffic
was carried on by means of smaU craft which
under protection of Russian papers obtained
at Trebizond under pretence of going to
Kertsch for grain, braved the dangers of the
winter voyage AA'hen from the inclemency of
the weather the Russian cruisers had been
withdraAvn from the coast of Circassia, and
taking in theh precious cargo of souls landed
it at Sinope or Samsoun. Thence conducted
privately to Trebizond, they Avere finally con
veyed by Turkish 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 eATer

FEMALE SLAVE-TRADE. Ill
sold to the slave-merchant. Sold they how
ever must be even if they remain at home,
the Asiatic doctrine prevailing in the Cau
casus that the Avoman should be bought, not
given in marriage, and Avhere a dowry in ad
dition to a wife would be the gflding of refined
gold and adding sugar to the honey-comb.
The married woman is the property of her
lord — or was until nominally set free by the
introduction of the law of the Koran. The
idea of becoming the slave of a master Avas
therefore nearly synonymous in the mind of
a maid of low degree with that of becoming
the wife of a husband; and to make the
journey to Constantinople for the purpose of
being bought by a wealthy Turk, was looked
forAvard to by many a one as a settlement in
hfe preferable to remaining at home the wife
of a poor peasant. This sentiment was en
couraged by the sight, not uncommon in Cir-
cassia, of females AA'ho after havhig obtained
an education and a competency in Constan
tinople have returned to reside in their OAvn
country. It is also AveU knoAvn to the hum
blest maiden that the high officers in the
Turkish state often take to themselves Avives

112 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
of the daughters of the Caucasus, Avho, if they
do not return to the land of their fathers, at
least play, in that of their adoption, a part in
society superior to that of the wives of even
chiefs and princes in the mountains.
Accordingly, it is not generally looked upon
by the Caucasian female born in poverty, as a
misfortune to be sold into Turkish captivity.
She pleases her fancy, on the contrary, with
imagining that she aaHI become the wife of, it
may be, the sultan himself, or of a pasha, or
of the admiral of the fleet. She will be the
light of the harem of a nabob with many
tads. She will be dressed in rich silks
and velvets, and adorned with gold and jew
elry. She AviU hve in the great aoul of Stam-
boul, in a saldi by the Golden Horn, or in the
Avoods that skirt the SAveet Waters. Nor,
poor thing, does she know or stop to consider
that she may be thrown into those same beau
tiful waters seAved up alive in a sack. Many
a one, no doubt, leaves her home hoAvever
humble Avith a sigh of regret ; many a one
sheds bitter tears of shame when made to
stand forth half naked in the market-place ;
and many a one even in the gorgeous halls

FEA f ALE SLAVE-TRADE. 113
and perfumed chambers of Constantinopolitan
princes, tired of the Avatching of eunuchs and
of the bickerings of rivals, Avould gladly ex
change all the luxuries of the harem for the
freedom of a hut in her native mountains.
StUl it is the testimony of travellers that
the great majority of poor females in Circas-
sia are as ready to go to Stamboul as pilgrims
to Mecca. When captured by Russian cruis
ers on the voyage, some of them have been
known to cast themselves into the sea or to
drive a knife into their hearts rather than
submit to become wives to the enemies of
their country, 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 gen
erally they arrive at Constantinople much
better subjects for the Turkish bath than the
harem. But they are often placed in semina
ries to be educated for the places they are to
occupy in the houses of the great ; being on
their arrival frequently not more than tAvelve
years of age, and always destitute of the few
accomplishments considered indispensable in
the families of Turks of any distinction. A
10*

114 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
beautiful young Chcassian, when thus pre
pared for the life of the harem, avUI sometimes
seU for as much as tAventy or even thirty or
forty thousand piastres, though the ordinary
price might not be more than five or ten
thousand. But even in Circassia an English
man has been known to pay for a wife " three
hundred and twenty-five pieces of cotton
cloth," valued there at upAvards of six thou
sand piastres. Since the repeal of the Bussian
law forbidding the slave-trade, however, the
price of this merchandise has greatly faUen
in the market.
There is no evU, however great, without
some good; and to the Circassian trade in
female slaves is to be traced the superiority,
both of physiognomy and of blood, which be
longs to the modern Turk above the Tartar
of the steppe and of the desert.

XXI.
FORM OF GOVERNMENT.

The society of which Schamyl on reaching
the age of manhood became a member in full
Avas a free democracy. In the Avestern Cau
casus the various tribes, such as the Kabar-
dians, the Ubighe, and the Adighe, who are
the Circassians proper, live under a form of
social organization more or less feudal and
aristocratic; but in the eastern, among the
Lesghians, the Tchetchenians, and the inhabi
tants of Daghestan, there is for the most part
no distinction of classes. Several small tribes
in this latter division which are of Tartar ori
gin are indeed governed by khans ; but even
among them where the form of government (115)

116 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
is despotic, as well as west of the Terek where
it is aristocratic, there prevails such a spirit of
personal independence together with such an
equality of civd rights and social conditions,
that the Circassians in general may best be
characterized as associations of free brothers,
not unlike the Germans as described by
Tacitus. More especially is this true of the Les-
ghians of Avhom is Schamyl. Among them
previously to the estabhshment of his system
of government, there Avas no other chief of
the state tha"n he Avho by general consent led
the warriors of the tribe on their expeditions
against the enemy. Nor did such office of
leader outlast a foray or a campaign. In time
of peace aU were brothers, free and equal
before the law, Avith only such diversity of
social condition as might result from a differ
ence in natural gifts or in the favors of for
tune. Whoever had been endowed with most
commanding powrers, Avhoever was foremost
in valor and the exercise of all manly Airtues,
was in fact a chieftain though Avithout the
formality of an election ; he Avas king though
Avithout a title ; and betAveen the natural and

FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 117
the divine right to govern there Avas practi
cally no difference.
The public affairs of the tribe were regu
lated in general assembly. The freemen came
together at their OAvn will to sit in the councU
ring on the greensward beneath the trees. In
these meetings no officer claimed precedence
as a right, but aU granted it by consent to the
elders and those most distinguished for valor
and the gift of speech. The counsels of age
and experience Avere heard first. The wise
man also, whoever he was, the valiant in arms,
the influential from worth of character, all
gaATe their opinion; but most the assembly
hung upon the sweet tongue of eloquence.
For the orator has ample scope in the free
assemblies of the Circassians. When he rises
to speak, especially if he be advanced in
years, the principal men of the tribe some
times even come forAvard and reverently kiss
his robe. If possessed of more of the impetr
uosity of early life, he wfll perhaps dash into
the ring on horseback and harangue the as-
sembly from the saddle. Then if in the midst
of his impassioned volubility any Hotspur in-
temrpt the orator, the latter foams Avith rage

118 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
and would transgress all bounds of propriety
if the lifted hand of some elder did not in
stantly restore sUence.
When the object of the meeting is to agree
on an expedition against the enemy, the fa
vorite topic and constant burden of eloquence
is the oppression and the cruelty of the Rus
sians. As the speaker dUates ujion their
burnings and shedding of blood, the aoul laid
low by their artillery, the women violated,
the youth carried away captive, the tribes
graduaUy driven back into the mountains, his
voice rages with indignation or Avails 'in the
plaintive tones of unaffected sorrow. His eye
flashes beneath the shaggy, contracted brows ;
the clenched fist is relaxed only to grasp
shaska or poniard ; the blood rushes and re
turns from the cheek ; and the chest heaves
with violently struggling emotions. Mean-
Avhile in reply is heard the Ioav, half-stifled
sob ; the irrepressible tears trickle doAvn the
sunburnt cheeks of those aaIio Aveep for their
country, if not their friends; teeth are
clenched and broAvs are knit and sabres are
half-drawn ; Avhile at hiteiwals is responded
amen ! amen ! and at the conclusion a shout

FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 119
of applause breaks from the universal throat,
and rings through the air until the echoing
hill-sides give it back to each other in boister
ous accord.
NeAV laws are rarely made by this assembly,
the tribe being governed very much by cus
tom and ancient usage. Whenever these
prove an insufficient rule of action, the Koran,
in those parts of the mountains where it has
been introduced, is appealed to. Of course,
in a state of society so ^simple and unchang
ing there is little need of that constant laAV-
making and unmaking deemed so indispensa
ble in free and more civilized communities.
Whatever rules of conduct have been longest
established and found to meet the necessities
of many generations, are by these primitive
mountaineers held most sacred. To execute
laws, therefore, not to make them, is the prin-
pal object of what little government exists in
the Caucasus. Offenders are tried in the coun
cil ring ; punishments consist mostly of fines,
Avhich if not paid by the guilty indiAidual
himself, must be by his famdy or his tribe ;
and crimes against persons which are not thus
compounded are prosecuted by the injured

120 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
party and those of his blood even to the third
and fourth generations.
Hence arise those numerous feuds AArhich,
arraying family against family and tribe
against tribe, produce a degree of mutual
alienation of Avhich great use has been made
by the Russians in their war of subjugation.
For the right of revenge is one of the three
great principles on Avhich is based the AA'hole
system of Chcassian usage, the exercise of
hospitaUty and respect for age being the two
others. But to limit the SAvay of this old
law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth under which intestine wars prevTaUed, as
formerly among the clans of Scotland, and
suits at law were protracted from generation
to generation, as in the chancery of England,
fraternities have latterly been established and
oaths imposed on the members, Avhereby the
ends of justice haATe been better secured as
weU as domestic peace greatly promoted. For
an oath taken over eAren a feAV amulets is suf
ficient to secure the fulfilment of an engage
ment ; and Avhen formally administered upon
the Koran suspended from tAvo rifle-rests, the
warrior, who never trembled before, is, by the

FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 121
simple ceremony, agitated with dread, and
having deposited his rifle, his pistol, or his
boAV, will die but what he wUl keep his word.
Tho barbarity of this law of blood has also
been always more or less counteracted by the
affectionate respect for age, wherever met
with, which runs through the code of Circas
sian manners, as weU as by such an universal
practice of hospitality as keeps the door of
the apartment for guests standing wide open
from one end of the year to the other through
out the mountains, and which enables ev^en
the foreigner to enter the country unharmed,
by placing himself under the protection of
any chieftain he may select for his konak or
guardian. 11

XXII.
RELIGIOUS BELIEF.

The religious belief of the countrymen of
Schamyl formerly partook of the simpUcity
of their mode of government. Not a century
ago they Avere almost enthely pagan, perform
ing their religious ceremonies not in temples
made with hands, but in groves, in the shadow
of AArhose melancholy boughs dwelt many
divinities. They believed also in one Great
Spirit Avhose presence filled hnmensity, and
avIio Avas hkened to no liAing thing, nor fash
ion of a man. To him Avere subject all infe
rior poAvers aaIio presided over the seasons of
the year, over various localities, over the lives
of the loAver animals, and over all the doings
and destinies of mankind.
(122)

RELIGIOUS BELIEF. 123
Merissa, for example, was the protector of
bees ; and at her festiA^als, celebrated at the
season of gathering in the sweets of the hive,
all the viands and beverages Avith AArhich the
worshippers regaled themselves, Avere prepared
AAith honey. StiU more poAverful Avas Seo-
zeres, who held in subjection the winds and
AA'aters, and avIio being at the same time the
guardian of animals, tempered the air to the
shorn flock and brought the springs out of the
rocks for the supply of the herd. Tliebse
had the care of smiths and aU the cunning
workmanship of forges, and at his fete liba
tions were poured in honor of him upon the
hatchet and the ploughshare. Domestic hap
piness and good-felloAvship among neighbors
were presided over by the three sisters de
nominated fates in the mythology of the
Greeks, and who besides interfered on the
field of battle to throw their invisible shield
over the favorite warrior ; who sped the trav
eller on his Avay ; and to Avhom the father on
bringing his family across a new threshold
offered sacrifice and invocation.
Most of the religious festivals were cele
brated at either seed-time or harvest. In the

124 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
first instance, when the grain was scattered
over the furrows in the hope that the land
Avould yield its increase, the sower supphcated
the friendly interposition of the heavenly
powers ; in the latter, after having laid up in
storehouses the Avinter's supply of corn and
Avine, the reaper returned thanks to the celes
tial givers of all good things, and made merry
Avith his friends in feasts. Nor at this season,
when the sight of nature's decay dashes AAith
a certain degree of sadness even the hilarity
of the ingathering of crops did the pious
mountaineers forget their dead, but uniting
with the autumn Avhich spreads over the
graves the gorgeous paU of its many-colored
leaves, they likewise streAved there whatever
wild flowers bloomed in the mountains so late
in the year. For they, too, beheved in the
life beyond the tomb, Avherein there should be
no fanu Muscov to infest the mountains of
happiness, and where the Avarrior, laying
aside his rifle and his boAA', should hear no
more of Avar beyond the home-march at beat
of Avhich he Avould enter Avithin the gates of
paradise. Various attempts have been made to intro-

EELIGIOUS BELIEF. 125
duce Christianity among these tribes, though
with little success. If asked at Avhat period
was made the first one, the Circassian replies
with an air of indifference, Allah bilker, —
God knoios ! There is an old tradition that
the religion of Jesus was first taught here by
St. Matthew, an opinion which may have had
its origin in the fact that the form of cross
which is caUed by bis name is sometimes
found in the mountains. Others attribute the
first bringing in of the gospel to the crusaders
who, having survived the disasters of their
expedition to the holy land, fled hither for
refuge. For some of the smaller Osetian
tribes still wear on their garments the Mal
tese cross in red cloth, and paint the figure
of the same on their iron bucklers. At any
rate the Christian cross is well known at the
present day, in many parts of the Caucasus,
where it is found in stone erected in solitary
places, but oftener of metal suspended from
the branches of oak trees. In this situation
it is found accompanied by numerous votive
offerings, and is an object of sincere though
blind adoration. In more recent times the
Russians have endeavored to impose their
11*

126 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
form of religion on those tribes who have
come under the yoke of their dominion ; and
since the middle of the sixteenth century the
Tartars, in disputing with the Muscovites for
the possession of the Caucasus, have likeAvise
taken more or less pains to introduce the doc
trines of the Koran. This endeaAror has been
folloAved up by the Turks also, Avhose mission
aries have finally succeeded in converting
most of the tribes to at least nominal Mahom
etanism. Indeed the mountaineer was always
strongly inclined to accept the fatalistic dog
ma so generally prevalent in the East, and
now sums up his faith in the saying, " Every
thing is Jdsmet, destiny ; and a man, AvhateArer
his inclinations, must bow to fate. Such is the
will of AUah."
Stfll, the new faith has taken stronger hold
of the chiefs and magistrates than of the
main body of the people, whose heart remains,
in no small degree, pagan. The popular sym
pathies everyAvhere cling to the old supersti
tions and the time-halloAved ceremonies. Some
of the small tribes on the Caspian, continue
to turn Avith feelings akin to adoration toAvards
the rising and the setting sun, AArhile on the

RELIGIOUS BELIEF. 127
promontory of Apsheron the AA'hite-robed
priests still maintain the sacred service of
their fires. The people like also to keep the
merry feasts kept by their fathers before
them. They love theh mead and the wine
forbidden by the prophet. The venerable
oaks beneath which they have been accus
tomed to worship are stiU looked upon AAith
awe, and in the murmuring of the boughs of
the sacred groves the popular imagination
still hears the footfalls of the divinities as did
Adam those of God when in the cool of the
day he walked in the garden of Eden.

XXIII.
OCCUPATIONS

The Circassians still entertain the ancient
nomadic idea that the soil is common prop
erty. Occupancy, however, gives a title for
the time being ; and individuals consider the
land enclosed or improved by them as theh
own. But it is usage that no person shaU
claim more land than he can fairly occupy;
and at his decease it is either divided equally
among his sons, or is enjoyed by them in
common. This, nevertheless, does not prevent
the chiefs and nobles in certain parts of the
country from cultivating considerable tracts
by means of serfs and captives, to Avhom in
many instances are supplied the means and
appliances of farming on condition of their
(12S)

OCCUPATIONS. 129
making return of one half of the products in
kind. Nor is the lot of these laborers a hard
one ; for oftener will they be seen racing,
wrestling, pitching quoits, and sleeping under
the hedges and Avattled fences than bending
over the shorf tailed plough or hoe.
Agriculture, in its season, is prosecuted with
such a degree of diligence, hoAvever, as suf
fices to supply the few simple wants of the
mountaineer. The soil of the valleys and
river bottoms, which are cleared by setting
fire to the long grass and brushwood, gener
ally yields a large increase of every species
of grain. Here also cotton, tobacco, indigo,
and the vine are indigenous ; many of the '
fruits of the most 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 ; the olive yields its oil ;
the mulberry feeds the silkworm; the fig-
tree is purple with fruit; the pomegranate
ripens its crimson pulp ; the palm does not
refuse its dates; and, in short, in the vales
and slopes which extend from the level of the
steppes up to the snoAV-line of the mountains
there is almost every variety of grain and

130 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
fruit which grows between the tropics and
the poles.
But though the soil, Avatered by innumera
ble streams and irrigated by the springs of
the mountains, is exceedingly productive, the
implements of husbandry are all of the
rudest. The plough Avith its short and almost
perpendicular handles, its flat and arrow-
shaped share, barely scratches the ground ;
the coarse but sweet grasses are mown Avith a
stubbed scythe ; and the Avains are heard
creaking through the hills on revolving axles,
Avith wheels heAvn out of solid pieces of wood,
and in every respect as primitive as those
1 used by Priam and his Trojans. Nor less so
are the sledges for transporting hay doAA*n
from the upper mountains ; for they consist
of a long limb of a tree trimmed on one side,
AAliile upon the branches of the other is
reared the conical stack Avhich, aaIicii the
snoAv has fallen in Avinter, is easUy draAvn
down into the AaUej's.
Agricultural operations are performed by
aid of oxen, mules, and asses, but not by the
horse, this animal being hell in too much es
teem to be employed in any Avay except

OCCUPATIONS. 131
under the saddle. There is an exception to
this, however, in the case of threshing grain,
Avhich, as in patriarchal times, is done by driv
ing half a dozen horses at full gallop around
a little circular paddock used as a threshing-
floor. In grinding the corn, too, horses are
employed to turn the wheel; though the
hghter seeds, such as mUlet, are generally
ground by the women in handmills similar to
those mentioned in the Christian Scriptures.
The Circassians are not only tiUers of the
soil, but also keepers of flocks and herds.
Indeed they are no less proud of the sheep
and cattlo on their thousand hills than were
the patriarchs who anciently pitched their
tents betAveen the Tigris and the Euphrates,
or in the pleasant valleys of the land of prom
ise. Multitudes of black, long-haired goats
browse among the rocks; Avhite broad-tafled
sheep nibble the plants of the hill-sides ; smaU
oxen of the Hungarian dun color graze in the
valleys; the larger buffaloes waUow in the
marshes ; and herds of horses, tame or half
aaIH, roam freely through woods and pastures.
The more wealthy herdsmen count their ani
mals by hundreds ; and a few even by thou
sands.

132 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
The two principal ornamental arts and
mysteries in the Caucasus are those of the
armorer and the saddler. Upon the weapons
of the warrior and the trappings of his steed
are spared neither pains nor expense. Beau
tiful designs are traced on the sword-blades,
which also are unsurpassed for temper ; their
hilts and those of poniards are mounted Avith
jewels; the stocks of rifles and pistols are
inlaid Avith gold, sdver, brass, and mother-of-
pearl ; while saddles and bridles are wrought
with a profusion of nicely set stitches, Avith
precious stones, and metals, besides being set
off Avith toys and various tinsel.
In addition to the smiths employed in the
mahitenance and repair of arms there are but
few artificers. For eA-ery famfly constructs
its oaati house and most of its furniture, Avhich
last, excepting the necessary iron pots and
wooden platters for cooking and serving meals,
consists simply of a few stools, benches, chests,
small round tripod tables, mattresses, cushions,
coverlets, and mats. In the plaiting of these
last the Circassians especially excel, and while
they annually receive many stuffs from Tur
key and Persia, they send back in return con-

RELIGIOUS BELIEF. 133
siderable numbers of these articles woven of
the flags of the Kuban and the Terek.
The principal foreign trade of the country
consists of such imports as salt, gunpoAvder,
cottons, wroollens, silks, silver thread, needles,
small mirrors, 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. This interchange
of commodities is effected mostly by the way
of the two seas; although strings of camels,
piled high Avith merchandise, the property of
Armenians, may occasionally be seen wending
theh way through the mountains, and going
on also to gladden the daughters of the north
ern steppes Avith the gay silks, shawls, and
carpets of the south. 12

XXIV.
MANNERS

The manners of the Circassians are charac
terized by a remarkable degree of natural
politeness. In social intercourse they rarely
indulge in unseemly levity, or \iolate theh
rules, though simple, of goodbreeding and
manly behavior. Even their dances and
games are executed Avith a certain degree of
decorous reseiwe ; and on theh warlike expe
ditions theh habitual sedateness, and proud
sense of self-respect, stand very much in the
place of military discipline.
Their mode of salutation is by raising the
right hand to the head, and sometimes lifting
their caps. It is also a mark of high respect
to kiss the hand of a stranger of distinction
[134]

MANNERS. 135
and place it on the forehead. They strike
hands together in token of amity; and fe
males part from each other by a gentle em
brace Avith their right arms, and then a clasp
ing of their right hands. While in addressing
each other the men make use of what we call
the Christian name, and whatever the differ
ence of rank, treat each other generally with
the familiarity of brothers. Still, they never
fail to do honor to a chief by half rising from
their seat on his entrance into a room, and by
standing up erect in case he be of superior
age. If, however, while sitting at meat he at
any time decline the proffered bowl of mead
or Avine, it wUl very likely be offered to any
elderly serf who may be standing by, though
clothed in rags ; nor would any guest at the
feast disdain to add to the gift a portion from
his own dish of meat or pastry.
This respect for age, taking the place of
that for rank, runs through the whole style
of Circassian manners. The decision of an
aged man settles all minor controversy ; when
he speaks in the councU ring the most loqua
cious keep silence ; if in anger he strike a
blow even, it is not returned ; wherever he

136 LIFE OF SCHAA1YL.
moves the crowd make Avay for him ; in win
ter his is the warmest corner by the fireside ;
in summer the young girls spread his mat on
the verandah and fan his slumbers ; it is an
honor to light his chibouque ; AA'hen he Avishes
to ride every one is ready to saddle his steed,
and a dozen lads run to help him doAvn on his
return. " Doubly accursed," says the Circas
sian proverb, " is the man that draweth cIoavii
upon himself the malediction of the aged."
In his hospitality the Caucasian vies Avith
the Arab of the desert. A house, or at least
an apartment, is kept ready by every man of
substance for the reception of strangers, its
door never being closed by day, and a pile of
logs alAva}rs blazing on the hearth in AAlnter
evenings. The guest of distinction on arriv
ing is assisted to alight by his host, Avho says
to him on crossing the threshold, '¦ Hence
forth consider my father as tin* father and
my mother as thy mother." He then Avith
his oavii hands relieves the stranger of his
arms and hangs them on the Avail. As sung
the ancient Grecian bard —
And noAV with friendly force his hand he grasped,
Then led him in within his palace halls ;

MANNERS. 137
His coat of mail fnd 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 all others present
have taken their seats, will the host consent
to sit down himself; and even then he will
crouch down at a respectful distance on the
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
hands while they carefully do the same office
for his feet. In a corner of the room, or by
the side of the hearth in winter, is spread a
silken couch, with a luxurious pfle of cushions
and coverlets brought from Turkey or Persia ;
whfle sometimes a member of the family
sleeps on guard by the door way.
Departing, the distinguished guest is accom
panied out of the aoul by a gallant array of
horsemen singing in full chorus their war
songs ; with perhaps a wandering minstrel to
chant the praises of some hero ; and it may
be an astrologer or soothsayer to predict a
happy termination to the journey of the
12*

138 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
guest they speed on his way. With equal
comfort, if Avith less ceremony, is entertained
the humbler traveller, AA'ho is entitled to ask
shoes for his feet and a coat to his back of
any man Avho has a supply of these necessa
ries ; AA'hile a party of warriors on their jour
ney may demand no less freely a kid from
the flock or an ox from the herd. For there
are three virtues, says a Chcassian proverb,
either one of Avhich entitles the possessor to
celebrity — bravery, eloquence, or hospitality
— more literally, a sharp sword, a SAveet
tongue, or forty tables.
Though females are bought and sold in Cir-
cassia, and are deemed rather the helpmates
than the companions of man, a chivalrous
regard for the sex characterizes this race of
warriors ; and in no nation perhaps is Avoman
in circumstances of exposure more certain of
receiving respectful treatment. The Avarrior
may place his arms around the neck of the
maiden and let its steel-clad burden Aveigh
gracefully upon her shoulders, but the famil
iarity which is modestly alloAved as if it Avere
that of a father or a brother does not degen
erate into insult, And Avhen the fair girl has

MANNERS. 139
once Avon this violently beating heart, and
becomes the warrior's bride, she turns as coy
as a Avestern damsel in her teens. After mar
riage the fading of her early maidenly beauty
is concealed as much as possible from the ux
orious eye ; in her white mantle her form is
ahvays graceful ; by the evening fireside her
presence neA'er ceases to be a natural orna
ment and charm ; and thus is kept up through
a period of years, in the absence of confiden
tial social intercourse, at least a certain por
tion of the illusion of first love.
But the principal characteristic of the
manners of the Circassian warrior consists in
his graceful, manly air and bearing. A strong
sense of personal independence, of superiority
even, is expressed in his looks, motions, and
attitudes. Conscious of physical energy and
bravery of soul, he has ever the self-possessed
air of a man AA'ho knoAVS no fear. The chiv
alrous sentiments of Avar fire his eye, distend
his breast, and give erectness to his figure.
His tread is as light as that of an Apollo ; his
repose as stately as that of an Aristides. In
deed it could not be otherwise than that there
should be a native grace and dignity in the

140 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
port of such lovers of liberty and their coun
try as, for example, Mansur Bey, who said,
" While the soul is in my mouth this country
shall never be given to the Russian ; when I
die, I can no longer help it." The Chcassian
chieftain's blunt honesty and simple love of
truth, his freedom from sordid selfishness and
detestation of unmanly indulgences, give to
his manners that stamp of heroism Avhich aU
men admire in a Sickingen or a Cid. Even
his vices, his hatred of an enemy, his con
tempt for a foreigner, his jealousy of rh-als,
his implacable love of revenge, haA'e in them
a dash of barbaric greatness, and nothing of
the petty meanness of the vices of civihza
tion and the times of peace.

XXV.
HIS PREDECESSORS. — MAHOMET-MOLLAH.

It was several years after Schamyl had
taken his place in society as a Avarrior of fuU
age, that his name first appeared in the annals
of the Circassian Avar of independence. This
AA'as in connection with the siege of Himri,
Avhere he served as rnurid or disciple under
the chieftain Khasi-Mollah.
This leader sprang up about the year 1830,
and commenced a AArar of resistance to Rus
sian encroachment in the eastern Caucasus,
Avhich Avas destined greatly to exceed in im
portance that which since the treaty of Adri
anople had been waged by the Circassians
proper in the western. For the latter contest,
though a gallant and a successful one, has not
(141)

142 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
down to the present time amounted to more
than a guerilla, often interrupted by long
intervals of quiet, and nevrer prosecuted Avith
any regularity of plan or permanent union
of forces.
In the eastern Caucasus the flame of the
war Avhich has now been raging for a quarter
of a century, was originally kindled at the
torch of religious fanaticism. For Khasi-
Mollah Avas a disciple of one MahometrMol-
lah, who was a cadi in the aoul of Jarach, in
the khanate of Kurin, and Avho was reputed
to be the wisest alim or teacher of Mahom
etan righteousness in the territory of Daghis-
tan. The patriotic heart of this learned doc
tor 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 Schir-
wan, Hadis-Ismail by name, Avho expounded
the Sufite doctrine to him more fully, and
made a practical application of it to the po
litical condition of his countrymen.
" Of AAliat use," said finally Hadis-Ismail to
Mahomet-Mollah, " is our going through the
prescribed routine of prayers, our exact per-

mahomet-mollah. 143
formance of ablutions, our adherence to the
letter of the Scharyat, Avhile the Sufis daily
curse the followers of Omar? Let all true
believers no longer contend against each other,
but against the infidels. Campaigns to drive
back the Muscovite are better than pilgrim
ages to worship at Kerbelah, and prayers to
Allah are an abomination unless folloAved by
a caU to arms."
These Avere the words which Mahomet-Mol-
lah had been waiting for years to hear spo
ken ; and returning to Jarach he openly
preached a crusade in behalf of freedom and
the true faith. Immediately the report of
this calling of all believers to arms against
the Giaours spread like Avildfire through
Daghestan and the country of the Lesghians.
Disciples came from afar to hear the neAV doc
trine ; and catching a portion of the fanatical
zeal of the murschid, AA'ho enforced his views
by depicting the barbarities then recently
committed by the Russians in the neighboring
district of Kara-Kaitach, they carried his burn
ing words from aoul to aoul until the fury of
the people burst out in a general rising to re
pel the advance of the invaders.

144 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
At this period the greater part of Daghes
tan, a territory lying on the Caspian, and eastr
ward from the Lesghian highlands, had been
brought under the yoke of the Russians.
General Jermoloff, then governor-general of
the Caucasus, had been very successful in
extending the imperial dominion and influ
ence, being himself no less a hero than the
Circassian chieftains, possessing a noble form,
a soul of bravery, hardy, persevering, and
chivalrous. He secured by his gentle treat
ment the respect of those tribes AA'hich sub
mitted to his rule, and by his ruthless severity
made a terrible example of those Avho refused
to do so. Going in adA'ance of his arms, his
intrigue penetrated into the fastnesses of the
mountaineers, and taking advantage of the
mutual jealousy of the tribes, fanning the
hate of priA'ate feuds, AAidening the breach
between the two hostfle religious sects, and
tempting all the chiefs by the promise of im
perial honors, the people by the offer of free
trade at the forts and market toAA'ns, it suc
ceeded in gradually preparing the Avay for the
advent of Russian intervention and authority
with force of arms throughout all the less
mountainous portions of Daghestan.

mahomet-mollah. 145
When, then, the active and sagacious gov
ernor heard that MahometrMollah Avas preach
ing in Jarach a holy Avar against the Musco
vites, and that he had erected in his house an
altar before which the murids who came in
from all the neighboring parts hourly prayed
and said, " Moslem ! war against the infidel !
Avar against the infidel ! death to the Giaour ! "
he sent a request to Arslan, khan of the Kasi-
Kumucks, in AA'hose territory Avas Jarach, that
he should seize upon the person of the mol-
lah. But Arslan, fearing to lay violent hands
upon a teacher so venerated by the people,
suffered him to escape into the adjacent terri
tory of Avaria. There he lived until the
recall of General Jermoloff permitted him to
return to his native district; having mean-
AA'hile diligently called upon aU believers to
forget theh sectarian differences, upon the
members of the different tribes to lay aside
their animosities, and upon all lovers of their
country to rise in arms and drive back the
infidel dogs avIio had dared invade the sanctity
of the mountains.
¦' The first great laAv of our prophet," said
he to the people, " is a laAv of freedom. No
13

146 life of schamyl.
Moslem shall be a slave, much less shall he
acknoAvledge the rule of the foreigner and
the unbeliever. And the second law is like
unto the first. The Moslem shall be a soldier
of Allah and his prophet, an enemy in arms
of all infidels. For AA'hosoeA'er aatII not leave
house, wife, and child, yea all that he hath or
hopeth for to draw the sword for his faith, he
shall not pass over the bridge Ffl-Sirat into
paradise. The Moslem shaU keep the scha
ryat ; but all his giving of alms to the poor,
all his prayers and ablutions, aU his pilgrim
ages to Mecca are nothing so long as the eye
of a Muscovite looks upon them. Tea, your
marriages are unhrwful and your children bas
tards while there is a Muscovite in your midst.
For who can serve both Allah and the Rus
sian ! "

XXVI.
KHASI-MOLLAH,

Among the murids of Mahomet-MoUah the
foremost was Khasi-Mahomet, better knoAvn
as Khasi-MoUah. After having spent much
time sitting at the feet of the patriotic and
fanatical murschid, he returned to his native
aoul of Himri, and began his career as leader
of the popular movement against Russia by.
sending to the neighboring tribes missives fuU
of such reproof and exhortation as he had
been in the habit of hearing at Jarach. This
he continued to do until it became manifest
that the time for decisive action had arrived,
Avhen accompanied by a considerable body of
disciples, among whom was Schamyl, he sal
lied forth on an expedition of proselytism,
(147)

148 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
and made his Avay first to the powerful aoul
of Tcherkei, situated Ioavct doAvn on the Ko
issu, and in the territory of the Tchetchenians.
Assembling the Avarriors hi a council ring,
Khasi-Mollah said sharply to them, '• Ye men
of Tcherkei, ye are too much inchned to evfl
doing. Ye are guilty of idleness, of lying,
of deceit, even as are others. The Christians
haA'e their gospel, the Jews their talmud, and
Ave the koran ; but in AA'hat are Ave better
than others while we keep not the holy scha
ryat ? There is but one path for us to para
dise — it is the Avar path. Death to the Mus
covites, and to all who are Avith them ! Hate
and war against the red-haired dogs, the un
believers ! "
Thereupon rose up an aged man of Tcher
kei and said in reply, " Preach to us the scha
ryat; and Ave aatII obey it. We will cease
from hating and robbing, and from all the sins
you truly lay to our charge. But the Rus
sians hold our chief men as hostages in An-
drejeAva; our herds are pastured in valleys
subject to them; AAre are hemmed in on all
sides by their strong places; every attempt
avc make to shake off their yoke only brings

KHASI-MOLLAH. 149
down on our heads retribution ; and we can
not fight,"
"Bide your time," rejoined Khasi-Mollah;
" only be ready when I call ; the day of your
deliArerance is at hand."
Then having received from the people a
solemn promise that they would observe the
scharyat, confirmed by a pouring out upon
the ground of all the wine laid by in the
aoul, as AveU as by the breaking of the wine
vessels, he continued on his journey. Aoul
after aoul was visited. Where persuasion
failed, threats of fire and sword were resorted
to ; and in many instances promises of adher
ence Avere guaranteed by hostages sent to
Himri. And so by dint of argument, intimi
dation, and force, the new doctrine of politi
cal Sufism was in the course of a feAV months
diffused over the greater part of the Lesghian
highlands. Here and there, however, the more aged
ulema* rejected the teaching that the taking
up of arms against the infidels was the best
fulfilment of the law of the scharyat, as for
example in Chunsach, the principal aoul of
* Plural of alim.
13*

150 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
Avaria, where, OAving to strong Russian influ
ence, the view prevailed that it Avas not expe
dient to run the risk of losing Avhat of liberty
Avas left by vainly attempting to regain that
which had been lost. Accordingly Pachu
Bike, avIio here bore rule under the title of
Khaness, prayed Khasi-Mollah not to enter
the Avarian territory ; but he persisting, she
called together her warriors to resist him.
They, hoAvever, fearing at first to face the de
termined band of murids, she seized a sword
and cried out, " Go home, ye men of Chun-
sach, and gird on your wives the swords ye
are unworthy to bear yourselves ! " There
upon the warriors, stung with shame, foUowed
the amazon aaIio hmnediately put herself at
theh head and drove back Khasi-Mollah,
though supported by a force of eight thou
sand men.
This repulse turned the hearts of many of
the recently converted aAvay from the new
prophet ; so that Avhen in the summer of
1830, General Von Rosen, avIio bad taken the
command of the army after the brief and in
efficient career in the Caucasus of Paskievitch,
the successor of Jeimoloff, marched on Himri

EBASI-MOLLAH. 151
to crush the germ of Avar which was prepar
ing to unfold itself in this part of the moun
tains, the chief men of the neighboring aouls
hastened in great numbers to give in their
adhesion to the supremacy of the Russians.
So general in fact AA'as the appearance of sub
mission that Von Rosen, staying his advance,
let Himri go unpunished.
"The enemy are smitten by Allah with
blindness!" exclaimed Khasi-Mollah as he
heard that the Russians were retracing their
footsteps Avithout penetrating further into the
mountains. " They could not see their advan
tage. As is written in the book of the
prophet, ' With blindness will I smite them ! ' "
This interpretation of the turning back of
Von Rosen, struck the heated imaginations of
the mountaineers with such force that they
all regarded it as a miraculous interposition
of Allah in behalf of the new prophet ; and
Avhen Khasi-Mollah, taking advantage of this
sudden turn of men's minds towards him, de
feated a detachment sent under Prince Beko-
vitsch to disperse a gathering of murids in the
woods of Tchunkeskan, his fame increased in
the land, and a large number of Avarriors
flocked around his standard.

152 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
The next year, therefore, he was enabled
to perform the great feat of capturing Tarku,
an important place on the Caspian, and of
laying siege to the fortress of Burnaja Avhich
overlooks it. The reinforcements of the
enemy compelled him indeed to retire ; but
not until after several days of desperate fight
ing, and Avhen he had literally stream the
streets of Tarku Avith his dead. Then devas
tating the unfriendly aouls on the Sulak,
beating General Emanuel in a pitched battle,
converting by fire and sword the district of
Tabasseran Avhich had held with the Russians,
blockading the strong toAAm of Derbend until
it Avas relieved by superior numbers, and
storming Kisliar on the Terek Avhence he
carried away captives and much treasure, he
terminated the conquests of the season by
captivating the heart of a daughter of Ma-
homet-Mollah, whom he took to wife, and
then retired into Avinter quarters in Himri.
Shortly before he had issued the foUoAving
call, written in Arabic, to the tribes of Da
ghestan : —
" Hear all ye men of Daghestan ! Our next
breaking into the territory of the unfriendly

KHASI-MOLLAH. 153
tribes will be like the rising red of the morn
ing. Blood Avill mark our track; fire and
desolation AviU be left behind us ; and Avhat
words cannot describe shall be executed in
deeds. But accept the neAV doctrine and
3'our lives shall be spared, and your property
left in your possession. The song of the night
ingale in the spring Avill be the sign of our
coming. So soon as the snow melts on the
mountains, and the neAV year puts on its green,
we shall SAveep over the hostile aouls, taking
by force AArhat is denied to forbearance. We
are the terror of the unbelieving, but the
strength and refuge of the faithful ; and he
who follows us shall have peace and eternal
life. Amen."
But in Himri Avas destined to terminate the
brief career of glory run by Khasi-Mollah.
With the first singing of birds he did indeed
go forth, carrying devastation beyond the
Russian lines, even from Kisliar to Wladikau-
kas, from the Caspian to the central Caucasus ;
but the Russian commander-in-chief, accompa
nied by General Williaminoff, Prince Dadian,
and the valiant Austrian Kluke Von Kluge-
nau, forced the prophet to retire and take

154 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
refuge behind the triple AvaUs of Himri.
Thereupon, durmg the retreat, the warriors
who had been compeUed to join his standard
contrary to their inclination, gradually fell
off; one by one the chieftains deserted him
as they saw the superiority of the forces of
the enemy; even the principal murid, Ham-
sad Bey, deceived, it is said, by forged procla
mations issued in the name of the prophet,
separated himself from a leader whose for
tunes were so evidently on the Avane ; and
when October's unfallen leaves Avere stUl coa'-
ering the hills of Himri, the Russian bayonets
arrived to add their gleam to the gorgeous
ness of the autumnal decay of nature.
There Avas now no escape for the faithful
few who still adhered to the cause of Khasi-
Mollah, among whom was Schamyl. The ar
tillery under the direction of General William-
inoff soon brought dowm the toAvers of loose
stones over the devoted heads of the murids in
Himri. But they met their fate chanting
verses from the Koran. No man had a thought
of surrender, though the paths into the moun
tains Avere all in the possession of the enemy.
From street to street and from house to house

KHASI-MOLLAH. 155
fought the men of Himri. Their granite
rocks Avere as red Avith blood as the leaves of
the trees Avith the glory of the autumn. Kha
si-Mollah, though from his priestly character
he did not himself bear arms, fell surrounded
by the dead bodies of sixty of his disciples.
Schamyl also lay at his feet bored through by
two baUs, and Avas left there by the enemy for
dead. When the Bussians found the corpse
of Khasi-Mollah, the right hand stfll pointed
to heaven, the left grasped the beard, and
over the face Avas spread the placid expression
of a dream instead of the last agony.
Khasi-MoUah was of a short stature, with
small eyes, a thin, long beard, and a counte
nance someAvhat marked by smaUpox.

XXVII.
HAMSAD BET.

The manner of Schamyl's escape and recov
ery from the wounds received at Himri never
having been explained by himself, was be
heved by the mountaineers to have been mi
raculous. Certain it is he surviA'ed to receive
the mantle of the heroic Khasi-Mollah, though
in descending to him it rested for a short time
on the shoulders of Hamsad Bey.
This leader possessed neither the fanatical
zeal of his predecessor nor the military genius
of the stiU greater prophet Avho came after him;
but being consecrated by Mahomet-Mollah as
the successor of Khasi-Mollah, iiotAvithstanding
his separation from the latter preA'iously to
the fight at Himri, he Avas universaUy ac-
(156)

HAMS AD BEY. 157
knowledged as the chief of the neAV party.
The first of the two years of his rule Avas
spent by him in making preparations for tak
ing the field, during which time he had the
address to gather together a considerable
number of Russian deserters AA'hom he formed
into a separate corps commanded by their
OAvn officers, and in Avhom, being attached to
him by good treatment, he placed such entire
confidence that he even made them his body
guard. This Avas something new in the annals
of Circassian warfare ; but it was an innova
tion of short duration and very questionable
utility, inasmuch as such a perfect machine as
the Russian soldier could work to little ad
vantage by. the side of the Circassian warrior
with his impetuous impulses and action inde
pendent of the word of command.
The only feat of arms attempted during
this year by Hamsad Bey was a successful at
tack on the aoul of Chergow, in the Mechtu-
linian district; but the spring following he
concentrated his forces, amounting to some
twelve thousand men, in the aoul of Gotsatl,
in Avaria, eighteen wersts east of Chunsach,
for the purpose of striking a blow at Russian
14

158 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
ascendency in the neighboring districts of
Daghestan. But to do this effectually it Avas
necessary first to put an end to the influence
of the enemy in Avaria itself, and to substi
tute his oavu spiritual authority as murschid
in place of the deference paid there to the
hereditary khans.
Accordingly Hamsad Bey marched on
Chunsach, where Pachu Bike with her three
sons held for the Muscovites. Pitching his
tent before this populous aoul, he sent in his
herald to the khaness requiring her to adopt
the new religion of hatred against the Rus
sians, and to join her forces AAith his to drive
them out of the country. Pachu Bike, who
had so heroically taken up arms against Kha
si-Mollah, noAV thought it more prudent to
try the fortune of negotiation, and for that
purpose sent her tAvo eldest sons, Omar Khan
and Abu-Nunzal, to treat with the murschid.
But the latter having got the princes in his
possession, caused them to be put to death ;
then followed up his treachery by seizing
upon the unresisting aoul ; and having decap
itated the khaness herself, destroyed all of the
reigning race save her youngest son Bulatsch

HAMSAD BEY. 159
Khan, a lad eleven 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 ; but the avenger of blood folloAved close
behind him. Two brothers, Osman and Hadji-
Murad, being foster-brothers of Omar Khan,
resolved to satisfy the laAv which requires in
Circassia, as formerly in Judea, that whoso
ever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his
blood be shed. They were at the time murids
of Hamsad Bey, but being urged on by their
father, a man venerable in years, and opposed
to the reformed party in religion, they were
induced to set their aUegiance to the law of
vengeance before their loyalty to theh chief,
and accordingly conspired to take him off.
Forty of their relations and friends joined the
conspiracy, all taking an oath on the Koran
to be faithful to each other, and never to rest
untU they had slain Hamsad Bey. But one
among them proved to be a traitor. Going
straightway to the murschid he revealed the
plot of the tAvo brothers. But the Bey, con
fiding in the loyalty of disciples who had
given him so many proofs of fidelity, Avould

160 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
not listen to the tale, and peacefully resumed
the sleep from which he had been aAvakened
to hear it.
On the morrow he fell dead in the mosque
of Chunsach, pierced by the pistol balls of the
two murids. One of them, Osman, instantly
received the reAvard of his treachery in the
loss of his life at the hands of the attendants
of the prophet; but the other, Hadji-Murad,
escaping in the confusion of the moment,
brought the crowd outside to his assistance
by raising the cry of, "Doaati AAith the mu
rids." With sabre and pistol they rushed into
the house of Allah, and in a moment all its
stones Avere red Avith the blood of his children.
Only thirty out of the one hundred murids
of Hamsad Bey escaped from the mosque
with theh lives. These flying before the ex
cited multitude sought refuge in the neigh
boring toAver ; but this being built of wood
Avas set on fire by the order of Hadji-Murad.
Then of the thirty, some precipitated them
selves headlong from the top of the toAver;
others fell fighting ; Mahomet-Had shi-Jaf, the
same avIio had betrayed the conspirators, being
sorely Avounded Avas taken captive ; only one
escaped, as if by miracle — it Avas Schamyl.

XXVIII.
CIRCASSIAN MODE OF WARFARE.

Such Avere the leaders under whom Schamyl
served his apprenticeship in the art of war.
But from his youth up he had also been trained
for the great military part he was to play in
life by engaging in those raids and forays by
means of which the Circassians were wont at
that period to harass and keep at bay the
enemy. For while from lack of unanimity
among the tribes, from want of a hero like
Schamyl to lead them, from the superiority
of the Russian forces, or from whatever other
cause, the mountaineers were engaged in no
great, combined movements of self-defence,
there was iiotAvithstanding constantly kept up,
by most of the tribes of both the eastern and
14* (161)

162 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
the Avcstern Caucasus, the running fire of the
guerilla, and the predatory expeditions of a
war of the border.
Such expeditions were set on foot either by
some chieftain who rode from aoul to aoul
calling upon the brave to folloAv him ; or by
a summons sent abroad to the Avarriors of a
certain district inviting them to assemble in
the council ring at a given time and place for
the purpose of agreeing upon an attack upon
some fort, or a foray within the lines of the
enemy. The spot selected for holding the
assembly Avould be some conA'enient hill-top
or vale shaded by trees. There, with no little
rude eloquence, accompanied by the singing
the praises of heroes, the subject of the pro
posed expedition would be considered, and
the course to be pursued be determined by a
majority of voices. With scarcely the for
mality of an election, the general preference
Avould select some chieftain to head the incur
sion, if finally agreed upon. And to set off,
if the occasion pressed, ayouM hardly require
more preparation than the springing into their
saddles ; for at the Iioavs of these could
quickly be hung a sufficiency of proA'isions

CIRCASSIAN MODE OF WARFARE. 1G3
for their simple wants, while ammunition and
arms are always Avorn about their person.
The Circassian spares his horse when he
can, and generaUy rides slowly to the scene
of contest. Indeed, the route admits of no
hurrying ; for it often leads along precipices
which would turn almost any head but his
oavii ; Avinds a narrow, rugged path over the
mountains ; picks its Avay along the rocky
bed of the torrent ; dives into forests tangled
with vines and brambles ; and cannot always
turn aside even from the bog and the quag
mire. But his hardy steed never tires ; and
up hill or doAvn dale toils patiently, bravely,
cheerfully, as if conscious that he was going
on to meet the armed men, and smelling afar
off the future battle, the thunder of the cap
tains, and the shouting. Sometimes the party
travels through the night, each Avarrior being
muffled in a shaggy capote or bourka, which
covers not only the rider but the entire back
of his steed. Above protrude the barrels of
the rifles, while below dangle the horse-tails,
making, by their constantly dangling to and
fro, the night-march a very promenade of hob
goblins.

164 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
But on the longer expeditions the Avar
party halts at night. Some green spot having
been selected where there is pasturage and
water, the horses are tethered, or alloAved to
graze under care of persons appointed to
Avatch them. Their saddles furnish a pillow
at night, and their cloth a carpet to sit upon.
Each person contributes from the leathern
bottles and bags at his saddle-bow a portion
towards the general mess, Avhich is prepared
by a certain number of the party in turn;
and AA'hile it is being made ready, the others
having said their evening prayers and per
formed their ablutions resign themselves to
the soothing influences of the chibouque, if
not prohibited, and to the cordial of coffee, if
they have any. The supper at the very best
will consist of hot mfllet or barley cakes, and
the savory pilaff of minced mutton and millet
or rice. A little honey Avill be sure to be
added, and possibly dried fruits. This, how
ever, is on the supposition that there are a
feAV sumpter horses loaded ay ith provisions, as
is generaUy the case Avhen the party is a large
one. There may also haAe been more or less
game picked up by the Avay. A boAvl of

CIRCASSIAN MODE OF AVARFARE. 165
mead or skhone is generally to be had by the
Circassian, let the supper it accompanies be
never so scanty ; and the sharp appetite Avlich
heaA-en sends to those journeying through the
hills in the saddle, will season even a little
sour milk and a few cakes of millet and honey,
if there be nothing else, with more than the
savor of a feast. The chieftain fares no bet
ter than his clansmen ; all share in the mess
alike. The supper finished, and every man having
carefully cleansed his weapons, loaded and
primed his guns and pistols, placed his sabre
by his saclclle-pilloAv, Avhile his faithful poniard
guards the side it never leaves, and finally a
short prayer for protection having been offered
to Allah, the sentinels also being duly set, the
Avarrior who is to fall in battle on the mor-
roAv lies cloAvn to sleep as peaceful as that of
the babe he has left behind hi the aoul, and
soft as if the canopy overhead Avere not the
star-spangled curtain of the skies. If the
party have tents, as is sometimes the case,
they are pitched by cutting down branches
of trees for lack of poles, and then covering
them Avith the mats and felts AA'hich have been

166 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
transported in bales on horseback. These
simple structures serve sufficiently AveU to
keep out Avind and rain; while the boughs
of many kinds of trees furnish a couch both
elastic and fragrant.
Watch fires, too, are often kept burning
through the night ; and in cold weather they
serve hkewise to keep warm those sleeping
around them. When the fires are numerous
they light up AA'ith picturesque effect the
grim-faced rocks and the solemn woods. A
whole mountain side even may be illuminated
by the multitude of flames, making the gran
ite, porphyry, and limestone glow with colors
more gorgeous than those borrowed from the
light of clay. Or the gloom of the deep glen
is dissipated and devoured by the lambent
tongues of fire, AA'hile the rocks over against
each other burn Avith the additional radiance
reflected from their faces. Beacon ansAvers to
beacon from cliffs and hill-tops. Perhaps the
enemy's fires far off diffuse a gloAV tlirough
another quarter of the heavens. The reeds
of the Kuban and the Terek set on fire by
the Russians to destroy the ambuscades of the
mountaineers, touch AA'ith a dull red tint the

CIRCASSIAN MODE OF WARFARE. 167
Ioav northern horizon ; here and there confla
grations raging in the grass-grown steppes
show at night AA'here lie the vast and dreary
confines of the Muscovite ; Avhile perhaps the
moon sinking below the Black mountains
draAvs, Avith a line of silver, the broken out
line of their ridges, leaving in the blackness
of midnight the vast forests and outcropping
rocks beloAV.
When the first faint blush of breaking day
suffuses the eastern sky far off above the Cas
pian, the warrior's eye already open is strain
ing to catch it. His tent is struck ; his horse
saddled; his arms girded on; and he ready
for the march. As the gray dawn deepening
to crimson fills the mountains ere the sun be
risen AAith its increasing, all-pervading light,
the horsemen descend in smaU parties from
the already purple heights into the mists
which hang their thin veils over the depths
of the valleys. Their arms reflect the beams
of the risen sun, and the red or purple in
their caps is heightened by the gloAV of the
mountain tops. Gaily they gallop down the
easy declivities, their horses snuffing eagerly
the fresh air of the morning, but their ragged

168 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
banners too Avet with the dews of night to
flaunt upon the zephyrs that, neAvly risen,
scarcely movre their Avings. The foremost
riders, gaining the open valley screened by an
intervening mountain from the plain of the
enemy, prance over it, and companies of horse
coming in from different directions join the
general rendezvous untU, all counted, they
may amount to two or three hundred, or as
many thousand men. For seldom does a Cir
cassian chief lead on a raid into the enemy's
country Avith either less than the former num
ber or more than the latter.
The guides iioav come in from reconnoit
ring the posture of affairs on the steppe on the
other side of the mountain. In accordance
with their advice most probably had the expe
dition been originally agreed upon; for they
had represented the enemy's flocks and herds
as left unguarded saA'e by the shepherds, the
villages undefended except by the boors, and
the posture of things generally to be such as
to promise a certain victory Avith booty and
captives. Now they come in, having taken a
final survey from some Avooded nook on the
hiU-side of the boundless steppean prospect,

CIRCASSIAN MODE OF WARFARE. 169
as from his cottage on the cliff the fisherman
looks out upon the level Avasto of the ocean.
The Terek is reported sufficiently low to be
forded ; for the stream which in the higher
mountains pours doAvn Avith headlong fury its
waters, transparent save AA'here the white and
red crystals which form its bed are concealed
by the foam, creeps through the steppe a
sluggish, muddy current, passable with safety
at certain points and certain stages of the
water. In the plain beyond stands a Cossack
village or stanitza, together Avith a small fort
or krepost surrounded by mud walls, armed
Avith a piece or two of artillery, and garrisoned
by a small body of infantry. It is one of the
chain of similar Cossack settlements which,
called " the line " of the Caucasus, stretches
from the mouth of the Kuban to that of the
Terek ; and as the invaders penetrate further
and further into the mountains, they carry this
system of Cossack colonies and fort defenses
AAith them, so that the chain forged to bind
within its thousand links the liberties of all
the tribes is gradually draAvn tighter and
tighter. Over against the ford, and at no great dis-
15

170 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
tance from it, stands a Cossack guard-post. It
is constructed of four poles twenty or more
feet in height, which below are fastened in
the earth and support on the upper extremity
a seat or lookout. To this the Cossack climbs
by means of a ladder, and there he sits by
day and by night Avatching the forest of reeds
on the river banks, watching the level sweep
of the steppe, on either side, Avatching the op
posite hills and mountains. Forlorn indeed
would be the poor Cossack notwithstanding
he has before his eyes the glory of the Cir
cassian hiUs and the distant snow-summits
mingling with the clouds, were it not for the
bottle of schnapps by his side, and the strok
ing of his long moustache. For Aveeks and
months he may watch Avithout seeing a single
Circassian. But AA'hen he does, he instantly
kindles his beacon fire, and descending seizes
his lance left leaning against one of the four
posts, and springing upon his horse which
stands fastened to another, gaUops to the stan-
itza. In all haste the Avonien and chfldren
fly to the fort ; the soldiers drive in the swine
or cattle Avhich feed on the grass around it;
the sentinels fire the cannon to give the alarm

CIRCASSIAN MODE OF WARFARE. 171
to the neighboring stanitzas ; and every Cos
sack within sound of the signal-firing, vault
ing into the saddle and putting his steed to
his mettle, hastens lance in hand to drive
back the enemy.
But ere he arrives, though fleet be his steed,
very likely the Circassian band, having pre
viously succeeded in reaching the river unob
served, have swept like a tempest over both
fort and stanitza. An oath of fidelity which
even more than any divinity awes the Circas
sian mind and rules it, having previously been
administered on a pocket edition of the Koran
to each warrior by his chief, and each one
before sallying from his place of concealment
in reeds, woods, or hflls, having dismounted to
put up with raised hands in silence a brief
prayer to Allah, as well as to tighten his sad
dle-girths, at a given signal all spring forward
like the roused hon out of his lair. Giving
theh horses the rein they have no need of
spurs. In a moment they are across the open
space Avhich lies betAveen their cover and the
fortress, though some may have fallen from
the enemy's Avell-aimed guns and musketry.
They are at the gates ; they leap the ditch ;

172 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
they climb the wall ; they spring down into
the enclosure ; at the same time raising a
war-cry Avhich resembling the shrill, melan
choly, and fearfuUy wild howl of the jackal,
fills with unnatural, and even insane conster
nation the troops AA'ho for the first time hear
it. It is now quick Avork, and the struggle
fearful. But the agile and light-limbed
mountaineers are more than a match for the
heavy, sloAV-witted Russians ; and though in
cold blood the former do not take the hfe of
an enemy, iioav fury-driven they are swift to
smite and never spare ; AA'hile above the clash
of sabres and bayonets, above the shouting
and the musketry, rises the voice of the Cir
cassian chief aaIio leads on and deals out de
struction until the last Muscovite bites the
dust. The stanitza making no resistance, the Avork
of pillage is soon done ; Avhereupon the troop
having picked up their dead and Avounded,
turn their horses' heads again toAvards the
mountains. When the Cossacks come in Avith
their reinforcements it is too late. They are
only in time to behold the stanitza in flames,
the fort in ruins from the explosion of its

CIRCASSIAN MODE OF WARFARE. 173
magazines, and the victors, their cruppers
piled high Avith goods, and women, just gain
ing the opposite bank, or crossing the hill-top,
on the other side of which lie both safety and
freedom. Sometimes the Circassians dash through be
tAveen the forts without stopping to attack
them, and suffering, perhaps, somewhat from
the cross-fire, gain the country beyond the
line, where they find more abundant spoils
and no resistance. But on their return, they
are sure to encounter the Cossacks drawn up
at the ford, or some other point convenient
for disputing the passage to an enemy encum
bered with booty. These Russian hirelings,
howeArer, the freemen of the mountains de
spise, and with superior horses ride them down.
Only when the espionage which is maintained
among all the tribes on the border — for ev
erywhere there are souls which can be bought
for gold — succeeds in procuring for their
enemies information of any incursion before
it takes place, is the foray rendered unsuccess
ful and the troop cut off.
15*

XXIX.
RUSSIAN MODE OF AVARFARE.

The Russian mode of conducting the inva
sion of the Caucasus has been different at dif
ferent times. When the Emperor Nicholas,
after the treaty of Adrianople in 1829, reA'ived
the old AA'ar with Circassia in order to compel
by force of arms the acknowledgment of
those pretended rights of supremacy which
by that treat}" had been made over to him by
Turkey, he supposed that his Cossacks, aided
by a small force of infantry, would be sufficient
to intimidate the mountaineers and to accom
phsh his purpose. Earlier in the century,
Russia had acquired from Persia the vast
provinces of the southern Caucasus, and had
ai'tei'Avards, partly by the consent of the tribes

RUSSIAN MODE OF AYARFARE. 175
and partly by force, succeeded in keeping
open the two great routes to these possessions,
the one along the Caspian, and the other over
the centre of the chain by the pass of Dariel.
It remained therefore to subjugate only that
portion of the Caucasus not included in the
territories adjacent to these two roads, and
lying the larger portion of it south of the
Kuban, and tfie smaller south of the Terek.
Nicholas accordingly sent his proclamations
into the mountains saying, " Bussia has con
quered France, put her sons to death, and
made captives of her daughters. England
will never give any aid to the Circassians,
because she depends on Russia for her daily
bread. There are only two powers in the
universe — God in heaven, and the emperor
on earth ! What then do you expect ? Even
though the arch of heaven were to fall, there
are Russians enough to hold it up on the
points of their bayonets ! " At the same time,
while the Cossack colonies which had been
planted in line along the northern banks of
the Kuban and the Terek Avere reinforced
from the hordes of their brethren on the
Black Sea and the Don, the long spears of

176 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
these united horsemen were strengthened by
the bayonets of a few thousand infantry —
the vanguard of hundreds of thousands Avho
were to come after them.
But the Circassians heard AAith incredulous
ears the big words of the lieutenants of the
czar. They knew not, besides, why he should
pretend to rule over them. The Turks had
indeed enjoyed the privilege of establishing
fortified places of trade on their coasts, and
as mo'st of the tribes had been converted from
paganism by Mahometan missionaries, they
looked upon the sultan as theh spiritual head
and Allah's vicegerent, but they did not con
sider theh free mountains as in any sense his
domain, nor liable by any treaty stipulations
to be transferred to another superior, much
less to the unbelieving Padischah of the " flax-
haired Christian dogs," and their old enemies,
the Muscovites. Accordingly, like true and
independent men and the sons of sires AA'ho
without let or hinderance had pastured their
flocks in these mountains since the da}-s of the
patriarchs, they refused to give up the ancient
freedom of their homes, built on the rocks, at
the bidding of the minions of the autocrat of
the North.

RUSSIAN MODE OF AVARFARE. 177
The Cossacks AA'ho came galloping across
the steppes on small, shaggy horses, and armed
Avithunwieldly lances, the mountaineers looked
upon Avith contempt. They sabred them and
rode them down. As for the Russian infantry,
they Avere terror-struck at the sound of the
yell Avith Avhich these centaurs of the moun
tains dashed into the thickest of their ranks,
shooting them doAvn with pistols, striking back
their bayonets with their sabres, leaping from
their saddles to poniard them, and the next
instant gone on a gallop AAith the Avind. The
soldier Avho had been at the retreat from Mos
cow, raid at the crossing of the Borodino, and
who Avas a good and true grenadier, sturdy,
brave, obedient to the word of command, felt all
his forces desert him before the onset of such
reckless riders and accomplished SAVordsmen.
Once across the Kuban or the Terek, he never
felt sure of his life, for there was always a
Circassian lying in Avait for him. When the
column Avas Avending its Avay through the nar
row valley Avherein nature held her supreme
and silent reign, save that the tiny brook ran
Avith gurgling sounds over its rocks and peb
bles, or the nightingale made the thickets

i/0 LIFE OF SCHAMY'L.
vocal with its song, or the bees flitting from
flower to flower diffused through the air a
pleasing murmur, Avherein the oak spread its
peaceful branches against the sky, the beech
leaning over the path shed a grateful shade,
and the vine hanging in festoons from elm to
maple invited the weary soldier to refresh his
lips with theh purple clusters, there lay hid
in this sweet solitude a hundred men and
more armed for battle; and when the in
vaders no more suspected danger from the
peaceful hill-sides than the bird from the
snare of the foAvler,
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 singhig of the brook, the
carol of the nightingale, and the humming
of the SAveet-mouthed bees, Avere heard the
rifle's sharp crack and the rattling of the mus
ketry ; the brook ran red Avith the blood of
the slain ; and the Russians, like the Roman
legions cut off in the Avoods of the Germans,
were left with none to bury them.

RUSSIAN MODE OF AVARFARE. 179
Nor even within the Avails of the forts was
the Russian soldier entirely safe from his Avily
adversary. For when silently beneath the
moon the sentry is pacing the narroAV rounds
of the krepost, suspecting no enemy within a
dozen leagues, but thinking rather of the hut
on Polish plains or shores of Finnish lake
fondly called a home, some Adighe or Les
ghian who, unable to rest until he has slaked
his thhst for vengeance in the blood of an
infidel, has stolen doAvn from the mountains
and lain hid a day in the reeds of the river
bank, creeps at nightfall like a wild beast out
of his lair, glides unseen by the guard-post of
the Cossack as the latter is taking perhaps a
final pull at his bottle of schnapps, and crawl
ing up within sight of the very beard of the
sentinel, picks him off
Accordingly the army of the emperor, in
stead of making an easy conquest of the Cau
casus, Avas obliged to remain for the most part
shut up in the chain of their miserable forts
and kreposts. Here, Avhen these fortified
places were not boldly assaulted and carried
by storm, as often happened, the troops fell a
gradual prey to fevers and dysenteries, or to

180 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
the Avant of those supplies Avhich the pecula
tion of "the officers in charge of them contin
ually cither withheld or adulterated. The
forts, situated on the coast of the Black Sea,
could be relieved only during that half of the
year Avhich Avas suited for navigation ; while
those on the Kuban and the Terek Avere de
pendent on the precarious supplies conveyed
overland at such times as the roads Avere pass
able. To keep up the spirits of the impris
oned garrisons the men Avere made to sing by
word of command ; and the dance was intro
duced as a military exercise. The Caucasus
in fact became a southern Siberia, AA'here the
average life of the soldier Avas but three A'ears.
Taught at length by repeated and disas
trous failures that this method of attacking
the Circassians AA'as a fatal error, the czar next
adopted the plan of sending into the moun
tains heavj' masses of infantry supported by
poAverful trains of field artillery. These AA'ith
great labor penetrated a certain distance into
the interior for the purpose of opening roads
from one important fortress to another, and
guarding them AA'ith chains of mud forts or
kreposts. They made reconnoissances in va-

RUSSIAN MODE OF WARFARE. 181
rious directions, succeeded in isolating and
subduing some of the districts lying on the
Kuban and Laba rivers, and completed the
subjugation of the more open country of the
Kabardan tribes, who were obliged to accept
terms of neutrality.
At the same time the invaders adopted the
additional plan of blockading the mountains
both by sea and land. Besides the line of
fortresses commenced by Peter the Great on
the Terek, extended by Catherine westward,
and now completed from sea to sea, similar
establishments were created on all the points
of the Black Sea coast which could conven
iently be approached by Avater. Under pre
tence of carrying out a rigid system of quar
antine regulations and tariff laws, the object
was to cut off the Circassians from all foreign
intercourse, and especially from trade with
the Turks, who were in the habit of supply
ing them Avith arms, gunpoAvder, salt, and va
rious necessary articles of manufacture. At
the same time, the Russians endeavored by
making certain marts of their oavii free to the
mountaineers, to induce them gradually to
exchange the habits of war for those of trade
16

182 LIFE OF SCHAMY'L.
and friendly intercourse with their adversa
ries. Emissaries Avere sent among the tribes
to attempt to Avin them over to this change
of policy ; rank in the army was offered to
the chiefs ; or they Avere tempted by pensions ;
and even by the introduction of foreign brandy
as AveU as foreign gold, efforts were made to
spread the fatal net of Russian influence along
all the footpaths of freedom in the moun
tains. The Circassians liked the taste of the for
eign liquor, and theh eyes Avere not insensible
to the charms of coined gold, of AA'hich they
had before seen but little. The epaulettes
also and stars and ribands Avere such baubles
as Avere avcII adapted to captivate the fancy
of semi-civilized chieftains; and the Russian
fabrics were a temptation to aU, especially to
the Avomen ; but to the honor of the Circas
sians, the tribes Avith few exceptions disdained
to sell theh birthright of hidependence for a
mere mess of pottage. Relations of trade
and amity could be established only AA'ith the
tribes Avhose position on the frontier compelled
them to be neutral The chiefs in the inte
rior, though often jealous of each other, held

RUSSIAN MODE OF WARFARE. 183
themselves too high to be bought by the com
mon enemy for a price ; and the intrigue of
the czar was on the Avhole as unsuccessful as
his arms.
The Circassians at first made little or no
change in theh mode of warfare to meet the
new tactics of the invader. StiU despising
the men who dwelt in plains notwithstanding
their cannon " made the earth to tremble and
the fruit drop from the trees," they continued
from time to time to storm the kreposts sabre
in hand. They leaped out of their places of
ambush upon the columns which attempted
to penetrate into theh fastnesses ; and attack
ing the more numerous enemy in dense
masses as formerly practised by the Turkish
spahis, setting all modern tactics at defiance,
and bent on bearing doAvn every thing before
them by the mad fury of their onset, they
rushed upon the Russian squares and guns as
if they had been the mere branches of trees
used in their OAvn mock-fights.
For the most part they were victorious;
but every victory cost them much precious
blood, a fresh supply of Avhich could not so
easily be obtained as was the case Avith the

184 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
viler sort which floAved in the veins of the
imperial serfs and peasants. They were there
fore obliged in the end to become less prodi
gal of it, and to adopt a system of guerilla
Avarfare better adapted to the comparative
fewness of their warriors and the extraordi
nary strength of theh natural means of de
fence. To cut off convoys, to surprise out
posts, to hover about the march of the ene
my's columns, to lie in wait for them in the
passes of the mountains, to pick off their
officers from behind rocks and bushes, to attack
in numbers only in cases of great moment
and Avhen the nature of the ground rendered
a successful dash practicable before the strag
gling column could form square, and to under
take the storming of fortified places, and the
plundering of hostile districts only AA'lien
these Avere left coniparatiA'ely defenceless, Avas
finally the method of Avarfare Avhich experi
ence had forced upon the tribes at the period
AA'lien Schamyl appeared on the scene as theh
leader.

XXX.
HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE.

Schamyl was thirty-seven years of age
when he was raised to the rank of a murschid
and leader of the tribes. At that period in
his prime, he had outgrown the early dehcacy
of his constitution, and Avas a warrior as dis
tinguished in personal appearance as in char
acter and inteUectual culture. He was of
middle stature ; had fair hair, since turned to
white; grey eyes overshadowed by thick,
Avell-draAvn brows; a mouth, like his hands
and feet, small ; a regular, so-called Grecian
nose ; and a complexion remarkable among
his countrymen for its fairness and delicacy
of skin. He had the light, elastic Circassian
tread, Avith little movement of his arms in
16 * (185)

180 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
walking, an erect carriage, and a naturally
noble air and bearing. Perfectly master of
himself and of his countenance, sternly self-
collected even in moments of the greatest
danger, holding in perpetual balance the ar
dor of the Avarrior and the calm of the
prophet, he impressed AAith aAve all Avho came
into his presence. As he regarded himself as
an instrument in the hands of a higher power,
and held according to the doctrine of the
Sufis that all his thoughts and decisions Avere
the immediate inspiration of Allah, so he con
demned to death the traitor and conferred
the shaska of honor on a murid Avith equal
calmness, manifesting neither anger nor satis-
faction, almost as impassive and impersonal
as fate itself. But whfle his ordinary manner
was thus calmly commanding, his eloquence
Avas as fiery as it Avas persuasive. " Flames
sparkle from his eyes," said Bersek Bey, " and
floAvers are scattered from his lips."
Schamyl is said to have put on a white
mantle, indicative of his priestly character as
the second prophet of Allah ; but his ordinary
dress and arms Avere the same as those in use,
Avith trifling variations, among all Circassians.

HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 187
They wear a surtout resembling a mflitary
Polonaise, Avithout a collar, closely fitting the
body, descending to the knees, and secured
around the waist by a leathern girdle, which
is ornamented according to the wealth or
fancy of the Avearer. On either breast of this
garment are attached cartridge-pockets made
of morocco leather of different colors, usually
containing twenty-four rounds of ball car
tridge, and at the same time decking the chest
and protecting it. Beneath is a tunic, often
richly embroidered, and of a gay color. The
trousers are loose, excepting that from the
ankle to the knee the folds are confined to the
leg by straps. The calpac or cap has a crown
similar in color to the cartridge-pockets, with
a band of long, black goat's hair or white
sheep's avooI, which hanging down about the
broAvs imparts a Avlld fierceness of expression
to the dark, flashing eyes, and boldly cut feat
ures. Sometimes a chieftain AviU also wind
around his cap a shawl in the form of a tur
ban, his head being shaven after the manner
of the Turks, though the tuft on the crown
is generally much larger. The shoes are
made of a single piece of leather, and neatly

188 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
shoAv the form of the foot. Under the other
garments is worn a shirt of either sflk or cal
ico, besides that of mail sometimes put on in
war ; and over all is thrown in cold weather
an ample cloak called a bourka, woven of
sheep's wool or goat's hair, and impervious to
rain. This convenient and picturesque costume is
also set off by much sflver lace, embroidery,
and all the elegant artifice of needle-Avork,
but still more by the various arms without
which no Circassian appears in public. A
rifle is slung across the shoulders by a belt,
this Aveapon having taken the place of the
bow and arrows which are now seldom seen
except as an ornament and mark of distinc
tion. The sabre, called a shaska, is suspended
by a silken cord in the Turkish fashion. In
the girdle are stuck a pair of pistols, and a
short, double-edged cama, resembling the
SAVord of the ancient Romans. This latter
arm in close conflicts Avith the Russian in
fantry is particularly dreaded from the dex
terity with Avhich it is AA'ielded, a single stroke
generally sufficing to sever a limb, Avhile re
covery from its stab is almost hopeless. At-

HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 189
tached to the girdle also are a powder-flask, a
small metallic box containing fat to anoint
the rifle-balls, a purse of skin for carrying
flints, tinder, and steel, and not unfrequently
a hatchet, or knife in a sheath. The sabre is
silver-lilted, Avithout a guard ; and its scab
bard, richly embroidered, is composed of sev
eral pieces of morocco of different colors.
The pistols also are mounted Avith silver ; the
poniard has often precious stones in its handle,
and its sheath is inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
Sometimes a javelin in addition to other arms
is carried, which is hurled to a considerable
distance Avith an aim that rarely errs. Hav
ing a groove at the but- end, it is used also as
a rest for the rifle, besides serving as a pole
in leaping among the rocks.
Coats of mail with casques of steel, cui
rasses, cuisses, brassards, and gauntlets, for
merly much used and worth from ten up to
three hundred oxen, are noAV little esteemed ;
though chain armor, resembling that of the
ancient Persians, is still Avorn occasionally by
the chiefs of tribes. This is generally of con
siderable antiquity, exquisitely wrought, of
perfect temper, light, elastic, and fitting the

190 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
body closely. There. are also still in use a
good many SAVords, noAV diminished by use a
third or more in Avidth, AA'hich have come
doAvn from the Genevese, Venetians, Milanese,
and Spaniards of the middle ages. Of these
the Toledan blade is the most common ; and
travellers curious in antique arms haA'e noted
one possessing the genuine silvery lustre, and
engraved with the picture of a Spanish cava
lier, together Avith the motto, Ad major cm glo-
riam Dei; another AA'hich Avas dedicated to
God, and marked, Anno domini 1664 ; another
showing on one side an imperial croAvn, encir
cled by a wreath of laurel, and on the other
a globe surmounted by a cross, with the in
scription underneath in old Englisli charac
ters, Viva Espagna ; and others, finally, inlaid
with gold, and haAing the head of the Saviour,
or some saint engraA'ed over such inscriptions
as, Par my Dey y par my Ecy, or, Ne me tire
pas sans raison et ne me rcmcts pas sans honnew:
Nor is the modern Circassian sabre one of
metal inferior to that of the ancient Avorkman-
ship ; but a blade as flexible as that of Damas
cus, long and heavy, yet bending like a reed,
and Avhen inlaid and ornamented with gold

HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 191
valued as high as three hundred roubles, or
even more.
The Avealth of a Circassian consists very
much in his arms and horses. It may even
happen that a chieftain may wear a coat
which is out at the elboAVS, and especiaUy
Avhen going to battle, — for though he may
fall himself 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 his bow as richly jewelled as was
Diana's, and a corytos in the superb style of
the ancient Persians, as found represented on
Persepolitan bas-reliefs. The trappings of his
horse also may be made costly with Russian
leather and chased silver ornaments. Nor in
the case of a leader less illustrious than
Schamyl even, would it be a thing impossible
for his saddle to be covered with blue velvet,
adorned with black enamelled silver plates,
stirrups of massive silver, and bridle no less
brilliantly ornamented, the work of the cun
ning artificers of Armenia.
In all these costly trappings of war does
the Chcassian leader take great delight, nor
did Schamyl himself disdain them ; and when

192 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
fully arrayed in them, as on aU festal occa
sions at least he is sure to be, AA'ith braAvny
shoulders and thin flank, a peculiarly airy,
Avinged gait, a naturaUy unconstrained and
noble air, a countenance displaying the high
est type of manly beauty, and ej'es passion
ate even to an intensity bordering upon
fierceness, Murat Avas not a gayer horseman,
Bayard not a better knight, nor is the ApoUo
Belvidere more like a god.

XXXI.
BECOMES IMAM, AND CONTINUES THE WAR.

At the time of Hamsad Bey's death Ma-
hometrMoUah being no longer living to select
and consecrate a new leader of the tribes,
that Schamyl attained to the honors of the
succession Avas very much OAving to the exer
tions of his venerable teacher Dschelal Eddin.
For the latter was then the most eminent
murschid left in the eastern Caucasus, where
his sayings passed current among a large num
ber of the tribes as oracles. Schamyl's princi
pal rival was Taschaw-Hadji, an influential
chieftain aaIio resisted the supremacy of the
neAV Imam, as he was called, until the year
1837, when he formally gave in his adhesion.
This opposition, however, while it lasted, con-
17 (193)

194 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
siderably hindered the growth of Schamyl's
influence among the tribes, and restrained the
freedom of his action against the Russians.
The emissaries of the latter meanwhile did
all they could to fan the discord, so that sev
eral chiefs AAith theh clans Avere either Avon
over to the side of the common enemy, or
were at least rendered unwilhng to cooperate
with the Imam in his efforts to extend the
new faith and prosecute the war.
Of this Russian party in the highlands
Avaria stiU remained the head-quarters ; and
during the first four years of Schamyl's
imamship his aims were chiefly directed
towards the subjugation of this district. Had
ji-Murad, Avho after the assassination of the
Avarian princes had continued at the head of
affairs in Chunsach, early foresaw that this
would be his policy. Accordingly he lost no
time in sending to the Russian commander-in-
chief a request that he Avould despatch an
armed force to take possession in the name of
the emperor of the khanate, then vacant by
the death of the youngest son of Pachu Bike,
who had been assassinated, as Avas said, by or
der of Schamyl.

BECOMES IMAM. 195
Thereupon General Lasskoi being placed
in command of a considerable body of troops,
was ordered to march on Chunsach, and to
sweep the country on his way of all opposi
tion. Advancing accordingly in the autumn
of 1834 against Himri, he captured the place
after a slight resistance, its population having
been greatly reduced since the defeat expe
rienced there under Khasi-Mollah. But as
the victor was about to proceed further on
his march, Schamyl arrived with his murids,
took the aoul by storm, and inflicted a severe
loss upon the enemy, though greatly his su
perior in numbers. When, hoAvever, this
news reached the fortress of Temir-Chan-
Schura, Kluke von Klugenau, one of the
bravest generals in the Caucasus, instantly
setting out for Avaria, collected on his Avay
the scattered troops of General Lasskoi, de
stroyed the aouls which refused to receive
him, and made his entrance in triumph into
Chunsach. There he set up as khan under
the protection of Russia, Acbmed-Mahomet-
Mirza, and after having taken possession of
the principal passes leading into Daghestan,
returned without molestation to Temir-Chan-
Schura.

196 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
Schamyl persevered, nevertheless, in his
attempts to conquer the Avarians. In the
year 1835, he captured the strong aoul of
Gotsatl, and penetrated as far into the coun
try as Chunsach, whence however he was
obliged speedily to retire on the coming up
of General Reout with a very much larger
force. In the year following, his efforts were
again thwarted by the determined resistance
of Hadji-Murad, as well as by a Avant of una
nimity among his own foUowers growing out
of the continued rivalry between himself and
Taschaw-Hadji. But the year 1837 was destined to bring
along in its course tAvo important events
which should settle forever the question of
Schamyl's right to the imamship, and show
the great superiority of his genius over that
of all his rivals. The first of them was the
complete overthrow he brought upon Count
Iwelitsch, Avho had been sent to cut him off
at the aoul Aschfltach ; and the second Avas
his heroic defence at Tiletli, a strongly forti
fied aoul in the district of Gumbet.
The latter achievement Avas especially
memorable. Opposed to him Avas General

BECOMES IMAM. 197
Fesi at the head of eight battalions of regular
troops, and about twelve thousand militia
drawn from that portion of Daghestan subject
to Russia. These forces were also flushed
with victory, for General Fesi after having
marched from Derbend to Chunsach had
erected a citadel there, had driven Ali Bey,
one of Schamyl's murids, out of the fort of
Akhulgo, and had then come to the rescue of
heutenant Butschkieff, who with a considera
ble detachment was hard pressed by Schamyl
himself in the neighborhood of Tiletli.
After the union of these two forces the
murids were but a handful in comparison.
But their leader determined to make a stand,
and to hold Tiletli, of which he had got pos
session, to the last. The Russians having the
adA-antage not only of superior numbers but
also of artiUery, of which the Circassians were
at that time entirely destitute, attempted im
mediately to carry the place by storm. In
this they failed ; but finally after very severe
losses they succeeded in getting possession of
one half of the aoul. Yet with such valor
and intelligence was the other portion defend
ed, that General Fesi was content to give over
17*

198 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
fighting, and fortify himself where he was.
Schamyl did the same ; and Avith a courage
which excited the admiration of his followers,
established his head-quarters in the face of
the enemy, only a screen of a few houses in
tervening. In this situation General Fesi could not re
main long for want of provisions. But to
retreat in the face of an enemy victorious be
cause not subdued would be attended with
disgrace if not with danger. Accordingly the
Russian commander, disquieted besides by ru
mors of revolt in different parts of Daghestan,
resolved to come to terms with his adversary,
and retire under cover of them.
To accomphsh this purpose, and yet do it
in such a way as to give the color of a great
triumph to AA'hat Avas in reality a most humil
iating check, was a problem not after all of
very difficult solution. All that Avas necessary
was to require of Schamyl to take an oath of
fealty to the emperor on the condition of
being left in possession of not only Tiletli,
but all the Lesghian highlands. And this
Schamyl would be ready enough to do pro
vided he might have the privilege of making

BECOMES IMAM. 199
the engagement in the presence of neither
murids nor Russians. For an oath taken un
der such circumstances would be no oath at
all, inasmuch as Schamyl holding to the Ma
hometan as AveU as Romanist doctrine that no
faith is to be kept with infidels, and consider
ing the Muscovites to be not only such but
even half devils, and ferce natures, would feel
himself in conscience under no obligations
whatever to abide by what he had sworn to.
So it Avas arranged. Schamyl took the oath
of fealty to the emperor in the presence of
Achmed-Mahomet-Mirza, the new khan of
Avaria, and gave hostages. By both parties
the ceremony was regarded as a farce ; but in
virtue of it General Fesi retired from the en
emy's country in safety, and sent his de
spatches to the commander-in-chief, summing
up the results of the campaign of 1837, as
follows : —
" A fortress built in Chunsach ; all Avaria
pacified; a number of previously unconquered
mountain tribes subjected ; many aouls and
fortified places destroyed ; Tiletli taken by
storm ; and Schamyl so hard pressed as to be
obliged to swear fealty to the emperor forever
and ever."

200 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
Accordingly in Tiflis and St. Petersburg it
was for a time beheved that Schamyl had sub
mitted, and that the Lesghian highlands and
all Daghestan were to be incorporated into the
empire. At the same time the very clever
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 abroad through all the Les
ghian country, as the greatest chieftain since
the daj-s of Khasi-MoUah. TaschaAV-Hadji,
unable any longer to set himself in opposition
to the general will, publicly acknowledged
the supremacy of his rival, and became thence
forth one of his most devoted supporters.
Many tribes also who before had favored the
Russians, or at least had not taken sides AA'ith
the murids, noAV rallied around the neAV leader
Avhose deeds were everyAvhere made the theme
of declamation by the ulema and of song by
the bards. "Schamyl is Imam and the sec
ond prophet of Allah," was the universal cry ;
(201)

202 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
and multitudes came in from all sides but to
see the face of one who by word of mouth,
and without drawing a sword, had driven the
army of invasion out of the highlands.
Taking advantage of this rising tide of fa
vor, Schamyl issued various proclamations to
his army and the tribes, one of which was as
follows : —
" In the name of AUah, the almighty, the
merciful !
" Praised be his name who hath led us in a
path of hght, and hath made us strong in his
holy faith ! Praised be he who hath laid the
foundations of his power in the mountains,
and hath set us to guard and to keep it ; who
hath strengthened our arm for the overthroAV
of the enemy, and hath made our tongue elo
quent in declaring his doctrines unto all be
lievers ; Avho in the drops of rain sendeth us
his blessing, whose love shines down upon us
out of the stars, and AA'hose mercy is infinite
unto all aaIio believe in his name !
" Ye warriors of Daghestan ! When the
leader of the Russians sent forth his call to
you in the month of ScheAval to seduce you
from your faith in the truth of my mission,

•ISSUES PROCLAMATIONS. 203
there arose doubt and murmuring among you ;
and many of you became unfaithful and for
sook me. Then I was angry and said in my
heart — The unsteadfast ! they have verified
the Avords of the Prophet when he saith,
" ' God showeth you lis Avonders that ye
may be wise ; but your heart is harder than
stone, yea, harder than stone; for among the
rocks are the sources of the brooks ; out of
the rock when cloven asunder flow the wa
ters; and smitten with the fear of the Al
mighty the great stones faU down from the
tops of the mountains. But of a truth unto
God are knoAvn aU your doings ! '
"But Avith the few, they who remained
faithful, I went forth against the unbelievers,
slew theh leader, and drove them away in
flight. When then ye saw that God was with
me, ye returned repenting, and desired to be
admitted once more into the ranks of the
Avarriors, and I received you. I led you from
victory to victory, and promised you God's
forgiveness for your fault if ye continued in
the faith as it is written in the book of the
Prophet when he saith,
" ' They Avho return and fight for their' faith

204 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
in God, they shall be partakers of his mercy,
for he is merciful and slow to anger.'
" Ye have seen how small was the number
of our warriors in comparison with the hosts
of the enemy, and yet they gave Avay to us,
for strength is Avith the believers. The Rus
sians have taken Akhulgo and have razed its
walls. Allah permitted this to chastise you
for your unbelief; for he knows all your
projects and all your thoughts. But I mocked
at the power of your enemies, and drove
them from Aschiltach, and smote them at Ti
letli, and turned their deeds to shame. When
afterwards the Pacha (General Fesi) AA'ith his
great army drew near Tiletli to revenge the
slain, and when in spite of our brave resist
ance, he succeeded in taking possession of one
half the aoul, so that day after day Ave looked
for the last decisive struggle, then suddenly
Allah lamed his arm and darkened his sight
so that he could not use his advantages, but
hastened away whence he came. No one
drove our enemies save their evil consciences,
for their unbelief made them afraid, and they
fled to escape from the sight of the true be
lievers.

ISSUES PROCLAMATIONS. 205
" So doth God punish those Avho Avalk not
in his Avays ! But unto us hath he said through
his Prophet,
" ' Whosoever Avages the holy war for my
sake, him aaIU I lead in my Avays.'
" Verily God is with those who do his will !
Ye have seen that though great be the num
bers of the unbelieving, they must ever fail.
When they sent to Hamsad Bey, and sum
moned him to surrender, they said, 'Lay
doAvn your arms ; aU opposition is vain ; the
armies which we send against you are like
as the sands on the sea-shore innumerable ! '
But I ansAvered them in his name and said,
' Our hosts are like the waves of the sea which
Avash away the sands and devour them ! '
"Ye have seen that my words came to
pass. But the looks of the Russians are false
hood, and their words are lies. We must de
stroy the works of their hands, and slay them
Avherever Ave find them, in the house or in the
field, by force or by cunning, so that their
SAvarms shall vanish from the face of the earth.
For they multiply like lice, and are as poison
ous as the snakes that craAvl in the steppe of
Muhan. Ye have seen that the anger of God
18

206 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
folio avs them. But unto us hath the Almighty
said by his Prophet,
" ' Whosoever goeth forth to fight for his
faith and perseArereth unto the end, him AA'fll
God reAvard 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, but say rather, They
hve ; for this understand ye not.'
" Therefore lay to heart that Avhich I have
declared unto you, and be strong, and hold
fast together like the tops of the mountains
above your' heads, and forget not the words
of the Prophet Avhen he* saith,
" ' Slay the enemies of God ; drive them
out of the places AA'hence they have driven
you; for temptation is worse than death.'
Amen."

XXXIII.
HIS HEAD-QUARTERS AT AKHULGO.

The Bussians took a year to recover from
the disastrous effects of General Fesi's feat of
arms at Tiletli, attempting nothing in 1838,
beyond several small and unsuccessful expe
ditions into the highlands, and contenting
themselves with making preparations for the
great campaign of the season foUoAving. On
the other hand, so general Avas the enthusiasm
among the tribes in favor of Schamyl and the
war of independence, that he succeeded in
collecting under his banners the greatest mil
itary force Avhich had been seen in those re
gions since the days when Nadir-Shah overran
Daghestan. The mountains were filled Avith
his murids, Avho went from aoul to aoul preach-
(207)

208 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
ing the new doctrine of the second prophet
of Allah, and summoning all the warriors to
rally around the chieftain commissioned by
heaven to deliver the land from the threat
ened bondage to Bussia. These missionaries
in arms having friends and relatives in all the
tribes, obtained everyAvhere a hearing and a
foothold. The aouls which refused to join
their party AA-ere threatened with destruction ;
and if they persisted in their refusal, theh
flocks and herds were driven off, their lands
and vineyards laid Avaste, and theh habitations
razed to the ground. From others AA'hose
fidelity Avas to be suspected, hostages were
taken. Schainyl Avould allow of no neutral
ity; Avhoever Avas not for him Avas against
him. Accordingly by the end of the year
1838 he had rebuilt the forts which had been
destroyed by the enemy the season previous,
and had so far extended his rule that all of
the Lesghian highlands lying north of Avaria,
including Andi, Gunib et, Salatan, and Koissu-
bui, together AA'ith a considerable portion of
Tchetchenia, and all the more mountainous
districts of Daghestan, Avere subject to him.
His head-qua iters he established in the aoul

HIS HEAD-QUARTERS AT AKHULGO. 209
Akhulgo, a Tartar name signifying a gather
ing place in time of trouble, and now famous
in Circassian annals for the siege sustained
there in the campaign foUoAving. It is situ
ated in the district of Koissubui, on the right
bank of the Andian branch of the Koissu
near its junction Avith the main stream, only a
short distance northwest of Himri, and about
sixty wersts by the most direct route from the
Russian hne. Like an eagle's nest it is perched
on the top of an isolated, conical peak of rock,
rising on one side perpendicularly six hundred
feet above the Koissu, and of such fantastic
formation as to lead to the saying that it Avas
by divine permission the work of the devil.
The river nearly surrounds it. On the top is
the aoul, which is divided into old and new
Akhulgo, being together a circumference of
something less than a couple of wersts. A
narrow path admitting only two persons to
walk abreast, winds up the rock, which has
three terraces formed by nature, and favora
bly situated for defence. Around in the near
distance rise other less elevated rocks and
cliffs, some of them tufted with oaks and
beeches, others naked and time-stained, and
18 *

210 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
all together forming a scene of such stern
Avildness as Avas AveU fitted for a hiding-place
of liberty, or for its immolation.
The experience of the Avar having already
proved that the high toAvers of stone such as
had been built in the highlands up to the time
of the death of Khasi-Mollah, Avere worse
than useless as a means of defence against
the Russian artillery, inasmuch as theh de
fenders were exposed to be buried under theh
ruins, Schamyl instructed, it is said, by Polish
deserters, noAV changed entirely the system
of his fortifications. To prevent his defences
at Akhulgo from being toppled doAA-n by the
enemy's cannon, he made them to consist
mainly of trenches, earthen parapets, and
covered ways, while the saklis, AA'hich are
a kind of hut built of loose stones, part
ly underground, Avere also conA'erted into
regular casements. These various fortifica
tions, arranged AA'ith much skill, commanded
all the approaches to the fortress, and every
Avhere exposed an attacking enenw to a great
number of cross-fires. The rifle Avould indeed
haAe to serve instead of cannon ; but in the
hands of the Circassian, though not discharged

HIS HEAD-QUARTERS AT AKHULGO. 211
very rapidly inasmuch as it is cleaned after
every shot, it Avas a weapon the Russians had
good cause to dread.
Made strong therefore both by nature and
by art, Akhulgo Avas the rock on which
Schamyl resolved to plant his standard in the
struggle for life and death known to be at
hand. Herein he collected a large supply of
provisions and munitions of war; hither he
brought, as to a place of safety, many of the
families of his murids ; and here he kept in
custody the hostages which had been taken
from the tribes of Koissubui, Gumbet, and
Andi. The garrison was composed of the
floAver of his warriors; while some fifteen
thousand men besides, partly mounted and
partly on foot, stood ready for the fight, every
one having taken a solemn oath to drive
back the Russians or perish in the attempt.
But Avhile Akhulgo Avas the place where
Schamyl had resolved to make a final stand
for the liberty of the mountains, there were
other points also AA'here he proposed to stop,
if possible, the march of the invaders. It
was in the plan of the campaign Avhich he
had draAvn up that when the Russians ad-

212 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
vanced from their forts in loAver Daghestan
they should be attacked in the rear by the
Tchetchenians Avho had espoused his side in
the contest, and Avhose position on the Koissu
was favorable to the execution of such a ma
noeuvre. But in case the enemy should suc
ceed in penetrating into the mountains, the
aoul of Buturnay Avas fixed upon as the point
where the first resistance should be made ;
while a detachment of friendly Tcherkejians,
or Salatanians, about three thousand strong,
were to attack the enemy in the rear. In
case, however, of a defeat at Buturnay, his
troops would fall back upon a still stronger
position at Arguani, and AA'hich during the
year had been fortified in every yvaj possible.
After that, also, there avouIc! remain the natu
ral barrier of the swiftly floAving Koissu ; and
finally Akhulgo itself, beyond Avhich no further
retreat Avas thought of, as there he and all his
murids Avould either conquer or die.
It Avas a plan of campaign AveU deA'ised,
provided only the tribes appointed to attack
the enemy in the flank and rear could be re
lied upon ; but Avithout their efficient cooper
ation the only chance of successful resistance
would be on the rock of Akhulgo.

XXXIV.
THE SIEGE OF AKHULGO.

In the month of May, 1839, all things be
ing ready, the Russian expedition commenced
its march into the mountains. General Grabbe,
an active and resolute officer in command of
the left flank of the army of the Caucasus,
had collected from the fortresses along the
line AA'here it crosses the Sulak, a force of nine
battahons and seventeen pieces of artillery.
They were his very best troops, including a
part of the celebrated regiment " Count Pas-
kievitsch," and with them he pressed forward
Avith such rapidity towards Buturnay, and
then attacked it Avith such impetuosity, that
Schamyl Avas obliged at once to relinquish all
hope of making a stand there. His allies,
(213)

214 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
the Tcherkejians, taken by surprise at the
suddenness of the enemy's advance, had not
time to come to his assistance ; the Salatanians
were overaAved by the extraordinary display
of force made on their borders ; and the
Tchetchenians, alarmed by the bold face AA'ith
which the Russian commander opened the
campaign, and by his success at seAreral minor
points of conflict, took counsel of prudence.
and failed to make the promised diversion on
the line.
Schamyl, therefore, after a tAvo hours' re
sistance fell back on Arguani. Here relying
on a stronger position, and finding himself at
the head of about ten thousand men, he
awaited the coming up of the enemy. The
contest AA'hich then took place lasted tAvo days.
Schamyl lost nearly fifteen hundred men in
killed and wounded, and Avas beaten. It Avas
the most bloody fight Avhich had then occurred
in the history of the Avar, and Avould have put
an end at once to the campaign had not the
Lesghians, every man of them, been deter
mined to stand by their Imam and their lib
erty to the last. Instead, therefore, of scat
tering after a defeat so decisive, as might

o

TILE SIEGE OF AKHULGO. 215
have been expected of mountaineers so little
accustomed to regular Avarfare, they heroically
threw themselves into Akhulgo.
The invaders having at length taken pos
session of both banks of the Koissu, and easi
ly repulsed an attack of six thousand moun
taineers led on by Achwerdu Mohamet, who
had recently deserted from the Russian ser
vice, set themselves down on the twelfth of
June before Akhulgo, closely investing it.
General Grabbe hoped at first to induce the
enemy to surrender by showering them with
bombs, balls, and rockets ; but while he suc
ceeded in destroying many of the fortifica
tions and stone houses, the subterranean de
fences remained undamaged. From these and
the works on the terraces the besieged an-
sAvered with their rifles, sparing indeed of their
ammunition, but taking an unerring, deadly
aim. NoAvhere could the Russians show a
head above their defences without imminent
risk of losing it. Nor Avas their entire force
scarcely adequate to man the posts ; so that
frequently the same troops who had worked
aU day in the trenches were obliged to stand
guard during a portion of the night. Still

216 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
they Avorked Avith hearty good-AviU, gradually
carrying forward their batteries, cutting their
Avay through the soft, porous rock, and shelter
ing themselves from the rifle-balls of the ene
my by means of gabions and stone Avails.
During the early part of the siege the Rus
sian camp Avas abundantly supphed AAith pro
visions; the Koissu gave them abundance of
good AA'ater ; the neighboring forests furnished
wood for cooking the evening's soup ; their
fragrant boughs made easy beds at night;
while numerous Avatch fires Avarmed the feet
of the sleeping soldiers as they lay stretched
beneath the stars. Ea'cii a certain degree of
hilarity prevailed in the camp, so different
from the prison of the krepost, where the
daUy drill, the appointed roU of the drum,
and the enforced dance and song but poorly
relieved the stiU, dull monotony. But the
mirth was often ill-timed ; for Avhen refreshed
by the evening's pottage and his cup of nvdha,
the Cossack sat carolling a ditty or meditating
on the charms of the fair one left behind on
the Don, suddenly a ball from the rifle of
some watchful mountaineer Avould send him
tumbling headlong into the Koissu. Or when

THE SIEGE OF AKHULGO. 217
the grey-coated grenadiers in the intervals
betAveen the roar of the artillery and the tu
mult of the trumpets, feeling their hearts
stirred by a sudden enthusiasm, would break
out into chanting, the half deA'otional, half
martial ah Avould often prove a dirge for some
poor comrade struck doAvn AA'ith the chorus
on his lips by the ball of an invisible enemy.
The enthusiasm on the other side Avas less
gay, but more intense. Besides the crack of
the rifle, the only sounds from the fortress
AAiiich fell doAvn on the air when it was still,
were the muezzin's call to prayer, or the shout
of triumph Avhen some frenzy-driven murid,
sallying from his hiding-place, leaped suddenly
into the midst of an exposed party of the
enemy, and at the price of his OAvn hfe sent
twice, thrice, four times as many unbelieving
souls to hell. For in the progress of the siege
many a Avarrior who Avas doomed by his oath
to death, and Avas become impatient of the
hour, grasping a shaska in his right hand, a
pistol in his left, and holding a poniard
clenched betAveen his teeth, sprang down from
the rocks upon some too adventurous squad
of the enemy — as terrible an apparition as a
19

218 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
ghost, or a bomb-shell — discharging his pis
tol at the breast of one, cleaving with his
shaska the head of another, and then rushing
shaska in one hand and poniard in the other,
upon the rest, untU he fell pierced through
with bayonets, but having first sAveetened the
bitterness of death with a terrible vengeance.
Of such heroic self-sacrifice is the Circassian
capable !
TAvice Avas the moon renewed in the slow
progress of this siege. At length, having pre
viously got possession of one of the detached
toAvers of the fortress, and having been rein
forced by five battalions and nine pieces of
artillery, the Russians, despairing of reduc
ing the place by blockade, attacked it by
storm. But they did not get above the first
terrace ; and from that the}' Avere beaten back
with severe loss, — of the three battalions of
the splendid regiment " Count PaskieA'itsch,"
which led the assault, only one returning.
Nevertheless, General Grabbe Avas not to be
disheartened. Another and still another as
sault was made ; and after a loss of nearly
two thousand men the second terrace was
finally carried. Then Schamyl seeing that his

THE SIEGE OF AKHULGO. 219
fortunes Avere becoming desperate sent a re
quest to the Russian commander to treat
respecting terms of peace. What his inten
tions Avere in so doing is not known ; though
it was the opinion of General Grabbe that he
was not sincere ; and Avhen the latter de
manded Schamyl's son as a hostage previously
to the opening of negotiations, the matter
was dropped. Probably the Imam Avas desir
ous of making an arrangement similar to that
which under somewhat similar circumstances
had been agreed upon with General Fesi ; but
he had now a different man to deal with.
The contest therefore Avas recommenced on
the seventeenth of August AA'ith new fury.
Then for four successive clays Akhulgo was a
scene of heroism equalled only by its horror.
The Russian soldiers evinced that ferocious
bravery of which the serf nature is capable
when its blood is up, Avhile the Circassians,
driven to despair, sought to avenge beforehand
the hves they so gallantly laid down. High
on the battlements, as at intervals the smoke
of the tAvo hostile fires cleared aAvay, could be
seen female forms, shaska or rifle in the httle
hand, encouraging the Avarriors by their side,

220 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
pressing on Avith them Avherever the danger
was most imminent, and displaying a heroism
greater even than that of their own amazons
of old, inasmuch as they fought for their lords
as AveU as for liberty.
But fortune finally favored the besiegers.
Their sappers having carried a coA'ered Avay up
to the foot of a portion of the fortress AA'hich
had neAvly been constructed, and the Circas
sians becoming anxious to learn the cause of
the strange noises constantly heard beneath
their feet, a party of the latter imprudently
went out to reconnoitre, when the chief of a
battalion who lay in wait Avith his men on the
second terrace, seizing upon the advantage
offered, not only droA'e the exploring party
back into the fortress, but also went in AA'ith
them. The Circassians Avithin, hoAveA'er, see
ing that the Russians Avere mixed up Avith
their oavu comrades refrained from firing.
This gave the other battalions time to hasten
to the support of the party Avhich thev saAV
had gained the summit, Avhen a hand to hand
conflict ensued in AA'hich both sides fought, the
one Avith the bravery of despair, the other
Avith that of victory. But superior numbers

THE SIEGE OF AKHULGO. 221
prevaded ; and four times stormed the fortress
fell. Of the mountaineers that lay dead on
the top of the rock the Russians counted, ac
cording to some of their accounts, fifteen
hundred, according to others, more likely to
be true, seven hundred; of the wounded,
from nine hundred to five hundred; while
their own loss was set down as considerably
less than one half these numbers. Several
hundred prisoners also Avere taken, consist
ing of women and children ; for of men
there were none left. With the blood of
these the Koissu was already red, and their
bodies were thrown in afterwards.
But Schamyl, who had often been seen dur
ing the final conflict surrounded by his white
turbaned murids, was noAvhere to be found.
The fortress, all the approaches to AA'hich were
strictly guarded, was ransacked ; every nook
and corner explored ; but the Imam was no
where to be found. Alas ! for General Grabbe,
that but one man should escape from Akhulgo,
and he Schamyl. His single head would have
made up for the loss of the three thousand
Russian heads laid low in the siege ; but with-
19*

222 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
out it the victory Avas barren, all its spoils a
mere rock in the mountains !
The manner of Schamyl's escape Avas kept
secret by him, as before had been the case at
Himri and at Chunsach ; but among the re
ports respecting it AA'hich. Avere chculated in
the mountains, the following one Avas most
generally credited.
On the fall of the fortress a number of its
defenders took refuge in certain caA'es and
holes in the rock, into which they let them
selves down by means of ladders. In one of
these was Schamyl Avith a few of his murids.
Attacked by the enemy, this one held out
longer than the others ; but the rock being
guarded on all sides, escape Avas thought im
possible. The murids, however, having deA-ised
a plan for preserving the life of their chief by
the loss of their oavii, constructed from mate
rials previously collected in the cave, a raft of
sufficient size to carry several persons, and let
ting it doAvn at night into the river beloAv, then
followed themselves. The guard on the bank
observing this manoeuvre, immediately gave
chase to the raft, those on horseback plunging

THE SIEGE OF AKHULGO. 223
into the stream, those on foot running along the
bank, and all together pouring their fire into
the little party of murids among whom was, as
they supposed, Schamyl. But the attention
of the enemy once turned away from the cave,
the Avily chieftain let himself down into the
water, swam the river, and in another mo
ment Avas safe under the protection of the
rocks and the forest.
Certain it is that early in the month of
September, Schamyl reappeared in the aoul
Siassan, in the Avoods of Itchkeria. There,
partly for the sake of ransoming the families
of his nearest relatives and most devoted mu
rids taken captive in Akhulgo, he sued for
peace, and offered to give in pledge of sin
cerity two of his own sons as hostages. But
General Grabbe insisting as a preliminary
condition that Schamyl should take up his
residence in an aoul friendly to the Russians,
the negotiations Avere not proceeded Avith.
Thereupon, General Grabbe having razed
Akhulgo, having laid a contribution in sheep
and cattle on some districts, taken hostages
from others, and received the bread and salt
of submission from all the aouls through

224 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
which he passed, returned in triumph to Te-
mir-Chan-Schura. Great thereupon Avas the
rejoicing in all the fortresses of the Russiar.
line — in all the Cis and Trans-Caucasian prov
inces — and in St. Petersburg itself, where the
emperor ordered a medal to be struck com
memorative of this brilhant feat at arms, anc
copies of it to be distributed among the brave
soldiers Avho had taken part in it.

XXXV.
THE EXPEDITION AGAINST DARGO.

The defeat at Akhulgo did not turn away
from Schamyl the hearts of his countrymen.
On the contrary, noAV thrice delivered by Al
lah out of the hands of the infidels, he was
regarded by them Avith the greater veneration.
Though escaped Avith only lis life and his
arms, Avhen he appeared in the aouls of Itch-
keria, a territory lying north of the Andian
branch of the Koissu, the mountaineers re
ceived him as a prophet come directly from
God, and mounting their horses followed him.
The neAVS of lis coining ran before him
through all the highlands ; the warriors half
dreAv their shaskas at hearing it ; the chief
tains of the Tchetchenians who had received (225)

226 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
the cross of St. George from the Russians, tore
it from their breasts ; and the bards striking
with a frenzy of inspiration their lyres, chanted
the miraculous deliverance and great deeds
of this successor of Mahomet.
Thus going from aoul to aoul preaching
faith in Allah and Avar against his enemies,
sending out also disciples to visit in his name
the remoter districts, threatening death to all
who held with the Russians, here driving
away flocks and herds, and there taking hos
tages, he in a few months succeeded in rally
ing around his standards great numbers of the
Tchetchenians, of the Lesghians, and of the
various tribes of Daghestan. Disgusted by
the treatment he received at the hands of the
Russians, as was also the case Avith most of
the highland tribes AA'ho had recently been
obliged to submit their necks to the yoke of
bondage, even his old enemy Hadji-Murad
came over to the side of the Imam, bringing
the greater part of Avaria AA'ith him. The
spirit of fanatic Avar SAvept over the AAfliole
eastern Caucasus like a tempest; and those
tribes, like the Salatanians, avIio from the
nearness of their position to the Russian

THE EXPEDITION AGAINST DARGO. 227
line Avere obliged nominally to acknoAvledge
the supremacy of the czar, burned in their
hearts to join again the standard of revolt.
His head-quarters Schamyl now established
in Dargo, an aoul consisting of about seventy
houses, and situated some fifty miles north-
AA'est from Akhulgo, in that part of Tchetche
nia inhabited by the Itchkerians. Though an
open aoul, Dargo was sufficiently protected
by the mountains and the thick forests AArhich
eA'eryAArhere covered them; for here the pri
meval Avoods had never been disturbed by the
axe of any pioneers of civilization. The
oaks stretched out against the sky their twisted
branches croAvned with the glory of two cen
turies ; the beeches Avith their innumerable
leaves spread out a Avider shade than those
AA'hich in Italy inspired the pastoral reed of
Virgil ; the round-topped elms toAvered high
above the gracefully pointed birches, and the
trembling poplars ; while below in many lo
calities a vast variety of floAver-bearing plants,
vines, and creepers formed a tangled Aveb as
beautiful to the eye and fragrant to the sense
as to the feet impenetrable.
But instructed by the disasters of the cam-

228 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
paign of Akhulgo, Schamyl resolved no more
to concentrate his forces and attempt to meet
the enemy face to face. Accordingly, appor
tioning them among his chief murids, such as
AchAverdu-Mahomet, Schwaib-Mollah, Ulubuy-
Mollah, TaschaAA'-Hadji, DscheAvad-Khan, and
Hadji-Murad, besides retaining a considerable
force under his own command, he Avas ena
bled to overaAve a very great number of tribes,
and to threaten the Russians simultaneously
at various points. Inroads were made at one
time into the land of the Kumucks, that of
Schamchal, and Avaria ; at another, the Rus
sian hne was threatened ; and again, the forts
were attacked on the road to Kisliar. If hard
pushed the murids retreated ; AvhereA'er op
portunity offered they struck a bloAv and sud
denly retired ; those tribes Avho AvaA-ered in
their allegiance found themselves unexpect
edly visited with retribution ; and when the
Tchetchenians, aggrieved by Schamyl's appar
ent neglect of their interests, took advantage
of a Avouncl received by him to send messen
gers to Tiflis to sue for peace, immediately he
appeared in their midst, terrifying rather than
winning them back to the cause of the
patriots.

THE EXPEDITION AGAINST DARGO. 229
Such remained the state of affairs until the
year 1842, AA'hen General Grabbe, less bene
fited by experience than his antagonist, re
solved to make an expedition against Dargo,
similar to that of Akhulgo. Differing in his
views of the proper mode of conducting the
Avar from his superior, Governor-general Go-
loAvin, who resided in Tiflis, away from the
scene of actual hostflities, and avIio was in
favor of the less aggressive system of a block
ade, he had then just returned from St. Pe
tersburg, whither he had gone to explain his
plans of action to the imperial cabinet, and
whence partly in consequence of his repre
sentations the emperor had sent lis minister
of war, Prince Tschernitscheff, to inspect the
military posts in both Cis and Trans-Caucasia.
To surprise then the Prince, upon his arrival
on the left flank of the line of operations, by
a splendid feat of arms which should serve to
demonstrate the correctness of his own theory
of procedure, General Grabbe undertook the
expedition against Dargo.
On the twenty ninth of May, accordingly,
he set out at the head of thirteen battalions,
or about eight thousand six hundred foot-sol-
20

230 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
diers. Of cavalry, on account of the difficult
nature of the march, he took none, excepting
a few Cossacks to attend upon his oaatq person.
Every soldier Avas loaded down AA'ith sixty car
tridges, and provisions for eight clays in his
knapsack. The guns, four and six pounders,
Avere draAArn each by four horses ; and there
were besides a few baggage-wagons, which
were dragged with still more difficulty over
ground where AA'heels never rolled before.
At the close of the first day's march, the
soldiers as they lay around their camp-fires
congratulated themselves that they had not
heard on the way the report of a single rifle ;
though some of the sharpshooters of the van
guard pretended that they had seen here and
there the slender form of a Chcassian flitting
like an apparition or a Avood-demon behind
the large-stemmed trees. But after the sol
diers, haA'ing cooked and eaten their pottage
and sAvalloAved the refreshing draught ofwodka,
had stretched their limbs Avearied AA'ith the
hard day's inarch upon the SAveet-smelhng
herbs and branches, suddenly a rattling A'ol-
ley of musketry brought every man to lis
feet. The Circassians Avere upon them. But

THE EXPEDITION AGAINST DARGO. 231
in the dark they could not discern the enemy
scattered about among the trees, and could
fire only Avherever they saAv a flash. The
contest, however, did not proAre to be a serious
one, from lack of certain aim, comparatively
feAV falling on either side ; but the firing con
tinued at intervals through the night effect
ually scared away sleep, and thereby rendered
the soldiers less fit for the duties of the day
foUowing. When the morning dawning lit up the dark
ness of the woods, not a Circassian Avas to be
seen. The enemy had in fact begun to put
his new tactics into execution, worrying the
march he had no wish to arrest, and giving
the column of invaders only a foretaste of the
retribution which awaited them for daring to
profane by their presence the woods free from
the foundations of the world. During the
freshness of the early morning the column
advanced unhindered save by the unevenness
of the ground, the thick-standing trees, and
the undergrowth which in many places almost
barred the way which it beautified. But
toAvards noon, as the route led through a ra
vine in the forest, the firing recommenced. A

232 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
considerable body of Circassians posted be
hind the trees poured a murderous volley in
upon the vanguard. The number of the
wounded increased to such a degree that the
horses and Avagons Avere not sufficient for their
transportation. Thereupon seA'eral of the
higher officers, their minds weighed doAvn
Avith sad presentiments, advised the command
ing general to relinquish an expedition Avhich
at every step seemed to be invohed in greater
difficulties and more serious dangers. But the
heart of General Grabbe was set upon enter
taining the imperial minister of Avar with the
celebration of a great victory; and he kept on.
On the second evening of the march the
tents Avere pitched in a smaU, open meadoAV
in the hills, skirted by the forest; yet the
weary soldiers were not lulled to sleep by the
soft murmuring of the night AAind in the
tree tops, nor by the silvery tinkling of the
brook Avhich flowed through the green ; but
all night long the sharp crack of rifles and
the Avhizzing of bullets drove away repose,
and filled the before sflent woods AAith the
tumult and the pains of a pandemonium. Nor
did the rising sun scatter the enemy with the

THE EXPEDITION AGAINST DARGO. Z66
darkness, but at every step of the morning's
march the pitiless missiles of destruction were
hurled from invisible foes upon the now nearly
decimated column.
Twelve wersts more, and it would be at the
end of its march. The little aoul of Dargo,
perched on a hill-top, Avas even descried in the
transparent distance. But the eyes which
were turned toAvards it beheld death staring
them in the face still nearer; and at length
General Grabbe, seeing that to reach his des
tination however near would imperil the en
tire column, — and that for a purpose which
by this time he must have perceived to be
utterly futile, — gave the order to retreat.
Then as the Circassians, estimated to have
been nearly six thousand strong, saw that the
advanced guard had- wheeled about, and that
the column was retracing its footsteps, their
enthusiasm mounted to frenzy ; and shnging
theh rifles behind their backs they rushed
upon the enemy's centre shaska in hand.
Several times they broke through it. But the
well-disciplined soldiers restoring as often the
disordered ranks fought bravely; for they
fought for their lives, the Circassians giving
20*

234 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
no quarter. Still, as the day wore away
many a comrade Avearied out by both march
ing and fighting, exhausted from loss of blood,
and tormented by thirst still more than by
his wounds, dropped behind the column, and
throwing away his. knapsack in despair, re
signed himself to death at the hands of the
first warrior who should come up -with him.
At night no soul was alloAved any other
sleep than that of death. Though the enemy
was reluctant to Avaste his powder in the dark
ness, yet he kept close by the side of his vic
tims ; while the wolves of the forest foUowed
hoAvhng behind. As the captain at sea AA'hen
the tempest roars around lis vessel ready to
ingulf it stands Avatching through the dismal
hours of the night by the AA'heel, so did the
officers of this forlorn column stand around
the bivouac fires vociferating orders which in
the confusion and the darkness could but im
perfectly be executed. And Avhen at last day
broke over the mountain tops, the first beau
tiful day of June, the soldiers looked at its
blush in the east Avith faces pallid Avith Avatch
ing and haggard Avith despair.
Three hundred times, as Avas estimated, did

TILS EXPEDITION AGAINST DARGO. 235
the soldier discharge his musket, until from
Avant of cleaning it could be used no longer.
The officers, who to prevent their coats from
being a mark for the rifles had put on those
of common soldiers, still recognized by their
sharp-eyed foe by means of the superior cast
of lineaments and the manlier carriage, were
picked off — thirty-six out of sixty. A drum
mer taken captive was compelled to beat his
drum as a signal indicating the direction of
the march, but which led those Avho folloAved
its call into the midst of fheir enemies. Six
cannon at one time fell into the hands of the
Circassians, who in attacking the artillery es
pecially displayed a strength of muscle in
Avielcling the shaska, and an agility of limb in
parrying or avoiding the bayonetrthrust,
which excited the wonder as well as the dread
of the enemy.
But the brave Lieutenant-colonel Wittert,
burning AAith shame at the loss of the guns,
led on his men to the rescue ; when took
place one of the most terrible encounters on
the march. The officers led the attack sword
in hand and the hurra in their throats ; AAliile
the soldiers advanced on the run with fixed

236 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
bayonets. The first man, Lieutenanticolonel
Hahn, who laid his hand on a cannon, fell
back dead ; and many shared his fate ; for the
mountaineers fought for the possession of
"the emperor's pistols" like tigers for theh
prey ; some climbing into the tops of the trees
the better to take aim at the rescuers below ;
and when hit themselves frequently lodging
in the branches, Avhere they continued to
hang a convenient carrion for the foul birds
of the forest.
Schamyl arriAing at the head of his riders,
— alas ! for him, too late, — attacked the col
umn of invasion as it Avas about coming out
of the forests. Having intrusted his foot-sol
diers to his principal murids, he had been
going the rounds of the aouls, collecting his
mounted men, and not expecting that the en
emy would so soon turn back. Had he
arrived on their hne of march two days ear
lier, not a Russian of them all would have
ever again seen a krepost. As it was, two
thousand left their bones in the woods to be
picked by wolves and vultures. The rest suc
ceeded in reaching Girsel-aoul, a fortress on
the line about fifty miles north of Dargo, but

THE EXPEDITION AGAINST DARGO. 237
in sorry plight indeed. Preparations had
been made there for a military triumph, Avith
salvos of cannon, music, and colors flying;
and the minister of Avar, Prince Tschernit-
scheff, had most inopportunely arrived to wit
ness it ; but instead he beheld the battalions
marching in Avith faintly beating drums, the
men haggard from fatigue and Avant of food,
their uniform tattered and blood-stained, and
the officers sadder still at the loss of so many
brave soldiers sacrificed in vain.
When some months afterward the minister
of Avar made to the emperor his report on the
state of affairs in the Caucasus, General
Grabbe Avas immediately recalled, and his
chief, Governor-general GoloAvin, likeAvise.

XXXVI.
HIS DOMESTIC LIFE.

Schamyl's head-quarters continued for sev
eral years to be at Dargo, where aided by
Polish deserters he built a residence someAA'hat
superior in style to the houses generaUy seen
in the eastern Caucasus. It AA'as surrounded
by a double row of strong palisades Avith a
filling of small stones and earth, and was ap
proached through a single gateAvay guarded
by sentinels. Near this, on the inner side,
stood a toAver for defence, irregular in shape,
and built of stone. Still beyond Avas the
principal buildhag hi the inclosure inhabited
by the Imam and lis harem. Like the toAver,
this AA-as constructed of stones not, as is usu
ally the case, smeared on the sides by clay,
(238)

ins domestic life. 239
but laid in a kind of mortar ; was of two sto
ries, Avith a stairAvay outside leading to the
chambers ; had a verandah on one side and a
balcony on the other ; and was covered by a
flat roof from which frowned a couple of Rus
sian six-pounders. There were also several
smaUer outbuildings for the servants, the
guard, and for the storing of provisions.
Of these there wrere always kept on hand a
considerable quantity, such as maize, Avheat,
barley, and millet, all preserved in large casks
hoUowed out of logs. In the inclosure was
likewise a fountain of water brought down
from the hills, besides stalls for horses, pens
for cattle, and coops for poultry. A number
of murids were always on guard about the
estabhshment; and when Schamyl went to
the mosque they walked by his side with
drawn shaskas.
If built in other respects like the Circassian
dwellings, as is probable, the house Avould
have but a single door, only a feAV small win
dows to admit the hght, and these very likely
of either parchment or paper. GeneraUy the
floor is of hard earth, which is kept cleanly
swept, is sprinkled in hot weather with water,

240 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
and is partially covered with mats. Around
two or three sides of the room rims the di-
ATan ; the chimney is constructed in an outer
Avail not projecting into the room as in the
houses of the Avcstern Caucasus ; and there is
very httle furniture. The divan, hoAvever,
answers the purpose of both seat and bed;
for Avhile during the daytime the inhabitants
sit upon it on their heels after the fashion of
the Turks, at night AA'ith the addition of mat
tresses, pillows, and coverlets, it is a sufficiently
convenient couch for the Asiatic, ayIio lies
down to rest Avithout undressing. In summer
many persons haA'e their mattresses spread
under the verandah ; or, Avrapping themselves
in their felt bourkas, lie doAA'n to theh repose
under the trees. But in Avinter all sleep
around the fire, the. warmest corner being al
ways occupied by the master of the house,
an elder, or a guest, hi case there be one.
If the proprietor is rich the divan Avill be
furnished at considerable expense, it being the
custom of eastern Asia to laA'ish expenditure
more upon the furniture of the habitation
than upon the habitation itself. Covered
Avith red leather and stuffed AAith hair, the

HIS DOMESTIC LIFE. 241
diA'an is supplied Avith cushions of some dark,
rich silk, and bolsters sprigged Avith gold and
silver; its mattresses are bordered Avith vel
vet ; the coverlet is of quilted brocade, or a
gay muslin of various colors studiously ar
ranged, and fringed Avith satin; and there
may even be clean white sheeting. Above
the divan the Avails Avill be hung with beauti
fully wrought matting or carpets brought
from Stamboul. Small tablets hkewise are
sometimes placed around the room, inscribed
Avith verses from the Koran in the Arabic
characters. But the principal ornament of
the AvaUs are the arms, which, suspended from
Avooden pegs, gleam and flash in the fire-light
— sabres, pistols, rifles, coats of mail, bows
and quivers, besides bridles, saddles, and hous
ings. For on entering the house, the Avarrior
lays aside all his weapons save the poniard,
and his guest does the same.
The apartments for females and children
are ahvays separate from the others, and are
frequently in a buildmg by itself. Here Avith
no look-out from Avindows on the passing
world, the neAVs of AA'hich it would be an im
propriety in a Circassian to question his wives
21

242 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
about, they ply their tasks, spinning, weaving,
embroidering, and knitting silver lace in an
obscurity illumined by scanty rays of sunlight.
The Avails of these apartments are hung with
dresses, not Avith arms. Strung also upon lines
across the room are various specimens of fe
male industry, as embroidered napkins, hand
kerchiefs, veils, silken bodices, and anteris
glittering Avith threads of gold and silver ; in
the corners are piles of large boxes contain
ing the bedding of the house ; while on
shelves are arranged china and glass ware,
Avith various culinary utensils of brass, copper,
or glazed pottery, kept for sIioav, while the
Avooden are for use. Here also the loom has
its place, at AA'hich are woven all the plamer
stuffs Avorn in the family.
It falls to Avoman's lot in these mountains
as Avell as out of them to prepare the food of
the household. The Circassian stiU retaining
much of the patriarchal simplicity of living,
eats Avhen he is hungry, Avithout regard to set
hours ; nor is there any gathering of the fam
ily around the social board, every member
generally taking his meals by himself, and the
males under no circumstances eating with the

ins DOMESTIC LIFE. 243
females. The flesh of sheep and goats is the
kind of meat in most common use. This is
prepared in savory ragouts wrell seasoned
Avith salt, pepper, coriander seeds, and capsi
cums ; or, being cut in pieces, is roasted on
smaU iron spits, the morsels taken from the
saddle, and the fat of sheep-tails being consid-
sidered the most dainty. Meats also are pre
served by salting, smoking, and drying. Still
oftener, however, they are boiled, and their
juices eaten in a kind of pottage Avith millet
in it, being the same as the Sclavonian and
Polish cachat, the use of which extends as far
west as the Adriatic, while on the southern
side of the Caucasus, even to Central Asia,
the pilaff is made with rice. Throughout the
Caucasus millet is the favorite grain, of Avhich
cakes are made by being baked on hot flat
stones or iron plates. The wheaten loaf like
wise is common in many localities, and so the
cake of Turkey corn. All these different
kinds of bread are eaten Avith honey, great
quantities of which are taken from the hives
of Avicker-work or bark of trees, and of an
exceedingly delicious quality, owing to the
wild thyme and other aromatic herbs fed on

244 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
by the bees. The Circassians have a good
many vegetables, though they are not partic
ularly fond of this kind of diet. Cucumbers
Avhich are apparently indigenous in these re
gions are, liOAvever, in much favor ; and more
or less use is made of melons, gourds, pump
kins, beets, onions, carrots, cabbages, aspara
gus, artichokes, and beans. Fish are still less
lived, though the rivers abound in salmon-
trout, and numerous other varieties. On the
other hand, the consumption of fruit is A'ery
considerable, particularly of apples, pears,
cherries, peaches, grapes, olives, figs, pome
granates, almonds, walnuts, and chestnuts,
many of which kinds grow wild in the Avoods.
All Circassians are A'ery fond of a kind of
sour milk peculiar to the East, called by them
skliou, and by the Turks and Tartars yaomie.
This is taken sometimes pure, sometimes fla
vored with a little sugar and rose-Avater. or is
boiled Avith millet or maize. Said to be re
markably refreshing, its origin is traced back
to Abraham, aaIio obtained it directly from the
Almighty ; or as another tradition says, it Avas
bestoAved originally by an angel on Hagar
Avhen driven out from the house of her lord

HIS DOMESTIC LIFE. 245
she Avas fainting with heat and thirst in the
desert. It takes the place very much of spir
ituous and fermented liquors, in the use of
which the mountaineers are exceedingly tem
perate. A kind of mead, not very potent,
however, is made by them of millet, honey,
and water, and is decidedly a superior bever
age 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 this formerly Avere oblations
poured out to the gods. More or less wine
also is drunk in the Caucasus, ahvays of a
light quality, and more resembling champagne
than the other wines of Europe. Its use
being prohibited by the Koran, is discounte
nanced by the Sufis and Schamyl's party.
Nevertheless there are here and there those
among the faithful Avho continue to say,
Ma sopra tutto nei buon vin ho fede ;
E credo che sia salvo che gli crede.
And since latterly the Russians have intro
duced their brandy, the number of believers
21*

246 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
is not small, Avho, on mounting their steeds,
will take a stirrup cup of schnapps when
offered. On the AA-hole, the Circassians are remarka
bly temperate in both meats and drinks ; in
this simplicity of liA'ing, as in so many other
respects, still preserving a striking resem
blance to the manners and customs of the
Greeks of the earliest ages. At their feasts
and entertainments given to strangers, hoAv-
ever, there is ahvays a great profusion of
dishes, AA'hich are served in succession on
small, three-legged trays ; and a generous
host is knoAA'n as a man of " forty tables."
On journeys and Avarlike expeditions, on the
contrary, the mountaineer is contented AA'ith
barely, a little millet, sour milk, and honey,
all of AA'hich are easily transported in leath
ern bottles at his saddle-boAAr. Nor at home
on all ordinary occasions does he Avant more,
a morsel of meat perhaps being added. But
though simple the fare, its cooker}' is pro
nounced not bad even by Europeans ; and
the traA'eller has much less reason here than
in some other oriental countries to demand
of his host the dixit paras/', or indemnification
for the Avoar of his teeth.

HIS DOMESTIC LIFE. 247
For temperance of living Schamyl has al
ways been remarkable even among his coun
trymen. 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 AA'ives serve tables, however
probable it may be that this office is performed
by the handmaidens of Avhom, according to
the fashion of the East, he keeps a certain
number in his house, captured Russian females
being especially preferred.
Of his Avives one is an Armenian, and if the
half that is told of her in the mountains be
true, of a beauty not unlike that attributed
by the noble 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.

248 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
In severe dignity of features and stateliness
of carriage the Armenian females are not un-
like the Circassian and the Georgian. In
these mountains, however, the former do not
Avcar the broAvn mantle in Avhich they Avrap
themselves at Constantinojile, but long black
veils which fall in graceful folds to the feet,
and display the shape like the drapery of the
old Greek statues. Beneath is a silken Avrap-
per confined by a girdle richly ornamented
with gold and silver. The trousers are full,
and commonly of bright colored Indian cot
ton. Their headdress is generaUy a shaAvl
gracefully, twisted into the form of the tur
ban ; while their hands, fingers, and ears are
always decorated Avith ornaments of gold and
sflver. In this attractive costume these fah
ones from the south side of the mountains
are highly esteemed by the Circassian chief
tains, though feAV can aflbrd to pay the high
prices often demanded by their shes. For
the Armenian merchant is the Jew of the
Caucasus, and having sold every thing else,
AA'fll even sell his country's daughters. Desti
tute of all patriotic feeling, his Avhole soul
bound up in his gains, he brings into these

HIS DOMESTIC LIFE. 249
mountains all the spirit of trade there is in
them, ever calculating, figuring, discounting,
and bargaining Avith a patience which ends
only Avith life itself. So different is the spirit
of man among the woods and snows of the
Caucasus, and in the sunny vales Avhich lie
around the foot of Ararat.
Captives, male as AveU as female, are com
mon in the households of the Circassian chiefs,
and formed doubtless a part of Schamyl's do
mestic establishment. Generally they are put
to hard labor in the fields ; but the reports of
barbarous treatment brought back by the few
Paissians aa1io have escaped from slavery in
the Caucasus are for the most part greatly
exaggerated. Often, on the contrary, they
become firvorites Avith their masters, to Avhom
the}' are serviceable in introducing European
improA'ements. They invariably receive kind
treatment at the hands of the females, and
are frequently alloAved to take Avives and
have households of their oavii. Still, as the
Circassian carried aAvay into captivity always
regrets his native mountains and will return
to them, if possible, so the loAA'lander often
pines for the plains from which he has been

250 LIFE OF SCHAAIYL.
torn. Treated ever so kindly the Cossack
will sigh Avhen he remembers the freedom
with Avhich he once roved the steppes, lance
in hand, on his shaggy httle steed ; and the
Kalmuck also Avhen he thhiks of his hut half
buried in the sands on the shore of the Cas
pian, Avhence he Avas wont to sally forth AAith
his falcon on his fist, and letting it fly at the
heron, folloAved himself almost as SAviftly on
the gallop.

XXXVII.
PRINCE WORONZOFF AT DARGO.

Goairnor-general Golowin was succeeded
by General Neidhart, an officer who had
served Avith distinction in the Avar against Na
poleon, and afterAvard in the bloody strife in
Poland, and avIio had Avon the reputation of
being not only an able commander, but a
skilful administrator, and a man of sterling
worth of character. He Avas sent into the
Caucasus to carry out the system of defence
and gradual conquest which had been ap
proved of at St. Petersburg in opposition to
that of aggressive invasion, the results of
Avhich had been so disastrous under his pred
ecessor. But it AA'as by no mere change of men or
(251)

252 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
plans that such a master-spirit as Schamyl
Avas to be conquered. Nothing daunted by
the arrival on the scene of action of a neAV
opponent, he broke through the Russian line,
captured the fortress of Unzala, and devas
tated Avaria. While making Dargo his head
quarters AA'here he had collected considerable
stores of ammunition and provisions, he with
unabating zeal Avent the rounds of aU the
neighboring tribes, keeping alive the ardor of
those Avho were friendly to him, and visiting
AA'ith condign punishment those Avho took sides
AA'ith the enemy. Neidhart standing mainly
on the defensive was unable to make any
progress in either conciliating or subjugating
the highlanders, and at the end of two years
had rather lost ground than gained it. He
therefore in his turn was recalled in disgrace
to give place to a commander the most dis
tinguished avIio had been sent to the Caucasus
since Jermoloff
This was Prince, then Count Woronzoff.
Having served like General Neidhart in the
French and Polish wars, he had afterAvard, as
governor of the Crimea, acquired such a de
gree of popularity as had not been enjoyed

PRINCE AV0R0NZ0FF AT DARGO. 253
before since the days of Potemkin, the favor
ite of Catherine. The OAvner of forty thou
sand serfs, and said to be the handsomest Rus
sian living after Nicholas himself, he possessed
also the highest order of administrative talent,
a complete knoAA'ledge of the art of Avar, and
the most heroic qualities of character. Fully
appreciating his Avorth the emp'eror in caUing
him to the command of the army of the Cau
casus, invested him with such extraordinary
powers as procured for him among the Cir
cassians the title of "the Russian half-king."
The power of life and death over the natives
was given him; he Avas authorized to put
officers in the army of every grade on trial
for offences; could remove and appoint all
civil functionaries up to the sixth grade ; and
could bestow various military honors and re-
Avarcls Avithout the confirmation of the emper
or. This was indeed a generous gift of power,
— and that simply for the sake of putting
doAvn the chieftain of a few rude tribes in the
mountains. But after having made it, the emperor be
came desirous once more of striking a blow
such as should justify this change of adminis-
22

254 LIFE OF SCHAMY'L.
tration, avenge the disaster of the expedition
against Dargo, and even put an immediate
end to the Avar. Nothing short of the cap
ture of this same Dargo Avould ansAver lis
purposes. Such an undertaking AA'as indeed
contrary to the best judgment and wishes of
the neAV commander ; but expressly to gratify
his sovereign, as he said, Woronzoff finally
consented to lead another Russian column
into the forests of Itchkeria.
It was in the summer of 1845, and only a
feAV months after Woronzoff's arriA7al in the
mountains. With a force of ten thousand
infantry and a feAV hundred Cossacks, he set
out for Dargo, taking instead of the northern
track previously followed by General Grabbe,
the route by the river Koissu and through the
district of Andi. On their march to its prin
cipal aoul, called also Andi, the Russians Avere
not attacked by the mountaineers, though
closely Avatched by them. Here and there
small parties would appear in the distance,
but they seemed to be disposed, as usual, to
spare their powder, and contented themselves
with occasionally rolling doAvn stones upon
the heads of their adversaries as they passed

PRINCE AVOE0NZ0FF AT DARGO. l-M)
through the narroAver defiles. The column
therefore advanced ay ith good spirits, having
full rations, confiding in their new leader, and
rather underrating than dreading an enemy
who attacked them Avith stones instead of
bullets. At Gogatel, a small fort situated south of
the Andian range, which runs parallel Avith
the Andian branch of the Koissu, Woronzoff
estabhshed a depot of such provisions and
munitions of Avar as could not conveniently
be transported further. This was but a single
day's journey from Dargo ; and on the seven-
teeth of July, aU preparations having been
fully made, and summer being in mid-reign,
the order of march was given out for the
morrow. The soldiers, lightly laden, set off cheerfully
by the light of the resplendent dawn ; and
before the freshness of the morning Avas gone
they had crossed by the pass of Retschel into
the beech-woods of Itchkeria. Then began
the fight. The hostile tribes of all the region
round Avere up in arms, and Avaiting in the
depths of the woods for the enemy. As his
vanguard reached the first narroAV and precip-

256 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
itous defile they Avere received by a murder
ous fire from behind numerous trunks of trees
which, felled across the Avay, served as breast
works for the one party and obstacles to the
progress of the other. Besides these barricades,
the barriers no less difficult of removal, AA'hich
Avere woven by nature, of thousands of vines
and flower-bearing creepers, the narrowness
and steepness of the paths, added to the oppo
sition of the enemy, rendered the march so
difficult that on an average it did not exceed
one and a half wersts the hour. Still Woron
zoff fought his Avay through ; and as the shades
of night began to gather under the avoocIs he
Avas in sight of Dargo. But it was the aoul in
flames Avhich, joined to the reappearing stars,
noAV lit up the Avay ; for Schamyl, having gath
ered together Avhatever of wood, straw, and
grain could not be taken away, had set it all
on fire, thereby leaving to the enemy the con
quest of merely the blackened stone Avails of
the houses. Indeed the burning ruins of his
oavii residence supplied the bivouac fires by
which the Aveary soldiers cooked their eA'en-
ing meal, and then lay doAvn to sleep.
The next day the fight Avas reneAved.

PRINCE WORONZOFF AT DARGO. 257
Schamyl had retired AA'ith a force of about six
thousand warriors to a height which com
manded the aoul, and thence opened a fire
upon the Russians with their OAvn cannon, the
trophies of former victories. The " emperor's
pistols ' consumed indeed too much poAvcler
to be fired Avith any great rapidity, nor did
the mountaineers know how to take aim over
a six-pounder as well as they did along the
barrels of theh rifles; stfll one ball came
bounding into the very tent of the staff of
officers, and it became necessary, therefore, in
order to prevent accidents, to scale the height.
After not a little hard fighting this was finally
done at the point of the bayonet ; but the
Circassians retired, dividing the honors of the
field Avith the enemy, for they carried off the
guns. Dargo was taken, but not Schamyl. What
then was to be clone ? Woronzoff finally de
cided that he would send the half of his force
back to Gogatel to get a supply of provisions,
and on theh return push through the woods
and regain the Russian line by the route
northAvard. But this movement on Gogatel
gave the mountaineers another chance at
22*

258 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
their enemies. With Schamyl at their head
and strengthened by reinforcements, they at
tacked the escort party both going and re
turning. The Circassians give themselves no
rest until they have had blood for blood ; and
the two preceding days their own had flowed
pretty freely. Not satisfied Avith the slow
though certain Avork of the rifle they now
rushed in upon the battalions, and Avith shaska
and poniard fought hand to hand. Generals
Wiktoroff and Passek feU defending them
selves Avith their swords. Rain and tempest
made the battle still more terrific. The brave
General Klucke did his best; but AA'hen he
arrived at Dargo he had left thirteen hundred
of his men, together with the two generals,
behind in the woods. Three hundred mules
also Avith their packs, and a considerable num
ber of wagons loaded Avith grain, besides one
cannon, fell into the hands of the enemy.
But Avith Avhat of the conA'oy Avas saved
Count Woronzoff set out from Dargo on lis
return. The soldiers were put on half rations,
and the horses had nothing to eat but grass.
Through the valley of the Aksai, to the Rus
sians a A'alley of death, inasmuch as General

PRINCE WORONZOFF AT DARGO. 259
Grabbe had before strewn it AAith his slain, led
the Avay. Nor Avas it iioav scarcely less wet
Avith blood. For Schamyl's men fought the
rething battalions step by step. Wherever
the mountains projecting up to the very bank
of the Aksai left only 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 doAvn so
many victims that the few horses of the Cos
sacks sufficed not to transport the wounded,
so that whoever Avas disabled was necessarily
abandoned to his fate.
When then the commander saAv that so
many of his brave soldiers Avere left behind
to fall into the hands of a foe whose hate left
no room in his breast for mercy, he resolved
to make a halt, and send for reinforcements.
Fortunately for him some natives who, bribed
by large sums of gold, had undertaken under
cover of night to carry despatches to the for
tress of Girsel-aoul, succeeded in getting
through, and conveying to the garrison intel
ligence of the hazardous situation of their
countrymen. Thereupon three thousand in
fantry and three hundred Cossacks under Gen-

260 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
eral Freitag hastened to their rehef. And
great indeed Avas the joy of the famished bat
talions Avhen their comrades arriving shared
with them the contents of their knapsacks,
took the wounded upon their horses, and
helped to beat off the enemy. The march
then proceeded without further difficulty, and
on the first of August the conquerors of Dar
go, less three thousand of their dead, arrived
in safety at Girsel-aoul.
For this sad service of his master, heralded
at St. Petersburg and through Europe as a
great victory — and such are Russian victo
ries in the Caucasus — Count Woronzoff AA-as
made a Prince ! But AA'hen a feAV months af
terward he met the emperor at Sebastopol
for the purpose of exchanging A-ieAvs respect
ing the future conduct of the Avar, it is under
stood that the latter became at last fully con
vinced that the Caucasus could not be sub
jected by the method of direct invasion, but
only by adhering to the policy of gradually
draAving closer and closer around the moun
tains the line of the fortresses, in connection
with the use of light, movable columns as a
means of supporting them. Accordingly no

PRINCE AV0R0XZ0FF AT DARGO. 261
more hostile expeditions into the interior have
since been undertaken, and no more such tri
umphs as that at Dargo have been gazetted.
Woronzoff, convinced himself that the success
ful termination of the AA'ar Avas to be hoped
for only from long-continued perseverance in
maintaining the armed blockade and active
siege of the mountains, contented himself
during the half a dozen years of his command
in the Caucasus Avith attempting to carry
these views into execution, and also in en
deavoring to accomplish the Augean task of
cleansing the administration of both govern
ment and army of the corrupt practices Avhich
had long prevailed in both. In the latter
undertaking he met Avith a good degree of
success ; but hi the former, though aided by
an army in both Cis and Trans-Caucasia of
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred
thousand men, he made on the whole no pro
gress. Nor have his successors, Generals Read
and Mouravieff, been able to do more. The
genius of Schamyl and the Circassian love of
liberty, combined with the natural resistance
of Caucasian rocks and forests, have proved to
be more than a match for them.

XXXVIII.
SCHAMYL'S PROCLAMATION TO THE
KABARDIANS.

Not only did the double wall of rocks and
human breasts throbbing with the love of in
dependence prove impenetrable to the Rus
sian columns led on by a chief of transcen
dent abilities, but that wall Avas gradually
strengthened and enlarged. Schamyl could
not be kept within bounds. The year after
the fall of Dargo he broke through the cor
don of fortresses, and pouncing upon the neu
tral provinces of Kabarda, performed the most
brilliant exploit in lis Avhole career.
The Kabardas, the great and the little, are
twin provinces lying on the northern side of
the Caucasian range midAvay between the
(262)

PROCLAMATION TO THE KABARDIANS. 203
two seas, and in a north-Avesterly direction
from the Lesghian and Tchetchenian high
lands. It is a land of green valleys and sunny
hill-sides, more broken on the side where it
joins on to the mountains ; softly undulating
in the central portions; and to the north,
where it falls down to the banks of the Terek
and to the level of the steppes, a plain almost
as smooth as a sheet of water. Here, until
the coming of the Russians, a people mainly
pastoral had kept their flocks and herds for
centuries. Simple in their modes of life, yet
trained to arms, they were of the blood of the
gallant race of the Adighe's or Circassians of
the western Caucasus. Scarcely less lovers
of freedom than the tribes who dwelt higher
up in the mountains, nor less ready to lay
down theh lives in defence of it, they con
tended for a quarter of a century or more
with the invaders aaIio came into their land,
pretending to a right to rule over them. But
in this long period of resistance the chivalry
of the Kabardas was gradually wasted, whereas
army after army came out of the north as
from a womb of men which was inexhaustible.
These semi-barbarous knights had also to con-

204 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
tend Avith a more advanced civilization ; and
nature besides had not come to their aid ay ith
those bulAvarks of rock and forest AA'ith Avhich
she so fondly encircled the free homes of the
highlanders. A half century ago, accordingly,
they Avere finally obliged to succumb to supe
rior numbers, though not to superior valor.
But they came out of the contest AAith the
honors of Avar, it being stipulated in their ca
pitulation that they should retain their arms,
and be still governed by their chiefs, on con
dition of acknowledging the supremacy of the
czar. Gradually, however, as the foreign civ
ilization got a foothold AA'ith its advantages of
trade and its superior modes of tillage, the
influence of the conquerors greAV stronger.
Their colonists, consisting mostly of Germans,
pushed fonvard into the fertile and pleasant
valleys. Many of the chiefs, long courted by
gifts and pensions, Avere seduced into fiiAoring
the Russian ascendency ; a species of mihtia
Avas drafted among the Avarriors to assist in
the subjugation of the other tribes ; and the
hot young bloods, captivated by the sight of
the epaulettes and plumes of the imperial
cavalry, allowed themselves to be enrolled in

PROCLAMATION TO THE KABARDIANS. 265
its ranks, and formed that splendid body of
horse having the guard of the person of the
empress in St. Petersburg.
Previously to his invasion of the territory
of these Russianized Kabardians, Schamyl had
made various attempts to incite them to throw
off their yoke. He had sent emissaries to
scatter among them his proclamations, urging
them in glowing words to strike a blow for
independence and for Allah ; he had caused
these to be foUowed by many of his most elo
quent murids AA'ho preached in their valleys
that new faith of the union of all believers in
a holy Avar against the infidels Avhich had
taken such strong root among the rocks of
the mountains ; and finally he had despatched
his zealous partisan Achwerdu-Mahomet at
the head of an armed force to compel them
to take sides Avith him. But the Kabardians
Avho, formerly converted from paganism to
Muscovite Christianity and afterward to Ma
hometanism, Avere not zealots in religion,
turned a deaf ear to both proclamations and
preaching, and even put Achwerdu-Mahomet
to death. For alike despising the threats of
23

266 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
Schamyl, and fearing the artillery of the Rus
sians, they determined to remain neutral.
The following is one of the proclamations
referred to, and may be taken as a specimen
of Schamyl's State papers.
"In the name of Allah, the all-merciful,
whose gracious Word flows like the spring be
fore the eyes of the thirsty wanderer in the
desert, Avho has made us the chief pillars in
the temple of his faith, and the bearers of the
torch of freedom ! Te warriors of great and
little Kabarda, for the last time I send to re
mind you of your oath, and to incite you to
war against the unbelieving Muscovites.
Many are the messages I have already sent,
and the words I have spoken to you ; but ye
have scorned my messengers and have not re
garded my admonitions. Therefore hath Al
lah given you over into the hands of your
enemies, and your aouls to the sword of the
spoiler ; for the Prophet hath said,
" ' The unbelievers avIio will in nowise be
lieve shall God deal AAith as with the vflest of
the beasts.'
" Say not in reply : Ave believe, and have

PROCLAMATION TO THE KABARDIANS. 267
always held the doctrines of the Prophet holy.
Verily, God will punish you — liars. Say
not : we faithfuUy perform our washings and
our prayers, give alms, and fast, as it is writ
ten in the Koran. Verily, I say unto you,
for all this shaU ye appear black-faced before
the judgmentrseat of Allah. The Avater shall
become mud in your mouths ; your alms, the
wages of sin; and your prayers, curses.
The true believer has the faith hi his heart,
and the sword in his hand ; for AA'hoso is
strong in faith is strong in battle. More ac
cursed even than our enemies are ye ; for
they are ignorant and wander in darkness ;
but the hght of truth shone before you, and
ye have not folloAved it. Say not : they have
overpowered us and by their great numbers
put us to flight. For hoAv often shall I repeat
to you the words of the Prophet when he
says, " ' Ye faithful, though the unbelieving come
against you by hosts, turn not your back to
them ; for whoso then turneth his back, even
though in the thick of the fight, him shaU the
wrath of God smite, in hell shall be lis resf>
ing-place, and verily the way thither is not
pleasant ! '

268 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
" Wherefore have ye doubted the truth of
my mission, and listened rather to the threats
of the enemy than to my admonitions ? God
himself hath said,
" ' Rouse, 0 Prophet, the faithful to battle ;
for twenty of you standing fast shall over
power tAvo hundred, and a hundred of you
shall put to flight thousands of the unbeliev
ing, for they are a people that haA7e no
knowledge.' " God has made your Avay easy, for he knew
that you were weak. Had ye joined your
selves in league Avith us, ye would never have
become the slaves of the infidels, and theh
touch had never defiled you. But now is it
not easy to wash yourselves clean of theh
dirt. Was it then I who united together the
tribes of the mountains, or Avas it rather the
power of God Avorking through me AAith Avon-
ders ? 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-
aaIsc. 0 Prophet, with God and the faithful
on thy side, thou hast nothing to be afraid of

PROCLAMATION TO THE KABARDIANS. 20 9
" Beheve not that God is with the many !
He is with the good, and the good are ahvays
fewer than the bad. Look about you, and see
if my words be not true. Are there not feAver
noble war-steeds than bad ones ? Are there
not fewer roses than weeds? Is there not
more mud than pearls, and more lice than
cattle ? Is not gold scarcer than iron ? And
are we not better than the gold, and the roses,
and the pearls, and all the horses and cattle
put together? For aU the treasures of the
earth pass away ; but Ave are immortal. But
if fhe weeds be more numerous than the
roses, shaU we instead of rooting them out,
suffer them to grow and choke the noble
flowers ? And if the enemies be more than
Ave, shaU we, instead of hewing them doAvn,
suffer them to take us in their snares ? Say
not : the enemy has conquered Tscherkei, and
destroyed Akhulgo, and taken possession of
Avaria. When the lightning strikes one
tree, do all the others bow their heads and
cast themselves down, lest it strike them also ?
0 ye of Uttle faith ! Avould that ye might take
example from the green Avood ! Verily, the
trees of the forest might shame you if they
23*

270 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
had tongues. Or AA'hen the worm destroyeth
one kind of fruit, do then all the other kinds
perish for fear lest they may be pierced
through also ? Wonder not that the unbe
lievers multiply so rapidly, and send army
after army to take the place of those Avhom
we cut off; for I say unto you that thousands
of mushrooms and poisonous weeds shoot up
out of the earth, while one good tree is grow
ing to maturity. I am the root of the tree
of freedom ; my murids are the trunk ; and
ye the branches. But think not because one
branch rots the whole tree aaIU go to ruin.
Verily, the rotten branches avUI God lop off,
and cast them into heU-fire ; for he is a good
husbandman. Bepent, therefore, and return
to the ranks of those Avho fight for the faith,
and my grace and protection shall OAershadow
you. But if ye continue to trust to the en
ticing Avords of the flax-haired Christian clogs
rather than to my Avarnings, I will surely ful
fil that which Khasi-MoUah long ago promised
you. Like dark clouds shall my Avarriors
overshadoAV your aouls, and take by force
what you refuse to kindness; blood shall
mark my path, and terror and desolation shall

PROCLAMATION TO THE KABARDIANS. 271
follow in my footsteps ; for where words do
not suffice, deeds shall."
Of the Russian proclamations in the Cau
casus, on the other hand, the foUowing, issued
in reply to Schamyl's, may serve as a speci
men. " In the name of God, the almighty.
"The Adjutant-general, commander of the
Caucasian corps, and chief of the civil gov
ernment of the Cis and Trans-Caucasian ter
ritories, to the Khans, Beys, Cadis, Effendis,
Mollahs, and to all the people of Daghestan
and Tchetchenia.
" The commotions and bloodshed which dur
ing so many years have taken place among
the Caucasian mountaineers have attracted
the most serious attention of our lord, the
emperor; and his Imperial Majesty has re
solved this year to introduce the reign of
peace and prosperity into all these unhappy
districts. To carry this purpose into execu
tion fresh troops have arrived, and in case of
need still greater numbers can be drawn from
the terrible hosts of Russia. And how nu
merous and powerful are her armies, those of
you who have been in that country can best
tell.

272 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
" Ye inhabitants of Daghestan and Tchet
chenia ! I assure you that these troops have
in nowise been sent to root out the doctrine
of Mahomet and to destroy his people, but
simply for the punishment of Schamyl and
his followers. For he is a shameless deceiver,
who from purely personal motives, from the
desire of self-aggrandizement and the love of
dominion, has stirred up the tribes to revolt,
and exposed them to aU the horrors of Avar ;
who seeks himself to avoid every danger,
while he delivers you, deluded ones, to death ;
who preaches equahty of rights and abolition
of all hereditary rights of property simply to
get possession himself of the inheritances of
your khans and beys; who fiUs your aouls
with his murtosigators, who spare neither
the lives nor the property of the innocent in
habitants; AA'ho lays on your settlements the
burdens of his taxes and the hateful yoke of
his despotism ; who caUs himself your protec
tor and defender, Avhile eA'eryAA'here his pres
ence is marked by death and desolation. So,
for example, was it in Khasikumuck, Avaria.,
and Andi, in the Sechamschal district, and in
Itchkeria, where he acted such a faithless and

PROCLAMATION TO THE KABARDIANS. 273
inhuman part toAA'ards the inhabitants of the
aoul of Zoutera, sparing neither the aged, nor
Avomen, nor children. In place of your ru
ined prosperity he gives you nothing but
false and delusive promises, as Avhen he en
couraged you Avith the hope of the speedy
appearance of a Turkish army for your relief,
Avhereas the sultan has just reneAved to us his
word never to interfere in the affairs of the
Caucasian tribes, in opposition to their right
ful emperor.
" Ye people of Tchetchenia and Daghestan !
Soon Avill the Russian army appear in your
midst. And I repeat to you that our troops
AviU come only to deliver you from the
yoke of your oppressor, to protect the weak,
and those Avho turn from the error of their
ways with repentance, as well as all those who
have risen in revolt against the poAver of the
despot. In the name of the great ruler of
men, the emperor of all the Russias, who has
delivered all power into my hands to punish
the fomenters of strife as they deserve, but
avIio nevertheless desires to throw over their
offences' the covering of his gracious forgive
ness, do I promise full pardon to aU those who

274 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
by word or deed have labored for the cause
of Schamyl, provided they noAV come to me
with tokens of repentance and submission. I
promise that aU necessary means shall be
taken for the preservation of your faith, of
your mosques, of your customs and usages,
and of the rights of property of all those who
will noAV present themselves before me and
take the oath of subjection and fidehty. All
these their rights and privdeges shall be
placed on secure and ever-enduring founda
tions. " But at the same time I inform you that
all the aouls and tribes who join the party of
Schamyl and oppose themselves to our right
ful authority shall be subjected to the most
terrible punishments. The same shall be in
flicted also on aU those aaIio seek to retire into
the mountains, and aU those who, having fled
thither, do not immediately return to their
former habitations. And these habitations
likewise shall be razed to the ground.
" As to the tribes of Akuska and Zudakera,
the conditions on Avhich their submission Avill
be accepted will be made knoAvn to them by
the commander of the forces in Daghestan.

PROCLAMATION TO THE KABARDLVNS. 275
" Ye people of Tchetchenia and Daghestan !
In this year will your destiny be decided. It
depends on yourselves. Choose ! In case
you submit yourselves to the rightful and be
neficent rule of Russia, you will receive the
inexpressibly great gift of the grace of our
lord the emperor, Avho watches equally over
the happiness and prosperity of all his sub
jects. But if you obstinately continue in
your errors, and place yourselves in the ranks
of our enemies, you will share in the punish
ment inflicted on Schamyl, and will be torn
in pieces by the claws of the Russian eagle,
which at the same time appears at the rising
of the sun and where it goes doAvn in the
west, and which Avlngs its flight over Elbrus
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 by the Kabardians,
was now gathering in the south-east. Schamyl,
surveying the posture of affairs in the spring
of 1846, with the eye of a warrior who Avas
at the same time a prophet, saAv that the con
centration of Russian troops was mostly in
the fortresses of Temir-Chan-Chura and Gros-
naja ; that Woronzoff Avas busy looking after
his kreposts and his stanitzas ; and that con
sequently there was an opening for himself
by means of fast galloping to break through
the enemy's line, and make a raid in the Ka-
bardas. It was an inspiration of genius to
conceive the plan ; it Avould require the bold
est riders in the world to execute it.
(276)

HIS INVASION OF THE KABARDAS. 277
But notwithstanding the loss of Dargo, the
year preceding, "Sultan Schamyl," as the
mountaineers sometimes fondly called him,
had attained to such an influence that he Avas
now at the head of the largest force which
had eArer been mustered in the highlands.
Among the tribes of the western Caucasus,
their proudest chiefs, Guz-Bey, and Dschimbu-
lat, had never been able to raise a troop for
crossing the Kuban of more than four thou
sand riders; Scheik Mansur, the Schamyl of
the eastern Caucasus in the preceding century,
and Khasi-MoUah had never taken the field
Avith upward of eight thousand ; nor had the
Bussians in their hostile incursions, as at Ak
hulgo and Dargo, assembled under their eagles
a greater force than from twelve to fourteen
thousand. But the Imam after aU the losses
of the preceding years had now under him no
less than twenty thousand warriors, a large
proportion of them cavalry, and waiting only
his order to spring into their saddles.
In the beautiful month of May, when nature
in bud and full leaf throughout the moun
tains inspired the breast of the warrior as
well as of the husbandman with hope,
24

278 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
Schamyl set forth for the Kabardas. The
week before, the highlands lay as peaceful in
the midst of the spring's blossoming as they
had under the protecting mantle of the win
ter's snoAVS. The steed Avas cropping the first
tender blades of grass in the vale, long unac
customed to the bit and saddle which hung
suspended against his master's Avail ; AA'hile the
Lesghian himself was sitting listless at the
door of his sakli apparently basking without
a thought of war in the genial beams which
shine in the time Avhen the singing of bhds i?
come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in
the land.
But suddenly there Avas a hot riding of mes
sengers from one end of the httle empire of the
Imam to the other. In a Aveek aU the men
of Himri, Akhulgo, and Dargo, the riders of
Arrakan and Gumbet, AA'aria and Koissubui,
Itchkeria and Salatan, the dwellers on the
four branches of the Koissu and the stUl
blood-stained banks of the Aksai, Lesghians,
Tchetchenians, and Avarriors of Daghestan,
tribes of different origin and speaking various
dialects, but freemen all, Avere in the stirrup,
shaskas at their sides, and millet at theh- sad
dle-bows.

HIS INVASION OF THE. KABARDAS. 279
Two rivers flowed between their land and
the Kabardas ; and across their war-path ran
two lines of hostile fortresses. Among these
latter Avas the strong-hold of Wlaclikaukas, be
sides others scarcely less impregnable ; and in
them all lay an army of seventy thousand
troops well armed and ready for service. In
the intervals between stretched the settle
ments of the Cossacks ; and beyond, the Ka
bardians themselves had been born Avarriors,
and still retained their arms. On the other
hand, Schamyl had no artillery, and no regu
lar convoys of provisions and ammunition.
Without fortresses, depots, or communications
of any sort to fall back upon in case of need,
he would in fact have nothing behind him to
rely upon, but only that Avhich was before.
It Avould be therefore a dash at a venture, and
with, for order of march, " The devil take the
hindmost." But the Imam was conscious of his strength,
and AA'as justly proud of his twenty thousand
men of the mountains, every one of whom
held in contempt the plains below and all
they that defended them. Seeing beforehand
both the victory and the way of escape, he

280 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
confidently set forward. It was at the season
of the year AA'hen the banks of the rivers were
filled full from the melting of the snoAvs in
the mountains ; but the horses swam where
they could not ford the currents. To no pur
pose Avas it that the Cossack, seeing from his
tall look-out the approach of the foremost
riders of this host, lighted his beacon, or that
the sentries of the kreposts fired their alarm-
guns. Schamyl rode down the Cossacks,
plundered the stanitzas, and left behind the
forts AA'hich were not carried amid the Avhirl-
wind of his first coming. There was no stop
ping ; and before the garrisons along the line
kneAv that Schamyl had come, he Avas gone ;
and Avhen the Kabardians believed that the
braggart AA'ho had threatened their land AA'ith
plundering Avas shut up in lis mountains six
hundred wersts away, he was in their midst.
No less than sixty populous aouls of the
Kabardians Avere plundered ; tAventy Cossack
stanitzas AA'ere destroyed; and ravaging on
either side the lands through AA'hich he passed,
the Imam seriously threatened the strong
places of Mosdok, Jekaderinograd, and Stav
ropol. It AA'as easy galloping over the smooth

HIS INVASION OF THE KABARDAS. 281
valleys and softly rolling hills of the Kabar-
das; nor having once broken the bounds of
the mountains were Schamyl's riders content
to turn back their horses untfl they had wa
tered them on the Kuban, and even filled Avith
consternation the stanitzas on the still more
distant banks of the Laba.
To retreat from these remote steppes in
safety to the mountains was indeed a triumph.
For the generals Freitag and Nestoroff, on
hearing the news of Schamyl's incursion, had
immediately mustered theh battahons, and
occupied the Terek to intercept his return ;
and the Cossacks, those of the Don, of Tcher-
nomozen, and of the line, riding at full speed,
had come 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 had advanced. But when the work
of devastation and pillage was done, he sud
denly turned his horses' heads south from Je-
kaderinograd ; overran the Cossack colonies
in that direction; and with a considerable
number of Kabardians^forced into lis ranks,
with his cruppers loaded with the booty of
the plains, and his saddle-bows well furnished
24*

282 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
with both millet and mutton, regained the
mountains. It Avas stfll the beautiful month
of May Avhen his riders unloosed their saddle-
girths at the doors of their saklis ; the time
of the singing of bhds was not past ; nor had
the voice of the turtle yet ceased in the land.

XL.
HIS SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT.

Bet the one half is not told respecting the
genius of Schamyl after the recital of his mil
itary exploits simply ; for he is not more dis
tinguished as a warrior than as a ruler and a
laAvgiver. Out of the heterogeneous mate
rials of numerous independent tribes, sepa
rated from each other in many instances by
blood-feuds, speaking various dialects, and
having traditions and customs more or less
differing, he has organized a form of society
in which all these discordant elements have
been brought into harmony. Where before
there were tribes, there is now a State ; where
there were many warlike leaders and heredi
tary chiefs of clans, there is now one supreme
(283)

284 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
ruler; in the place of usage and tradition,
there is the reign of law and order ; and in
stead of a resistance of clans fighting bravely
but without concert, there is a well-organized
system of defence, with concentration of povv-
ers and unanimity of action. It is an organ
ization called forth by the exigencies of a
state of perpetual Avar, and one wherein indi
vidual liberty is necessarily and rightfully
sacrificed to the common independence.
The foundations of this militant state were
laid on the rock of rehgious fanaticism, the
cleft between the two sects of Omar and Ah
having been finally cemented together in the
new faith of the Sufis. This great Avork was
begun by the predecessors of Schamyl, but to
him is due the credit of haA'ing carried it on
to perfection, until now the Avar of sects has
been completely merged in the Avar agamst
the common enemy, and hatred of the " blonde
unbelievers " is synonymous with love of Al
lah and faith in the Prophet, Of this united
church Schamyl is the head. He is acknowl
edged as the second great prophet and Allah's
vicegerent, appointed to defeat his enemies
and to maintain the liberty origmaUy granted

HIS SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. 285
by him to the sons of the mountains. Twice
in the year he is beheved to hold direct com
munications with heaven, retiring for that p im
pose to the privacy of his inner apartments,
or the solitude of some cave or retreat among
the rocks. There for three Aveeks he performs
his priestly worship AA'ith fasting, prayer, and
the reading of the Koran, until at length he
beholds in a vision the spirit of the Prophet
descending out of heaven in the form of a
dove, and receives from it the divine com
mands. On returning from his place of se
clusion he delivers these to the assembled con
gregation of his murids and murschids, and
exhorts them with the rapt eloquence of a
messenger come directly from God to perse
vere in the holy war against the Muscovites.
Awed by the solemn tones of his voice and by
the almost supernatural shining of his coun
tenance, the congregation accepts lis words
as the inspiration of the Almighty, and bows
itself in prayer. Then going out of the
mosque he chants a verse from the Koran,
and harangues the multitude outside, who
thereupon sing a hymn Avhich is half a battle
song, and drawing their shaskas swear anew

286 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
fealty to the faith, and eternal hate against
Russia. And finally, the ceremony over, all
separate amid shouts of, " God is great ; Ma
homet is his first prophet ; and Schamyl his
second ! "
The territory over AA'hich Schamyl bears
rule is divided into provinces, districts, and
aouls. A convenient number of aouls forms
a district, and five districts a province. Over
the latter are set governors Avho have a con
trol in things both spiritual and temporal
which is wellnigh supreme ; but for the right
ful exercise of Avhich they are answerable to
the Imam with their lives. Next in authority
are the chiefs of districts, who are caUed naibs,
and whose duties consist in maintaining a su-
perAision over the inhabitants, collecting the
revenues, raising recruits, settling feuds, and
enforcing due obedience to the laAv of the
scharyat. Finally, in every aoul resides a
cadi, or elder, aaIio is required to make reports
to his naib of all important occurrences, to
keep the peace, to deliver up persons accused
of crimes, to promulgate the orders and proc
lamations of his superiors, and to keep SAvift
horses constantly standing saddled and bridled

HIS SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. 287
for the instant despatch of messengers of
State. Every naib, moreover, is bound to maintain
in his district an armed force of three hundred
riders, to be raised in the manner following.
Every ten houses furnish a warrior, the family
from whom he is taken being free of aU taxes
during his lifetime, and the other nine being
at the expense of his equipment and mainte
nance. This soldier is to be ready to march
at the minute, and may not lay aside his arms
even at "night. In addition, every male from
fifteen years of age to fifty is liable to be
caUed out for the defence of his aoul, or, in
extraordinary cases, for active service in the
army. At the same time the horseman of ev
ery ten houses takes command of the men on
foot from those houses.
Separate from his standing army Schamyl
has also a guard constantly attached to his
person, which is made up by selection from
his murids. -.They are called by way of dis
tinction Murtosigators. Into their number*
none are admitted save warriors of well-tried
valor, zealous for the faith taught by the mur-
schids, and devoted partisans of the Imam.

288 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
Called to the high office of guarding the per
son of their prophet, they must keep them
selves pure from whatever in the world might
tempt them to a neglect of duty, or even
make life too dear to them. If unmarried,
they must remain so ; if married, they must
have no intercourse with their families. They
must exercise temperance in living, and
strictly keep the scharyat. The extension of
the new faith, the maintenance of the suprem
acy 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 on the decimal
system, every ten having a leader, and every
ten leaders again a superior, as is the case also
in the regular army. They receive a regular
monthly pay, besides a share in all spoils. In
time of comparative peace, AvhUe one half of
them keep Avatch over the life of the Imam,
rendering access to him a matter of extreme
.difficulty, the other half act as lay preachers
of his political Sufism ; and in time of actual
war, they are the soul of his army, caring not
for their lives but only for his, leading the

HIS SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. 289
raid, covering the retreat, a strong wall of de
fence around the faithful, and the terror of
the enemy, by Avhom not one of them has ever
been taken alive.
In imitation of the grades of office in the
Russian armies, Schamyl established a differ
ence of rank among his OAvn chieftains. Three
of his most eminent partisans received titles
corresponding to those of generals; and a
number of his murids, especiaUy the chiefs
of the murtosigators, were made captains. At
the same time these high officers were distin
guished by decorations after the European
fashion. The generals were authorized to
wear on 'each breast stars of sflver; the cap
tains had silver plates of an oval form ; and
the chiefs of the guard who had distinguished
themselves by acts of extraordinary heroism
were presented with medals bearing compli
mentary inscriptions in the Arabic character.
There were also various other rewards of mil
itary merit established, such as epaulettes of
beaten silver, daggers with sflver hilts, and
ensigns decorated with fine needle-work.
And to correspond with these marks of hon
orable distinction were instituted badges of
25

290 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
disgrace, such as the patch sewed on the back,
and the rag tied around the right arm. Fi
nally, a system of military punishments Avas
introduced, comprising various fines, imprison
ment, and death.
For a revenue Schamyl does not depend,
like his predecessors, on the fifth of the booty
taken from the enemy, and the fines imposed
for violations of the scharyat, but has intro
duced a regular system of taxation. A poll-
tax to the amount of a silver rouble, or its
value in kind, is levied on every family ; one
tenth of the produce of the land goes into the
public treasury; the property of every per
son dying Avithout direct heirs, faUs to the gov
ernment ; and the wealth accumulated in the
mosques and shrines, consisting of the gifts
of the pious, has been apphed to the uses of
the State, the mollahs receiving regular pay
in exchange, and the wandering derA'ishcs, aaIio
lived on voluntary contributions, haA'ing either
been incorporated into the army or driven
out of the country. Economical in the use
of his revenues and living himself in a style
of simplicity scarcely superior to that of his
comrades in arms, the Imam has accumulated

HIS SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. 291
considerable funds, and is known to have de
posited in secret places in the Avoods of Andi
and Itchkeria treasures of gold, precious
stones, and various valuables. The sinews of
his Avar are not indeed gold and silver, but
love of freedom and hatred of the infidel ;
still he understands as AveU as the rulers of
coimtries more civilized, that riches are a
strong ally ; and moreover he can neither is
sue paper-money nor hve by borrowing. But
while he has Avisely laid up in store for the
conduct of the war and the upholding of his
government whatever could be saved by fru
gal and simple living, he has always dealt out
with a liberal hand the means necessary for
rewarding acts of extraordinary valor or self-
sacrifice, for making converts to the faith of
the Sufis, or for winning over to his side a
hostile tribe or chieftain.
The mountaineers acknowledging the rule
of Schamyl do not number more than about
six hundred thousand, the entire population
of the Caucasus being estimated at a million
and a half. The forces of the Imam have
never exceeded twenty thousand. On the
other hand, the Russian army in the moun-

292 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
tains during the last dozen years has consisted
of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred
thousand men of all arms. These have been
distributed indeed throughout both Cis and
Trans-Caucasia, a portion of them being occu
pied in vainly endeavoring to conquer the
Circassians proper in the western extremity
of the mountains, but a greater proportion,
say from fifty to one hundred thousand, being
concentrated along the line of the Tchetche-
nian and Lesghian highlands. According to
the Russian ordnance accounts of the year
1840, their total expenditure of artillery car
tridges was 11,344, and of musket cartridges
1,206,575. Large expenditure, and small
result,

XLI.
RECENT EVENTS.

During the last few years the Imam has
kept the Czar well at bay. Since the capture
of Dargo, the Russians have made few incur
sions, and reported no more victories. And
on the other hand, the mountaineers making
only now and then a razzia, or storming a
krepost, have been contented to allow the en
emy the quiet enjoyment of lis prison-houses
along the hne, on the condition of his not
leaving them. Schamyl seems to be well
aAvare that his best ramparts are the rocks,
and his palisades the primitive forests. To
leave these for the sake of attacking fortified
places bristling with cannon, and Avhich if cap
tured he could not hold, would be a useless
');-.:¦: (293)

294 life of schamyl.
waste of blood too precious to be spiled
without cause. And, besides, he must know
that he is contending not only against supe
rior numbers, but also a more perfect knoAvl-
edgc of the art of Avar, and that therefore his
only hope of ultimate success can rest on the
interposition of that Providence which guides
the world's destiny.
At length that heavenly poAver seems to
be coming to his rehef. For nearly half a
century he has been holding in his hand the
keys of the great pathway from southern
Russia to the East, despite the utmost efforts
of the czar to Avresf them from him. Li vain
did the emperor Nicholas visit the Caucasus
to cheer on his troops ; in vain did the grand-
duke Alexander, the present emperor, take
part in the campaign of 1850 ; or Prince
Baratinksky in 1852 attempt by his bravery
to overawe Tchetchenia, From Jermoloff to
Woronzoff and Mouravieff the emperor has
sent to the Caucasus his best generals, who
have devised or put into execution even- pos
sible system of both attack and defence for
the sake of destroying this nest of mountain
eers ; the banks of the Kuban and the Terek

RECENT EVENTS. 295
have been covered with Cossacks until theh
lances stand as thick as the river-reeds ; ten
thousand times in the year, it has been esti
mated, does the cannon roar through these
valleys, and ten hundred thousand times does
the musket ring; but the mountains stand
firm ; the hills are not shaken ; the flag of
freedom, though but a rag tied to a spear,
still floats from the summits of Andi and the
Solo-Tau ; and Schamyl stfll holds the moun
tain path Avhich leads from Russia to the val
leys of Persia and the plains of Hindoostan.
England, comprehending at last that the
progress of Russia eastward, if not checked,
would at no very distant day threaten the
security of her own dominion in Asia, has in
concert with France commenced a war AA'hich,
if carried to a successful and true issue, wiU
bring about the evacuation of the Caucasus
by the Russian arms, and shut on them, at
least during the present generation, this gate
of the Orient. Should the Avar stop short of
this result, the subjugation of this strong-hold
of liberty will not probably be postponed
long beyond the decease of its present heroic
defender; and the student of history will

296 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
search in vain to discover the purposes of
Providence to accomplish which this child of
genius and of nature was raised up.
It is not strange, hoAvever, that Schamyl
should not fully comprehend, as he appears
not to do, the nature of the dehverance Avhich
Avould seem to be preparing for him. At
tempts are said to have been made to induce
him to adapt his pohcy to the pecuhar state
of the relations of eastern and western Eu
rope, and to cooperate Avith the enemies of
Russia by attacking her lines in the Caucasus
noAV that they are beginning to be Aveakened
from the suspension of the usual reinforce
ments. France has sent presents of muskets
to the Caucasus, and England has despatched
diplomatic agents. But hitherto the Imam
has not departed from the hne of policy which
was traced out previously to the breaking out
of the Avar in Europe, and with sole reference
to the posture of affairs in the Caucasus. It
is said, and probably with truth, that he dis
trusts the overtures of alliance made to him.
For since the government of Great Britain re
fused to demand redress for the capture by
the Russians of the " Vixen," an English ves-

RECENT EVENTS. 297
sel trading on the coast of Circassia in contra
vention, as was alleged, of their laws of block
ade, and thereby virtually declined to ac
knowledge the rights and independence of the
Circassians, the latter have lost all faith in that
intervention of England in their favor which
for a time they had been encouraged in en
tertaining. For the name of the great Napo
leon, the sultan of the west, — for into what
parts of the earth has his name not gone
forth ? — they cherish the most profound ad
miration ; but they do not know his nephew,
nor have they ever been brought into any
relations whether of trade or diplomacy with
France. Moreover, the words, "ally," and
" protector," have become almost words of ill-
omen in the Caucasus, from the fact that the
Russians, hke the Persians and the Turks be
fore them, have always used these terms to
mask theh designs of interference and ulti
mate conquest. The wily Imam therefore dis
trusts the Franks though dona ferentes, and
dreads lest they who should come into the
mountains as allies might remain there as
masters. He prefers to continue trusting in
himself and Allah, and to let the unbelievers

298 LIFE OF SCHAA1YL.
fight their oaati battles. Nor, indeed, is it
quite certain that herein he does not act
wisely. It has been supposed by some, though Avith
out sufficient reason, that the recent restora
tion to Schamyl of one of his sons Avho had
been taken aAvay in his boyhood to Russia
and there educated, has had some influence
in rendering him more disposed to be on
terms Avith his enemies. This interesting
event occurred, however, in the course of a
regular exchange of prisoners, and in the
manner following.
His son, together with a ransom of forty
thousand silver roubles, Avas demanded by
Schamyl in return for the deliA'erance from
captivity of two Russian princesses, the prin
cess Tschattchavadse, and the princess Orbe-
lian, AA'ith the children of the latter, all of
whom had some months before fallen into the
hands of some of his followers. This wras
finally agreed to, and the interchange was
effected by Schamyl in person. Distrustful,
however, to the last moment, he came to the
appointed place of rendezvous on the banks
of the frontier river Mitschik accompanied by

RECENT EVENTS. 299
a force of some six thousand Avarriors and
several field-pieces. Then having taken up
his ]5osition on the right bank while the Rus
sians occupied the left, he sent forward another
of his sons, Khasi-Mahomet, with thhty mu
rids to escort the captives. At the same time
a party of riflemen commanded by Major-gen
eral Von Nikolai advanced from the other side,
having in charge Jamal Eddin, the son who
was to be exchanged, and a carriage contain
ing the ransom money. When then Jamal
Eddin came clown to the ford, the thousands
of his countrymen who covered the neighbor
ing heights set up a shout of thanksgiving,
and chanted the Estaphir Allah. Then having
crossed the river, he put on a Circassian dress,
and in company with his brother and the Rus
sian officers climbed the hiU where, surround
ed by his murids, and having a large parasol
held over his head, sat the Imam. When the
son who had been lost and Avas found ap
proached, the heart of the venerable father was
deeply moved ; and stretching out his hand
for the young man to kiss, he then embraced
him, and wept.
The report of the interview, published in

300 LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
Tiflis, states that Schamyl at the close of it,
after having bowed courteously to the officers
and thanked Baron Nikolai for the kindness
with which he had treated his son, exclaimed,
as if involuntarily, "Now I believe in the
honor of the Russians." This, however, is
doubtful. The interview, it may be added, was mem
orable also from the circumstance that it was
the first time since the year 1839 that any
Russian is known to have seen the face of
Schamyl. All present were struck with its
expressiveness, as they also were favorably
impressed by his noble and prepossessing
manners.

THE END .

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