Travels in the Western Caucasus including a tour through Imeritia, Mingrelia, Turkey, Moldavia, Galicia, Silesia and Moravia, in 1836

Preface

. When all eyes were turned towards the East, — when an active demonstration of the smothered dislike of Russia towards England had burst forth in the capture of a British merchant vessel, — when the subject of the war in the Caucasus, and the right of Russia to its sovereignty, founded upon the treaty of Adrianople, occupied the public mind, I felt it my duty to my country, and to the general interests of humanity, to hasten the publication of my travels in Circassia, in order to assist in laying open to the world the ambitious plans of Russia, her unjust invasion of the Caucasus, and various other facts con nected with the same subject. This obliged me to abridge many details, and terminate my narrative somewhat abruptly. The present work VOL. I. A

PREFACE.

. II is therefore a continuation of the former, and supplies several omissions necessary to illus trate the character of the war, together with the manners and customs of the inhabitants of the Western Caucasus. It also contains an ac count of my tour homeward, through some of the most interesting countries on the Black Sea, to Constantinople, and from thence through Bul garia, Moldavia, Galicia, &c, to Vienna. I cannot take leave of the principal subject of my work — The Western Caucasus — without expressing a hope, however little I may indulge the expectation, that some attempt may be made by the English government to avert the cruel destiny now impending over the inhabitants of that unfortunate country. Before the hues of Autumn shall tint the foliage of the forest, Russia will have made one of the most determined — one of the most gigantic — efforts to crush the independence of the Caucasus ever perpetrated by selfish aggrandizing ambition, — black and length ened as may be the catalogue of its atrocities. An overwhelming army, supplied with all that

PREFACE.

. III can give force to its operations, and the equally dangerous artillery of political intrigue and bribery, are engines which, when directed with the talent that Russia has ever displayed in gaining any object she may have had in view, excite the apprehension that the untutored bravery of a handful of mountaineers will avail but little against so effective a combination. But will England, will Europe, have nothing to answer for to posterity, in permitting the fall of Circassia? Are our councils to be for ever swayed by that timid policy which provides but for the present, regardless of the future ? The interests of our children demand another line of action — demand that we should dam up the stream before it swells into a torrent. Why, then, not do it? Why allow Russia to proceed unchecked, unmolested in the career of ambition she has marked out for herself?

Russia, however, ought to remember, that although she may calculate upon the support of a few despotic rulers, the intelligent mind of Europe is opposed to her, and that she is regarded as the common enemy of liberty and a

PREFACE.

. IV knowledge: — these, we confidently anticipate, will ultimately control and coerce her ; and if we are to judge from present appearances, it must be some irresistible manifestation of public opinion which shall effect this, and not, we fear, the spirited remonstrances of the present rulers of Europe. For instance, although they are aware that Circassia is an independent country, and was independent of Turkey prior to the treaty of Adrianople, which of them would dare to insist that Russia should terminate the barbarous hostilities she is now carrying on against that country, or aid the mountaineers in their unequal struggle, notwithstanding every inch of territory gained by her is in direct opposition to the best interests of Europe ? We fear this brave people will have no other help, save that of Heaven and " their own good swords."

I cannot conclude my preface without per forming an act of justice, however tardy, towards the literary fame of Miss Head, the accomplished translator of Klopstock's celebrated poem, the " Messiah." I allude to a passage in my work

PREFACE.

. V on Germany, wherein I severely censured the English translation, by which I meant the prose version, being ignorant, at the time, of the verse translation by that lady, in which she has not only done every justice to the admirable original, but added a new gem to our own litera ture. I should have made the amende honorable in the second edition of my work on Germany, if I had not been absent from England at the time of its publication. E. S. London, — May, 1838. ILLUSTRATIONS. VOL. I. Guerilla Warfare in the Caucasus - - - - Frontispiece A Bivouac in the Caucasus -------- Vignette Sketch of the Ubick and Tubi — Mountain Tribes of the Caucasus ------------ Page 98 Cossack Encampment in the Caucasus ----- — 171 Costume of a Suoni Chief and his Family ... - — 342 VOL. II. The Warrior's Return -------- Frontispiece A Turkish Coffee House on the Bosphorus ...

Vignette Interior of an Armenian Kitchen ------- Page 29 Moldavian Peasants ----------- 200 Military Peasant of the Buckowina ------ 266 Moravian Peasants -.---.--_.- CONTENTS or THE FIRST VOLUME.

Chapter I

Introductory remarks — Observations on the Caucasian isthmus — Its inhabitants — The Atteghei, or Circassian tribes — Their origin — Error of modern writers in confounding them with the Tartars of Roumanian— -Identity of the Koumanian Tartars and the inhabitants of Upper and Lower Koumani in Hungary .... p. 1 — 10

Chapter II

Refutation of the opinion that the Circassians are of Arab descent — Mamelukes of Egypt — Arab-chan the supposed progenitor of the Circassians — His history — Ineffectual attempts of Russia to explore the Western Caucasus — Ossetinian tribes — Their Median origin — Opinions of Pallas respecting the Circassians and the Krim-Tartars — Unquestionable proofs of the rule of the Circassians in the Crimea — Opinions of the ancient writers respecting the Circassians — Cossacks of the Don and the Kouban not of Muscovite extraction, p. 11 — CONTENTS.

Chapter III

Great and Little Kabardah, the original country of the Circassians — The Amazons and the Scythians on the banks of the Tanais— Tradition of the Circassians respecting the Amazons — Singular coincidence between their traditions and the history of the Amazons by Herodotus — Origin of the Sarmatians — Opinions of the ancient writers on that subject p. 20 — 27

Chapter IV

Advantages of a commercial alliance between Great Britain and Circassia — Productions of that country — Its natural harbours — Aggressions of Russia — Gross injustice of that power towards the Caucasians — The importance of the Caucasus to Russia — Rivalry between England and Russia — Moral influence of England — Vacillating policy of the English Government p. 28 — 42

Chapter V

Ancient settlements of the Genoese in the Western Caucasus — Great sources of wealth to that people — Hostility of Russia towards Great Britain — Advantages to England of preserving the Caucasian isthmus independent — Ambitious views of the Russian government — Predatory disposition of the Russian people — Their desire to invade India p. 43—61 CONTENTS. IX

Chapter VI

Conflicting opinions respecting Russian policy and the invasion of India — The duty of England tp protect that empire — Colonies proved to be a source of wealth to the mother country — Preliminary steps of Russia towards the invasion of India — Plan of invasion contemplated by the Emperor Paul — How to prevent the invasion of India p. 62—76

Chapter VII

Right of Russia to the Caucasus canvassed — Heroic resistance of the Circassians against Russian invasion — Treaty of Adrianople — Conduct of Sultan Mahmoud with respect to that treaty — Threats of the Russian ambassador at Constantinople — Sefir Bey, the Circassian envoy — His expulsion from Constantinople — Observations upon the invasion of Circassia — Governor Yermeloff — His tyrannical character — Admission of Russian agents in the Caucasus that Circassia was independent p. 77 — 92

Chapter VIII

Excursion on the banks of the Schaukwassa river — Aspect ofthe country — The Tubi and the Ubick — Their singular appearance — Character for fierceness — Weapons — Description of the Kara-Kalkan tribe — The Demirghoi — Their fortifications — System of agriculture — Cultivation of the vine — Bees — Pastoral habits of the people — Pri- X CONTENTS. mitive mills — Treacherous conduct of Russia towards the inhabitants of the Western Caucasus . . p. 93 — 104

Chapter IX

Caucasian rivers — Marshes of the Kouban — Game — Wild boars — Distant prospect of the fortress of Anapa — Account of that fortress — Return to the camp of the confederated chiefs on the banks of the Ubin — Description of the rivers in the vicinity — The Elberous — Definition of its name in the Caucasian dialects — Black mountains — Inaccessible nature of the country — Similarity between the ancient Swiss and the mountaineers of the Caucasus p. 105 — 115

Chapter X

Description of the country in the immediate vicinity of the Russian fort Anapa — Ghelendjik and the Aboon — Preparation of the mountaineers for the expected attack of the Russians — Anticipated success of the Circassians — Projected plan of the Russian -government for the conquest of the Western Caucasus — General WillemineiF — His character and death p. 116 — 124

Chapter XI

Tempests in the Caucasus — Anticipated by the natives A Circassian bivouac — Felt tents — Primitive method of constructing them — Superiority of the clothing of the mountaineers over that of the Russians for a guerilla campaign — Mode of provisioning a Circassian army Its organization — Election of military chiefs — Domestic CONTENTS. XI government — Sangiac Sheriff — Military exercises — Po lish and Russian deserters — The Lesghians — Their peculiar tactics — Invasion of the Russian territory by the mountaineers — Its consequences ... p. 125 — 139

Chapter XII

Alarming reports of the advance of the Russian army — Preparation of the mountaineers to meet the enemy — Fatal passage of the Russians through the defiles of the Caucasus — The attack — Successful issue ofthe campaign to the Circassians — Humane conduct of that people towards their prisoners p. 140 — 148

Chapter XIII

Return to Soudjouk-Kale — Defeat ofthe tribes in its vicinity by the Russians — The Caucasian guerilla — His revengeful disposition — Causes of this — Generosity natural to the character of a Circassian knight — Predatory disposition of the Caucasians — Cossacks and Tartars — Their desertion to the Circassians — Visit of the Emperor to the Caucasus — Effects of the war to Russia — Success of the mountaineers in their predatory expeditions, p. 149 — 161

Chapter XIV

Soudjouk-Kale — Its localities — Description of the ruined fortress in the bay — Unfounded statements of Russia with respect to Soudjouk-Kale — Excursions in the valley of Soudjouk-Kale — Deplorable effects of the war — Termination of the campaign of 1836 . . p. 162 — CONTENTS.

Chapter XV

Inal Asian Gherrai, the Circassian chief— His character — Inviolable faith of a Circassian chief towards his guest — Regulations for ensuring his safety — Journey to Pchad — Aspect of the country — Ghelendjik — Cossacks — Arrival at the house of the chief of Pchad — Triumphant reception — The banquet — Enthusiasm of the people — The patriarchal chief of Pchad — His reverse of fortune — Exile p. 171—187

Chapter XVI

The province of Khapsoukhie — Its localities — Productions — Singular intoxicating honey of the Caucasus — Stone honey — Wines — Rivers — Occupation of the natives — Singular waggons — Industry of the women — Cattle — Inconveniences resulting to the Circassians from the blockade of their coast by Russia . . . p. 188 — 199

Chapter XVII

Abasian horses — Attention paid to breeding them — Penalty of falsifying their lineage — Training — Poultry — Extraordinary fertility of the soil — Forests — Excellence of the timber — Game — The Caucasian partridge — Fish — Character of the people — Their armour — Form of government — Chiefs and elders — Domestic administration Circassian knights —Their character . . p. 200— CONTENTS. XIII

Chapter XVIII

Excursion to the bay of Djook — Effects of Russian devastation — Coast of Upper Abasia — Superb forests — Luxuriant vegetation — The Caucasian raven — Tomb of a Circassian chief — Bay of Djook — Anchorage — Repeated attempts of the Russians to take it — Their ill-success — Resolute determination of the mountaineers to defend it — Russian cannon p. 211 — 223

Chapter XIX

Departure from Djook — Gratitude of the Circassians towards their warriors — Hospitality of the people— Superstition of the mountaineers of Abasia — Astrologers — ■ Moral qualities of the people — Gloomy defile of Jagra — Russian fortress — Bay of Vadran — Log-houses of the Russian troops — Their destruction — Violent hostility of the Tartars settled in Abasia to Russia — Tartar sultans — Their ferocious appearance — Deplorable state of the garrison at Vadran — Demolition of ancient churches in Abasia — Causes which produced it . . p. 224 — 237

Chapter XX

Departure from Jagra — Route along the coast — Remains of an ancient road — Attachment of the. Circassians to England — Their desire to place themselves under its protection — Arrival at Soutchali — Hospitable reception by an Usden — The Abasians a distinct race from the Circassians — Considered to be the aboriginal inhabitants of the Western Caucasus — Their language totally distinct from every other — Various dialects of the Caucasians p. 238 — CONTENTS.

Chapter XXI

Sketch of the early history of the Abasians — Their personal appearance — Extraordinary agility — Manners and customs — Fertility of the soil — Picturesque beauty of the country — Alps — Romantic attachment of mountaineers in general to liberty — Similarity of the Circassians to the Swiss in the day of Tell — Rarity of crime in the Caucasus p. 247— 258

Chapter XXII

Religion of the Abasians — Their sacred groves — Superstitious veneration for springs — Ceremonies performed before going to battle — Duels — Throwing the djerrid, p. 259—266

Chapter XXIII

Domestic manners of the Abasians — Industry of the women — Abasian armourers — Excellence of their weapons — Circassian knights— Their pride of birth — Laws of the Abasians respecting illegitimate children — The distribution of property — Enforcement of morality — Divorce — Filial obedience p. 267 279

Chapter XXIV

Departure from Soutchali — Scenery— Arrival at Ardler Hospitality of the chief — His preparations for repulsing the enemy — Insufficiency of powder — Polish and Russian deserters at Ardler — Their reception by the chief— CONTENTS. XV Manner of treating them — Polish refugees — Routes for travelling to Circassia by land — Guides through the Caucasus — Russo-Caucasian provinces — The animosity of the people towards the Russian government — Heredi tary enmity of the mountain tribes in Imeritia and Georgia — Origin of these tribes ... p. 280 — 295

Chapter XXV

Departure from Ardler — Accession to our party — Alpine character of the country — Journey inland — Mingrelians, ■ their friendship for the Circassians — Abasian rivers — Valley of the Phandra — A Circassian bride — Bridal cortege — Costume and appointments — Courteous behaviour of the young Barrakai chief — A scene of chivalry, p. 296—304

Chapter XXVI

Sketch ofthe Karatchai tribes — Origin of their name — Russian artifice — Successful stratagem — Ancient city of Madshar — Origin of its name — Ruins — Indifference of the Russian government to the remains of antiquity — Wanton demolition of Madshar — Opinions of Russian travellers respecting it — The Karatchai — Their religion — Character — Customs — Manners ... p. 305 — 318

Chapter XXVII

Excursion in the interior — A bivouac in the mountains — Alpine scenery — Animals — Chamois — Wild goats — Wild sheep — Valuable qualities of their fleeces — Singular Caucasian bird, the Tschumuruk . . p. 319 — CONTENTS.

Chapter XXVIII

Ascent of the Tschuman-tau — Splendid scenery — Luxuriant vegetation — Botanical plants — Minerals — Anecdote of the Emperor Paul and a Russian mineralogist — Gold mines in the Caucasus — Perilous excursion — Arrival among the Suoni tribes— Natural strength of the country they inhabit — The Porta Cumana — Opinions respecting its situation p. 329 — 341

Chapter XXIX

Traces of Amazons in the Caucasus in the seventeenth century — Customs and manners of the Suoni tribes — Their religion — Habitations — Domestic animals — Natural productions of the country — Wild animals — Origin of the people — Some account of the tribes inhabiting the eastern division of the Caucasus — Nogay Tartars — Their extraordinary diminution — Attributed to the butcheries of the Cossack Suwarrow . . p. 342 — TRAVELS IN THE WESTERN CAUCASUS, &c. &c.

Chapter I

Introductory remarks — Observations on the Caucasian isthmus — Its inhabitants — The Attegh^i, or Circassian tribes — Their origin — Error of modern writers in confounding them with the Tartars of Koumania — Identity of the Roumanian Tartars and the inhabitants of Upper and Lower Koumani in Hungary. In this uncertain world, where the promise of to-day is so often of necessity broken by the event of to-morrow, it gives me great pleasure that I am afforded an opportunity of redeeming the pledge I made in my last work to continue the narrative of my travels ; and, as I am no longer on the wing, passing rapidly from scene to scene, from country to country, exposed alternately to VOL. I. B disease and danger, or liable, when taking notes, to be seized as a spy or a sorcerer by the inha bitants of the half-civilized countries I explored, I hope to be able to render my pages more worthy the perusal of my readers.

In consequence of the increasing interest at tached to the Caucasian provinces on the Black Sea, I am particularly desirous of contributing every possible information respecting them, more especially as the heroism of their inhabitants has already excited the sympathy of the whole civilized world, — a people who, although feeble in numerical force, have, unaided by any other power, successfully maintained their independence, not withstanding the mighty efforts which have been continued with little intermission for the last fifty years, by their formidable neighbour, Russia, to subdue them. I shall therefore, without further introduction, proceed with my observations on the Western Caucasus and its inhabitants. It may, however, be advisable to inform those among my readers who have not perused my preceding work on Circassia, that a combination of favourable circumstances attended my visit to that interest ing and almost unknown country.

An invitation from Count Worenzow, Governor General of South Russia, to accompany him on his voyage round the Black Sea, and visit the Russian settlements in Circassia, Mingrelia, and Gourial, was the means of procuring me a variety of information respecting the political situation of countries which had been hitherto, owing to Rus sian influence, hermetically sealed from the in spection of a foreigner. Again, when I visited the interior of Circassia, I was favoured with introductions from some of the principal effendis of the Turkish empire to several chiefs and elders of the tribes, which in sured me a hospitable reception. For a detailed account of these tours, I beg leave to refer my readers to my former volumes, these being, in fact, a continuation of the same work. The Caucasian isthmus, with its stupendous mountains and snow-clad alps, forming the natural barrier between two great sections of the globe, Asia and Europe, is, if not the most remarkable, the most imperfectly known of any region of the ancient world ; indeed, nearly the whole of the geographical knowledge we possess respecting the interior is, for the most part, erro neous, consequent c%,the inaccessible nature of the country, and the great danger of journeying b2 through it.

Here the traveller is exposed, not only to the bullet of the Russian invader, the pre datory horde, but to the probability of having to endure perpetual slavery ; hence we cannot won der that the stranger has rarely found his way into a country where, though he might advance the purposes of science or the diffusion of knowledge, he might also sacrifice his liberty, or his life. An additional obstacle to obtaining accurate informa tion arises from the circumstance that nearly each tribe who inhabits it speaks a different dialect. Those travellers who have hitherto written on the Caucasus have been principally Russian agents ; consequently, being aware of the political views of that power, we cannot depend on their state ments when describing its strength, resources, and political situation, the policy of Russia, since the first attempt of Peter to bring it under sub jection, having invariably been to throw a veil over the actual state of that country.

Besides, that part of the isthmus denominated the Western Caucasus, and to which my excursions were principally confined, has ever been, owing to the bravery of its inhabitants, a sealed land to Russian encroachments, with the exception of a few forts on the coast of the Black Sea ; we cannot, therefore, feel surprised that not one of her delegated chroniclers of Circassia has ever penetrated into the interior of the country. The whole of the statements of Guldenstadt, Reineggs, Pallas, and Klaproth, having been derived from the information of ignorant Russian prisoners, Armenian pedlars, or Karaite Jews, and not from personal observation. As several of my critical contemporaries have counselled me to communicate such information as I may be possessed of relative to the history of the origin of the inhabitants of the Caucasus, and the commercial advantages that country offers to Great Britain, it may be as well to enter into a few of these details previously to com mencing the account of my journey home wards.

The Western Caucasus, comprehending the whole of the immense district, (extending from the Kouban to Mingrelia, from the Russian military road Wladikawkas, or Terkkalla,) which, commencing at the middle Kouban, and running along the snowy mountains, terminates in Geor gia, is inhabited by various tribes, who, however differing in origin and language, are governed by princes, elders, and nobles, that claim one common descent, and are distinguished by the name of Atteghei. The inhabitants of the two Kabar dahs, and several of the tribes who reside on the coast of the Black Sea, from the Kouban to Upper Abasia, speak the Circassian language with the purest accent, and are considered to be of genuine Atteghei lineage. To this people also belongs the distinction of being more brave and civilized, more hospitable and courteous to their guests, more stubbornly tenacious of their inde pendence, and uncompromising in their enmity to Russia, than anv other.

Atteghei, the name by which these people distinguish themselves, is, however, not that by which they are known to their neighbours, as I have already shewn in my preceding work on Circassia. From their own appellation, Atteghei, signifying a people inhabiting a country between two seas, we may, with a great degree of probability, -infer them to have been the original inhabitants. This supposition is not, however, encouraged by the traditions of the Circassians themselves, nor by the details given to us by the Tartar and Russian historians. The latter nation possesses several highly curious and valuable works on the history, origin, manners, and customs of the various inhabitants of the vast countries over which she now exercises sovereign sway ; but, unfortunately for the diffusion of knowledge, they are herme tically sealed, except to the perusal of a privi leged few.

During my voyage round the Black Sea, that excellent nobleman, Count Worenzow, supplied me with a variety of interesting works on the Caucasus, from which, and I may add from his own intelligent remarks respecting the origin of its inhabitants, I have compiled a few notes, which I hope may be found worthy the perusal of the reader, more particularly as the Caucasian race has occupied the attention of the learned of every age and country. I would also endeavour to rectify the opinions so currently re ceived, founded upon the statements of modern travellers in the Caucasus, some of whom con tend that the Atteghei tribes are the descendants of the Koumanian Tartars, while others, with equal confidence, maintain them to be sprung from a colony of wandering Arabs. With regard to the first statement, it appears that, previous to the conquests of Genghis-Khan, an extremely powerful people, called by the Rus sian historians Polowzians, occupied the whole of the extensive countries between the Wolga and Don ; they are mentioned for the first time in Russian history about the middle of the tenth century.

From this period till their final disper sion by Tuschi-Khan, son of Genghis-Khan, in 1225, they carried on the most incessant and ac tive warfare against Russia, burning the villages and ravaging the country on to the very gates of Moscow. The Russians having been compelled, about the same epoch, to submit to the Mongul yoke, no further mention is made of them in his tory. From the identity of the Polowzians of the Russian chronicles with the Roumanians of the Byzantines, it has been conjectured, from the similarity of the names found in history belong ing to that people and those of the Atteghei tribes of the Caucasus, that they are a remnant of the Roumanian Tartars ; but modern research con futes this opinion, it being now ascertained that the Polowzians or Roumanians were nothing more than subjects of Circassian princes, whose names alone have been recorded in history ; their terri tories, called Kabari, (Kabardah,) according to a singularly curious manuscript map found in the imperial library at Vienna, joined the country of the Roumanians, over whom, in all probability, Kabardian princes exercised some sort of no minal sovereignty.

No historian, however, particularizes the chiefs of Koumani or their country ; they merely record the bravery of the princes, and the beauty of their daughters, who, they say, were sought in marriage by the kings of Hungary, the Byzan tine princes, and the Czars of Muscovy, an honour which would not have been conferred upon them were they a Tartar race, proverbially deficient in personal charms, and despised by their European neighbours. ' As to the fact of the Roumanians being a Tartar horde, no doubt whatever exists, that having been fully proved by several historians and eminent travellers, particularly Ruysbrock the monk, who visited their country in the early part of the thirteenth century : he says, when travelling over the vast steppe of Western Tar tary, " This whole plain was, previously to the irruption of the Mongul Tartars, inhabited by the Roumanians, who called themselves Kapschat Tartars, and were descended from a great chief of that name, and traced their origin from Ishmael."

De Piano Carpini, who was sent by Pope Inno cent IV. to Tartary, previous to the visit of Ruysbrock, corroborates this statement, asserting that the Roumani and Polowtzi were one people, and of Tartar origin. Cumani id est Polowtzi ex deserto egressi. Anna Comnena says, that the Pat zinakes (Petscheneges) spoke the same language as the Roumani, were ofthe sameTartar origin, and claimed kindred with the Turks, Torkmeni, &c. It has been asserted, and generally believed, that the Roumanians and Petscheneges, who were also denominated Rangars, on being driven by the Monguls from their settlements in Western Tartary, established themselves in Hungary, the former having given their name to a district in that country called Great and Little Koumani: now if the Hungarian Koumani and the Atteghei tribes in Circassia were sprung from one common origin, should we not be able to trace it in their persons, customs, and especially language ? but so far from this being the case, no one of these particulars tends to establish any such identity of descent, the Circassian language being unlike every other with which modern philologists are familiar ; for although the Roumanian language is extinct in Hungary, manuscripts have been preserved which incontestibly prove it to have been a Tartar-Turkish dialect, not only in words but in grammatical construction.

Chapter II

Refutation of the opinion that the Circassians are of Arab descent — Mamelukes of Egypt — Arab-chan the supposed progenitor of the Circassians — His history — Ineffectual attempts of Russia to explore the Western Caucasus— Ossetinian tribes — Their Median origin — Opinions of Pallas respecting the Circassians and the Krim-Tartars — Unquestionable proofs of the rule of the Circassians in the Crimea — Opinions of the ancient writers respecting the Circassians — Cossacks of the Don and the Kouban not of Muscovite extraction. Having shewn in my preceding chapter that the Atteghei tribes of the Caucasus are not of Tartar origin, we shall now proceed to the consideration of their reported Arab descent. According to Pallas and other modern writers, to which may be added the traditions still preserved in the families of some of the Rabardian chiefs, the princes of Circassia deduce their pedigree from Inal, a celebrated chieftain that flourished in the fifteenth century, and left his patrimony to be divided among his five sons ; this chief was said to be descended from Arab-Chan, a famous Arabian prince, who settled with a small retinue between the Rouban and Anapa on the Black Sea.

This was currently believed till a more intimate acquaintance with the traditions of the Circas sians, together with a more correct knowledge of the history of the Arabs during the sovereignty of the Circassian Mameluke dynasty in Egypt, proved the contrary. This power established itself in that country after the extinction of the Egyptian Sultans in 1300, and maintained its ascendancy till 1517, when their chief, Tuman Bey, was taken prisoner by the Turkish Sultan Selim I. Among these Mameluke rulers we find, in 1453, one who bore the name of Inal, and it appears was not the son, but the relative, of Arab-Chan. This chief, instead of being of Arabian descent, was in reality a Mameluke. Rhan of a powerful tribe of Arabs, and known in history as Arab-Chan, from the bravery of himself and followers, his influence became so formidable that he made an attempt to seize the reins of sovereign authority, and rule all Egypt ; but not succeeding, he was compelled to fly, and escaped with his principal adherents to the country of his ancestors, where, having formed a settlement, between the Kouban and Anapa, on the Black Sea, he built a large town ; the site is still pointed out, on the banks of the Nefil, and seems to have been regularly fortified with ramparts, moat, and several forts, which now appear like small hills descending to the marshes of the river Kouban.