Travels in Persia, Georgia, and Koordistan; with Sketches of the Cossacks and the Caucasus. From the German of Dr. M. W

Part I. Chapter

I. Stay at Kertch — General Anrep — The Ubiches — Captivity of Baron Turnau among Them — Storming of the Russian Fortress Miehailoff — Anrep's Expedition against the Ubiches — The Death of Ali Oku — Life at the Outposts — Circassian Slave Trade 1 — 48 CHAPTER H. Scythian Storms — Cossack Comfort — Eanagorian Antiquities — Cossack Life — The Story of Wassily Iguroff, the Demon of the Steppe — Danger of a New Irruption of Barbarians in the West 48—97 CHAPTER HI. Departure from Eanagoria — Scene at Taman — The river Kouban — The appearance of the Tschernomorski Cossaeka vol. i. b CONTENTS. compared with that of the Circassian— First sight of the Caucasus — Arrival at Ekaterinodar— Picture of that City — Danger of travelling along the Kouban— The Cathedral of Ekaterinodar — Its Garrison — Cause of the submission of the Circassian Tribes on the left bank . . 98 — 117

CHAPTER IV.

The Circassians in Ekaterinodar and in Turkey — Beauty of the genuine Adighe people— Chora-Beg— Peaceable intercourse between the Cossacks and Circassians— Relations of the Neutral Tribes— An Evening among the Cossacks- Adventures of a German Physician in the Caucasus — Arti- Mollah, the grateful Circassian, an Episode of the War in the Caucasus .... . 118 155

CHAPTER V.

Nature on the Kouban— Original dwelling of the Cossacks, and signification of their name — Love of the Cossacks for an adventurous Life— Evening Walk by the Kouban — Rapidity of travelling in Russia— Surprisal of Wassirniskaja — The Line Cossacks — Massacre of a Cossack Detachment at Ustlaba— Visit to the Left Bank of the Kouban — Line Cossacks and Circassians — Arrival at Stavropol 156—183

CHAPTER VI.

Political Relations of the Population of the Caucasian steppe — The Georgiefsk Market— Arrival in Ekaterinograd— A View of the Caucasus — Pheasant Shooting — General Gurko — Dangerous Travelling on the Terek — Vladikautas 184—200 CONTENTS. V

CHAPTER VII.

Stay at Vladikaukas — Indifferent Success of the Russians on the North Side of the Mountains — An Ossetian Physician — The Ingusches — A Military Review — A Polish Jew as Prisoner of Schamyl — Journey across the Caucasus — Its Natural Features — The Kreuzberg — Detention at Ananur —Arrival at Tiflis 201—219 CHAPTER VIH. Residence at Kasbek — Natural History — Wanderings in the Mountains to the Regions of Eternal Snow — Details respecting the Sect of the Duchoborzi — Glaziers of the Kasbek — Excursions to Kobi — The Ossetians — Mineral Springs of the Caucasus — Caucasian and Swiss Scenery compared 220—246

CHAPTER IX.

Illustrations of the Caucasian Nations — The Tschetschensians and the Ossetians 247—273

CHAPTER X.

The Russian Army in the Caucasus . . . 274 — 303

CHAPTER XI

The Cossacks 304—323 AND THE CAUCASUS.

PART I. CHAPTER

I. Stay at Kertch — General Anrep — The Ubiches — Captivity of Baron Turnau among Them — Storming of the Russian Fortress Michailoff — Anrep's Expedition against the Ubiches — The Death of Ali Oku — Life at the Outposts — Circassian Slave Trade. At the end of February, 1843, I was staying in the Crimean town of Kertch, situated on the straits, uniting the Black Sea and the Sea of Azof. It is a new, regularly built, airy, and pleasant town, containing more than ten thousand inhabitants, enlivened by trade and shipping, and especially interesting on account of the remarkable antiquities that have been vol. I. B discovered in its immediate neighbourhood. Archæologists are of opinion that this place was the residence of the Pontian King, Mithridates ; and though not a stone of the old city has been left standing, or even lying on the surface of the ground, their opinion is strongly confirmed by the number of splendid antiquities that have been discovered in various mounds in the neighbourhood of Kertch, containing coffins, ornaments, coins, and arms.

The territory of the Tchernomorski, or Black Sea Cossacks, is only separated from Kertch by a narrow strait, which a vessel can cross with a favourable wind, in an hour. Although the weather was very unpropitious on my arri val at Kertch, and violent storms were sweeping over the Black Sea, whilst heavy clouds were obscuring the horizon, I was able to distinguish from the coast by the roads, the hills that surround the Cossack town of Taman on the opposite shore. But the passage was rendered dangerous on account of the heavy sea; and no mariner could be found who would under take to transport my carriage across the straits to Taman. I was, however, in some degree reconciled to this detention, by the kindness and civility that I experienced at the hands of General Anrep, and of the Governor of Kertch, Prince Kergeolizeff.

General Anrep,* Commander-in-chief of the Russian forces on the Circassian coast, is a man of German descent, about forty years old, with a noble and intellectual countenance. He has inhabited the territory of the Caucasus for several years, has shared in most of the expeditions against the mountaineers during that time • knows the country and the customs of its inhabitants; and was, consequently, in a position to give me much useful counsel relating to the best mode of travelling in the dangerous countries on the Kouban and Terek. The General politely offered me a place, on his war steamer, in which, on the return of fine weather, he was about to make a journey of inspection along the whole Circassian coast, from Anapa to Suchum-Kaleh. I was for some time doubt ful if I should accept the kind offer of General * General Anrep served in the campaign of Hungary, 1849, and was defeated by Omar Pacha, at Citate, January, 1854.— Tr.

B Anrep, but I was ultimately induced to decline it, from my strong desire to become acquainted with the district of the Kouban, where the war continued to rage with undiminished fury between the Circassians and the Cossacks, whilst along the coast of the Black Sea, for some years past, the attacks of the Circassians on the fortresses, and the expeditions of theRussians into the mountains, have almost ceased. Meanwhile, the tempest continued to roar unceasingly, the heavens were as dark as ever, and the angry surges of the Euxine lashed the rocks of the coast with their breakers, the steppes were all under water, and resembled a wide lake, and on all hands, intelligence reached us of numerous shipwrecks. We spent the inhospitable evening, most comfortably by the tea - kettle. General Anrep listened with interest to my des criptions of military life in Algeria, and to my account of the storming of Constantina, which I witnessed in 1837.

After the conclusion of my story, he proceeded in his turn to narrate some of the most stirringo episodes of the war in the Caucasus, especially the recent severe conflicts between the Russian Expeditionary Corps, commanded by the General in person, and the mountaineers of the neighbourhood of Sotsch and Ardler, or Ardiller. Bodenstedt, who passed only a few hours at the Fort of Sotscha, in 1845, describes it as situated on the coast of the Ubich territory, and generally mentioned by the name of Na waginskoje, in the Russian maps. But the German poet was obliged by circumstances to reside at the neighbouring port of Ardiller, (called in Russian : Krepost Sviatago Ducha — the Fort of the Holy Ghost) for more than a week. He says that nothing contributed so much as this visit to open his eyes to the real condition of the Circassians.

The commandant of the for tress, Swan Bey, though a Dschigeth by birth, was a major in the Russian service. Having been cast by strange accidents, in his youth, into the Russian service, he had enjoyed the advantages and privileges of a military educa tion at St. Petersburg, had passed his examina tion as an officer, and had been sent to the Caucasus, where, after some years, he had been promoted to the rank of major. He had fought with distinction against the Tschetschensians, and the people of Daghestan, but nothing could ever induce him to fight against his own country. He had so completely gained the confidence of the Russians, that they had ap pointed him Governor of the Fort of Ardiller, on the Dschigeth coast. It was his chief aim in this position, to maintain a good understand ing between the Russians and the Dschigeths, and he seems to have been held in equal esteem by both people.

It is partly excusable that Swan Bey regarded the Russians as the greatest, the most powerful and enlightened people in the world, as he knew nothing of the Western Powers, and with this conviction, he strove honestly to impart to his countrymen the blessings of Muscovite civilization. From this man, Bodenstedt learnt many particulars relating to the tribes. He also met there a Polish engineer officer, a man who, like Ulysses, had seen many lands and people, and who had a highly-cultivated mind. This gentleman had been exiled for twelve years to the Abchasian and Adighe territory, and had collected much useful information relating to the mountaineers, whose language, according to Swan Bey, he spoke with astonishing correctness. Captain X was neither the. first nor the last of his people whom Bodenstedt met in Promethean exile, in the Caucasus; by avoid ing all political allusions, the German poet soon won the esteem, confidence, and gratitude of the unhappy man.

His dark, heavy eye, and fur rowed brow told more than words could have done. Their conversation revolved exclusively on the Circassians. The inhabitants of Abchasia and Dschi geth call themselves, in their own language, Apsua, and the territory along the coast, Apsne. They are classed into princes, noblemen, and peasants. The princes have been called, since the sway of the Georgians, Thawadi ; the noblemen, Amystha. From Gagra to Sotscha the inhabitants call their country Chalcis, i. e. " this side the mountains," in contrast with Alan, or " the other side the mountains." The name Dschigeth is a corruption of the word Dschigith, which, according to Swan Bey's explanation, means, in their language, a dexterous cavalier or knight. The Russians have formed two other names out of this — AæypyMOBaMb (Dschighitovatj) , and ÆatypyMOBKa (Dschigitovka) .

The Line Cossacks use the first word to signify a man skilled in military horsemanship, whilst the last is a word of command in pursuing the enemy. Ardiller has derived its name from the princely race of Ardil, which once resided in this district, but has lived scattered in the in terior since the occupation by the Russians. The old name was applied to the new fort by the mountaineers, whilst the Russians, with customary devotion, gave it the appellation of Fort of the Holy Ghost, reminding us of the Spaniards subjugating the Indians in the name of the ever-blessed Trinity. The river which flows into the sea at Ardiller, is called by the natives Mdsym. The term Mdsymtha, with which it is erroneously desig nated in maps, signifies originally the territory lying on the Mdsym. The more eminent of the Dschigeths, or Tschigetians, acknowledge Islam, whilst the majority of the inhabitants profess a Paganism, retaining, apparently, many traces of primeval truth, and preferable to caricatures or muti lations of Christianity and Mohammedanism.

The Western Caucasus and the Pontian coast, from the mouth of the Kouban to that of the Rion, is inhabited by highland tribes, which are generally known by the common name of Circassians, but which present marked differences as regards language. The Adigh& are the most numerous of these tribes, residing on the left bank of the Kouban, as far as the district where the Russians have built the Fort Golovinski. These are the people who are especially distinguished among the Russians, as well as the Turks, by the name of Circassians, a term of Turkish origin, unknown to the in habitants themselves. According to Klaproth, the word means highwayman, or robber. More to the south-west, the coast chain of the Cau casus is inhabited by two tribes, which are almost entirely unknown to us — the Ubiches and the Tschigetians.

Though the dialects spoken by the two latter tribes differ from those of their neighbours, the Circassians and the Abchasians, they still appear to belong to the same stock of languages. The Caucasian tribes use mutually, as a common vehicle of their ideas, the Tartaro-Turkish dialect, which is understood by most of the inhabitants along the coast of the Caspian and Black Seas, and has answered the purpose of a commercial medium, among these bordering races, since time immemorial. South of the Tschigetians, dwell the Abchasians, a numerous tribe, in ferior to the northern and eastern Caucasians in patriotic and warlike spirit. Then follow the Mingrelians and Gurians, handsome people, of peaceful disposition, whose language is related to the Georgian, and who, for the most part, consist of Christians.

The Ubiches excel all the tribes now specified, in daring and bravery. They possess, in the highest degree, all the heroic qualities, and all the defects that charac terize the population of the Caucasus — love of freedom, a fiery spirit, a chivalrous passion for adventures, for the clash of arms, and for glory, which their bards celebrate on their two stringed lyres, and immortalize through tradi tion. They are, however, at the same time, as severe to their prisoners, as rapacious, as revengeful and treacherous as the Circassians. The interior of the territory of the Ubiches is still a real terra incognita. The large map of the Russian General Staff leaves a complete blank space between the mountains from which the river Mazumta descends to the Black Sea, and the district of the Circassian tribe of the Shapsooks.

Even the direction followed by the central chain of the Caucasus in this territory, which has never been penetrated by a Russian column, is perfectly unknown. Only two Europeans have remained for any space of time in the territory of this singular people. The well-known Englishman, Bell, the proprietor of the 'Vixen,' spent some time among the Ubiches in the neighbourhood of the coast. Only one European, Baron von Turnau, Adjutant of General Gurko, succeeded in penetrating into the interior of the Ubich territory, though under very distressing circumstances. Russian officers, who have learnt the dialects, are occasionally ordered by the Emperor to reconnoitre those regions as scouts, partly in order to undertake the topographical survey of a district still entirely unknown to the Russians, partly to examine the strength, in stitutions, mode of life, and temperament of those tribes which have no intercourse with the Russians.

These are very dangerous missions which seldom succeed. A short time before my arrival on the Terek, four Russian officers of the General Staff had been dispatched as explorers, into different districts of Lesghistan. They had adopted the Circassian" costume, and were accompanied by natives in Russian pay. Only one of these Russian officers ever returned ; the three others had been recognized and put to death. Baron Turnau was a long time preparing for his dangerous mission. He gave a brown tint to his face, and transformed his beard to the shape usual with the natives. He also endeavoured to learn the language of the Ubiches. But as the rough pronunciation of several of its words is quite unattainable, Baron Turnau agreed with his guide that the latter should lead him about the country as a deaf mute.

After these arrangements, the Russian officer started on his perilous journey, and wandered many days from tribe to tribe without being discovered. But one of the works (noblemen) at whose house he slept, was initiated, for some reason, in the secret, and threatening the guide, the latter betrayed Turnau, who was immediately detained as a captive by the chief. The Ubiches demanded a cap full of silver roubles as his ran som, from the Russian commandant of the fortress of Ardler, and when the latter declared that he was ready to pay the amount, they raised their demand, and only consented to liberate their captive for a bucket-full of roubles. On hearing this, the Commandant thought it expedient to refer the matter to Baron Rosen, who was then Commander-in-chief of the army of the Caucasus, the matter was laid before the authorities at St. Petersburg, and the Emperor consented that the extraordinary ransom should be paid, and the Baron liberated.

But General Rosen represented to Nicholas that it would be favourable to the Russian interest to suffer Turnau to remain some time as a prisoner in the Ubich territory ; for, in the first place, their willingness to pay such an extravagant ransom would be a bad example, and the highlanders would henceforth ask the same sum for all officers who fell into their hands, instead of resting satisfied with some hundred roubles as before; and secondly, Baron Turnau might have many opportunities as prisoner, of making useful observations on a country which had hitherto remained almost unknown, and thus his captivity would greatly enrich the meagre store of knowledge they possessed of that Cir cassian tribe. The young officer was actually sacrificed to this object with incredible heartlessness. He passed a melancholy winter in a painful state of captivity, tortured by cold and hunger, and condemned to the hardest labour as a slave.

He made several unsuccessful attempts to escape. The chieftain, who had him in his keeping, to render every attempt at escape impossible, shut him up in a cage which was partially sunk below the surface of the ground, and was moreover so narrow that the prisoner could neither stand up right, nor lie extended in it. Baron von Turnau lingered on in this dis tressing captivity, and at length fell dangerously ill, and suffered the most excruciating pains without the hard hearts of his jailors being touched with pity at the sight of his sufferings. His sleepless nights in his cage were not solaced by the visit of a ministering angel, such as is described by Pouschkin in his celebrated poem where he represents a Circassian maiden breaking the fetters of her hero whom she restores to liberty. Many Russian prisoners have, however, had the good fortune to meet with female devotion and love in the Circassian uplands, and have ultimately eloped with their angels to the Russian lines.

Poor Baron Turnau, who resembled a mole driven back and blockaded in its hole, where the very clothes on his back rotted and fell off, was not fortunate enough to excite any tender passion in an Ubich maid, and he would probably have ended his life in prison, without the compensation of a romantic adven ture, had not a lucky accident rescued him from his bondage. The chieftain into whose hands he had fallen, having deeply aggrieved one of his retainers, the latter resolved to have his revenge. One day, when all the household were engaged out of doors, this man murdered his master, liberated the prisoner from his cage, fastened him on his saddle with ropes, because the invalid, who was covered with sores, could not sit upright from weakness, and dashed away with him full gallop from the spot.

In one day, they accomplished eighty versts. They happily escaped their pursuers, and reached the fortress of Ardler. Baron Turnau, who only saw a very small portion of the district, describes Ubichia as one mass of steep mountains, presenting the wildest features of the Caucasian region. Immense primeval forests clothe the slopes of the moun tains on the side of the Euxine. The Alpine torrents rush down the deep ravines and chasms, and sweep mighty blocks of rock along with them, and soaring above the woody zone, the summits of the highest chain tower aloft, covered with eternal snows. He represents the situation of the native villages as inaccessible, most of them being either hidden in the bosom of the thickest forests, or perched like eagle's nests on the rocky declivities at the edge of the chasms.

Four Russian fortresses were stormed in 1 840, by the united Circassians, Ubiches and Tschi getians. This was one of the most brilliant triumphs ever achieved by the mountaineers over their foes. Nevertheless, the Circassians themselves admit that the defence was desperate. The victors paid so dearly for their conquest, that for several years they lost all appetite for renewing their attacks on the Russian forts. Nor would their assaults have probably suc ceeded, had not severe disease raged among the garrisons, and sorely reduced them in 1839 1840. As no transports venture to navigate the Black Sea during the winter season, the Russian forts are obliged to dispense with fresh provisions, and to rest satisfied with salt meat during five months. Besides intermittent fever, these garrisons are frequently visited with a cutaneous disorder, resembling the scurvy, and even if the mortality should not be very great, the body is so debilitated by this malady, that during a convalescence of many months, the invalid is scarcely able to lift his arms.

The Circassians had obtained intelligence of the wretched state of these garrisons, through some Polish deserters. A great meeting was held in the mountains, and was attended by several of the most eminent chieftains of the Ubiches and Tschigetians. It was resolved by a majority of votes, to attack the four Russian forts, and they were only to use the schaschka (long sword) without firing a shot. It is a usual practice with the Caucasian tribes on similar occasions, for a picked body of enthusiastic warriors, to devote themselves to death, with the most solemn oath, and to vow that they will never show their back to the enemy. These daring champions always range themselves at the head of the troop, in order that their heroic example may excite the emulation of even the most sluggish, and that their death may entail on their relatives and friends the duty of revenge.

Fanatical warriors of this description have been the ready VOL. I. C instruments with which Guz Beg, Mansur Bey, and Dschimbulat among the Circassians, Hadschi-Dokum-Oku among the Ubiches, Chasi-Mollah and Schamyl, in the Eastern Caucasus, among the Tschetschensians, have achieved their most splendid victories over the Russians. On the occasion of the meeting to which we have previously adverted, and which was held in the Schapsook territory, a hundred of these Caucasian knights, including boys and grey beards, swore to take the fortresses, or to fall sword in hand on their walls, and they kept their word. Fort Michailoff made the most determined resistance of all. Out of five hundred men composing its garrison, only about one third had retained their health and vigour ; the remainder were on the sick list, or convalescents.

But when the wild war cry of thousands of foes rang through the hills and woods, and announced its imminent danger to the garrison, the very soldiers who were prostrate in the hospital, from an attack of fever, jumped up, and crawled as well as they could, gun in hand, to the walls. Whilst the commandant called upon the soldiers to offer up the last drop of their blood to the Emperor, in the defence of the fort, the old Pope incited them to fight till they fell in the contest against infidels. He administered the sacrament to them, stood in the midst of them holding the crucifix, and was one of the first to fall from the rampart, mortally wounded by a Circassian bullet. The devoted band of highlanders, who had sworn to conquer or die, had already clambered up the walls, but most of them were tumbled back again into the ditch, struck with bullets, or bayonet thrusts, though they always sold their life very dear.

Their corpses formed a bridge for their comrades, and the walls were carried after a fearful slaughter, whereupon the Russians retired, fighting, into the block-house, or inmost defence. Here the commandant collected his men, and requested one of them to volunteer to blow up the fort, if the most determined resistance should be of no avail. A soldier named Archipp-Ossipoff pronounced himself ready to do the work, and was sent to the powder-magazine with a burning match. After the last defences had been stormed, and whilst the Circassians were celebrating their victory, and conveying off captives and plunder, c explosion took place. Most of the building flew into the air, and many hundred mutilated corpses were scattered in all directions — Rus sians and Circassians finding a common grave among the smoking ruins of the captured fort.

Only eleven Russians survived out of the whole five hundred; and after being dragged into captivity in the mountains, they were eventually ransomed. On their return, they related the dreadful particulars of the assault, and of the catastrophe, which was a commentary on the burning of Moscow. The intelligence of the loss of these four outposts excited much surprise and discourage ment in the Russian army, which had suffered unusual losses, in the same year, from sick ness. The Emperor Nicholas was exceedingly enraged at their loss, and as, in such cases, a victim is always required to expiate the misfor tune wrought by the enemy's bravery, by the inroads of fever, or by the storms of the Black Sea, Lieutenant-General Rajewski, who then commanded the Circassian coast, was removed from his post, and was succeeded by General Anrep, who had remained in command of this district up to the time of my visit, though the Commander-in-chief of the Caucasus had been twice changed in the interim.

An expedition was undertaken by him, in 1841, [against the Ubiches, who had advanced to the shores of the Euxine. In October, 1841, a column of six hundred Russians assembled at the fortress of Ardler, accompanied by two thousand native auxiliaries, and subject tribes of Abchasians, Imeritians, and Suanetians. The latter are especially dis tinguished, among all the Caucasian irregular auxiliaries, by the extreme beauty of their physical organization, and by their dexterity and bravery. The Suanetians are nominally Chris tains, their numbers amount to twenty thousand at most, and their language is reported to be connected with the Georgian. They inhabit the highest Alps of the Caucasus, on the southern side of the Elbruz, and border on the Tartar tribe of Karatschais. Many expeditions of Russian columns against the hostile mountaineers have been escorted by three thousand to four thousand of these native auxiliaries, who are of immeasurable service, from their experience of mountain warfare, from their hardi ness, bravery, endurance, and familiarity with country.

The maintenance of these corps is, however, very expensive to the Russians, because they only keep together during the expedition, and nothing but a handsome pe cuniary offer can induce these poor mountaineers to leave their homes to join the Rus sian army. Each of these natives receives a silver rouble and capital white bread daily, whilst he remains under the Russian colours ; whereas the poor Russian soldier, who under goes the same hardships, and is equally exposed to Circassian bullets, must rest satisfied with a copper kopeck, and bread as black as a coal, as his daily pay and ration. General Anrep wished in the first instance to reconnoitre the road between Ardler and Sotsch (Sutscha) along the coast, without penetrating into the interior of Ubichia. The Ubichians and Tschigetians had collected an army of about 1 0,000 warriors, and were expecting the Russian advance on their rocky fastnesses.

After the skirmishers of the Abchasians, Suanetians, and Imeritians, who formed the Russian outposts had driven in the enemy from the nearest eminences, the Russian column, which consisted almost entirely of infantry, began its march. There are no corps of Cossack cavalry in the forts on the Black Sea, because the transport of horses is troublesome ; and the Cossacks, moreover, accomplish little in mountain warfare. On the other hand, the column was escorted by some hundreds of Suanetians mounted on excellent horses accustomed to mountain tra velling. A strong Russian squadron flanked the march of the column along the sea-shore. The ships of the line were taken in tow by the steamers, and were all to approach within half a cannon shot of the shore, because the expedition was favoured by the finest weather.

On the second day's march, more energy was shown by the enemy, who evidently wished to entice the Russians into the interior. The Russian tirailleurs were driven in, and some thousands of Ubiches dashed into the Russian column, sword in hand, and uttering fearful cries. This impetuous but disorderly onslaught was naturally broken by the strong line of bayonets that con tinued to advance in perfect order. Many Ubiches bit the dust from the continual rolling fire of the Russian muskets ; but many of the broad-shouldered Muscovites in their grey sur touts were also laid low by the schaschka (sabre) of the furious mountaineers. The contest was especially desperate wherever the hostile forces came to blows to save a wounded chieftain or carry off their dead. It is a remarkable fact, that almost all savage tribes have a greater respect for their dead than civilized nations ; that the thought of mutilation or a grave in enemy's ground fills these barbarians with horror; whilst we view with comparative indifference the desecration of resurrection-men, and the levity of the dissecting room.

The Arabs and Kabyles in Algeria are known to encounter the greatest risks, and to make the greatest exertions to carry off their dead in battle ; and in like manner the Caucasian tribes, both Mohammedan and Christian, and even those who have only a faint gleam of religion, exhibit this disposition in a still stronger light. Even a dead slave is unwillingly abandoned to the enemy by the Circassians and Ubiches ; and if they are unable to rescue the corpse, they generally ransom it from the Russians. If we bear in mind the extreme penury of these mountaineers, this sacrifice for the honourable treatment of their dead becomes quite affecting. If a Work (nobleman) or one of their celebrated champions, or especially a Pschi (prince) falls in action, these highlanders fight like men possessed, in order to save the body, without heeding the explosion of hand grenades and shells which commonly cause them such terror.