and had commanded a regiment in the imperial guard.

But on the death of his brother, the brave Pschukoi, who fell in battle, having come over to Circassia to arrange the affairs of his family, which were in disorder, he had remained in the country, thinking it disgraceful to live in ease and opulence at Constantinople while his own country was struggling for its very existence with the Muscovite. He had seen more of the world than the generality of his countrymen; there was less stiffness in his manners, and his conversation was lively and amusing. He was, as he himself told us, of European descent, and the blood in his veins (like everything else that was ancient here) was Genny-vis, an assertion which his fine features, of the true Italian cast, appeared fully to justify. Whether from his partiality to us on that account, or whether, as a bon vivant, he felt indignant that those with whom he was in the general habits of social intercourse should be judged capable of "treason, stratagem, and spoils," he now came to inform us that Nogai Ismael was then endeavouring to poison the minds of his countrymen in our regard by the defamatory report I have alluded to. We were of course a good deal excited by this intelligence, and by no means disposed to await the result with resignation. We therefore sallied

forth, accompanied by our interpreter, and sent a messenger to the council requesting that we might be confronted with our accuser, and heard in our own vindication. We could see in the meantime that there was an unusual degree of commotion in the circle, which Hadji Oli immediately left, and coming to us, entreated us to withdraw to our apartment. He assured us that we had nothing whatever to apprehend; that Nogai Ismael had been retailing to them some idle calumnies against Daoud Bey and ourselves, but that the dispatches of Sefer Bey, so far from corroborating these stories, recommended them strongly to treat us with kindness and hospitality.

But the fact was, the passion of the people, inclined both from their character and circumstances to suspicion, had been inflamed to the highest pitch. Many of them exclaimed that they were abused and betrayed as they had formerly been by Tauseh and Marigny; nor were there wanting some, and at the head of these Schimaf Bey, a prince of the first rank, but greedy and meanspirited in the extreme, to avail themselves of this disposition to have us immediately plundered of our property. But this hopeful plan, projected in the worst spirit of Caucasian misrule, found little favour even with those who had their doubts of us. But though baulked for the present in his expecta

HADJI OLI PROTECTS US.

129

tions of a scramble, he had still an eye to our treasure trunks, no more relinquishing his designs on them than the shark in attendance on a ship at sea. With the same hungry stare, and with just as little to say for himself, was Schimaf at our elbow wherever we went; and we, mistaking his assiduity for personal attention to ourselves, and ignorant of the perfidious part he had played in the Medjilis, long treated him with a consideration he little deserved at our hands.

It was in this emergency that we were in a great measure rescued by the friendly interference in our behalf of Hadji Oli Effendi. He declared to the assembly that we were specially recommended to them by Sefer Bey; a statement which, although he had also made it to ourselves, was not exactly true; for though their ambassador had enjoined them, in a general way, to receive with hospitality all Englishmen, whether merchants or travellers, who should come to their coast, no specific mention had been made in his letters of either Mr. Bell or myself. But the judge was not a man to stick at trifles, and having determined to take us under his protection, he did not hesitate to make up for this omission himself.

But that the reader may better appreciate his motives on this occasion, as well as his subsequent

behaviour to us, I will endeavour to convey to him some idea of a character so remarkable, premising that if Russia can boast of a Nesselrode, and England of a Palmerston, Circassia has also her Hadji Oli, as accomplished a master of humbug as either of them. His countrymen were justly proud of him; for though of his prowess as a warrior they may have had their doubts,-the only sign he could shew of it being a wound in the hind quarters of his horse, which was a rather ambiguous one,-yet of his talents at mystification and rhodomontade there could be no question whatever; and as a proof of their confidence in him they gave him the whole direction of their foreign policy, with a carte blanche to make use of these qualities to the best of his ability for the good of his country, forgetting, apparently, how far, with the same laudable intentions, he might think it his duty to make fools of them also. Therefore while, on the one hand, he wrote the most magnificent dispatches, setting forth the rapid progress made by different provinces in the establishment of order and union under the national flag, and the necessity of England's availing herself of this unanimity and promising state of affairs by sending them an immediate supply of gunpowder, cannon, and engineers to keep up the spirits of

MEHEMET HADJI OLI EFFENDI.

131

his countrymen, on the other, he announced that all these desiderata, if not already on the way, might be expected in a month or so.

But, however angry at being so repeatedly choused by him, they had not on that account a meaner opinion of his sagacity, and, notwithstanding their disappointments, he continued to be regarded on all questions relating to their foreign and domestic economy as little less than an oracle. Did

any difficulties arise as to the latter, he settled them at once by producing, from a bag usually attached to his saddle bow, some musty-looking volumes bound in vellum, from which he would very gravely read certain passages in Arabic; and as to his knowledge of Europe, and the policy of its "seven kingdoms," had he not been in Egypt, the Ultima Thule of Circassian pilgrimage? and could he fail to be conversant with such matters in their minutest particulars? Even we, who should have known something about them, were utterly confounded at the extent of his information, nor could we venture to contend with so great an authority. As regards externals, I have already likened the judge to the jovial clerk of Copmanhurst. I might, perhaps, add some further points of resemblance.

Like him, he occupied a hermitage in a secluded glen, where, like him-but I will not divulge the