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duly maintain. But it seems we reckoned without our host; and while deeming ourselves beholden to fortune in thus presenting us as Englishmen to receive the acknowledgments due from a grateful people to our country, we little deemed of the humiliation in store for us when it should be found that these acknowledgments were uncalledfor, and that confidence had been misplaced.

The heralds who were to convey the propositions of the Circassians to the Russian general came, previous to their departure, to inquire if we had anything to add to them. As in the time when Argantes presented himself in the camp of Godfrey of Boulogne, " In guisa d'uom grande e non curante," the Circassians to this day seek to make an imposing figure, and wisely consult effect in their embassies. Scarcely a year before they had received from Sefer Bey a copy of the Portfolio, containing, as he informed them, proofs which the Russians themselves could not controvert, that they had no lawful claim to Circassia, and which our friend the judge, improving on this hint, informed them they had only to present to the Governor of Anapa to make him evacuate that fortress forthwith. The pamphlet in question was handed about to the chiefs in council, who, after turning it over for some time, and being able to make nothing of it, at length decided that if the

cabalistic characters it contained really did possess the virtue attributed to them, the experiment, at any rate, was worth trying.

They accordingly determined on a deputation, which was arranged with due regard to the solemnity of their errand. On this head, however, there were some difficulties; for though it being stated in Sefer Bey's communication that Portfolio declared so and so, made such and such statements, &c., they naturally concluded that Portfolio was some illustrious individual of Frankistan; yet to which of the "seven kingdoms" of which it was composed he belonged, nobody, no, not even the judge himself, could inform them. It was therefore resolved that, to obviate any mistake on the matter, each kingdom should have a representative, and that seven of their most distinguished chiefs should be the bearers of this mandate of Portfolio General (for to that rank they had promoted him) to the Military Governor of Anapa.

The astonishment of that functionary on the arrival of this deputation, clad in all their finery, each in his casque and shirt of mail, girt with his bow and quiver, and attended by his squire, may easily be conceived by the reader; nor could it have been anyway diminished when, after delivering to him a document with a blue cover inscribed with gilt characters, (the General's well-known

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uniform of blue, with gold facings,) they demanded by what time, conformably with the notice given him in that paper by Portfolio General, he intended to march his garrison out of the fortress, and give it up to its legitimate masters. Little prepared for a summons so peremptory, the Governor required a week to consider about it, at the end of which time, as he shewed no disposition to budge, the deputation waited upon him once more. What passed between them on this occasion they did not say, further than it was evident he was laughing at them in his beard, and declared that if Portfolio General wished to turn him out of his castle, he had better undertake the business himself.

The Circassians could not help feeling that they had made but an indifferent figure in this affair; and it was, perhaps, that they might not again expose themselves to ridicule, or in order to exhibit to General Willemineff their indifference for him and his army, that, instead of sending chiefs or elders on this occasion, they selected three of the Dely Canns, on whose prudence they thought they could depend, cautioning them at the same time to beware of the wine cup, which experience had shewn to be a certain key in the hands of the Sari General to their most secret counsels. Sari, or Curmisi, was the familiar addi

tion or soubriquet bestowed by them on General Willemineff, signifying red or sandy, and derived from the colour of his hair, in the same manner as they distinguished by personal allusions their own worthies—one being designated as the topal, or lame; another, the cambour, or hunchback, &c.

At one time, the general was scarcely better known to his own troops than the Circassians, who, agreeably to their notions of warfare, admitting, as in the Homeric ages, an interchange of courtesies as well as of blows, never objected to a conference. But though they had by far too good an opinion of their own intelligence to think they could be outwitted by the Russian general, and affirmed that, however cunning they might be, they had in the Abassa "daha shaitan," devils to deal with much deeper than themselves; yet, owing perhaps to the odds which the former derived from their wealth, the result had proved that, whatever individuals might gain by them, the people at large were anything but benefited by these interviews. The tamatas had in consequence wisely put a stop to them, and interdicted all intercourse with the enemy, save such as was especially sanctioned by the council. The chief of the heralds on this occasion was a handsome young merchant, from whom Mr. Bell had experienced much civility and attention. To his mercantile pursuits

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were, of course, superadded those of a warrior. Arms in this country can scarcely be considered a profession apart, but the occupation rather of every freeman, followed or neglected at pleasure. After pressing our hands in pledge of fidelity to us, the whole of them set out to the head quarters of the Russian general, expecting to find him at Ghelendjek.

The two days that intervened before their return, were spent in deliberations on their domestic affairs; the council ring might be seen calmly engaged in discussion on the one side, while the Dely Canns were eagerly pursuing their sports on the other. The principal of these is the race, or, rather, the chase, one horseman being followed at full speed by several others, whom he seeks to elude, not only by the swiftness of his horse, but by his address in dodging, winding, and availing himself of the inequalities of the ground. To prove their skill as marksmen, they practised the long shot with a rest, and fire, with their horses at full gallop, hitting, en passant, a calpac on the ground, having also, within a few yards distance, to withdraw their rifles from the felt covering, in which they are slung at their backs: the same feat is performed with a pistol. Archery, though not so much in vogue as rifle shooting, has its amateurs. Their target is attached to a pole at the