pains to propitiate us, and finally producing, with a look of ineffable triumph, a tea-service in china, which he had brought with him from Stamboul, and only exhibited on grand occasions.

But to all his manifold merits and ingenious contrivances we remained for some time equally blind, and no less so (when on the eve of our departure he looked for the fruits of all the pampering he had bestowed on us, and puffing through our dragoman on himself,) to the anxiety which displayed itself in his pinched and simpering physiognomy, the most comically intense I had ever seen. In taking leave of him, however, among other trifles we presented him with were some massive chains of Paris metal for the ladies of his harem, which we had desired our interpreter to inform him, though not of pure gold, were nevertheless worn as ornaments in Europe; but which (Djeoher having intentionally, I fear, omitted to translate this part of our discourse) he had pounced upon with all the avidity of a biter bit, actually forgetting, as he gorged the bait, for the first time in his life, to ask for something more. But we had not yet done with him, as we found, by many a day, being destined to be "pestered by this popinjay" during the whole of our stay in the province. We had scarcely been installed an hour in our new konag when he again presented him

HATUKOI'S SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS.

183

self, his kamtchik, or whip, in one hand, and a piece of flint in the other. On this latter several marks had been rubbed with metal of some sort, and he now particularly requested us to inform him, as mineralogists, whether it was gold or brass.

Agreeably surprised at the spirit of scientific research which had induced him to post after us so precipitately, we examined the marks very attentively, and gave it as our decided opinion it was the latter.

This was enough for Hatukoi; he had convicted us out of our own mouths; and having accordingly taken our dragoman aside, he utterly confounded him by the following magnificent tirade:66 Are you well aware who it is that now addresses you? Know you not Hatukoi, Prince of Ghelendjek," (it is true he formerly resided in the bay of Ghelendjek, before it was occupied by the Russians,) "of the mighty tribe of Chipakou! whose renown and influence are not only unequalled by those of prince or ouzden in Natukvitch, but extend to every part of these mountains, from Ghelendjek to the Kuban; from Anapa to Karatchai? these are facts you may be ignorant of, nor less perhaps of another, that he is well known and held in profound estimation by our Lord the Sultan, also by Mehemet Ali Pasha, and the seven kings of Christendom to boot; and is it to a

prince so esteemed and celebrated, one whom the kings and potentates delight to honour, that the Beyzades have thought fit to dishonour by presenting him-Mashallah!-with copper instead of gold. Of my personal merits and the services I have already done and can render them, of the arrangements of my house, and of the entertainment they have received, I say nothing, it is äiba solecism in our manners to speak of such things. I will only defy any house in these mountains to shew the like of it-couches so splendid, or victuals so neat (temiz). Remember, I ask nothing for all these things; all that I desire is, that you will take back these trinkets, which are only fit for children, to the Beyzades, when I am sure they will hasten to rectify their mistake."

We were at first not a little dismayed by this message; but were presently consoled by the assurances we received at all hands, that so far from joining in the praises he bestowed so liberally on himself, everybody heartily despised him; and though certainly of a good tokum, or tribe, he was a disgrace, instead of being an honour to it; or, as Kutsuk Ali Bey rather strongly expressed himself, "its very excrement!" Viewing him, therefore, in that light, we treated him thenceforward, to his no small discomfiture, with the contempt he deserved; so that, after a month of alternate cringing

OPINION OF OTHERS RESPECTING HIM. 185

and hectoring to no purpose, he abjectly entreated our dragoman to give him back the chains. But these had already been disposed of to others less difficult to please than himself; however, to rid ourselves of his importunity, we gave him one of the cavalry regulation swords we had brought out. This he carried off with great glee, and having swaggered about the province with it for about a month, declaring to all he met that the sword had been sent to him as a mark of personal respect by his Majesty William the Fourth, he sold it for seven hundred piastres!

CHAPTER IX.

March of the Russian general to Pchat-Superstitions and social qualities of the Circassians-The fortress of A boonMahomedanism in the Caucasus.

OUR party now took the road which had, within a few days, been passed by the Russian army, of whose movements we continued to receive information as we advanced towards the scene of operations. A junction having been formed by the corps under Willemineff with that which had landed at Ghelendjek, that general, agreeably with the notice he had given to the Circassians, commenced his march to Pchat. The first serious opposition he encountered was in the Valley of Hyderbey, whose locality I have already described. As the defiles began to close on his troops, a gall