EXILES FROM ANAPA.

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ushered me, through several groups of Circassians, to an elevated platform, which was intended for the most distinguished guests, at the upper end of the room.

The news having spread through the town that an Inglis Bey had come there on his way to Circassia, the place was soon filled to excess, and I was surrounded by a host of inquisitive visitors. They mostly consisted of Anapalus, or the former residents of Anapa, who since the occupation of that fortress by the Russians had been living in exile at Sinope. Ruin and suffering might be traced in their care-worn and anxious faces; they all wore the dress of the mountain— the sheep-skin calpac and warrior tunic; but all, like their fortunes, in a sad state of dilapidation. Since their expulsion from their native town, they had not ceased to sigh over the recollections of their former prosperity, which, as I have before had occasion to remark, there is a tendency with all emigrants similarly situated to magnify.

The Anapalus, it is true, though the denizens of the narrow and dirty streets of a Turkish fortress, yet, as everything in this world is comparative, being inhabitants of the only town in Circassia, and living under the wing of the pasha, had always assumed airs of superiority over the mountaineers. They were now, for the most part, engaged either

as principals or subordinate agents in the hazardous traffic with the Abasian coast; but the prospect opened to them of re-entering the walls of their paradise by the affair of the "Vixen" had awakened a lively interest, which the appearance of Englishmen for the first time on the scene had greatly tended to increase. Two other ships, I was informed, were in the port prepared to sail, and bound to the same coast as mine, and from all I could collect, this clandestine correspondence was carried on to a very great extent; its profitable nature, and the habits of those employed in it, leading them to set all risks at defiance. The disruption of the commercial ties which have connected the shores of the Black Sea for centuries, is no easy matter.

One exception to this enterprising spirit I afterwards found in the person of a Turkish merchant, who had been upwards of a year, with a large cargo of merchandize, at Sinope, casting many a wistful glance at the beleaguered element, and seeing vessel after vessel depart without venturing to trust himself or his goods on board of them. He was presented to me, as he had previously been to Mr. Bell; he was a round, fat, little man, full of fun, and not wanting in shrewdness, and sat doubled up before me, in the Turkish style,

ALARMING INFORMATION.

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smoking and talking at a prodigious rate, evidently, for the hundredth time, a good deal excited at the example he had before him, and declaring stoutly, as he had done to a hundred others, that he would accompany me. There was, however, a ludicrous expression of terror in the little man's flushed face and twinkling eyes, that augured badly for the stability of his resolution; and accordingly, when it came to the push, his heart failed him as usual. In allusion to my own expedition, he slily remarked, that it was all very well for England and the Porte, who were doing nothing for the Circassians, to endeavour to keep up their courage, and to prevent them submitting to the Russians, till they had made up their own minds on the subject. "Yes, yes," he added, laughing and shaking his head; "I understand it all; first comes Daoud Bey, then Kutchuk Bey, then Yakoob Bey, and, lastly, yourself; all to keep the pot boiling over the way; but whether its contents will turn out ditch-water, porridge, or good mutton soup, Allah alone can tell."

The Hadji, who had been about the town to reconnoitre, came in, after a few hours, looking very grave, and asked me if I knew that Nogai Ismael, a messenger from Sefer Bey, was then at Sinope, on his way with despatches to Circassia. He had been informed that this man was spread

ing reports which were anything but advantageous to Daoud Bey (Mr. Urquhart), Mr. Bell, and myself.

Sefer Bey, the well known Circassian chargé d'affaires, having been expelled the Turkish capital at the instance of the Russian minister, was then residing at Tatar Bazardjek, in the neighbourhood of Adrianople, and from the delay which would have unavoidably occurred had I sought to obtain credentials from him to his countrymen, I had come without them, deeming them at the same time less necessary that it was my intention to join Mr. Bell. That gentleman, as appears from documents already before the public, had been recommended to the Circassians by Mr. Urquhart, who, under his Christian name of David, or Daoud, possessed such an extraordinary influence over them. Here, then, was an attempt to undermine by these calumnies the influence upon which the position of Mr. Bell, and of all connected with him, was originally founded, and would be hereafter so materially affected.

If I was to be so heralded to a country where the suspicions of a people unaccustomed to receive foreigners among them, and circumvented on every side by the schemes as well as the arms of Russia, were so easily excited,-where, in this state of ignorance, the minds of men were the sport of

the most opposite passions, hurried from the extreme of kindness to that of hostility, the prospect in going there was by no means agreeable. Though the Hadji had been unable to inform himself of the exact nature of these reports, I was too well acquainted with the source of them. The Dragoman whom Mr. Urquhart had employed in his communications with the Circassians had lately been dismissed from his service for misconduct, and in revenge had been the author of these calumnies. I knew, moreover, that the month previous to my departure from Constantinople this person had left it on a visit to Sefer Bey at Tatar Bazardjek.

Under all these circumstances, I thought it best to send for Nogai Ismael himself, and to come at once to an explanation with him. My interview with him, however, turned out far from satisfactory; for although he positively denied having said anything against me, the dry and repulsive manner in which he did so, and his refusal to accept a free passage in my ship, convinced me that he harboured no friendly intentions. The most prudent course, perhaps, under such impressions, would have been to defer my voyage; but it might have injured the cause by confirming these suspicions; and the position of Mr. Bell, who was already in Circassia, and no less obnoxious to them than myself, might