A YEAR AMONG THE CIRCASSIAN S. CHAPTER I. A Circassian Mansion-Funeral Ceremonies-Marriage Feast— Administration of Justice-Circassian Horsemanship-Appearance of a Russian brig off the coast. As the reader will perhaps be curious to know something of the domestic arrangements of our establishment, I shall endeavour to convey to him some idea of them. The guest-house, with an enclosed grass-plot before, was on the bank of a rivulet-the tribute of our glen to the main stream of Semez. On the declivity of the further bank VOL. II. B partially screened by the foliage, was the farmyard, with its various tenements, folds, barns, outhouses, &c., for the serfs and cattle. This was the domain of Murtaza, the cowherd, Keri Oglu's chief manager—himself a serf, yet thriving and respected; for among the live stock that enriched the rural menagerie, were a number of blooming, healthful little vagabonds, in whom, ragged as they were-rolling in the dust or "paddling in the burn,”—imagination could already see the three-tailed Pashas of the Asiatic province, or the future delicia of the Turkish harem. Separated by the pathway, and on the slope of the hill to our left, was the harem and its dependencies, over which, with a sway still more absolute, ruled the Khanoum of our host. I own that such authority will appear inconsistent, after what I have said of female subjection in Circassia. Nature, however, will assert her rights all the world over; and between a woman in the midsummer of her charms like the Khanoum, and the personification of winter in the venerable Shamiz, the balance of power established by custom between the sexes was naturally a good deal disturbed. Her administration of the household was rigorous and thrifty in the extreme; and Shamiz, whose wisdom it was that directed the councils of Natukoitch and Shapsook, played, if DOMESTIC ESTABLISHMENT. 3 the truth must be told, a very secondary part in his household. With respect to ourselves, our hostess was everything that is kind and amiable; and though till the day of my departure I never had a personal interview with her-for she was a strict Mahometan-yet did her unceasing attention display itself in all that could contribute to our comfort. Her superiority as a housewife, not to mention "All the savoury country messes was visible to us, like the good offices of some invisible fairy, during our stay. The family of our host was small. His eldest son had been killed in a battle that was fought near Anapa two years before. He had now only two boys, the one in his eleventh, and the other in his fifteenth year. The visit of the English beyzades had attracted them to Semez, otherwise they were seldom to be found there. Their regular domicile was the house of their foster-father, or ataluk; but being each of them provided with a horse, it mattered little where they went-every house in the Caucasus was alike open to them as their own. age commonly attach themselves, Boys of that during a jour ney or campaign, to a Bey or Ouzden, in the quality of page. They take charge of his horse when he alights, and attend upon his person. Nor is this service degrading, but, on the contrary, honourable to them. Sheretluk and Nogai were the names of our youthful squires. Two hundred yards further up the glen was the house of Schimaf Bey, Prince of Semez. He had the year before occupied a house in the centre of the valley, but it had been burnt to the ground by Williamanoff's army. But though he continued to keep up his enclosures, and to cultivate the fields there, he had removed his household, at the invitation of Shamiz, to his neighbourhood. His rank of Pshee, or Prince, inferred of itself neither power nor privilege. His father, who was a man of a different stamp, had exercised a great authority over the whole valley, whose inhabitants, though freemen, had been in some sort his vassals. Of such authority I never had a clear definition; the quantity of tribute or service it procures him depends altogether on the individual himself: and while, with bis father, whom nobody cared to offend, it was almost paramount, it had, in the hands of Schimaf, shrunk into a barren title and the control of his own immediate serfs. The only persons from whom he ventured to exact anything were Ar cance. PRINCE OF SEMEZ. 5 menians; and even these, pigeon-hearted as they usually were, would, when emboldened by the protection of another chief, set him completely at defiance. In short, Schimaf, having none of the qualities that command respect, destitute alike of energy and generosity, had sunk into insignifiFrom the assiduous court he paid, we at first imagined him to be sincerely attached to us. To compare great things to small, the prince in this respect greatly resembled one of the canine species of the spaniel breed. He followed us wherever we went, and where we took up our abode stretched himself lazily by our couch. He watched our every look and motion, prepared, as I afterwards found, to snap up every inconsiderate trifle we had to spare. Among other articles, he had taken a decided fancy to my watch; and so often had I to open it for his inspection, and so deep an interest he took in its movements, that I was eventually compelled to surrender it to him. The servants of the prince had not failed to profit by so illustrious an example. They seemed to enjoy the dolce far niente quite as much as their master. Their only occupations, as far as I could see, were racing, wrestling, pitching huge stones, and sleeping under the hedges. In any other country, it would have been a matter of surprise how they were clothed and fed, for their |