the East; while it is as certainly, on the other hand, the zeal of the Mussulman tribes that garrison the mountains behind, which renders it. insecure.

The bonds by which Circassia, notwithstanding her independence, an independence guaranteed by the distinctions of race, customs, and language,is united to Turkey are those of a common faith; and the strength of those bonds must depend on that of the religious zeal which, for the reasons, temporal as well as spiritual, I have already adduced, is so peculiarly powerful with Mussulmans, binding every heart in which it burns in an electric chain of sympathy, an element of adhesion strong as it is subtle, and upon which the sword makes no more impression than it would on fire itself.

The mosque at Aboon Bashi (like all others, I believe) is intended not only for a place of wor ship, but as a medressé, or college for the education of students in the Mussulman law. The language taught there is Arabic, not Turkish; the former is the language of the Koran, and many of the cadis are proficients in it, without knowing a word of the latter.

The hodja, or dominee of this establishment, was duly presented to us, and comported himself with the gravity and importance peculiar to pedagogues

all over the world: it appeared also he was a rigid disciplinarian, and had refused to grant a holiday to his scholars, though the Russian cannon had been distinctly heard that morning in the neighbourhood of Pchat, and the elder boys had been longing for a shot at the Ghiaours from the woods.

CHAPTER X.

Effects of Lord Ponsonby's communication-Arguments of the chiefs against my joining the Circassian forces-Our landlord and his daughter-Security of property in Circassia,

THE number of our escort had by this time. very much fallen off. The warriors, as we proceeded, had taken different routes, that they might more conveniently quarter themselves on the way. Hadji Oli, the judge, had been missing three days; having, as he afterwards alleged, some business of great importance to dispatch at home, (connected very probably with the distillery,) he had disappeared without taking leave of anybody. We saw little of him during the rest of the campaign; nor could he find any time to attend to public

business until the blasts of war were blown over, and the Russians had left the country.

We were now within a few hours' ride of Pchat, where we received positive information that Willemineff was already encamped with his army. Except at Hyderbey, he had encountered no serious opposition; and the reasons for this were, first, that the route taken by the Russian general was through a country comparatively easy of access and thinly inhabited; secondly, that he had refrained from exasperating the inhabitants by destroying their property; and thirdly, that Indar Oglu, the chief proprietor of Pchat (the place of his destination), was in very bad odour with his countrymen, who had consequently left him to shift for himself. To these causes of the inactivity displayed by the Circassians we may add another, perhaps the most powerful of them all, and that was, the communication made to them by Lord Ponsonby, which, by the illusive expectations it held out of England's diplomatic interference in their behalf, slackened their exertions, as they believed they would only be now attended with a useless effusion of blood.

But this is a subject to which I must revert hereafter, confining myself at present to this remark as to its evil tendency, which, in enumerating the causes of Willemineff's success, could

not with justice be omitted. Observing this apparent indifference on the part of the Circassians, both Mr. Bell and myself did not hesitate to urge them to a greater display of energy. But the chiefs had already decided on the plan of the campaign, which, as far as their influence availed, was conducted on Fabian principles, and which it was altogether useless in us to gainsay. I found also equally unavailing my request to be permitted to join their forces in the approaching struggle; they seemed determined that I should not accompany them, and they employed various arguments to dissuade me from it.

In the first instance, they represented that the hardships and privations to be encountered in this warfare were such as none but those who had been trained to them could support; for food, they were contented to put up with an occasional mouthful of fermented honey, which they call komil, and of which each warrior is provided with a small bagful at his girdle; for lodging, they were satisfied with a bed of leaves in the woods; then they could by no means answer for their own forbearance, or that, in the excitement and confusion which prevailed, I should be treated with the consideration I deserved; since the persons who now behaved with such urbanity would, when once in presence of the enemy, be metamor