The Caucasian Mountains and their Inhabitants. 95 



themselves their general name is Adighe. They constitute 

 about one-third of the entire population, and are divided 

 into a dozen or more clans. Of their form of government 

 I cannot speak with much certainty. I believe, however, 

 that with some it is purely patriarchal ; with others it 

 partakes of some features of feudalism. One thing is 

 especially worthy of note, that all mountain tribes have 

 a social polity and a characteristic independence and 

 lawlessness, which almost mark them as one family. 

 Among the cliffs of northern Africa, in the Himalayas 

 (which among the Indians signifies the dwelling place of 

 the snows), in these that overlook the Euxine and the 

 Caspian, and the highlands of Scotland, we can trace 

 many and striking resemblances. I will read you a por- 

 tion of Mr. Chambers's account of the latter, and it will 

 answer for the former. 



" The word clan was used to designate the freebooters 

 of the border as well as the Celtic tribes of the highlands ; 

 and there were two characteristics common to both ; their 

 predatory habits and their distribution into communities, 

 each with a common surname." After speaking of an 

 act of the Scottish parliament of 1587, which requires 

 landlords to find security for the conduct of their tenants, 

 he says, " Clans that could find no security were called 

 broken clans, and their members were outlaws. * * The 

 Macgregors were a celebrated broken clan whom the law 

 pursued for centuries with savage ingenuity." * * The 

 following passage in the act of 1581, which virtually 

 authorizes any lowlander, injured by any member of a 

 clan, to take vengeance against all or any of his clansmen, 

 contains a highly-colored account of the social condition 

 of this people : ' The said clan of thieves for the most part 

 are companies of wicked men, coupled in wickedness by 

 occasion of their surnames or near dwellings together, or 

 through keeping society in theft, or receipt of theft, not 



