100 The Qatcasian Mountains and their Inhabitants. 



Alanes, and Ossettis belong to one of the same race of the 

 descendants of Japhet. 



We have not time to pursue this branch of the subject 

 any further. 



The costume of the Circassians like that of the orien- 

 talists generally, is, as you are aware, extremely pic- 

 turesque. But toilets differ there as they do here, and 

 wealth and poverty make their respective marks in the 

 chaumiere of the lowly and the sarai of fortune's favorites. 

 When circumstances permit, the large pantaloon of silk 

 are an indispensable article. The number of breadths 

 they contain would almost seem to indicate the number 

 of dependents pertaining to the wearer. Drawn in rich 

 folds about the ancles (apparently), they give to the feet 

 a diminutive appearance to which ladies are never averse, 

 I believe, in any country ; and as females ride on horse- 

 back there as the men do, this article of apparel is as 

 useful as ornamental; and I might add, incidentally, that a 

 cavalcade of this people, met with sometimes in the passes 

 of the mountains, startles one with its wild and gleaming 

 beauty, and will live in the memory till all its records are 

 obliterated. The loose jacket with open sleeves, often 

 richly embroidered with gold, covering a silken vest with 

 like elaborate ornature, has also its dainty dazzlements. 

 These are left slightly open in front from the throat to 

 the girdle and have there a bordering of braided hair or ' 

 long silken tresses brought forward for that purpose by 

 the fair wearer — raven tresses and long flexible braids. 

 inwrought with threads of gold. Their feet, often uu- 

 stockinged, are kept with great care, and play their role 

 in the arts of coquetry as the white arms of the Syrian 

 women did in olden times when with sounding cymbals 

 they danced to the joy and melody of their hearts. 



Their feet, I have said, are kept with great care, and 

 among the higher classes are beautifully delicate. This 



