MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



479 



selves seek out for him a wife 

 suitable to his rank and fortune. 

 In this case the ceremony of be- 

 trothing very soon takes place ; but 

 the marriage is deferred, so that the 

 parties have frequently to wait from 

 four to six months, nay some- 

 times even a whole year. Till the 

 consummation of the nuptials the 

 bridegroom is not suffered upon 

 any account to see or speak to the 

 bride, neither is she allowed to see 

 him. It is also considered inde- 

 corous for the bridegroom to be 

 seated in the presence of the 

 bride's parents; even if he has 

 been sitting before their entrance 

 he rises ; neither must he enter 

 into conversation with them until 

 he is actually married to their 

 daughter. 



When a man has debauched a 

 married or unmarried female, and 

 the affair becomes public in the 

 village, all the inhabitants meet 

 in the Messdshed, whither the 

 seducer also is conducted. He is 

 tried by the elders, who commonly 

 pronounce upon him a sentence 

 of banishment from the country, 

 accompanied with the most rigid 

 injunction never to return to 

 Ckaratschai or its vicinity if he 

 has any regard for his life. The 

 father turns his dishonoured daugh- 

 ter, and the husband the adultress, 

 out of his house, and never can 

 either be prevailed upon to re- 

 ceive her again. Sometimes the 

 business terminates in the death of 

 the offender, and then the dis- 

 graced family quit the country to 

 conceal their shame from their 

 former fellow-citizens. Such cases, 

 however, but rarely occur. 



When a prince or nobleman has 

 no issue by his legitimate wife, but 

 has children by a slave, these are 



called Thuma or Tschankua. If 

 they are males, they are delivered 

 immediately after their birth to 

 some poor person, who brings 

 them up with care till the father 

 dies, and then the Thuma succeed 

 him in all his prerogatives and pos- 

 sessions, as though they were his 

 legitimate offspring. But when 

 there are children also by the legi- 

 timate wife, and these will nei- 

 ther acknowledge the bastard as 

 their brother, nor suffer him to 

 live with them, nor assign him a 

 share of the patrimony, they put 

 him to death, as no person will 

 avenge his blood, because he is 

 related to nobody. It nevertheless 

 frequently happens that the legi- 

 timate children, out of respect for 

 the blood of their father, not only 

 spare the bastard, but acknowledge 

 him as a brother, and share with 

 him the paternal possessions. The 

 latter generally takes his poor 

 foster-father into his house, and 

 supports him from a motive of 

 gratitude as long as he lives. 



Many of the Ckaratschai com- 

 mit the education of their sons to 

 their Mulla, who instructs them in 

 reading and writing. When they 

 have acquired a proficiency in 

 these branches they are termed 

 Tochta, and are appointed to 

 chant the Ckuran in the Messd- 

 shed at divine worship. After 

 they have performed this office for 

 some time they become eligible 

 themselves for the post of Mulla, 

 if they should embrace no other 

 profession. 



The Ckaratschai are not so much 

 addicted to plunder as their neigh- 

 bours the Tscherkessians and 

 Abasses ; nay, the words theft and 

 roguery are seldom heard among 

 them. They are extremely in- 



