484 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814. 



THE INGUSCHES. 



From the Same. 



The Ingusches are industrious, 

 especially the women, who not 

 only attend to the domestic con- 

 cerns, but naake clothes (or their 

 husbands, fetch home 6re-wood 

 frequently from the distance of 

 eight wersts, and carry very heavy 

 burdens over the hills. Almost 

 all the elevated valleys are desti- 

 tute of wood, which must be 

 brought with great labour from 

 the lofty mountains. This, as I 

 should suppose, is the chief reason 

 that their houses are built of stone, 

 with flat roofs. They whitewash 

 the exterior of their buildings and 

 towers, though they are not very 

 tenacious of cleanliness within. 

 They build together in families, 

 and often fortify their villages 

 with walls and conical towers 

 from sixty to ninety feet in height. 

 Their fields lie contiguous to their 

 habitations; the animals which 

 they keep are hogs, sheep, asses, 

 mules, a few horses, and horned 

 cattle ; for the deficiency of pas- 

 turage admits of a small number 

 only of the latter. For the rest, 

 their wants are few. Wretchedly 

 clad in the Tartar fashion, wrapped 

 winter and summer in felt-cloaks, 

 they have often no other food than 

 raw roots, and are nevertheless 

 very temperate when the chase 

 affords them better cheer. The 

 oldest persons of the family sit 

 down first to their repast, and 

 leave those who follow them so 

 much that enough remains, after 

 they have done, for the children. 

 In the observance of the rights of 

 hospitality, in the possession of 

 their property in common, in the 



equitable division of what fortune- 



or accident throws in their way, 

 they lose the appearance of savage 



life, and seem actuated by more 

 humane sentiments than we rapa- 

 cious Europeans who style our- 

 selves polished and civilized. They, 

 are very meagre, but well grown,, 

 swift of foot, strong and indefa- . 

 tigable. Freedom, wildness, and 

 gravity, are expressed in their 

 looks. In temper they are violent, 

 but soon pacified again ; and all 

 their passions are displayed without 

 disguise or restraint. They con- 

 sider the contempt of life as a 

 virtue, and the slighest symptom 

 of fear as the greatest of faults; 

 for which reason they choose 

 rather to lay violent hands on 

 themselves than submit to the 

 will of another. Their women 

 show the same heroic firmness, 

 of which the following instance 

 came to the knowledge of Count 

 John Potocki during his residence 

 on the Line. — An Ingusch car- 

 ried a young female of his own 

 country to Eudery with the inten- 

 tion of selling her. A Jew from 

 Schirwan offered 240 rubles in 

 Persian stuffs for her, and the 

 bargain was concluded. The . 

 buyer and seller withdrew for a 

 moment to look at the goods ; on 



. which the girl thus addressed the 

 by-stinders : " 1 am but a poor 

 orphan, whom any one may abuse 

 with impunity. My conductor 

 promised me marriage, and now he 

 is selling me, that he may have 

 silk clothes. But I will take care . 

 that he never shall wear them." 

 With these words she went out 

 into the garden and hung herself 

 upon a tree. 



Hunting, war, and marauding, 

 are deemed by the Ingusches the , 



