486 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814 



are tied together with a ribband. 

 The rest of their head-dress con- 

 sists of a Tscherkessian hat, which 

 looks very well before, and brass, 

 copper or glass ear-rings. The 

 shift is worked at the shoulders 

 and breast, with silk, wool or yarn 

 ,of different colours, to the depth 

 of five inches. Over it they wear 

 a jacket which reaches to the 

 waist and is fastened with a girdle, 

 and under the shift long trowsers. 

 These trowsers mark their condi- 

 tion ; married women wear red, 

 widows and old women blue, and 

 young unmarried females white 

 trowsers ; but ail of them are neatly 

 worked at the ankles in a variety 

 of colours bordered with black. 

 In winter, females of all classes 

 wear boots, and in summer go 

 barefoot. When their household 

 business is finished, they employ 

 themselves in making carpets, or 

 felts. They manufacture also a 

 slight woollen stuff (ZoAa), which 

 serves to clothe themselves as well 

 as their husbands and children. 



Their method of dancitig seems 

 peculiar to themselves^, as it is not 

 to be met with among the other 

 inhabitants of the Caucasus. A 

 party sitting down in a largp circle 

 sing, and accompanied by haut- 

 boys or bagpipes challenge the 

 youngest and ablest dancers to 

 show their activity. Such as choose 

 then throw themselves into a va- 

 riety of dangerous postures, and 

 perform all sorts of antics, one 

 after another. When all the 

 dancers have taken their turn, 

 amidst loud and general plaudits^ 

 they join hands, sing, and dance 

 in long files. They frequently 

 form with great dexterity in one 

 large cirle, open and close again. 



and conclude with the same ge* 

 neral antics with which they began. 

 That the fair sex may not be de- 

 prived of this diversion, they seek 

 some blind musician with whom 

 they may amuse themselves in 

 some spot at a distance from the 

 men, without violating the custom 

 which enjoins them to conceal 

 their persons frotn strangers of the 

 other sex. 



The art of writing is considered 

 by the Ingusches as a miracle 

 wrought by the Christian and Mo- 

 hammedan religions in favour of 

 their professors; they neverthe- 

 less continue averse to those reli- 

 gions, though the Russian mis- 

 sionaries employed by the Ossetian 

 Commission took great pains to 

 convert them to the Greek church. 

 Two brothers of this nation were 

 sold as slaves to the Turks, em- 

 braced the Mohammedan faith, 

 visited Mecca, and at length re- 

 covered their liberty. Returning 

 to their native land, they found 

 their mother yet alive, and, having 

 converted her, began to preach 

 with pious zeal against the ve- 

 neration paid by their countrymen 

 to rocks. " Ye preach a doc- 

 trine," said the Ingusches t© them, 

 " which ye learned while slaves ; 

 we'll have nothing to do with it ; 

 therefore begone, and never show 

 your faces here again." The two 

 brothers withdrew unmolested to 

 another country ; a proof that the 

 religion of the Ingusches is far 

 more tolerant than the Christian. 



The religion of the Ingusches is 

 extremely simple ; for they wor- 

 ship one God, whom they name 

 Dale, but no saints or other illus- 

 trious persons. They celebrate 

 Sunday, not by religious worship, 



