648 



CAUCASUS. 



Caucasus. 4. The Nagais, or the Tartars of the Cuban, who 

 ^ V**' dwell among the Circassians, as well as in their vici- 

 nity, and generally lead a pastoral life ; they are the 

 remainder of the Mongolian Tartars, formerly a 

 powerful people who, after the reign of Zengis- 

 BLhan, invaded and governed part of Asia as well as 

 Europe, but have, during the last century, been so 

 much reduced by the vicissitudes of war and their 

 own turbulent conduct, that at present they scarcely 

 deserve the name of a nation. They occur, however, 

 in small numbers, in different parts of the region un- 

 der consideration, and are subdivided into the follow- 

 ing principal branches ; the Naurus, the Kassai, the 

 Kaspolat, the Kantshak, the Mangut, or Mamsgut, 

 the Gedissau, the Dshamboiluk, and the Gibshi- 

 kul ; they are a restless unsettled people, whose dis- 

 position to robbery has been little reduced, notwith- 

 standing the severity of the punishments to which 

 they have been subjected. Their principal means of 

 support are their flocks, though a little attention is 

 also paid to agriculture, particularly to the cultiva- 

 tion of millet. 



5. Several separated branches of the Nagais and 

 Tartars, are scattered on the mountains of the Cau- 

 casus, viz. the Kumyks, the TerekemeSs the Karata- 

 shais, and the Tshegems. These people are nearly in 

 the same state of society with those previously mention- 

 ed. Christianity seems at one period to have made 

 some progress amongst them. Their attention is chiefly 

 directed to some branches of agriculture, to the 

 rearing of their herds and flocks, or to the produce 

 of honey. They turn also to some account others of 

 their natural productions, such as iron, lead, nitre, 

 and the skins of wild animals. One of the divisions 

 of this people, the Tshegems, have received from 

 some writers the name of Zekhi, from the analogy of 

 which name it has been conjectured that they were 

 originally Bohemian fugitives. 



6. The Ossetes, or Ir, and according to their own 

 denomination Rones, are a very peculiar people, who, 

 having been compelled to retire to the interior parts 

 of the high mountains, have, for their boundary 

 towards the north, the Caucasus, towards the west 

 the river Urup, to the east the Terek, to the south 

 west the river Rion, or Phasis of the ancients, and 

 to the south east Aragva. The whole tribe is divi- 

 ded into districts, or Kom, and villages or Kou. It 

 is observed that the tongue peculiar to these people 

 has many words in common with the Persian, Ger- 

 man, and Sclavonic languages, as well as expressions 

 analogous to the dialect of these nations. The 

 Ossetes are a barbarous, predatory, and miserable 

 race of men, who have always infested the public 

 road leading to Georgia through the mountains 

 which they inhabit. The two most populous and 

 powerful of their districts are those of Dugor and of 

 Durdugor. 



7. The Lamur, Galgai or Ingushians, differ en- 

 tirely from all other inhabitants of the Caucasus, 

 in language, as well as in stature and in features. 

 Their manner of pronouncing is as if their mouths 

 were full of stones ; they are said to be an honest 

 and brave set of people, who maintain their indepen- 

 dence, and are subject only to their elders or priests, 

 by whom their religious sacrifices are perform- 

 ed. They are almost the only nation inhabiting the 

 Caucasus among whom the shield has been preserved 



as a part of their accoutrements. They are excellent Caucaius. 

 marksmen, but giving little attention either to agri- ^~*~Y*^*' 

 culture or the rearing of cattle, they are consequent- 

 ly in a state of poverty ; they live in the vicinity of 

 the sources of the rivers Kumbelu and Sunsha, and 

 extend their habitations along the high mountains 

 to the eastern bank of the Terek, where they bor- 

 der on the Ossetines. The Karubulakes likewise 

 border on the Ingushians towards the west, and on 

 the Tshetshentzes towards the east. These three 

 last communities speak nearly the same language, 

 which is not known to have the least analogy to any 

 other diaU-ct except that spoken at Tushet : in re- 

 spect of this similarity, the judicious Guldenstadt 

 has thought fit to class them altogether under the 

 common denomination of Mitzdshegis or Kesti, who 

 appear to be the remainder of the true Alanians. 

 They are by no means, however, of the samt nation- 

 al character the Tshetshentzes, indeed, differing so 

 radically from the Ingushians, as to be justly consi- 

 dered the most turbulent, hostile, and predatory in- 

 habitants of the mountains. 



8. Of the Suam, like the last mentioned people, a 

 race of mountaineers, the habitations on the southern 

 basis of the Elburus, extend to the west as far as the 

 source of the Engur ; towards the south they bor- 

 der on the pri.iciuality of Dadian, and the Imeretian 

 province of Odishi ; towards the east, on the source 

 of the Tzenis tzkale or horse river, the Hippus, un- 

 doubtedly, of the ancients. They live dispersed in 

 particular families, are great depredators, yet call 

 themselves Christians ; they pay some attention to 

 agriculture and the rearing of cattle- Their princi- 

 pal intercourse is with the provinces of Imeretia and 

 Miugrelia. The amount of their population is not 

 exactly known, but it appears not to be considerable. 



In the Caucasian mountains, besides the tribes 

 which have thus been enumerated, there occur seve- 

 ral others : the Lesgisians, who inhabit the province 

 of Lesgibtan, in the eastern Caucasus, between Kak- 

 hetty and Daghestan ; they are divided into 27 stems, 

 and are totally independent. The Taulintzians, who 

 occupy the summits of the mountains, are also divi- 

 ded into several petty tribes, and acknowledge the 

 protection of Persia. The Amberlinians, who dwell 

 in the vallies formed by the mountains of Ghilan, 

 and, though they often change their patron-sove- 

 reign, have recently owned a subjection to the Per- 

 sian monarch. Among the modern inhabitants of 

 the environs of the Caucasus, may be also included 

 those Kozaks of Russia, or other colonists, who have 

 been recently settled along the banks of some of the 

 principal rivers, chiefly those in the north, and who 

 serve as a cordon to check the incursions of the na- 

 tive predatory tribes. For an account of the Geor- 

 gians or Grusinians, the most numerous and power- 

 ful body of the inhabitants of these mountains, see 

 the article GEORGIA. 



The appellation by which the whole of this moun- 

 tainous range, the highest and most extensive in the 

 northern part of Asia, is distinguished, that of Cau- 

 casus is supposed to have been transmitted to the 

 Greeks, in consequence of their intercourse with the 

 Persians. In the language of this people, can or 

 coh signifies a mountain, whence, it is said, was form- 

 ed coh cas, or the mountain of the Chasas, an ancient 

 formidable tribe who inhabited the immense tract 



