TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 327 



perhaps a pardonable suspicion at so large a party 

 demanding admittance into regions hitherto un- 

 visited by Europeans. Moreover, we could assign 

 no other motive for our journey than curiosity, 

 and they seemed incredulous of this being a suffi- 

 ciently powerful stimulant for so novel a proceeding, 

 more particularly when they saw two men-of-war 

 lying in their bay, also there from curiosity. They 

 therefore depicted, in the strongest terms, the diffi- 

 culties of travelling in the interior, the impossi- 

 bility of procuring horses, guides, &c. However, we 

 determined to await the result of our mission to 

 Ismail Bey, and meantime I went with an exploratory 

 expedition up the valley. 



We followed the banks of a clear sparkling 

 stream, full of trout, to a village where the female 

 inhabitants peered curiously out of chinks in their 

 doors at us, and then ascended the side of a steep 

 hill, through fields of millet and Indian corn, until 

 we reached a ridge from whence we had an exten- 

 sive view : here we stayed to rest, and our Circassian 

 guide, who spoke Turkish, sent a boy to a village to 

 bring us something to eat. While we were bask- 

 ing in the sun, watching the blue smoke ascend from 

 the clumps of trees which here and there marked a 

 hamlet, a ragged figure approached, carrying a load 

 of wood, and almost naked, and throwing his bundle 

 at our feet sat down to rest. Upon looking at his 

 features I scarcely needed the information of our 



VOL. VI. Y 



