TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 379 



and thenceforward took me under his patronising 

 care. 



Xor would it have been possible to find a more 

 good-humoured, affectionate, and hard-working slave 

 than this faithful creature afterwards proved. Thor- 

 oughly unsophisticated, his service was rather that of 

 a devoted friend than a paid domestic. It was re- 

 freshing to be waited upon by one utterly ignorant of 

 the ordinary relations subsisting between master and 

 servant to receive from him good advice when well, 

 and the most unremitting attention when ill. He 

 united in his person the functions of groom, for he 

 took care of five horses; cook upon emergencies ; 

 valet after he had been initiated into the mysteries of 

 the toilet, which at first amazed him exceedingly ; 

 nurse when, unfortunately, the occasion offered, and 

 tutor and guardian always. He was the only servant 

 I had throughout the Transcaucasian campaign of the 

 Turkish army, and subsequently accompanied me to 

 Constantinople, where I parted from him with regret, 

 and where he astonished the world upon the quay at 

 Tophane by straining me to his bosom. His costume 

 by that time had become a curious mixture of English 

 and Circassian, for he had a great weakness for civil- 

 ised apparel, and, though thoroughly honest, was a 

 little covetous of his master's goods. It was impos- 

 sible to resist his insinuating appeal when he admir- 

 ingly contemplated a pair of thick shooting-boots of 

 mine, and then glanced ruefully at his own worn-out 



