TRAVELS IN CIRCASSIA. 385 



dudgeon. Finding he could not coax a present out 

 of us, he too left indignantly, and then one of the 

 others returned with a long face, and still longer 

 story, of his having lost all his wages, and tried 

 to work upon our compassion. When he found this 

 hopeless (like Mr Montague Tigg when Pecksniff 

 refused to lend him the ridiculously small sum of 

 eighteenpence), he swore eternal friendship, in which 

 he was joined by all the others, who now reappeared, 

 after having absented themselves in a fit of disgust 

 for twenty -four hours, and who remained with us 

 until we left the coast, Avhen we parted on the best 

 possible terms. 



It was indeed difficult to be angry with these men 

 on the very ground which their gallant countrymen 

 had rendered sacred by many a deed of noble daring ; 

 and we were ready to forget that acquisitiveness, 

 which is so often the mark of barbarians, amid scenes 

 with which so much that was heroic was associated. 

 We could not turn our backs upon Ubooch without 

 regret. Of all the tribes of Circassians who have 

 so long and steadily resisted the Russian arms, none 

 have shown a more indomitable spirit than the in- 

 habitants of this district. Their enterprises have 

 been as bold as the execution of them has been 

 skilful ; they have produced warriors whose deeds 

 have rendered both themselves and their tribe famous 

 throughout the mountains ; and the name of Hadji 

 Dokum Oku is one which is painfully familiar to 



