374 The Hunting Grounds 



The climate, soil, and magnificence of scenery, 

 render the east coast of the Black Sea one of the 

 most beautiful and interesting countries in the world. 

 It is abundantly irrigated by numberless rivers flow- 

 ing from the mountains, and the valleys are extremely 

 fertile, producing cotton, rice, wheat, millet, Indian 

 corn, hemp, flax, and quantities of excellent grasses, 

 with little labour ; yet the inhabitants are generally 

 poor, holding in contempt agriculture and all em- 

 ployments of a peaceful kind. They are divided into 

 several nations, tribes, and castes, which are again 

 subdivided. The principal are the Tcherkesses, the 

 Kabardines, the Abbassians, the Mingrelians, and the 

 Georgians. The Tcherkesses, or Circassians, said to 

 be derived from the Tyches (who settled in the 

 country several centuries ago), are essentially moun- 

 taineers, and have many qualities in common with 

 the Scottish Highlanders of the olden day. Their 

 element is war, and they possess all the characteristics 

 peculiar to the inhabitants of lofty regions, being 

 divided into tribes and clans, each of which is 

 governed by a chief invested with the power of life 

 and death over his followers. They chiefly profess 

 the Mahomedan religion, but, having no written lan- 

 guage, their faith differs considerably from that of 

 other Mussulmen ; a traditionary history and code of 

 laws, which has been transmitted from age to age, and 

 become hallowed from its antiquity, being substituted 



