THROUGH KUBAN TAHTARY, 
concluded, involving very little discussion, for 
the Circassians seemed willing to accede to any 
proposition made on the part of the Cossacks, 
the Pasha took from his bosom a manuscript 
written upon linen : the Circassian princes 
severally laid their hands upon it, promising 
to the Cossacks the undisturbed possession of 
all the country upon the northern side of the 
Kuban. What the precise nature of the manu- 
script was we could not learn : it was said to 
contain certain passages of the Koran and other 
sacred writings. The whole ceremony ended 
by the Pasha's inscribing with a reed the names 
of the parties concerned in this transaction. 
The extraordinary appearance of the Circassian 
princes drew our attention entirely to them. 
Their clothes were ragged : their necks and 
legs quite bare. Only a few wore upon their 
feet slippers of red leather. Their heads were 
all shaven, and covered upon the crown with 
small scull-caps, laced with silver 1 . In their 
(l) The most antient covering of the head worn in Greece was 
exactly of the same shape, resembling the scalps torn by Americans from 
the prisoners they make in war. It is worn, 'beneath the turban, all 
over the East. The Circassians of rank wear it without any turban. 
It is still worn, in the same manner, by many inhabitants of modern 
Greece ; and its use in that country, long prior to its conquest by the 
Turks, agrees with the opinion maintained by the author’s Grand- 
father, concerning the origin of the Getic , Gothic , and Grecian peo- 
ple. See Connection of the Homan , Saxon, and English Coins , &c. 
