THROUGH KUBAN TAHTARY, 
plough, since with them it is a warlike employ- 
ment. The sower scattering seed, or the reaper 
who gathers the sheaves, is constantly liable to 
an assault ; and the implements of husbandry 
are not more essential to the harvest, than the 
carabine, the pistol, and the sabre 1 . 
Of all the Circassian tribes, the Lesgi, inha- 
biting the mountains of Daghestan, ranging 
nearly parallel to the Western coast of the 
Caspian, bear the worst reputation. Their very 
name excites terror among the neighbouring 
principalities, and it is used as a term of reproach 
by many of the natives of Caucasus. Different 
reports are naturally propagated concerning 
a people so little known as the Circassians in ge- 
neral; and perhaps half the stories concerning the 
Lesgi are without foundation in truth. All the 
inhabitants of Caucasus are described by their 
enemies as notorious for duplicity, and for their 
frequeht breach of faith ; and it is through the 
medium of such representation alone that we 
derive any notion of their character. But, placing 
ourselves among them, and viewing, as they 
must do, the more polished nations around them, 
who seek only to enslave and to betray them, 
(l) The same remark is applicable almost all over the Turhisk 
empire. 
