210 
CIRCASSIANS. 
(leferniine. Their language they have in common with the other 
iieighboui'ing Tartars, although the chief people among them are not 
ignorant of the Russian ; their ancient and native religion is Paganism, 
for notwithstanding the use of circumcision, they have neither priest, 
koran, nor mosque, like the Mahometans. Every person offers his 
' own sacrifice at pleasure ; for which, however, they have certain 
days, established rather by custom than any positive command ; their 
most solemn sacrifices are offered at the death of their nearest 
friends ; upon which occasion both men and women meet in the field 
to be present at the offering, which is a he-goat; and having killed, 
they flay it, and stretch the skin, with the head and horns on, upon a 
cross at the top of a long pole, placed commonly in a quickset edge, to 
keep the cattle from it ; and near this place the sacrifice is off'ered, by 
boiling and roasting the flesh, which they afterw'ards eat. When the 
feast is over, the men rise, and having paid their adoration to the skin, 
and muttered over some prayers, the women withdraw, and the men 
conclude the ceremony with drinking a great quantity of aqua-vita?, 
and this generally ends in a quarrel before they part. In summer the 
Circassians quit the towns, and encamp in the fields like the neigh- 
bouring Tartars, occasionally shifting their stations along with their 
flocks and herds. Besides game, in which the country greatly abounds, 
the Circassians eat beef and mutton, but that which they prefer to all 
others is the flesh of a young horse. Their bread consists of thin 
cakes of barley-meal, baked upon the hearth, which they always eat 
new ; and their usual drink is water, or mare’s milk, from the latter of 
which they distil a spirit, as most of the Tartar nations do. They 
allot no fixed hours for the refreshments of the table or sleep, which 
they indulge irregularly, as inclination or conscience dictates. When 
the men make excursions into an enemy’s country, they will pass 
several days and nights successively without sleeping, but at their 
return devote as much time to repose, as the space in which they had 
before abstained from that gratification. When they eat, they sit 
cross-legged on the floor, the skin of some animal serving them 
instead of a carpet. In removing from one part of the country to 
another, the women and children are carried in waggons, which are a 
kind of travelling houses, and drawn by oxen or camels, as they never 
use horses for draught. Their breed of the latter, however, is reckoned 
exceeding good ; and they are accustomed to swim along any river 
on horseback. The women and children smoke tobacco as well as 
men; and this is the most acceptable commodity which a traveller 
can carry with him into the Tartar countries. The principal branch of 
their traffic is their own children, especially their daughters, whom 
they sell for the use of the seraglios in Turkey and Persia, where 
they frequently marry to great advantage, and make the fortune of 
their families. The merchants who come from Constantinople to 
purchase those girls, are generally Jews, who, as well as the mothers, 
are said to be extremely careful of preserving the chastity of the young 
W'omen, knowing the very high value that is set by the Turks upon 
virgin purity. The greater part of the Circassians are Christians of 
the Greek church ; but there are also both Mahometans and Pagans 
amongst them. 
