CIRCASSIANS. 
141 
ners from their mountain-neighbours of altogether different 
origin and names ; but the tribe of the prince I before men¬ 
tioned, and his five companions, being unquestionably that of 
the old race, retain marks of civilisation not to be found in the 
V 
others. They state their origin to be Arab ; and are proud of 
asserting that the stream of their blood has passed, from its first 
patriarchal source until now, uncontaminated by any foreign 
mixture. They divide themselves into three classes, — princes, 
nobles, and vassals : the latter, like the clans of Scotland, bein<>> 
faithfully attached to their chieftains. The person of the 
Prince, or Chief, is held sacred ; and, during his feasts, he is 
waited on by his nobles. But all is done rather with the air of a 
patriarch served by his sons, than of slaves, or even servants, 
attending the nod of a master; and the fact is so. Although 
the noble serves, with the greatest awe, his chief; yet his free¬ 
dom and his property are totally independent of that chief’s 
arbitrary will: neither can the noble appropriate to himself any 
part of the property of his dependents, nor even the chief 
invade the right of the meanest. They have nothing like a 
written law amongst them, but are governed by a sort of com¬ 
mon right, or by what has become an established custom from 
ancient usage. The great bulk of the tribe (which, from its 
clear descent, and superior civilisation, alone deserves the name 
of the Circassian nation) meet, on momentous occasions, in a 
sort of convocation ; where, whatever may be the cause of their 
assembling, the Prince always opens the business, and proposes 
the measure he thinks best adapted to the circumstances of the 
meeting. The whole body of the nobles then deliberate on what 
he has brought forward; and the result is referred to a certain 
number of grave personages from amongst the people at large, 
