Produced by John Puh
[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected,
author's spelling has been retained.]
LIFE OF SCHAMYL
LIFE OF SCHAMYL;
AND
NARRATIVE
OF THE
CIRCASSIAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE AGAINST RUSSIA.
BY
J. MILTON MACKIE,
AUTHOR OF "COSAS DE ESPAÑA"
BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY. CLEVELAND, OHIO:
JEWETT, PROCTOR AND WORTHINGTON. NEW YORK: SHELDON, LAMPORT AND
BLAKEMAN.
1856.
PREFACE.
The principal authors who have recently written on Circassia are
Bodenstedt, Moritz Wagner, Marlinski, Dubois de Montpéreux, Hommaire de
Hell, Taillander, Marigny, Golovin, Bell, Longworth, Spencer, Knight,
Cameron, Ditson; and from their pages chiefly has been filled the easel
with the colors of which I have endeavored to paint the following
picture of a career of heroism nowise inferior to that of the most
famous champions of classical antiquity, of a war of independence such
as may not improperly be compared with the most glorious struggles
recorded in the annals of liberty, and of a state of society perhaps the
most romantic and the most nearly resembling that described in the songs
of Homer which the progress of civilization has now left for the
admiration of mankind.
CONTENTS.
I. The Land of Schamyl
II. Its History
III. The War with Russia
IV. His Birthplace
V. His Parents, Atalik, and Teacher
VI. His Early Education
VII. His Horsemanship
VIII. The Circassian Games
IX. His Love of Nature
X. Hunting
XI. Camping Out
XII. In the White Mountains
XIII. Songs
XIV. Dances
XV. Festivals
XVI. His Religious Education
XVII. His Marriage
XVIII. Maids
XIX. Wives
XX. Female Slave-Trade
XXI. Form of Government
XXII. Religious Belief
XXIII. Occupations
XXIV. Manners
XXV. His Predecessors.--Mahomet-Mollah
XXVI. Khasi-Mollah
XXVII. Hamsad Bey
XXVIII. Circassian Mode of Warfare
XXIX. Russian Mode of Warfare
XXX. His Personal Appearance
XXXI. Becomes Imam, and Continues the War
XXXII. Issues Proclamations
XXXIII. His Head-Quarters at Akhulgo
XXXIV. The Siege of Akhulgo
XXXV. The Expedition against Dargo
XXXVI. His Domestic Life
XXXVII. Prince Woronzoff at Dargo
XXXVIII. Schamyl's Proclamation to the Kabardians
XXXIX. His Invasion of the Kabardas
XL. His System of Government
XLI. Recent Events
LIFE OF SCHAMYL.
I.
THE LAND OF SCHAMYL.
Circassia--under which name the country occupied by a great number of
tribes of which the Circassians are one, is best known to
foreigners--lies in the Caucasus, a range of mountains which, running in
the direction between north-west and south-east, extends from the shores
of the Black Sea to those of the Caspian, and divides by its wall of
rock the two continents of Europe and Asia.
The traveller approaching these mountains from the steppes inhabited by
the Cossacks subject to Russia, beholds at a distance of thirty miles a
single white conical summit towering high above the otherwise level
horizon. This is the peak of Elbrus, the loftiest in the Caucasian
chain, and called by the natives the Dsching Padischah, or great spirit
of the mountains. Next, is seen the no less solitary top of Kasbek,
situated further eastward, and its snows tinged by the first red rays of
the morning. Then, the whole line of summits, "the thousand peaked,"
rises to view; and finally, a lower range covered with forests, and
hence called the Black Mountains, draws its dark and irregular outline
against the higher snows beyond.
The waters shed from the northern declivities of the Caucasus, are
received by two principal rivers, the Kuban and the Terek; while those
which flow down on the south side are gathered into the Rion and the
Kur, or ancient Cyrus. Of these streams the Kuban is the largest, and
empties itself as does the Rion, into the Black Sea; the other two
running eastward to the Caspian.
The western portion more especially of the Black Mountains is heavily
wooded. Gigantic oaks spread their branches above cliffs and summits,
where in less favored climes only the cold pine would be able to find a
scanty subsistence; while the spray of the Black Sea is dashed against
the immense stems of the blood-wooded taxus, and the red and
almond-leaved willows sweep with their long branches the waves. The box
here is a giant of the forest; the stern of the juniper measures often
fifteen feet in circumference; and the vine climbing to the top of the
lofty elm sends its tendrils across to the neighboring beech, hanging
festoons from tree-top to tree-top, and almost making of the forest one
far spreading arbor. Lower down the pomegranate hangs out its blossoms;
the fig and wild pear their fruits; the laurel and the myrtle their
green leaves; while an infinite variety of creepers entwine themselves
around every form, and wild flowering plants, from gorgeous
rhododendrons and azalias to the lowly violet and arbutus, fill the
woods with sweet odors.
The distant view of the Caucasus, so bold in its outlines and varied in
its forms, surpasses in grandeur that of the Alps; and if from the small
number of lakes and glaciers, the interior aspects present less of that
exceeding beauty which characterizes the Swiss landscapes above those of
all other mountains, there is nevertheless a brilliancy of tints in this
oriental air, a glory of nearly five hundred miles of snow peaks, a
luxuriance of woods on the lower ranges, and a degree of cultivation in
the valleys where the hand of man has been busy since times the most
remote, which render this mountain land one of the fairest portions of
the globe, and worthy of having been, as by some traditions is reported,
the cradle of the human race.
The western portion of the mountains is fruitful to the height of five
thousand feet, and the eastern is frequently terraced with gardens. The
valleys, green with meadows or golden with many varieties of grain, are
dotted over with villages and clusters of cottages. White sheep in great
numbers and jet black goats crop the hill-sides; while in lower pastures
feed the buffalo and the camel. Herds of tame or half-wild horses roam
at large through the glades; wild boars house among the reeds on the
river banks; and the chamois looks down from its rocks upon wild deer
and gazelles grazing unscared in the vicinity of the habitations of man.
II.
ITS HISTORY.
The Caucasus is celebrated as the scene of some of the most popular
fables of Grecian antiquity, as well as of some of the earliest
traditions of the race. For while the ark of Noah is said to have
grounded on the top of Mount Elbrus before reaching its final
resting-place on the neighboring Ararat, it was on Kasbek that
Prometheus was chained to a rock for having stolen the fire of the gods
and given it to mortals. In the mountain land of Colchis, Jason carried
off the golden fleece, and Cadmus reaped a harvest of armed men from
sowing serpent's teeth in furrows turned by the fire-breathing bulls of
Vulcan. Hither wandered that primitive race of men who were driven by
the Pelasgi from the regions of Olympus; on an island off the coast the
poets located the palace of Aurora, wherein were kept up the perpetual
dances and songs of the hours, and where was daily reborn the sun; and
finally, between the present Little Kabarda and Svanethi existed, say
the traditions, the gallant state of the Amazons, until the heart of
their otherwise unconquerable prophetess was taken captive by Thoulme,
chief of the Circassians, while long afterwards the famous Nina
continued to rule over the heroic sisterhood in Immeritia.
The ancient Persians gave to the Caucasus the name of Seddi Iskender, or
the barrier of Alexander, who here met with the first check in his
attempt to subjugate the world. Rome early sent her conquering legions
to bring under the yoke the prosperous colonies of Greece on the shores
of the Euxine; and Pompey returning home from the East, after having
chased Mithridates from the Euphrates to Colchis and Dioscurias, graced
his triumphal entry into the city with the gigantic sons of these
mountains. Genoa, in a later and more commercial age, made settlements
on the Caucasian shore, whither she sent her argosies to be freighted
with grain, skins, tallow, and the fruits of the hive, and where she has
left to this day the foundations of her walls and towers, her carved
stones and crosses, her sepulchres and a name. In more recent times, the
princes of the dynasties of the White Horde and the Golden Camp have
come from the Crimea to break their lances on the plains of the Kuma;
Attila, Tamerlane, and Genghis Khan have swept in their victorious
career along the base of these rocky ramparts of freedom; the Persian
and the Turk have waged occasional war with some of the Caucasian
tribes, though never with more than partial and temporary success; and
it is the Muscovite empire alone which has ever succeeded in throwing
the shadows of imminent subjugation over the landscape of these sunny
vales.
Accordingly, the independence of most of these mountain tribes has been
maintained from the earliest times to the present against all the
attempts of their enemies of the plains. They have lived for
generations, the memory of man runneth not to the end of, in the
enjoyment of a large degree of natural liberty, in obedience to ancient
laws and usages, in the respect of age, virtue, and superiority in arms,
and now furnish the only specimen left of tribes of men still living in
all the simplicity, and retaining, along with the practice of some of
the semi-barbarous vices, all the heroism of the so-called age of gold.
Georgia, which lies on the southern declivities of the Caucasus, was
nominally converted to Christianity in the days of Constantine the
Great, when its heroic queen Thamar ruled over one of the most powerful
empires of western Asia; but beautiful on these mountain tops as were
the feet of those who brought the glad tidings and published peace, the
doctrines of the cross made but little impression on the benighted minds
of these worshippers in the temple of nature. Nor though Russia early
endeavored to introduce the peaceful soldiers of the church into the
fastnesses where she could not penetrate with her secular dragoons, the
native heart continued to hold to the simple religious rites handed down
by tradition from the fathers, and finally relinquished them only within
the last hundred years in exchange for the doctrines of the Prophet,
which, though introduced a couple of centuries before, at the point of
the spears of the Crimean Khans, were then first made plain and
acceptable by missionaries from Turkey.
For subsistence the Caucasian tribes have always relied mainly on
pasturage and agriculture, also on the chase, on rapine and the spoils
of war, and on the exchange of their natural products and slaves for the
salt, gunpowder, and manufactured goods of foreigners. So constant for
centuries has been their attachment to the mountains that they have
never emigrated to the plains, the life of which they despise. Only the
harems of Constantinople have an attraction for their females; and a few
restless youth, wandering at different times into foreign parts, have
furnished bodyguards to the sultans of Turkey and the Khans of the
Crimea; have served under the name of Mamelukes in Egypt, where Mehemet
Ali could not control but only massacre them; and latterly have graced
the parade days of the Russian capital, where, treated like pet lions,
their fiery spirit of independence and impatience of discipline have
been but mildly restrained by the Czar, and where such is their haughty,
imposing bearing, that whenever the vulgar crowd in the streets gives
way for the coming of any one, it has become almost a proverb to say, it
is either a general officer in the army or a Circassian.
III.
THE WAR WITH RUSSIA.
The contest between the Circassians and the Russians may be said to have
originated as far back as the middle ages. For it was in the tenth
century that the grand duke Swätoslaff, overrunning a portion of the
Bosphoric territories, came into collision with the inhabitants of the
Caucasus; and in the sixteenth, the Russians under the grand duke
Wassiljewitsch made their appearance on the Caspian, on the western
coast of which they established garrisons as far south as Tarku. In the
latter century also the Kabardian princes, whose territory consisting of
open valleys was less defended by nature against the inroads of enemies,
bowed their necks for a time in submission; and Georgia, on the Asiatic
slope, took in the person of her king Alexander the oath of vassalage to
the Muscovite, obtaining a master where she had asked only for a
protector. But occupied during the next two hundred years with affairs
at the north, the Russian princes lost their possessions and most of
their influence in the Caucasus; and it was not until 1722 that the
far-seeing ambition of the great Peter brought him to the "Albanian
gates" of Derbend, and even within sight of the sacred fires of the
promontory of Apsheron.
It was permitted to this most gifted of the czars to behold these
mountains and get a glimpse of the fair Asiatic vales beyond, but not to
possess them. In leaving, however, to his successors the legacy of his
boundless ambition, he pointed with his dying hand to the peaks of
Elbrus and Kasbek; and ever since his race, extending itself on all
sides, has not ceased to press onward in this pathway to ward the rising
of the sun.
Especially within the last quarter of a century has Russia occupied
herself in earnest with the conquest of the Caucasus. During that period
she has maintained there constantly a large force, and latterly as many
as two hundred thousand men under arms. Year after year she has
despatched her battalions to supply the places of those who had fallen
by the shaskas of the Circassians or the still more deadly arrows of the
fever, which in the most sickly seasons has cut off no less than one
sixth of the whole army. She has sent thither also her best generals and
administrators from Jermoloff to Paskiewitsch and Woronzoff. The emperor
Nicholas went himself into these mountains at the risk of his life, to
inspect and encourage by his presence the invading columns. Every system
of attack which the ingenuity of the St. Petersburg cabinet could devise
has in turn been tried; efforts have constantly been made to gain over
by intrigue the tribes who could not be subjugated by force; the cross,
joining its influence to the power of the sword, has endeavored to bring
the native mind under the dominion of a system of religion more
favorable to the aims of the autocrat; a superior civilization has held
out to the comparatively rude barbarians, its hands full of gifts
dazzling and fatal to liberty; but hitherto mostly, if not all, in vain.
The inhabitants of the upper and more inaccessible mountains have held
their independence above all price, fighting for their homes as the
mountaineer only will; and the chieftains who have been tempted by
preferment in the Russian army and the glitter of its epaulettes, by the
honors of the parades at Tiflis, and even by the imperial champaign, and
the sight of the ballet dancers of St. Petersburg, have disdained to
sell a birthright of freedom inherited from a thousand generations in
exchange for these high-flavored sops of an overreaching foreign
despotism.
An intense interest of humanity, therefore, still hangs over this
prolonged contest between the forces of civilization and those of the
primitive state of nature, between the battalions of imperial authority
and the bands of democratic liberty; and the more intense because this
barrier of nature and wall of freemen once completely carried, there
will remain no further hinderance to the victorious course eastward of
that ambition which, possessing already the path to the orient by the
northern snows, covets that also across the sands of the tropics.
IV.
HIS BIRTHPLACE.
Schamyl, the principal hero of this war of independence, was born in the
year 1797. The place of his birth is Himri, an aoul or village in the
district of Arrakan, and in the north-western part of Daghestan, a
territory lying on the Caspian. It is situated on the river, called
lower down where it approaches the sea, the Sulak, but here the Koissu;
and at a point just above where the main stream throws off that one of
its four branches which is termed the Andian Koissu.
All these waters flow down, on the south, from the main Caucasian range;
on the west, from the Andian offshoot; and on the east, from that of the
Kaitach; which two latter running, the one north-easterly and the other
north-westerly until they meet, form the two sides of a triangle of
mountains having for its base the high Caucasus. The apex is just below
Himri, and consists of the escaped cliffs of two summits called the
Touss-Tau and the Sala-Tau; while through a gorge between them is
precipitated the whole volume of the united branches of the Koissu.
Himri, accordingly, together with the neighboring fortified aoul of
Akhulgo, is one of the keys of this triangular region of well-watered
highlands, which is inhabited by a considerable number of warlike tribes
known collectively as the Lesghians, and which, with the territory of
Daghestan on the east, and that of Tchetchenia on the north, is the
principal theatre of the great military achievements of Schamyl.
The aoul of Himri is placed like an eagle's nest high on a rock
projecting from the mountain side. From the beautiful vale through which
winds the Koissu, a narrow path cut out of the rock is carried zig-zag
up a height of two or three hundred feet, and is exposed to be swept by
stones let loose from above of any enemy that might be daring enough to
attack this strong-hold. A triple wall supported by high towers adds the
defences of art to those of nature; while above, the place is sheltered
by the overhanging brow of the mountain.
Standing on one of these towers the native looks down upon the narrow
but fertile valley, divided in twain by the fast-flowing river. Several
of the surrounding mountains are laid out in terraced gardens; while
some are partially covered with oaks and plane-trees; and others again
are entirely bare, having instead of the drapery of foliage only the
tints of gold or purple which the rising and the setting sun sheds over
the ruggedness of the limestone and the porphyry. Near at hand are seen
one or two heights which are clad with perpetual snows; while westward,
far away beyond the lower highlands, the view is terminated by the white
form of Mt. Kasbek.
The internal aspect of the aoul is less pleasing. Most of the streets
are steep and crooked, though the scattered position of the dwellings in
others, affords some sites both open and level. The roofs are generally
flat; the walls, almost destitute of windows, are rough with unhewn
stones; and many of the houses lie half buried under the rocky mountain
side. These are without numbers as the streets are without names. Here,
moreover, rises no village spire to point the thoughts of men
heavenward; no church bell rings out its merry festal peals, or tolls
the march to the grave; no sundial marks the succession of the hours
which pass by unheeded all, save those of morning, noon, and evening;
and in no public school-house is heard the low buzz of children conning
their tasks. But the mollah calls to prayers from the minaret of a
humble mosque; and in a dark corner illumined by aslant rays from a
small high window in a wall, teaches to some half a dozen urchins the
strange Arabic letters and the chants of the Koran. From the going down
of the sun until early morn not a light is seen throughout the aoul, nor
scarcely a sound heard, save the howling of the watch-dogs and the
plaintive crying of the jackals in the forests. Indeed, the only hour in
the day when there is any appearance of life in these streets is at
noon, when the labors of the garden and the exercises of the games being
suspended, many of the male inhabitants either sit about idle, or lie
sleeping like Italian lazzaroni, or stand grouped together in long,
light-colored surtouts with a negligent grace and natural dignity not
surpassed in antique statues. Here and there one more diligent burnishes
his arms, and another grooms his horse. A few veiled women come and go,
bearing jars of water or other burdens, though most of the female
population are occupied in their apartments with the preparation of
food, and in the labors of the loom and spindle; while young children,
half-naked, play around the house doors and through the lanes with an
activity in strong contrast with the prevailing tone of grave and
somnolent repose.
V.
HIS PARENTS, ATALIK, AND TEACHER.
Of the parents of Schamyl nothing is known; nor is this lack of
information greatly to be regretted, considering that they lived in a
state of society where there is so little inequality of classes or
diversity of external condition. His father not being probably a chief
of the tribe, was a freeman and peer among his fellows, possessing like
them a small, amphitheatrical house, the husband of but one wife, owning
a war-horse, and arms, besides a few sheep and goats, and the proprietor
of a garden supported by terraces on a neighboring mountain side.
Nor is it known who was his foster-father, or atalik; for according to
the custom prevalent in western, and to some extent in eastern
Circassia, he may at an early age have been adopted by some one in whose
family he resided during the years spent in learning the rudiments of
letters and the art of war, and who sustained a relation towards him
even more intimate and affectionate than that of his own father. The
atalik would have supplied the boy with food and clothing, instruction,
and a home, without expecting any other compensation than such plunder
as the latter during his pupilage might bring in from the enemy,
together with the gratitude through life of both himself and his family.
And this he could well afford to do, being possessed of means somewhat
superior to those of the majority of his clansmen. If descended from a
family among the first in the tribe and long illustrious in arms, he
might own as many as fifteen hundred head of cattle, and an equal number
of sheep, besides a small herd of horses and mares. Like the ancient
patriarchs, he would have his wives and his servants, some of them
captured in forays, and all living together as one family in a stone
house of several stories and defended by a high tower.
This practice of transferring young children from the parental mansion
to that of an atalik, seems to have had its origin in the same fear lest
natural affection might lead to effeminacy of character which induced
the Spartans to send their infants on a shield to be delivered over to
the nursery of the State. In accordance with a similar custom, also, was
the young Achilles intrusted by Peleus to the care of Chiron, the
centaur. For among the Circassians, as among the early Greeks, the
principal object of education is to form the accomplished warrior.
History has been fortunate enough, however, to get possession of the
name of Schamyl's instructor, who is called Dschelal Eddin, and who,
beginning the education of the future prophet by teaching him the Arabic
language, completed it by initiating him into the doctrines of the
Sufis. He still lives, a venerable man, and is said to be the only
person to whom his pupil in after-life ever granted his entire
confidence, and at whose feet he has been known ever to sit for counsel.
The learning of letters, however, was not the boy's first lesson in that
course of training which prepared him to become a leader of the tribes;
for as in the history of the race, so in the education of the warrior in
these mountains, the practice of horsemanship comes before the study of
books.
VI.
HIS EARLY EDUCATION.
In the due course of Circassian education Schamyl could not have been
four years old when he exchanged the amusement of building houses of mud
and pebble-stones for that of backing horses. A couple of years later
his atalik might even have presented him with a steed for the practice
of those arts of horsemanship wherein the Circassians excel the most
expert riders in the world. The Koissu must also have submitted to the
triumph of his arms when their bone was still in the gristle, and during
the warm season of the year have suffered, both at morning and evening,
its torrent to be breasted by the daring young swimmer. To wrestle, the
boy, without doubt, began almost as soon as he was able to stand alone;
and to dance was learned without a master, whether according to the
figures practised in the ring of pleasure, or the more active steps
taken in the pantomimic fight. Shooting with the bow, the gun, and the
pistol, is an exercise for Circassian boys at an age when those of
countries more civilized are spelling, syllable by syllable, the lessons
of the primer and the catechism. The art of thieving adroitly is also
reckoned an accomplishment by these mountaineers, as formerly by the
Spartans, when the despoiled is an enemy, or at least a member of
another tribe. And as in their council-rings there is as often an
opportunity for the display of eloquence as ever there was before the
walls of ancient Troy, so the youth are taught both by observation and
by direct lessons the art of persuasion.
In early childhood Schamyl is said to have enjoyed a somewhat less
rugged health than his mates; and had the development of his mind been
forced by the training to which the children of civilization are
generally subjected, being compelled to sit by the hour upon a bench and
breathe the unwholesome air of an over-heated school-room, very likely
after having passed, during a brief season, for a youthful prodigy in
the eyes of an admiring, but inconsiderate circle of friends, he would
have closed his earthly career and been lamented as a genius for this
world too brilliant and too good. But in this comparative state of
barbarism, the boy's mind having been allowed more slowly and naturally
to unfold itself; and his body meanwhile being strengthened by a life in
the open air of the mountains, and by such athletic sports as well
supplied the place of the games of the ancient Greeks and Romans, this
fine spirit was saved from premature decay, to the honor of his country,
and the illustration of humanity.
Nor could it have been long before these arts, all more or less having
reference to the formation of the skilful warrior, were put to the test
of practice in actual service. There are reliable accounts of Circassian
boys who at the age of ten years have gone to the wars, as unable to eat
or sleep on the approach of the enemy as in occidental countries are the
rustic lads on the eve of a muster of the county militia, at which in
addition to the show of red-coats and cocked hats there will be cakes,
pop-beer, tumbling, and monkeys. Many a young mountaineer before he has
got a beard has "bagged his five Russians." At first, indeed, the boy is
allowed only, it may be, to pass the night with the sentinels on the
hills, or to watch the horses of the sleeping warriors, and afterwards
sees his first battlefield, going out on an expedition in the quality of
page of some chieftain, taking charge of his steed when he alights, and
attending upon his person.
In this preparatory training and the practice of these athletic sports
the boy Schamyl must have passed the first dozen years of his life,
living in the house of his atalik, and very rarely visiting that of his
father. Nor even when he did so was it to sit, much less to eat in the
paternal presence, but only with his back reverently turned and his head
stuck in a corner.
But at the end of this period of discipline, having become more than a
tyro, if not already an expert in all manly exercises and warlike arts,
the lad must have been restored to his parents by his foster-father. The
event is always celebrated by a feast at which all the relatives of the
two families are invited, and from which the atalik returns loaded with
presents, and with thanks. It is indeed a proud day for the youngster,
because it is his putting on of the toga. Thenceforward, if not fully a
man, he is at least a mad-cap or _deli-kan_.
VII.
HIS HORSEMANSHIP.
Schamyl, now become a _deli-kan_, is said to have been so ambitious of
the palm in all youthful games that whenever defeated he would brood for
days together over his disgrace in silent chagrin. From his childhood he
knew not how to brook a superior.
He therefore zealously continued his exercises, particularly those in
horsemanship. Like that of all Circassian youth it was his ambition not
only to sit his horse a perfect centaur, to dash at full speed up steeps
and down precipices, to leap the chasm and to swim the torrent; but also
on the gallop to discharge his weapons, in an instant unslinging his gun
from behind his back, and as quickly returning it to its place; to hang
suspended from the side of the horse so as to avoid the aim of an enemy;
to spring to the ground for the purpose of picking up something and
again vault into the saddle without halting; and to take aim with such
precision as to hit the smallest and most inconveniently placed mark
while going at full tilt.
The subduing of a half-wild horse in the herd which is allowed during a
portion of the year to roam the woods and hills, is also a feat
frequently practised by the Circassian cavalier, either for the sake of
securing the animal, or simply as an exercise in horsemanship. A rider
or two armed with lassos plunge into the midst of the herd, and
selecting one of the wildest of the stallions--for mares are not used
under the saddle--secure him by throwing over his head the noose. Then
the cavalier who is to make trial of his skill springs upon the back of
the animal, which with dilated eyes and smoking nostrils exhibits the
greatest consternation. And now commences the contest between horse and
rider. Furious as well as frightened the brute speeds like an arrow over
the hills or down the valleys. He turns and doubles, halts suddenly,
rolls on the ground, crawls on his belly, dashes into the midst of the
herd, and tries in all possible ways to get rid of the burden he has no
fancy for. But the intrepid rider, self possessed, and constantly on the
alert, sits upon his back as if a part of the animal, waving his hand in
triumph after every struggle terminated in his favor; and there he
continues to sit and hold the mastery until the strong steed, finally
exhausted by his efforts, covered with foam, out of breath, and cowed in
spirit, acknowledges the superiority of his antagonist.
When tamed, however, the Circassian horse is both perfectly gentle and
attached to his master. The pet brought up in the yard is as playful as
a kitten. The children gambol with him. His master fondles him, patting
his neck and kissing his head. On festal days and occasions of ceremony
he is decked out with red-cloth trappings; his neck is wreathed with
many-colored glass beads; ribands are tied in his mane; and bunches of
wild flowers nod from his foretop. The stranger may not praise the
Circassian's wife or child for fear of shedding over them the malign
influence of the evil eye, or for other reasons less fanciful; but to
the praises of his steed the warrior's ear is ever open. The faithful
animal is his companion on all his excursions; he drinks with him the
waters which flow through the plains of the enemy; he looks down as well
as himself from the rock on the passing column and the squares of
infantry; he shares with him the dangers of the bayonet and the bullet;
and, neighing, participates too in the hurrah of the onset and the
shouts of victory. Trained to take part in the ambuscade, he will creep
after his master like a dog, and lie crouching at his feet in silence.
No unkind word is ever spoken to him; nor is he ever beaten; so that his
spirit is unbroken, and his attachment to his lord is manifested by the
pleasure he takes in his caresses, the gladness with which, snorting and
pawing the ground, he receives him on his back, the pride of step and
eye with which he bears him off, the fury with which he dashes into the
fight and pursues the enemy, and the intelligent fidelity with which he
obeys every movement of the rein or the hand, dutiful until he falls
bleeding at last on the field of battle, or at a very advanced age is
relieved from further service, and with clipt tail and mane is turned
out to graze the peaceful pastures until the day of his death.
There are a number of varieties of the Circassian horse, though without
very marked differences. Those of Kabarda are among the most famed; and
excellent cavalry horses are got by Pratof's stallions out of the Tartar
and Kalmuck mares. These are valued at from two to three hundred
roubles. The Turcoman breed also is highly esteemed, standing about
fifteen hands high, in perfect training, and joining to the strength of
a bull the spirit of a lion. But universally throughout the Caucasus the
native horse is docile, fleet, capable of enduring very great fatigue,
of supporting very great privations, possessed of the most undeniable
mettle, and endowed with the largest measure of intelligence and
affection within the capacity of the animal's nature. In the best breeds
his pedigree is kept with care; and the mark of his master is branded in
the shape of a horse-shoe, an arrow, or some similar device on his
haunches.
VIII.
THE CIRCASSIAN GAMES.
Throwing the djerrid was perhaps the deli-kan's favorite equestrian
amusement. To play this game a certain number of combatants, belonging
often to two different aouls or districts, assemble at an appointed
place, each mounted on his steed, and armed with a long white wand or
staff. At a given signal they all set off at full gallop in pursuit of
each other, the object of the race being to give blows and avoid
receiving them. The staves accordingly are seen flying through the air
in all directions. The dexterity with which the combatants manage to
elude each other's blows, catch a stave thrown at them, pick up one from
the ground, and that without alighting or losing a moment's time, is to
the stranger who for the first time beholds the sport truly astonishing.
When a horseman who happens to be without a djerrid gets entangled among
his opponents, he will be seen twisting and turning with the activity of
a wild-cat in order to elude the blows aimed at him; now completely
screened under the belly of the horse, then lying at full length on his
back, and again stretched by his side, until regaining a djerrid he
becomes in turn the assailant. In this rough sport only the greatest
agility and suppleness of limbs, combined with extraordinary physical
strength, can secure the palm, while the less dexterous combatants may
not escape without the disgrace of broken heads.
Another feat which only long practice will enable the young rider to
perform, is one of archery. A mark is attached to the top of several
lofty poles fastened together so as to elevate it to a considerable
height. Then a horseman starting a short distance from the pole rides
towards it at full speed, and just before reaching it, suddenly bends
his bow, stoops to the left side of his horse the instant before the
latter passes to the right of the pole, and then twisting himself around
with his face turned back and looking almost directly upwards, lets fly
the shaft perpendicularly. The difficulty of the position, joined to the
speed of the horse, renders the hitting of the mark a proof of the
highest skill; and even where the competition is spirited, the victors
are few.
Running for the flag is a game in which the fleetness and bottom of the
horse are tested perhaps more than the expertness of the rider. A number
of cavaliers having assembled, one of them taking a small flag, or
crimson scarf; or pistol cover embroidered by the fair hands of the
belle of the aoul, starts off on the gallop, his prize streaming in the
wind like a meteor. The others, after having given him the advantage in
the start, pursue for the purpose of overtaking him; for whoever
succeeds in coming up with the flag-bearer takes his place, and so to
the end of the race. With grace and impetuosity they dash down the
valley, over the hills, and along the mountain side. The flag-bearer
aims to keep the lead not only by quick running but also by turning and
doubling, by taking advantage of the ground and placing obstacles
between himself and his pursuers. To the right, to the left,
straightforward, over brooks and fences, across torrent and ravine,
through woods and thickets, up hill and down dale, away sweeps the mad
cavalcade. 'Tis neck or nothing, and leaps that only dares the devil.
Overtaken, the bearer of the flag yields it up to his successful
competitor, who shouting his triumphant _vo-ri-ra-ka_ hurries onwards
with the whole legion at his heels. So they race until the hardy horses,
though eager as their riders for the victory, are obliged at last to
halt for breath. But after an interval of rest, starting with another
hurrah the troop go over the course again, and perhaps again, until the
contest is ended, and some fortunate deli-kan is pronounced entitled to
the prize.
It is a common occurrence during these games for a mounted horseman when
particularly excited to throw up his cap; and this is always regarded as
a challenge by any of his companions, unslinging, uncovering, and
cocking his gun, to put a ball through it before it reaches the ground.
Or a bonnet is purposely dropped, that some rider going at full speed
may display his agility by picking it up without drawing rein. Again,
there is the game in which two mounted cavaliers set off at full speed
holding each other by the hand, and each endeavoring by main strength or
dexterity to pull his antagonist from the saddle. And finally, a party
of horsemen on arriving at a friendly aoul or place of general
gathering, is met by a company of persons on foot who, bearing branches
of trees, make a dash at the horses' heads in order if possible to
frighten them. This tests the skill of the riders, and also trains the
horses to rush without fear upon the enemy.
IX.
HIS LOVE OF NATURE.
Schamyl in early youth exhibited a remarkable sensibility to the beauty
and sublimity of nature. It is related of him by the aged men of Himri
that he was fond of climbing the neighboring mountains, and that
especially at the going down of the sun he might be seen sitting on a
high point of rock whence he could survey at the same time the vale
below and the fantastic summits which tower above it. There he would sit
gazing at the snows red with the declining rays, and at the rocks
glowing in the reflected purple of the clouds, until the valley and the
glens connected with it were quite dark with the gathering
twilight--gazing where far off to the westward the snow-clad peaks were
still burning brightly as with altar fires that reached to
heaven--gazing where blazed longest of all the top of Kasbek, until from
its expiring spark the evening planet seemed to catch the light with
which it flamed out in the sky above it, while gradually the lower
mountains faded on the sight, and only the heavens and the highest peaks
were bathed in the mild light of night.
This moreover was enchanted ground. For on one side of the loftiest and
most grotesque of the heights around Himri, there leans against it a
level table rock of considerable extent which is perfectly desolate, and
which the superstitious imaginations of the inhabitants of this aoul
have made the scene of almost as much witchery as was ever located on
the top of the Brocken. Often in the dead of night, say the villagers,
strange fires are lighted on this dancing floor of the spirits, and
which reflect on all the mountain sides a lurid and unearthly glare.
Then the great white eagle which for a thousand years has housed in the
high Caucasus hastens hither on wings which shake the air like the
sighing of the night wind, or the howling of the coming tempest; and
then assemble here from fairy land the happy peris, who in this lighted
chamber dance on fantastic toes until the day peeps over the mountain
tops or the first cock crows in Himri.
But while no one dared to tread this haunted rock after the going down
of the sun, it was precisely here that Schamyl, whose intellect,
self-illumined, early pierced through the blind which superstition binds
over the eyes of all mountaineers, often selected his seat and lingered
through the twilight far into the darkness of the evening. With his
trustful love of nature he feared no supernatural powers; and while the
common mind was filled with dread in the presence of phenomena which,
real or imaginary, it could not explain, he found therein only such
subjects for reflection as fascinated his imagination and filled his
soul with devout admiration of the creative spirit which pervades all
things.
Once, some of his companions offended by some high, scornful words of
his, let drop in the excitement of the games, resolved to waylay and
maltreat him on his return from the heights in the edge of the evening.
They accordingly set upon the enthusiast as descending from the mountain
tops his thoughts still lingered behind, but who quickly recovering his
presence of mind stood on the defensive. Numbers, however, overpowered
him; and he fell bleeding from wounds on his head, arm, and body. But
being still able to regain his home, though faint with the loss of
blood, he bound up his wounds himself, and with the assistance of a
doctoress skilled in simples, made such applications of herbs as at the
end of several weeks restored him to health again. Ashamed, however, to
acknowledge that he had been beaten even when the odds were greatly
against him, he said not a word respecting his illness to any one, save
to his revered teacher Dschelal Eddin, to whom he confidentially made
known the circumstances of the encounter.
X.
HUNTING.
Schamyl's love for exploring the mountains would naturally make him fond
of hunting, as are his countrymen generally, when not occupied with the
higher game of war.
The larger kinds of game being abundant in these mountains, and the use
of small shot being unknown, bird-shooting is but little practised, and
the fowl fly in these heavens as unscared as in the original paradise.
The nightingale sings in the thickets; the woodpecker makes the primeval
woods resound with his chisel; crows of the pink and black species croak
from the dead branches of the oaks; ravens with dark red legs and
scarlet bills build their nests in the top of the elms; detachments of
blue wood-pigeons cover the fields as numerous and as tame as sparrows;
mergansers and golden-eyed ducks haunt in numerous flocks the running
waters; and wild geese flying down in the month of December from the
Russian wastes, halt on their way to the waters of Persia, and mixed
with swans, float in stately fleets on the shores of both the Euxine and
the Caspian. The falcon hawk also is constantly circling over the hills
and swooping down into the valleys; the eagle may be seen soaring above
his eyrie on Elbrus or Kasbek; the rapacious vulture watches from the
high overhanging points of rock the lower woods and pastures; the
melancholy owl hoots through the night around the hamlets; and by the
side of the lowly mountain tarn stands silent and solitary the pelican
of the wilderness. Only the wild turkey in the pinetree's top is a mark
for the rifle; or the pheasant, darting up out of the path into the
overhanging branches, tempts occasionally the sharpshooter; while, on
the contrary, woodcock and snipe bore for worms in every marsh and
mud-bank, undisturbed by setter or by pointer.
The wild boar hunt is the chief sport in Circassian venery. This animal
frequents the banks of the rivers overgrown with reeds, and the ravines
of the mountains filled with thickets. Both the valleys and the marshes
adjacent are ploughed by his snout; nor is the farmer's stock-yard
entirely secure from the crunching of his tusks. He is hunted with dogs,
generally resembling a cross between the greyhound and the colley of the
Scottish highlands. When found the furious beast will sometimes stand at
bay, ripping up and tossing in the air a pack of enemies; but generally
with horrid gruntings and snortings he plunges down the ravine or
canters over the marsh, big almost as a Highland cow, driving aside the
tall reeds or saplings as if simple spears of grass, a black monster,
bristled, with projecting tusks, and eyes bloodshot. But the
well-directed rifle ball pierces at last his tough flanks; the enormous
mass reeling rolls over in the mire; and the unclean carcass is left to
be feasted on by vultures and prowling wolves.
There are elk on the Kuban; but the following of the fallow deer in the
hills is more common. The hunter searches for the beds of the roes with
dogs, or stalking the forests steals upon the herd when browsing upon
the tender twigs and the moss of trees, or cropping the herbs along the
skirts of the pastures. There are several varieties of them, but all
tolerably wild from being so much pursued in the chase; though the sight
of this graceful animal is common enough in the farm-yards, where it has
been tamed, and where when young it is a great pet.
A fine breed of greyhounds is kept for coursing the hares. These abound,
burrowing in all the mountains, and everywhere nibbling with their sharp
teeth the herbage. After a slight fall of snow they are easily tracked;
and rarely does the hunter, on awaking in the morning, find the earth
newly clad with this white mantle that he does not call his hounds and
set off for the fields. The keen air of the morning late in autumn
invites to active exercise as the rising sun pours its crimson flood
over the hills, all changed in a single night by the witchery of the
noiselessly fallen flakes. The dogs eye alternately the hills and their
master as they run; and the hunter with overflowing spirits and every
nerve drawn tight enters rejoicing into the race.
XI.
CAMPING OUT.
Occasionally in the autumnal months a party of huntsmen is made up for
an excursion into the high Caucasus. Such expeditions constitute a
memorable event in the life of the deli-kan; and it may well be believed
that Schamyl must have embraced the opportunity thereby offered of
beholding the grandeur of nature amidst "the thousand peaks."
There would be but little need of preparation. For the Circassian wears
his cartouche pockets constantly on his breast; any extra ammunition,
together with a scanty supply of provisions, is easily attached to the
saddle-bow; the steed is always ready for service; the dogs are eager to
set off; and so at short notice the whole party gallops out of the aoul
with hurrahs and pistol-firing.
On the journey, however, they ride slowly. For the road is but a path in
the mountains, narrow and rugged, often steep of ascent and descent, for
the most part following by the side of the watercourses, and in the dry
beds of the torrents, or winding around the mountain sides, by the edge
of precipices, and across chasms bridged only by the leap. Indeed so
great are the difficulties of the way that the rider is very often
obliged to dismount and allow his horse to follow after him as best he
can.