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PREFACE.
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 improp
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I.
I.
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
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II.
II.
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
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III.
III.
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
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IV.
IV.
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 dow
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V.
V.
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 garde
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VI.
VI.
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
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VII.
VII.
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 c
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VIII.
VIII.
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 direction
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IX.
IX.
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
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X.
X.
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 pin
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XI.
XI.
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 sc
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XII.
XII.
But proud as is the returning hunter of the beautiful chamois horns hung upon his saddle-bow, it could scarcely be otherwise than that the soul of one so smitten with the love of natural scenery as was Schamyl, should here be more occupied with contemplating the grandeur of the mountain tops than in chasing the timid, graceful animals which thereupon find a home. If in the course of his ascent he had kept his eyes pretty steadily fixed upon the magnificent summits far off white with snows, but n
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XIII.
XIII.
It has been reported respecting the boy Schamyl that his parents being poor peasants he gained a livelihood by singing in the streets. But while this, not comporting well with Circassian manners and modes of life, is hardly to be credited, it is very probable that he began at an early age to sing the simpler popular airs, and might even when no more than four years old have amused his elders with his childish rendering of ballads above his comprehension. For the voice of song is often heard in t
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XIV.
XIV.
Schamyl , though from boyhood exhibiting in manners and character a certain degree of thoughtful gravity beyond his years, was, like all his countrymen, a dancer. Nor does the Circassian dance require, for the most part, any levity of disposition in the performer; some varieties of it being practised as a martial exercise, and with a decorum bordering on seriousness. In the war-dance the Lesghian, more particularly, is imperious in look as well as animated in action. He carries himself haughtily
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XV.
XV.
The Circassian year was pretty well crowded with festivals until recently, when the introduction of the Mahometan doctrines put an end to a good many of the merry usages of paganism. The hearts of the people continuing to cling with tenacity, however, to what was most pleasing in the ancient superstitions, there are still left a considerable number of the old festal ceremonies and observances. At new year, at the beginning and ending of the March moon, at the gathering of the harvest, as well as
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XVI.
XVI.
The principal part of the early training of Schamyl consisted in daily practising the games and warlike exercises of his countrymen; but there was besides the important teaching received from Dschelal Eddin. The latter had begun when the boy was still of tender age giving him lessons in the Arabic tongue and grammar; and through a period of several years had continued expounding to him, probably in a class with others, the wisdom of the Koran, until he was sufficiently advanced in its knowledge
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XVII.
XVII.
The age at which Schamyl took a wife is not known; but probably it was not over that of twenty-one. Nor, although later in life his harem consisted of three ladies, one of whom was a beautiful young Armenian, can any positive information be given respecting the character or person of the one espoused first. In accordance with Circassian usages she might have been selected by his atalik from the class of maidens in Himri whose circumstances in life were not unlike his own; or which is perhaps mor
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XVIII.
XVIII.
The bride of Schamyl must have been unlike her countrywomen generally, if she was not handsome. For the Circassian females have long been famed for their beauty, not only being in demand for the supply of the Turkish harems, but having formerly been sought in marriage by the Hungarian kings and the czars of Muscovy, as well as by the Byzantine princes and the pashas of Stamboul. They are described by travellers as of good height having slight and pliant forms like the birch among trees, with com
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XIX.
XIX.
While the Circassian damsel, in her modest simplicity, is tolerant of freedoms not altogether consistent with occidental notions of propriety, and is generally ready enough to flee her tribe with a lover who happens to be unable to pay the dowry demanded by a too avaricious father or guardian, on becoming a married woman she takes the veil and retires from the gaze of men almost as effectually as she would do by shutting herself up in a convent. Now when she goes abroad, all her gay colors are c
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XX.
XX.
Serfdom , to a limited extent, exists in the Caucasus, more particularly in the western part. It is, however, a comparatively mild form of bondage, the only real slaves in the mountains being the captives taken in war who are compelled to do most of the hewing of wood and the drawing of water. The serfs are rarely transferred with the land, and never without their own consent. In return for their services they receive maintenance, clothing, lodging, and some yearly gratuity. Wives are furnished
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XXI.
XXI.
The society of which Schamyl on reaching the age of manhood became a member in full was a free democracy. In the western Caucasus the various tribes, such as the Kabardians, the Ubighé, and the Adighé, who are the Circassians proper, live under a form of social organization more or less feudal and aristocratic; but in the eastern, among the Lesghians, the Tchetchenians, and the inhabitants of Daghestan, there is for the most part no distinction of classes. Several small tribes in this latter div
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XXII.
XXII.
The religious belief of the countrymen of Schamyl formerly partook of the simplicity of their mode of government. Not a century ago they were almost entirely pagan, performing their religious ceremonies not in temples made with hands, but in groves, in the shadow of whose melancholy boughs dwelt many divinities. They believed also in one Great Spirit whose presence filled immensity, and who was likened to no living thing, nor fashion of a man. To him were subject all inferior powers who presided
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XXIII.
XXIII.
The Circassians still entertain the ancient nomadic idea that the soil is common property. Occupancy, however, gives a title for the time being; and individuals consider the land enclosed or improved by them as their own. But it is usage that no person shall claim more land than he can fairly occupy; and at his decease it is either divided equally among his sons, or is enjoyed by them in common. This, nevertheless, does not prevent the chiefs and nobles in certain parts of the country from culti
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XXIV.
XXIV.
The manners of the Circassians are characterized by a remarkable degree of natural politeness. In social intercourse they rarely indulge in unseemly levity, or violate their rules, though simple, of goodbreeding and manly behavior. Even their dances and games are executed with a certain degree of decorous reserve; and on their warlike expeditions their habitual sedateness, and proud sense of self-respect, stand very much in the place of military discipline. Their mode of salutation is by raising
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XXV.
XXV.
It was several years after Schamyl had taken his place in society as a warrior of full age, that his name first appeared in the annals of the Circassian war of independence. This was in connection with the siege of Himri, where he served as murid or disciple under the chieftain Khasi-Mollah. This leader sprang up about the year 1830, and commenced a war of resistance to Russian encroachment in the eastern Caucasus, which was destined greatly to exceed in importance that which since the treaty of
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XXVI.
XXVI.
Among the murids of Mahomet-Mollah the foremost was Khasi-Mahomet, better known as Khasi-Mollah. After having spent much time sitting at the feet of the patriotic and fanatical murschid, he returned to his native aoul of Himri, and began his career as leader of the popular movement against Russia by sending to the neighboring tribes missives full of such reproof and exhortation as he had been in the habit of hearing at Jarach. This he continued to do until it became manifest that the time for de
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XXVII.
XXVII.
The manner of Schamyl's escape and recovery from the wounds received at Himri never having been explained by himself, was believed by the mountaineers to have been miraculous. Certain it is he survived to receive the mantle of the heroic Khasi-Mollah, though in descending to him it rested for a short time on the shoulders of Hamsad Bey. This leader possessed neither the fanatical zeal of his predecessor nor the military genius of the still greater prophet who came after him; but being consecrate
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XXVIII.
XXVIII.
Such were the leaders under whom Schamyl served his apprenticeship in the art of war. But from his youth up he had also been trained for the great military part he was to play in life by engaging in those raids and forays by means of which the Circassians were wont at that period to harass and keep at bay the enemy. For while from lack of unanimity among the tribes, from want of a hero like Schamyl to lead them, from the superiority of the Russian forces, or from whatever other cause, the mounta
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XXIX.
XXIX.
The Russian mode of conducting the invasion of the Caucasus has been different at different times. When the Emperor Nicholas, after the treaty of Adrianople in 1829, revived the old war with Circassia in order to compel by force of arms the acknowledgment of those pretended rights of supremacy which by that treaty had been made over to him by Turkey, he supposed that his Cossacks, aided by a small force of infantry, would be sufficient to intimidate the mountaineers and to accomplish his purpose
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XXX.
XXX.
Schamyl was thirty-seven years of age when he was raised to the rank of a murschid and leader of the tribes. At that period in his prime, he had outgrown the early delicacy of his constitution, and was a warrior as distinguished in personal appearance as in character and intellectual culture. He was of middle stature; had fair hair, since turned to white; grey eyes overshadowed by thick, well-drawn brows; a mouth, like his hands and feet, small; a regular, so-called Grecian nose; and a complexio
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XXXI.
XXXI.
At the time of Hamsad Bey's death Mahomet-Mollah being no longer living to select and consecrate a new leader of the tribes, that Schamyl attained to the honors of the succession was very much owing to the exertions of his venerable teacher Dschelal Eddin. For the latter was then the most eminent murschid left in the eastern Caucasus, where his sayings passed current among a large number of the tribes as oracles. Schamyl's principal rival was Taschaw-Hadji, an influential chieftain who resisted
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XXXII.
XXXII.
In consequence of these successes the fame of Schamyl went abroad through all the Lesghian country, as the greatest chieftain since the days of Khasi-Mollah. Taschaw-Hadji, unable any longer to set himself in opposition to the general will, publicly acknowledged the supremacy of his rival, and became thenceforth one of his most devoted supporters. Many tribes also who before had favored the Russians, or at least had not taken sides with the murids, now rallied around the new leader whose deeds w
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XXXIII.
XXXIII.
The Russians took a year to recover from the disastrous effects of General Fesi's feat of arms at Tiletli, attempting nothing in 1838, beyond several small and unsuccessful expeditions into the highlands, and contenting themselves with making preparations for the great campaign of the season following. On the other hand, so general was the enthusiasm among the tribes in favor of Schamyl and the war of independence, that he succeeded in collecting under his banners the greatest military force whi
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XXXIV.
XXXIV.
In the month of May, 1839, all things being ready, the Russian expedition commenced its march into the mountains. General Grabbe, an active and resolute officer in command of the left flank of the army of the Caucasus, had collected from the fortresses along the line where it crosses the Sulak, a force of nine battalions and seventeen pieces of artillery. They were his very best troops, including a part of the celebrated regiment "Count Paskievitsch," and with them he pressed forward with such r
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XXXV.
XXXV.
The defeat at Akhulgo did not turn away from Schamyl the hearts of his countrymen. On the contrary, now thrice delivered by Allah out of the hands of the infidels, he was regarded by them with the greater veneration. Though escaped with only his life and his arms, when he appeared in the aouls of Itchkeria, a territory lying north of the Andian branch of the Koissu, the mountaineers received him as a prophet come directly from God, and mounting their horses followed him. The news of his coming r
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XXXVI.
XXXVI.
Schamyl's head-quarters continued for several years to be at Dargo, where aided by Polish deserters he built a residence somewhat superior in style to the houses generally seen in the eastern Caucasus. It was surrounded by a double row of strong palisades with a filling of small stones and earth, and was approached through a single gateway guarded by sentinels. Near this, on the inner side, stood a tower for defence, irregular in shape, and built of stone. Still beyond was the principal building
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XXXVII.
XXXVII.
Governor-General Golowin was succeeded by General Neidhart, an officer who had served with distinction in the war against Napoleon, and afterward in the bloody strife in Poland, and who had won the reputation of being not only an able commander, but a skilful administrator, and a man of sterling worth of character. He was sent into the Caucasus to carry out the system of defence and gradual conquest which had been approved of at St. Petersburg in opposition to that of aggressive invasion, the re
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XXXVIII.
XXXVIII.
Nor only did the double wall of rocks and human breasts throbbing with the love of independence prove impenetrable to the Russian columns led on by a chief of transcendent abilities, but that wall was gradually strengthened and enlarged. Schamyl could not be kept within bounds. The year after the fall of Dargo he broke through the cordon of fortresses, and pouncing upon the neutral provinces of Kabarda, performed the most brilliant exploit in his whole career. The Kabardas, the great and the lit
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XXXIX.
XXXIX.
The black cloud of vengeance, though so small as not to be noticed by the Kabardians, was now gathering in the south-east. Schamyl, surveying the posture of affairs in the spring of 1846, with the eye of a warrior who was at the same time a prophet, saw that the concentration of Russian troops was mostly in the fortresses of Temir-Chan-Chura and Grosnaja; that Woronzoff was busy looking after his kreposts and his stanitzas; and that consequently there was an opening for himself by means of fast
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XL.
XL.
But the one half is not told respecting the genius of Schamyl after the recital of his military exploits simply; for he is not more distinguished as a warrior than as a ruler and a lawgiver. Out of the heterogeneous materials of numerous independent tribes, separated from each other in many instances by blood-feuds, speaking various dialects, and having traditions and customs more or less differing, he has organized a form of society in which all these discordant elements have been brought into
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XLI.
XLI.
During the last few years the Imam has kept the Czar well at bay. Since the capture of Dargo, the Russians have made few incursions, and reported no more victories. And on the other hand, the mountaineers making only now and then a razzia, or storming a krepost, have been contented to allow the enemy the quiet enjoyment of his prison-houses along the line, on the condition of his not leaving them. Schamyl seems to be well aware that his best ramparts are the rocks, and his palisades the primitiv
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