United States or Kiribati ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The manner of Schamyl's escape was kept secret by him, as before had been the case at Himri and at Chunsach; but among the reports respecting it which were circulated in the mountains, the following one was most generally credited. On the fall of the fortress a number of its defenders took refuge in certain caves and holes in the rock, into which they let themselves down by means of ladders.
This mead is the liquor principally drunk at feasts, and of this formerly were oblations poured out to the gods. More or less wine also is drunk in the Caucasus, always of a light quality, and more resembling champagne than the other wines of Europe. Its use being prohibited by the Koran, is discountenanced by the Sufis and Schamyl's party.
For the generals Freitag and Nestoroff, on hearing the news of Schamyl's incursion, had immediately mustered their battalions, and occupied the Terek to intercept his return; and the Cossacks, those of the Don, of Tchernomozen, and of the line, riding at full speed, had come in from the plains with a strength of several thousand lances.
But the year 1837 was destined to bring along in its course two important events which should settle forever the question of Schamyl's right to the imamship, and show the great superiority of his genius over that of all his rivals.
Schamyl's head-quarters were then at Akhulgo, a stronghold perched upon the top of an isolated conical peak around whose foot a river wound. Strong by nature, it was well fortified, trenches, earthworks, and covered ways now taking the place of those stone walls which the Russian cannon had so easily overturned at Himri.
The following is Herr Bodenstedt's answer; after noticing the arrival of Woronzow, and the expectations raised by his talents, by the immense resources at his command, as well as by such events as the storm of Schamyl's stronghold of Cargo:
Captives, male as well as female, are common in the households of the Circassian chiefs, and formed doubtless a part of Schamyl's domestic establishment. Generally they are put to hard labor in the fields; but the reports of barbarous treatment brought back by the few Russians who have escaped from slavery in the Caucasus are for the most part greatly exaggerated.
For Schamyl's men fought the retiring battalions step by step. Wherever the mountains projecting up to the very bank of the Aksai left only a narrow passage for the troops, the way was stopped by barricades.
Then Schamyl seeing that his fortunes were becoming desperate sent a request to the Russian commander to treat respecting terms of peace. What his intentions were in so doing is not known; though it was the opinion of General Grabbe that he was not sincere; and when the latter demanded Schamyl's son as a hostage previously to the opening of negotiations, the matter was dropped.
These forces were also flushed with victory, for General Fesi after having marched from Derbend to Chunsach had erected a citadel there, had driven Ali Bey, one of Schamyl's murids, out of the fort of Akhulgo, and had then come to the rescue of lieutenant Butschkieff; who with a considerable detachment was hard pressed by Schamyl himself in the neighborhood of Tiletli.
Word Of The Day