Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 4, 2025
To the south of the Circassians, and occupying about one hundred miles of the coast in the Black Sea, are the Abkhases, who have enjoyed the reputation, from time immemorial, of being an indolent and lawless race, anciently given to piracy, now addicted to thieving when the opportunity is afforded them, for they are determinedly inimical to strangers.
The number and quality of the Circassians had deteriorated, but they still held the most important posts. The fellaheen officers, under Arabi, who had been brought to protest against reductions in the military establishment, now claimed that the Circassians should make way for the Egyptians.
'He was going down to start some kind of business in the city over there, the leader of the soldiers told me, nodding towards the south. 'He had a largeish company, with several camels. But near the village of he was attacked by the Circassians, and was so foolish as to make resistance. They took everything he had of worth his arms, his money and killed a camel-driver, besides wounding him.
They say there are three things which mark a great man; a sharp sword, a sweet tongue, and forty tables. What do they mean by these? By a sharp sword they mean bravery, by a sweet tongue they mean soft speeches, and by forty tables they mean giving plentiful suppers to neighbors and to strangers. Are the Circassians right in this way of thinking?
Here, until the coming of the Russians, a people mainly pastoral had kept their flocks and herds for centuries. Simple in their modes of life, yet trained to arms, they were of the blood of the gallant race of the Adighés or Circassians of the western Caucasus.
The fair Circassians shrieking with their streaming hair and dripping finery, the Nubian eunuchs rushing to their aid, plunging into the water from the balustrade, or dashing down the marble steps, all this forms an agreeable relaxation after the labours of the Divan. All the splendour of the Arabian Nights is realized in the Court of Egypt.
In former years, the Trebizond merchantman took on board his cargo of young and lovely Circassians, and navigated the Black Sea with a flowing sheet and a flag flying at his peak, which told his business and the commerce that he was engaged in; now the trade is contraband, and the slave ship has to pick its way cautiously about the island of Crimea, and keep a sharp lookout to avoid the Russian war steamers that skirt the entire coast, and keep up a never-ceasing blockade from the Georgian shore to the ancient port of Anapa.
A silver-jointed belt, richly chased, encircles his waist, and the regulation row of cartridge-pockets across his breast are of the same material. He wears a short sword, the hilt and scabbard of which display the elaborate wealth of ornament affected by the Circassians. During the forenoon we take a stroll about the city afoot, but the wind is high, and clouds of dust sweep down the streets.
'Do you mean to say that you could just go out and buy yourself a wife in the market in Constantinople? 'I could not, because I am a Christian. The market exists in a quiet place where Europeans never find it. You see all the Circassians in Turkey live by stealing horses and selling their daughters. They are a noble race, the Circassians!
All these different kinds of bread are eaten with honey, great quantities of which are taken from the hives of wicker-work or bark of trees, and of an exceedingly delicious quality, owing to the wild thyme and other aromatic herbs fed on by the bees. The Circassians have a good many vegetables, though they are not particularly fond of this kind of diet.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking