a large country of Asia, situated between forty-two and forty-five degrees of north latitude, and between forty and forty-five of east longitude. It is bounded by Russia on the north; by Astracan and Dagistan on the east; by Georgia and Shirvan on the south; and by the territories of the Russian Cossacks on the west. This country has long been celebrated for the extraordinary beauty of its women; and here it was that the practice of inoculating for the smallpox first began. Terki, the principal city, is seated in a very spacious plain, very swampy, towards the sea-side, in 43° 24' north latitude: it is about three wersts in compass, well fortified with ramparts and and bastions in the modern style, well stored with cannon, and has always a considerable garrison in it, under the command of a governor. The country is nominally subject to Russia; but though the people acknowledge a species of vassalage, they neither pay tribute nor perform military service; and they even indulge in plundering expeditions into the Russian territories. The Russians have not been able to check these inroads, though they have built fortresses along the frontiers. The country is governed by a feudal aristocracy. Each district is ruled by a prince, who has under him a number of nobles. Beneath these are a small number of freedmen, who have been raised from slavery by the princes or nobles. All the rest of the people are slaves, and their masters possess over them the power of life and death. The apparel of the men of Circassia is much the same with that of the Nagayans, only their caps are something larger; and their cloaks being likewise of coarse cloth or sheepskins, are fastened only at the neck with a string, and as they are not large enough to cover the whole body, they turn them round according to the wind and weather. The men here are much better favoured than those of Nagaya, and the women extremely well shaped, with exceeding fine features, smooth clear complexions, and beautiful black eyes, which, with their black hair hanging in two tresses, one on each side the face, give them a most lovely appearance. They wear a black coif on their heads, covered with a fine white cloth tied under the chin. During the summer they all wear only a smock of divers colours, and that open so low before, that one may see below their navels: this, with their beautiful faces always uncovered (contrary to the custom of most of the other provinces in these parts), their good humour and lively freedom in conversation, altogether render them very attracting: notwithstanding which they have the reputation of being very chaste, though they seldom want opportunity; for according to the accounts of a late traveller, it is an established point of good manners among them, that as soon as any person comes in to speak to the wife, the husband goes out of the house: but whether this continency of theirs proceeds from their own generosity, to recompense their husbands for the confidence they put in them, or has its foundation only in fame, he pretends not to determine. Their language they have in common with the other neighbouring Tartars, although the chief people among them are also not ignorant of the Russian. Their religion is Paganism; for notwithstanding they use circumcision among them, they have neither priest, alcoran, nor mosque, like other Mahometans. Every body here offers his own sacrifice at pleasure; for which, however, they have certain days, established rather by custom than any positive command: their most solemn sacrifice is offered at the death of their nearest friends, upon which occasion both men and women meet in the field to be present at the offering, which is a he-goat; and having killed, they flay it, and stretch the skin with the head and horns on, upon a cross at the top of a long pole, placed commonly in a quickest hedge (to keep the cattle from it); and near the place the sacrifice is offered by boiling and roasting the flesh, which they afterwards eat. When the feast is over, the men rise, and having paid their adoration to the skin, and muttered over certain prayers, the women with-

Vol. VI. Part I.

draw, and the men conclude the ceremony with drinking a great quantity of spirits; and this generally ends in a quarrel before they part. The face of the country is pleasantly diversified with mountains, valleys, woods, lakes, and rivers; and, though not much cultivated, is far from being unfruitful. In summer the inhabitants quit the towns, and encamp in the fields like the neighbouring Tartars, occasionally shifting their stations along with their flocks and herds. Besides game, in which the country greatly abounds, the Circassians eat beef and mutton; but that which they prefer to all others is the flesh of a young horse. Their bread consists of thin cakes of barley meal, baked upon the hearth, which they always eat new; and their usual drink is water or mare's milk, from the latter of which they distil a spirit, as do most of the Tartar nations. They allot no fixed hours for the refreshments of the table or sleep, which they indulge irregularly, as inclination or convenience dictates. When the men make excursions into an enemy's country, they pass several days and nights successively without sleeping; but, at their return, devote as much time to repose as the space in which they had before withheld from that gratification. When they eat, they sit cross-legged on the floor, the skin of some animal serving them instead of a carpet. In removing from one part of the country to another, the women and children are carried in waggons, which are a kind of travelling houses, and drawn by oxen or camels; they never use horses for draught. Their breed of the latter, however, is reckoned exceeding good; and they are accustomed to swim almost any river on horseback. The women and children smoke tobacco as well as the men; and this is the most acceptable commodity which a traveller can carry with him into the Tartar countries. There are here no public inns, which indeed are unnecessary; for so great is the hospitality of the people, that they will contend with each other who shall entertain any stranger that happens to come among them.—The principal branch of their traffic is their own children, especially their daughters, whom they sell for the use of the seraglios in Turkey and Persia, where they frequently marry to great advantage, and make the fortune of their families. The merchants, who come from Constantinople to purchase those girls, are generally Jews, who, as well as the mothers, are said to be extremely careful of preserving the chastity of the young women, knowing the value that is set by the Turks upon the marks of virginity. The greater part of the Circassians are Christians of the Greek church; but there are also both Mahometans and Pagans among them. See Circassia, Supplement.