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quenched by a price paid to the family of the deceased, this tribute is called thlil-uasa, or the price of blood; but neither princes nor usdens accept of such a compensation, as it is an established law among them to demand blood for blood.

The education of the children of the Circassian princes is of such a nature as to suppress, from the earliest infancy, every feeling peculiar to consanguinity. Their sons and daughters are immediately, after birth, intrusted to the care of a nobleman, who is frequently none of the most wealthy; and the parents, especially the father, has no desire to see his son till he is an adult, and capable of bearing arms; while no notice is taken of the girls, till after marriage. The tutor of the prince is obliged to take upon him the whole charge of his education: he instructs the youth, during his adolescence, in all the schemes of robbery, which are held in great estimation among the equestrian knights; he provides him with arms, as soon as he is strong enough to wield them, and in such array he is presented to his father. The grateful pupil rewards his foster-father for the pains he has taken to qualify him in the predatory arts, by giving him the greatest share of the booty he is able to obtain.

The female children are nourished in the most sparing and wretched manner, that they may acquire a slender and elegant form; because such a stature is considered as an essential requisite to a Circassian princess. They are trained to all ornamental work in the domestic economy of females, especially to embroidery, weaving of fringe, sewing of dresses, as well as the plaiting of straw mats and baskets. The noble

man intrusted with their education is also obliged to procure for his princely foster-daugher a husband of an equal rank, in default of which he is punished with the loss of his head. In the courtships every attention is paid to the rank of the parties. No usden dares to court the daughter of a prince; and if such an amour should ever take place, or the princess be seduced by an usden, the presumptuous lover, on the first occasion, forfeits his life without mercy*.

The daughters of slaves, brought up by the mother, receive the same education: they learn to embroider, to make their own dress, and that of their future husbands. They are sold, according to their beauty, from twenty to one hundred pounds, and sometimes much higher. These are principally Georgians. Soon after the birth of a girl a wide leather belt is sewed round her waist, and continues till it bursts, when it is replaced by a second. By a repetition of this practice their waists are rendered astonishingly small; but their shoulders become proportionably broad, a defect which is little attended to on account of the beauty of their breasts. On the wedding night the belt is cut with a dagger by the husband, a custom sometimes productive of very fatal accidents. The bridegroom pays for his bride a marriage present, or kalym, consisting of arms, or a coat of mail; but he must not see her, or cohabit

The foregoing sketch is taken from the interesting and instructive Travels of Pallas through Southern Russia. The following is abridged from Pinkerton's valuable Geography. It is copied by Mr. P. from Ellis's Memoirs.

with her without the greatest mystery. This reserve continues during life. If the son or daughter of a family enter into the state of wedlock, they have no right to appear before their parents during the first twelve months, or till the birth of a child. During this period the husband continues to visit his young wife through the window of the room, but is never present when she is visited by strangers: this affected politeness is carried to such an extent, that the husband is even displeased to hear others speak of his wife and children, and considers it as an insult if enquiries be made after the welfare of his spouse. The father makes the bride a present on the wedding day, but reserves the greater part of what he intends to give till the birth of her first child. On this occasion she pays him a visit, receives from him the remainder of her portion, and is clothed by him in the dress of a matron, the principal distinction of which consists in a veil. Until this time the dress of the women is much like that of the men. Before marriage the youth of both sexes see each other freely at the little rejoicings which take place on festivals. In their amusements the youth of both sexes freely converse with each other, as the Circassian women in general are neither confined nor reserved. Before the ball the young men show their activity and address in a variety of military exercises, and the most alert have the privilege of choosing the most beautiful partners.

The Circassian women participate in the general character of the nation; they take pride in the courage of their husbands, and reproach them severely when defeated. They polish and take care of the armour of the

men. Widows tear their hair, and disfigure themselves with scars, in testimony of their grief. The men had formerly the same custom, but are now grown more tranquil under the loss of their wives and relations. The habitation of a Circassian is composed of two huts, because the wife and husband are not supposed to live together. One of these huts is allotted to the husband and to the reception of strangers; the other to the wife and family: the court which separates them is surrounded by palisades or stakes. At meals the whole family is assembled, so that here, as among the Tatars*, each village is reckoned at a certain number of kettles. Their food is extremly simple, consisting only of a little meat, some paste made of millet, and a kind of beer composed of the same grain fermented.

THE LADY'S ROCK, OR THE MURDEROUS HUSBAND. Raro antecedentem scelestum

Deseruit pede pœna claudo.--Hor.

Ar the south end of the island of Lismore, in the western Highlands of Scotland, we sailed near a small rock, over which the sea rolls at high tides; at other times it raises its rough head somewhat above the surface of the water. It is called the Lady's Rock, for the following reason.

Mr. Pinkerton always writes Tatar for Tartar, and Tatary for Tartary.

In former times one of the M'Leans of Duart, whose castle (now in ruins) stands on a promontary in Mull, in nearly an opposite direction to the Lady's Rock, married a sister of Argyle. The lady was handsome and amiable, but unhappily she was barren. In those times it was a high crime in the eyes of a husband, when his wife bore him no children. Duart hated his hapless lady for that cause, and determined on her destruction. To accomplish it with ease, and as he imagined, safe from detection, he ordered ruffians to convey her secretly to the Bare Rock, near Lismore, and there leave her at high tide. The deed was executed to Duart's wish, and the lady left on the rock, watching the rolling tide rising to overwhelm her. When she had given herself up for a lost being, and expected, in a very short time, to be washed from the rock by the waves, she fortunately perceived a vessel sailing down the sound of the Mull, in the direction of the rock on which she was sitting. Every effort in her power was exerted, and every signal in her possession was displayed to attract the notice of the people in the vessel. At length they perceived her, and drew near the rock. She made herself known; and related, that it was by the order of her barbarous husband she was left on the rock, and thus reduced to the wretched state in which they found her. The mariners, ever a generous race, took compassion on her, received her on board their vessel, and conveyed her safely to her brother at Inverary.

M'Lean Duart made a grand mock funeral for his much-loved, much-lamented lady, whom he announced to have died suddenly. He wrote disconsolate letters

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