CIRCASSIANS. The Cherkesses or Circassians differ from the other tribes of the Caucasus in origin and language. They designated themselves by the name of Adigheb, that of Cherkesses being a term of Russian origin. The government under which they lived was a peculiar form of the feudal system. The free Circassians were divided into three distinct ranks, the princes or pslii, the nobles or cork (Tatar usden), and the peasants or hokotl. They were also divided into numerous families, tribes or clans, some of which were very powerful and carried on war against each other with great animosity. The slaves, of whom a large proportion were prisoners of war, were generally employed in the cultivation of the soil, or in the domestic service of some of the principal chiefs.
The will of the people was the supreme source of authority; and every free Circassian had a right to express his opinion in those assemblies of his tribe in which the questions of peace and war, almost the only subjects which engaged their attention, were brought under deliberation. The princes and nobles, the leaders of the people in war and their rulers in peace, were only the administrators of a power which was delegated to them. The administration of justice was regulated solely by custom and tradition, and in those tribes professing Mohammedanism by the precepts of the Koran. The most aged and respected inhabitants of the various auls or villages frequently sat in judgment, and their decisions were received without a murmur by the contending parties. The Circassian princes and nobles were professedly Mohammedans; but in their religious services many of the cere monies of their former heathen and Christian worship were still preserved. A great part of the people had remained faithful to the worship of their ancient gods—Shible, the god of thunder, of war and of justice; Tleps, the god of fire; and Seosseres, the god of water and of winds. One of their marriage ceremonies was that the young man who had been approved by the parents, and had paid the stipulated price in money, horses, oxen, or sheep for his bride, was expected to come with his friends fully armed and to carry her off by force from her father's house. Every free Circassian had unlimited right over the lives of his wife and children. Although polygamy was allowed by the laws of the Koran, the custom of the country forbade it. The respect for superior age was carried to such an extent that the young brother used to rise from his seat when the elder entered an apartment, and was silent when he spoke. Circassians were distinguished for the most generous hospitality and implacable vindictiveness. The individual who had slain any member of a family was pursued with implacable vengeance by the relatives, until his crime was expiated by death. The murderer might, indeed, secure his safety by the payment of a certain sum of money, or by carrying off from the house of his enemy a newly-born child, bringing it up as his own and restoring it when its education was finished. In either case, the family of the slain individual might discontinue the pursuit of vengeance without any stain upon its honour. The man closely followed by his enemy, who, on reaching the dwell ing of a woman, had merely touched her hand, was safe from all other pursuit so long as he remained under the protection of her roof. The commission of theft was not considered so disgrace ful as its discovery. The Circassian father was always willing to part with his daughters to Turkish merchants for the harems of Eastern monarchs. But no degradation was implied in this trans action, and the young women themselves were generally willing partners in it. Herds of cattle and sheep constituted the chief riches of the inhabitants. The princes and nobles, from whom the members of the various tribes held the land which they culti vated, were the proprietors of the soil. The Circassians carried on little or no commerce.