Three different ranks seem to be acknowledged among the Karatsc hai ; first, princes ; secondly, nobles ; and third ly, commons or peasants ; but all are tributary to the Cir cassians, who are considered their only superiors. There are three families of princes, who are entitled to exact the attendance of the nobles in their equestrian excursions ; and they may, besides, take the use of any person's horses, provided these be soon returned : but it does not appear that they derive any revenues from the tribe. They marry the daughters of the Circassian nobles. ti ho take their daughters for wives reciprocally. Thus, on the whole, they should only be considered nobles of the highest rank. Neither do they seem to enjoy any real authority over the people, though they exert their influence among them. Important matters are discussed by an assembly of the elders in their mosque. Should a son be disobedient to his parents, he is placed at the door of the mosque, and serious ly exhorted to reform. If the admonition proves ineffec tual, his parents, after providing him with a few necessa ries, turn him out of doors, which he is never again permitted to enter, and disown him ; and should his con duct still prove reprehensible, he is expelled from the village for life. The Karatschai swear by the Koran to observe their agreements ; and a violation of the bargain is attended with forfeiture of five or ten sheep to the village. After paying this penalty, the covenant may be renewed ; and no instance is known of its being infringed, a second time.
Children are brought up in a strict and commendable manner. Many persons commit the education of their sons to the priest, or mulla, who instructs them in reading and writing, in which having obtained proficiency, they are appointed to chant the Koran in the mosque.
The Karatschai are the most polished and best disposed tribe of any inhabiting the Caucasian mountains, and sur pass all their neighbours in mildness of manners. The rich lend oxen to the poor ; present them with donations; or find them such employment as enables them to sub sist in comfort. Though easily exasperated, they are as easily pacified, and prone to acknowledge their errors. Treachery is so rare, as scarcely to be known to them even by name. Should a native be guilty of it, or a stranger find his way among them as a spy, he would literally be cut to pieces. To the Kabardian piinces, their superiors, they pay the utmost respect.
The Karatschai dwell in a fertile country, from which subsistence can readily be obtained : they are industrious, and practise agriculture, but are incapable of manufactur ing those articles which require skill. Their arms, which are guns, pistols, sabres, and daggers, they procure from the Circassians. All the cloth of their apparel is manufac tured by themselves, and it is, •besides, much esteemed throughout the whole of Caucasus. The females go little abroad, and are occupied in the manufacture of gold and silver thread, and in making clothes for the other sex.
Their commerce is very limited. Furs of various wild animals, obtained in the woods and mountains, are either sold to foreign traders, or kept for carpets, whereon they kneel in prayer. A surplus of their woollen cloth, as also felts for carpeting and hoods, are exported to the Imiret tians, and a Turkish fortress now occupied by the Russians, called Tschuschukulee, or Sochumkalah, on the coast of the Black Sca. Some tobacco, of which they are excessively fond, is disposed of to the neighbouring tribes, who export it to Russia. One of these is likewise supplied by them with lead and sulphur : great quantities of cornea berries, which grow in the woods, are preserved in honey, and sold to the Turks and E.abardians: but their own count4y being too cold for bees, they procure it from the latter , for this purpose. From them likewise they get salt, and articles of Russian produce ; and for their other COI/11110 ditics, arc received in return, tobacco-pipes, which are in great demand, Turkish tobacco, otter skins, copper ket tles, needles, thimbles, silks, and cottons.
The Karatschai inhabit a village, sometimes called by the same name, and sometimes Elbrus, consisting of 25')_ houses, distant about ten miles from the northern base of the mountain, and thirty north-east of another mountain, called Dshuman-tatv, at the confluence of the rivers C hurstik and Kuban. A tribe called Urusby, dwelling on the ele vated ridge of Tschalpach, belongs to the same people, and is ruled by a Kabardian prince. The whole nation seems limited to 4000 families.
Very little is preserved of the history of the Karatschai. Abulghasi Bahader Khan, the prince of Karam, who be stowed so much attention on the history of the Tartars, is silent regarding them. But about the same period wherein he flourished, namely, the middle of the seventeenth cen tury, they are mentioned in general terms by Lamberti, the Italian missionary. He remarks that they spoke the Turkish language, and expresses his surprise how they could have preserved it in such purity, amidst the variety of surrounding nations. In his time they were invaded lay some of the mountaineers, %% ho being repulsed, a number of women in military accoutrements were found among the slain. Being brought to the prince of Mingrelia, he pro mised great rewards to the Karatschai, if they could take one of these Amazons alive. Both arms and accoutrements were seen by Lamberti, who gives a very minute descrip tion of them. OF later years, the inroads of the Russians among the Caucasian tribes, and the desire of their govern ment to become more intimately acquainted with the terri tories over which they claim authority, have exposed some singular and interesting features in the history of the moun taineers by which they are inhabited. (c)