without which it would not be safe to cross the Caucasus, on account of a numerous tribe of mountaineers, named Ossetes, or Ossetinians, whose dwellings are perched on the craggy cliffs, and who are still in the practice of plundering solitary travellers, and carrying off those for whom they expect a large ransom, like the Italian banditti. Indeed, as it is, the caravans still pass in large convoys at stated periods, and passengers are escorted generally by parties of Cossacks. Formerly these Ossetinians are said to have been in the habit of seizing the unwary traveller, by throwing from their lurking-places the noose of a rope, like the lasso used by the Gauchos to catch their wild horses on the Pampas. The Russians have somewhat civilized these people in the neighbourhood of the Caucasian pass, near the summit of which there is now an establishment, supported by the late Alexander, and intrusted to Ossetinians, for the reception of winter travellers, who may be caught by snow-storms, like that of the mountain of St. Bernard in Switzerland.

Close to the westward of the pass rises in magnificent grandeur the Kasbeck mountain, whose summit has never yet been reached, but whose height has been estimated by Englehardt and Parrot, who in vain attempted to ascend it, at fourteen thousand four hundred feet above the level of the Black Sea. Farther to the westward, and about half way between that sea and the last-named mountain, is the celebrated Elbourz, whose height is supposed to be about sixteen thousand feet. The Snæfell and Öræfa Yökuls,' says Henderson, whose size I had admired as stupendous, because they far exceeded anything I had previously seen, sunk in the remembrance into mere pigmies in comparison of the gigantic king of the Caucasian range.' The summit is cleft into two peaks, which, as the Armenians say, was occasioned by the keel of the ark grazing it on its passage to Ararat. The Persians consider the Alburs (the sublime, the shining) as the highest and most ancient of all mountains in the world: the throne of Ormuzd; the mount of the congregation of the celestial spirits; the pure region of light; where there is neither enemy, darkness, nor death; but where all is light, peace, and felicity.' It was on this mountain that Zoroaster received the law, (as Moses did on Mount Sinai,) and to which he afterwards retired, to spend the remainder of his existence in the contemplative vision of the Supreme. Our modern travellers have been less fortunate than this ancient sage, as every attempt to reach the summit of Elbourz, as of Kasbeck, has hitherto proved abortive, chiefly, we believe, from the savage disposition of the barbarous tribes which dwell in the lower regions and around its base.

Very false notions have prevailed as to the wall at Derbent, through

which was the Porta-Caspia; some making this Gog and Magog to stretch along the whole range of the Caucasus. According to a recent description,' says Gibbon, huge stones, seven feet thick, and twenty-one feet in length or height, are artificially joined without iron or cement, to compose a wall which runs above three hundred miles from the shores of Derbent, over the hills, and through the valleys of Daghestan and Georgia.' The Czar Peter caused it to be measured on taking possession of Derbent, and found it precisely what that accurate but much-abused old traveller, Marco Polo, had stated it to be some five hundred years ago-namely, four miles! Gamba says, he saw one valve of the great iron gate that of old closed the passage of this wall, at the monastery of Gaelath, near Kotais, whither it had been carried as a trophy by David, king of Immeritia, who took Derbent by assault. It measured seven feet in width, and fourteen in height; and was composed of twenty bars, placed perpendicularly and crossed by seven others, which were again covered with thin plates of iron, and on these were the remains of inscriptions, but in what language M. Gamba does not inform us; he says, however, that the door bore the character of a high antiquity.

Little was known of the Caucasian nations till the Empress Catherine sent Guldenstaed to traverse these wild regions, trace the rivers to their sources, make astronomical observations, examine the natural history of the country, and collect vocabularies of all the dialects he might meet with. He enumerates seven distinct nations, divided into numerous tribes, each speaking its own dialect; and among other things he brings away an extract from a manuscript chronicle in the Georgian language, compiled by order of Vachtung, a late sovereign of Georgia, from the monastery of Galati, near Cotais, (the same where the French Consul met with the iron door.) Gamba, alluding to this MS., is pleased to observe, that without admitting the existence of Karthos, who lived six generations after Noah, of his son Miskhethos, and their descendants, it is enough to recognise for the first king of Georgia, P'harnavaz, of Schinak'hartli, who lived shortly after the invasion of Alexander the Great, to be satisfied that this kingdom is one of the most ancient of the globe.' The document in question is undoubtedly a fabrication. We know, however, that the kingdom of Georgia was conquered by Nouchirvan, in the reign of Justinian; became a portion of the empire of Mahmoud the Gasnavide; was invaded by Alep Arselan; ravaged by Tamerlane; conquered by Tamasp; reconquered from the Turks by Shah-Abbas:-that although thus, by turns, overrun and pillaged by Turks, Tartars, Persians, it never wholly lost its independence, but preserved itself as a kingdom nearly two thousand

years;

years; and, what is still more to its honour, that it preserved its ancient faith in Christianity for fourteen hundred years, in the midst of countries entirely devoted to the religion of Mahomet. Heraclius, who had proclaimed himself king of Georgia, after struggling during his whole reign against the invasions of the Persians, placed his kingdom under the protection of Catherine; and his son George made a cession of his states to the Emperor Paul. At the death of George, it was deemed expedient for the tranquillity of the country to remove his widow Mary to Moscow; but towards this high-spirited dame, it was necessary to proceed with caution and great delicacy. General Lazareff, a Georgian, and her supposed lover, was pitched upon as the most proper person to make the proposal. Mary, fixing her eyes steadily upon him, said, Lazareff, forget not that you are my subject, and don't suffer yourself to repeat to me so hateful a proposal, or I shall know how to punish you for it.' The general persisted in his entreaties, and in an instant Mary drew her quindjal, or dagger, (a kind of Roman sword which all Georgians wear in the belt,) and laid him dead at her feet. Alexander, the brother of George, fled from the country, and is supposed to be one of those who encouraged Abbas Meerza to commence hostilities with Russia.

The late Emperor Alexander had no little difficulty in preserving tranquillity among the motley population whom he had to govern to the southward of Caucasus. He found it expedient to grant to the Persian khans of Daghustan and Shirvan, and to the native princes, the enjoyment of their former privileges, and, indeed, to change little in their ancient laws and customs,except that it was necessary to restrain them from the brutal practices of selling their children to the Turks and Persians, and of executing summary vengeance on their vassals by mutilation or death. A few, and they were but few, examples of wholesome severity did not prevent vast immigrations into Georgia. M. Gamba states that, in the year 1820 alone, not less than seven thousand Persian families crossed the boundary, to whom it was intended to assign lands; and Turks and Armenians are to this hour in the constant practice of coming over and placing themselves under the protection of the Russian government. The Circassians, however, on the northern side of the Caucasus, are accused of still bringing up their sons and daughters for the slave-market, though it is done by stealth; M. Gamba tells one story of a Circassian selling his father to an Armenian for a sack of salt; and it appears from the following, which he gives on the authority of a one-eyed porter to a mosque, that Alexander's laws have not as yet put a total stop to the practice of mutilation.

'This

This Tartar was one of the officers of the late Khan of Ghendje's palace, of which he had the general superintendence. According to the custom of all the palaces of the East, the officers who cross the courts are required to walk with their eyes fixed on the ground, and their hands across the breast. One day this unhappy wretch, having inadvertently lifted his eyes toward the apartments, perceived the Khan, and near him one of his wives. He was called before his master, and asked, in a severe tone, with which of his eyes he had seen the sultaness? he replied, with the right eye. The Khan immediately ordered it to be plucked out, which did not however prevent him from remaining attached to the person of the Khan, and continuing his functions till the death of his master.'-Gamba, tom. ii. p. 251.

The Persians, it is well known, think no more of plucking out an eye, than we in Europe do of extracting a tooth.

The whole country of Georgia is so beautifully diversified with grand mountain-scenery, gradually spreading out into hill and dale, that some of the old travellers fancied they had discovered in it the Garden of Eden. The climate is equally favourable to the growth of fruits, grain, and esculent plants, and to the human constitution. The sky is almost always clear and serene, the rain being chiefly confined to thirty or forty days in the year. In summer, on the plains, the thermometer usually stands about 78° to 84°, rising occasionally to 90°. The winter there scarcely continues two months, during which the thermometer seldom descends below 40°; however, every possible degree of temperature, down to perpetual frost, may be had on the sloping spurs of the Caucasus. The hills and the ravines are covered with the finest forests of oak, beech, elm, chestnut, walnut, ash, and lime trees; many of them entwined by vines growing perfectly wild, and loaded with vast quantities of the finest grapes. Most of the cultivated fruits of Europe, as apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, and cherries, are found growing in the forests in a state of nature. The black and white mulberry grow without culture; and Iberia was famed for its silk long before this valuable article was brought into Italy by the two Persian monks, in the reign of Justinian. Cotton and flax grow spontaneously on the plains near the Caspian; and rice, wheat, barley, millet, sesamum, and madder are raised with very little culture. The pasturage of the valleys is excellent; and the rivers are full of fish, but being mostly mountain-torrents, are unfit for internal navigation. Honey of the finest kind is collected from bees' nests in the crevices of rocks and hollow trees, and their wax supplies no inconsiderable article of trade. In short, nature seems to have lavished on this favoured country all that can contribute to the comfort and

happiness

happiness of a peaceable and industrious population. Wild animals are not so numerous as might be expected; but as every man goes armed, they have always met an enemy in every native. There are, however, on the plains and in the vallies, deer and antelopes; and in the woods and ravines, wolves, foxes, jackals, bears, wild hogs, and a species of wild goat, which the Chevalier Gamba calls Touri-but the print of which, in his Atlas,' is like nothing, we humbly guess, that ever was created, approaching more to an ass with two short horns and one ear, than to a goat. All the drawings, are, in fact, evidently of Parisian manufacture; and all the fanciful figures of men and women are thrown into theatrical attitudes. It is evident, indeed, that M. Gamba cannot draw a line; but a Frenchman's travels would be nothing without an 'Atlas.'

It is impossible to form a conjecture as to the amount of population to the southward of the Caucasus. It has been loosely stated as something about half a million, exclusive of sixty or seventy thousand Russian troops. Under the mild government of Russia, it will no doubt rapidly increase. Before Georgia was annexed to this crown, the population was kept sorely down by the constant dissensions of the chiefs-for those idle, arrogant, and ferocious beings, possessed of unlimited power over the lives and properties of their vassals, chose to be constantly at war with each other, chiefly with a view to the making of prisoners for the Persian and Turkish slave-markets. The incursions of the Persians, moreover, utterly desolated, from time to time, the provinces on that frontier. It has been stated that Abbas the Great, as he is called, carried off at one time no less than eighty thousand families this is, no doubt, seventy thousand more than the actual number; but the case was bad enough without exaggeration. All these drawbacks on population have for some years ceased, and the measures which the late Emperor adopted for the encouragement of commerce and agriculture, by his ukase of 1821, is said to have already produced the most beneficial effects. The capital, Teflis, which before was a mean and dirty town, is now rising, according to M. Gamba, into a splendid city; the generals, the native princes, the rich Armenians, all striving who shall build the most magnificent houses: they are constructing these, as well as their public bazars, caravanseras, hospitals, barracks, and buildings for the civil and military administrations, on a grand scale, and according to a fixed plan; the commerce of the town is rapidly on the increase, and its population, which, in the year 1820, was only twenty-four thousand, had risen in 1825 to thirty-three thousand souls.

The Chevalier Gamba assures us, that the beauty for which

the