The Press.
London, England, 1857-12-19 00:00:00

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 19,1857.

received by the weaker portion of those who fell. The
Printers (;havchavadzey, who had let her child slip from
her arms, saw one of the mountaineers tread upon it with
his heavy foot.
As soon as they had recovered from the fall, the
marauders proceeded to take possession of their prisoners,
whom for a time they had necessarily relinquished. They
made them descend the next staircase in a different
manner. This time the robbers neither pulled nor carried,
but rolled them down stairs. Having reached the next
floor, comparatively without injury, the Princesses heard
the word " Khancha" uttered several times by the robbers.
'lmmediately afterwards their long shashkas were flashing
above the head of the Princess Chavcbavadzey, whom they
recognised as the head of the house ; and, after being made
the object of a severe contest between the different mem-
bers of the band, the unfortunate lady fell into the power
of the man who had first taken possession of her in the
belvedere. . _ _

Here the captives were divided into several parties, each
of which met with a separate series of adventures on their
road to Shamil's camp.

These occurrences took place on the 4th of
July, and from that time till their arrival at
Shamil's residence at Dargi Verdenno, twenty-
six days afterwards, they endured a series of
hardships and insults which, if true (which
we doubt), has strangely altered our opinion of
these brave mountaineers.

On their arrival at Shamil's seraglio, a
different thing from a harem, their position
was in some respects improved, though the
closeness of the ono room into which they and
their servants were all huddled together was
for a long time very oppressive. It appeared
subsequently, however, that Shamil himself
was not responsible for their treatment, but
one of his wives, named Zaidette, who acted
as his housekeeper, and who had conceived a
violent towards the Georgian pri-
soners.

The Caucasian chief had three wives—Zai-
dette, already mentioned ; Shouanette, ahand-
some woman of two or three and thirty ; and
Aminette, a very pretty girl of seventeen, who
used to play with the children, and by her
liveliness and gaiety did much to lighten the
weary hours of the prisoners' room. She
" became particularly intimate with the Prin•
" eess Baratoff (the young beauty of eighteen),
" and sometimes the two young girls were so
" merry that for a time they made the captives
" forget their misfortunes." Aminette, how-
ever, had her own little troubles to contend
with. On one occasion that teterrima causa
" a new dress" produced a violent commotion
in the seraglio. Some presents had been sent
to Shamil's wives, and among them three
" lovely" pieces of satin. But "that" ill-natured
Zaidette refused to allow the youngest of the
trio to receive one of them, on the plea that
it was too handsome for her, and took it away
to her own apartments. Poor Aminette came
to the Princesses in a state of great indigna-
tion. " I will go away," she said, " I will not
" continue to live here. They have all dresses
" and fine things ; I alone have nothing."
Poor Aminette ! how pretty she must have
looked in a passion ! The matronly Shoua-
nate, however, did not seem to think that any
of the wives were very well off in this parti-
cular, and confessed to the Princesses, with a
little hesitation, that she was very happy but
for one thing, which was that Shamil would
not allow his wives to dress better.

In the meantime negotiations for their ran-
som were proceeding. This was first fixed
at five millions of roubles, or between 800,0001
and 000,0001., and Shamil had the greatest
difficulty in persuading his council, to whom
Hi this matter he is obliged to defer, to accept
a smaller sum. Finally, however, they agreed
to take 40,0001., and to receive Shamil's son.
who had been at St. Petersburg sixteen years,
in exchange. This was the great object which
Shamil had in view throughout, and his de-
light at the issue of this affair was propor-
tionably great. It may be questioned, how-
ever, whether the young man's satisfaction
was equally warm. Removed from his native
land when almost an infant ; liberally educated
and brought. up with all the tastes of civilised
and luxurious life ; a cornet in the Russian
Guards, and extremely popular with his com-
rades—he could not have looked forward to life
in the Caucasus as other than a perpetual exile,
however sweetened by reunion with a father
whom he had well nigh forgotten, and relations
whom lie had never seen.

The ceremony of exchanging the prisoners
and receiving the mousy is thus described :

In the meanwhile Gramoff approached Shamil and
found him sitting on the grass beneath a large black
Nankeen parasol which was held above his head by one of
his Merida. Sometimes he went upon his knees in order
to get a better view through his telescope which was resting
on a three-legged stool and pointed in the direction of the
Russians. On the right of Shamil eat Daniel-Sultan ; and
behilid them, in perfect silence, stood the cavalry to the
number of five thousand. By the aide of the cavalry were
the arbas, in which sat the captives beneath their veils.
Gramotf dismounted when he was within a few paces of
Shamil, and his horse was instantly taken from him by
the Iman's attendants.

Gramoff approached with a salute, and said,—
" Iman, what further order.... 11112 I to receive from your
highness ?"

Take with you, and lead to about a quarter of a mile
on the other side of the Alichik, thirty-five men from my
army, the captives, and my eons Kati-Afachniat and
Alachmat•Shabi ; and from your side let some one come
to meet them with my son Djemmal•Eddin, the money,
and thirty-five soldiers."

" You have no further orders 7"
" No ; but do not forget, when all is terminated, to come
back to me."

Gramoff set off with the arbas, sixteen Georgian men,
and thirty-five chosen Murids, with Kazi-Msclimat at their
head. Having reached the appointed place, nazi-Machinat
and the blurids stopped with the arbas while Gramoff
galloped off to the Russian detachment, from which Prince
Chavchavadzey, Baron Nicolai, and Djemtual-Eddin now
adv'anced with thirty-five carbiueers, two carts containing
the money, and sixteen Lesgbian prisoners.
As the Prince gradually approached be perceived the arba
in which his faintly were seated, and heard the voices of
his daughters, who exclaimed—

" Look.manima! there is papa on a whito horse."
In the meanwhile liazi-Machnitat and his nurids had
advanced and concealed the arbas from the Prince's view ;
and at the same time one of the party—it was the benevo•
lent Moulla—took little Alexander in his arms and carried
him to his father. In a few seconds the rest of the
children were brought to him.

• • •
In the meanwhile Djetnnaal -Kadin was embracing his
brother, and taking farewell of the Russian officers.
Baron Nicolai presented him with his own sabre, and
said, with asulle,—
" Don't cut at any of our people with it."
" Neither yours nor ours," answered the young man as he
accepted it, nearly overcome by emotion.
Then Djemmal•Eddin, Kazi-Maehmat, the ➢furids, the
exchanged Lesghians, the arbas with the money, Gratnoff,
two Russian officers, and two Younkers, directed their
steps towards the Michik, and were Boon afterwards lost
sight of in the crowd of mountaineers; while Prince
Chavchavadzey, Baron Nicolai, and the liberated captives
remained at the place of exchange. The Princesses
threw off their veils, and at that solemn moment neither
they nor the Prince could find words to express their
feelings, A kind of stupor had been produced, and they
now stood in presence of one another as if they had
parted only the day before, instead of having been separated
by a terrible captivity of eight months' duration.
After the most ordinary salutations had been exchanged,
the Prince gave one arm to his wife and the other to the
Princess Orbeliani, and led them to the carriages. On the
road, and even after their arrival in Kouriusk, the same
species of stupor continued on each side for some time ;
that is to say, until after they had all joined iu thanks-
givings, when the Prince and his family were left by them-
selves, and could give expression, unobserved, to all their
rapture. We do not pretend to describe this scene. We
may, however, mention one or two points connected with
the Princesses' restoration to happiness.
At the termination of the thanksgiving service in the
church cf the fortress the captives received the holy
bread, an 9 were deeply affected, so long had they been
precluded from taking any part in the ceremonies of their
religion.
At dinner the Princesses absolutely cried when they
observed with what foresight all their wants were anti-
cipated by the I'rince, and the others who were present,
—so little had they been accustomed of late to attention of
any kind.
The papiroases which were lighted after dinner, threw
them into ecstacies, so new and so delightful did each,
even the most trifling, habit of their former life appear to
them.

The interview between father and son is told
in an equally graphic style.
We regret that we cannot convey a better
impression of this work to our readers than
is possible within our limited columns. It is
throughout exceedingly interesting, and told
with an air of painful truthfulness. Of Mr.
Edwards's merits as a translator we caunct
speak, as we have not the happiness to under-
stand the Russian language, in which the
original work was composed. But we are
unwilling to believe he has performed his task
otherwise thau well, when his English narra-
tive is so simple, graphic, and vigorous.

1)cli

1233

offered to the educated public than a series of
lectures on the subject Dr. Daubeny has
chosen. And we arc fortunate in being able
to add that the elegance with which they are
executed is commensurate with the happiness
of the design. The Professor's pages present an
admixture of tasteful literary criticism and
sound scientific exposition. The subject is so
treated as at once to render farming attractive
to the scholar, and scholarship attractive to
the farmer; and every English gentleman who
would wish to combine a revival of Etonian
reminiscences with some hints for practical
improvements, should possess a copy of this
volume.

The prose classics on agriculture, says Dr.
Dauben), are Cato, Varro, Columella, Pala-
dius, and Pliny His reason for confining
himself principally to the treatise of Columella
is, that, in the absence of chemical discoveries,
few radical changes could take place in Roman
agriculture, and that in Columella is to be
found the best embodiment of the national
knowledge upon the subject. Palladius is but
a reproduction of Columella; and Pliny, though
the most valuable portion of his Natural
History is devoted to the subjects of botany
(woodcraft) and agriculture, is the author of
no professed treatise upon agriculture. Of
Cato the Censor, who died B.C. I t!), aged
eighty-five, and his successor Varro, who flou-
rished between n c. l:20 and s.c. 30, the Doctor
has given us a brief but sufficient account, too
well as of the contents of their works. His
remarks upon the character of the former,
and the consequences to the world had Car-
thage continued to exist as a rival power to
Rome, seem especially deserving of attention.
This is the substance of his first lecture.
In the second ho proceeds to Columella, ob.
A.D. 42 :

Of this writer we know nothing, except what may bo
gleaned from his own works, and from the mention made
of him by the elder Pliny. From thence it appears, that he
wrote about the time of Seneca and Celsus, both of whom
he names as his cotemporaries ; that he resided at Rome,
but had an estate called Ceretanum, which some ccinmen-
tators place in S irdinia, others in Spain; that his birth-
place was (lades in Spain; and that he appears to have died
at Tarentum, from an inscription found in that place.
It cannot be expected that we should follow
Dr. Daubeny through every stage of this ex-
tensive subject. We may state that his second
lecture contains some interesting information
on the subjects of labour and tenancy among
:he Romans of the Republic and the Empire,
and some valuable calculations on the sub-
ject of slavery which may be profitably
compared with certain passages on the
" Agriculture of North America," and Mr.
Stirling's " Letters from the Slave States,"
both recently reviewed in these columns. In
illustration of Dr. Daubeny's remarks, we may
point out that both Virgil (Georg. iv. 112) and
Juvenal (Sat iii. 223) speak of agricultural
labour performed by citizens in a tune which
indicates the contempt into which it had
fallen, and a sense, at least in the first case,
of its superiority to that of slaves.
But although the Romans were thus averse
to actual manual toil, it may be presumed
that the national love of rural occupations had
not been without its fruit in the shape of con-
siderable practical knowledge. And probably
one of the most interesting passages in the
volume to classical scholars will be that in
which many of the precepts laid down in the
first Georgic aid shown to be those by which
scientific agriculturists are still guided. After
noticing the soundness of Virgil's classifica-
tion of soils, the Doctor proceeds as fol-
lows :

Colnmella and the other prose authors on husbandry
scarcely allude to the practice of improving the soil by
burning, which Virgil has so graphically described, point-
ing out in his subsequent lines the three principal causes,
upon which the advantage of paring and burning is sup-
posed by modern farmers to depend:—

SLepe edam steriles inceudere profuit ogres,
Atque levem stipulsm erepitautibus urero thumnis:
Sire inde ()mikes vires et pabuls terra)
l'inguis ooncipiunt ; sive illus omne per ignem
Exooquitur vitium, sum °sama iuutilia humor;
plur- 'lle vies

little h
for one
not all,
In t:
80111 'A
at five
and 9(
difficul
in this
a %mid
to take
who hi
in excl
light a
tionab:
ever,
was eq
land w
and br,
and lu
li uard
rade3—
in the I
howevi
whoin
whom
The
and ra

x with his coin- Lectures on Roma Husbandry. Delivered s-e7pro Ws. cLar"lii,Mati-- t;i--c;c-a-ieVaL-t- - '
ad forward to life Spiramenta, novas venlat qua euccus hi herbas ;
er etual exile,
before the University of Oxford. By at o durat meals, et venas *Marini t hiantea,
p p
in with a father Charles Dauberty, M.A. London :J. H. lie tenues pluvue rapidive potentia Bolls
Acrior, cut Burma peuetrabile (rips adurat
en, and relations and J. Parker. (Grotto. I. 84.)
Whether, that is, it communicates rich juices to the
CLASSICAL literature and a country life are land, or corrects bad ones; opens the pores of the soil Le
ig the prisoners both so popular with Englishuien that perhaps
allow the nutritiousjuices aims' to the young plants, or
as described : few wore acceptable works could have boon rower. it wow compact; op So to prevent itii being injured