New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-03-10
TILE Turks AND CIRCASSIANS.

LIE IL hhS AMI NihShcSA.h-'r'
correspoudenee Of The London Daily News.
SoUKKUM.KALEB, Thursday Jan. -, 1855.
Like many other partisan boasts, the Wanted gooI-
will with which the CitcGssians were SAID To nave wei
coined The Turkish General and his troops proves on
examination to be one o. those imaginative creations
in which fiction aud fact are agreeaby blended, IN
much the proportion as were bread ana sack III
the yinous supper in Easteheap. by this, however,
do not mean 10 nsnuate that aDy feelings OF loyalty
toward the Russians kept them from haing the ar
rival of tue Ottoman force with as lively satisfaction
az the dispatch writers asserted Tor though nomnaIy
subjected these tribes OF the Back Sea are at heatt
ms fboroue hy opposed to Muscoyite domination as are
the Iesghis of Dagle san any OF the independent
mouutainecrs of the South But my own bret per-
sona experience agrees with that OF nearly every one
of the English officers who first landed mere win oet
Pasha in proving that the goodwill on tae ground OF
the alleged identity OF religion, from which 50 much
was hoped, not particle exists and failing on TINS
orourd their estimate of the virtues Of the Turkish
natIa character in other respects has not Ocen su
cienty favorable to secure it. OF the sevent en- pn
cipal tribes that comprise tue whole Caucasian popGa
ton. only very small minority are sufficiently Mas
suman TO have much sympathy IN this matter oil talthi
and in tie absence Of such tie the confidence oil tue
MISUNDERSTANDING whom thee Abasians may be reck-
oIed-n the disinteresedness of their visitors, is hard
" strong enough to induce many displays OF guShnSy
VAIN regard Indeed ing aside all hyperboe OF e1-
preston, have found the aHiWous OF the people, IN
Ills ncghborhood at all events to be very different
om what il was represented 20 be both in print and
bv report; and | am assured that inland, around Re
dou- kaleh, it is still more markedly anti Turkish
Here as vet this evident disrust bears fruit IN an al
most total stand of the part OF the surrounding ma
tive population, combined with nearly general refu-
sci 10 send in supplies, or even to sell them In tho VII
lagos; but in Mingrelia it has manifested itself In
acts of much positive unfrlendliness, and not
few murders have been committed round me out
skirts Of the camp. In few instances dread of the
r,tiibutive memory Of the Russians may opera'c to
produce this unexpected scm-hCs ility; in Others it
NAV be traced partially entirely, TO Oltrages COM
mitted by the Turks Themselves and, in every case
more or less to feelings Of Jealousy and mstrust which
Omer Pasha has not disspated-asert to the contrary
who nav. When the Sidar and his troops landed
here in October last the expectation was all but gen.
nal that from Anapa to Fort ST. Nicholas, aud from
the kOuban to Sbirvan, every tl6e which had main
tanned the uneven struggle for liberty ever since the
r, aty of 20 gave cOlonDg of Legitimacy to Russian
claims or which, though beaten into apparent subnis
sion still cherished hatred of the oppressor, would fly
to alms as one man and lend their aid to the great
Turkish chief in sweeping away every trace of Mus
coyite power from Caucasian soil. The uniformed
and tie oversanguine were loud in their predictions
of EIivan given back TO the Shah, of Georgia
sttuted nde pei dent Principally, and of Crcsssa
restored to the enjoyment OF Its primitive patarcha
freedom. To be sure it is yet premature 10 assert
that these vast hopes all TO prove deusiye but 1t
may be mOdcstly remarked that, though ncarly four
months have gone by the first step toward their
fumcrt has yet to be taken. Schamelhas not struck
cooperative blow, and the active good will Of the
population generally still remains to be secured
This latter fact and its inconvenient consequences
nave limited eNureiOn5 mLtrOIN8uS from tnts
poirt to a much narrower circle than had expected;
much so, indeed, that though have spared neither
effort nor reasonable expense have found it utterly
mpTacticabe to penetrate farther than short days
journey from SOukkum-k aeh. In direct line from
the this has taken to the base Of the main range
of the Caucasus and along the coast TO villages ten
twelve miles off on either eide of the town. OF the
eight or ten 10Uls hamlets, which have thus Wis
tied only three boast OF the humbest approach TO
a bazaar, supplied as were those of Godowa aud
Chemsheiry, mentioned in my last letter, with scanty
stocks of cheap, snowy Manchester cottOns, the
commOnost native German cutlery, gunbullets aud
dried fgs. Even for ability to make these CON-
parativey short excursions with assured safety |
have been mainly indebted to the dragoman of
llad Rethid Pasha, q Cireassan, who speaks Turk
sh, ard who, for consideration, has cyilly acted
as my companion and Interpreter on these occasions
For the greater part of the first week after my
rival here was shut up within the narrow and muddy
limits Of Soukkum through the want Of horses, which
neither love money could procure within the
place ITSELF but at the end Of that time the energy Of
the aforementioned auxiliary effected the purchase Of
a couple that for shaggy l-anness would defy match
over the wide kingdom OF Connaught- Of the hamets
which | have visited since then description Of one
applies nearly to the wholestragging disorder, dirt
and apparent poverty being attributes Of them all.
They bear resemblance, however, to the villages Of
Asiatic Turkey where unceaniness Is intensified to
filth, and where hat-ro0fed excavations, that seem
specially designed to exclude the light of heaven and
shut in the smoke Of manure fuel proof Of vastly
ruder architectural taste and less civilized regard FOR
domestic comfort Ia the latter the houses of whole
village are nearly always connected; but in these Cir
cassian hamets, each dwelling stands apart, mostly
within ts sepa ate palisaded enclosure, which
ans, beside the house itself cattle shed and poultry
pen constructed Ike it, too entirely Of opea mud
plastered wickerwork and covered in with similar
convex roofing Of thin single, heavy coating Of
dried mlet-straw fern. In front OF the dwelling
house the roof generally projects FAR enough to form
covered porch, beneath which, in the clear light Of
day, the wife grnds her millet-hour or performs
her ether household abos, out of the smoke that
darkens everything within. Except in the villages
which are large enough to posseSs bazaar there suo
approach 10 street arrangement in the position of these
dwellings each IL pitched the accidents Of the
ground or Of its owners caprice may determine stand
ing out in advance of behind at any known angle
to, ns noghbor and in shape is oval square, rec
taDgUlaT, IA the same chances may have decreed-
hen to this add, that front aud back door all
the inlets for light and air which this simple style of
domestic architecture empoys-wndows being a re-
hnemeL as yet unknown to its professorssome gener
al idea may be formed Of the outward aspect of Of
these primitive Caucasian haulets. Milet and rice
the OILY crops Of which have met with any trace,
the latter, Of course only in the swaInpy fats along the
eoas and the former cleared patches OF ground In
the bigher.lying valleys and bill sides tobacco and
-afIron also grown in districts of the interior
but of these l have seen nothing. The miIIeL when
cut is stuck up into the branches Of tree and therein
packed much ia tie shape of huge fir cone, whose col
idty makes weatherproof while its elevation from
the ground eectusDy secures against all injury from
cattle.
Such, briefly, 10 the appearance of the Circassian
villages have visited and sueh, too the only trace,
Of agricultural industry 10 be seen around them Of
Tie people themselves would be premature to sneak
generally nom the few hundreds of them vIlhieh
these rambes have brought under my eve but 40 far
&c an oIinnn can be formed Of the whole from such
esrpes' 'cuI1 fsy that beJond al comparison the
u'fn de phy"ealy aJ superior u the vcusea, much