that belonged to her of sovereignty over the tribes of the Caucasus, and Russia instantly and fearfully availed herself of the pretext for bringing the whole country into subjection. But the truth was, that Turkey had signed away what it was not in her power to bestow; that the Caucasian tribes had never acknowledged more than a nominal sovereignty in Turkey; and that the sea-shore was the only part by which even that was formally acknowledged. The new demand of submission, therefore, came like a thunderbolt upon the Circassians. The Russian army advanced in force sufficient to justify the belief at St Petersburg, that no merely barbarian power could resist it for a single campaign; but the Czar, who had seen nothing but an empire of serfs, was now to take a lesson from a commonwealth of freemen. The Circassians rose in their villages, cursed the name of the invader, pronounced their determination to resist ; and adopting, as if by instinct, the true tactique of mountain war, drove their cattle from the valleys, burned their barks on the shores, removed their families to the hills, stockaded the mountain passes, and, calling on every man to take up his rifle, prepared to fight to their last breath against the Czar and slavery. The result was altogether beyond conjecture; for what could the desultory resistance of a population of peasants be expected to perform against the disciplined troops, the financial resources, and the devouring ambition of the Russian empire?

The "affair of the Vixen" has been familiar to the British public. It arose out of an attempt, on the part of some British merchants, to carry on an independent trade with Circassia. The Vixen was seized by the Russians, and the whole business produced a formidable addition to the troubles of Lord Palmerston, already perilously immersed in protocols, and the official puzzling of the most puzzled diplomacy since the days of Laputa. Mr Bell, the chief agent on the occasion, returned to Constantinople. Lord Durham, the champion of Liberalism in England, was sent to display his flexibility at the foot of the despot; he performed the suppliant to admiration, bowed to the Emperor with the pliancy of a Chinese mandarin, found his Radicalism utterly melted down in

the irresistible radiance of the imperial smile, and having accomplished that object dearest to every Whig and Radical in existence-the enjoyment of a two years' salary-returned to England, bringing nothing with him but a character from the Czar, and a couple of Russian ribands at his buttonhole.

In 1837, Mr Bell resolved on making a second experiment, and started from Constantinople by the Turkish steamer for Trebizond, but landed at Sinope. This town would form a study for the antiquarian; it stands on the end of a promontory, guarded on the land side by lofty double walls, which, having been repaired by the Turks from time to time, give numberless proofs of the barbaric readiness with which they availed themselves of the labours of the past. The walls are patched with slabs bearing Greek and Latin inscriptions, and with fragments of beautifully executed alto-relievos, capitals, entablatures, and fluted marble columns! The country affords no less interest to the geologist, presenting a great variety of soil as it recedes from the coast; hills evidently volcanic, those hills forest-crowned; the valleys fertile and abundant in flowers, among which were "most fragrant violets; orchards and vineyards, showing the luxuriance of the land, and even the quiet and comfort which the indolence of the Turk allows to the Asiatic farmer. But this fine portion of the earth is coming into play, and it will not be long forgotten or unexamined.

But there is already a silent operation going on, whose effects must have been felt, even without the more rapid stimulant of war. The people of Sinope carry on a considerable trade in the fine oaks with which their adjoining hills abound. The "steamer is abroad," worth all the " schoolmasters" of this liberal age. The Trebizond steamers call at Sinope for coals. The Turks and Persians were at first afraid to trust themselves to ride on these "fire-horses;" but they have now got over their terrors, and they pass, generally, to the number of sixty or a hundred every trip. These are wondrous doings in Turkey. Twenty years ago the passengers would have been taken for madmen, the captain would have been hanged as a magician, and the ship would

have been confiscated as a "contraband" of the Prince of the Power of the Air!

After some discussion as to the mode of arriving at Circassia without being overhauled by the Russians, Mr Bell, at length, embarked on board a coaster, commanded by an old Turk named Khader. Khader was a hu. mourist, who scattered his jokes round all his passengers. Their banquet was not much suited to epicurism; twice a day they had a stew of dried salt-meat, eggs, and onions, followed by a cup of sugarless coffee, and a pipe. Their other meals were irregular, optional, and requiring strong stomachs; for their composition was garlic, olives, and capsicums. They had five Circassians on board, warrior merchants, who brought with them considerable quantities of packages for the home trade; but their first care was to look to their arms and ammunition-a sign of the times! The winds were continually shifting, and at length fell dead calm. Then the native resources of the Oriental came into play. A Mollah wrote a verse from the Koran, which he tied aloft in the rigging, and another Turk hung up the Koran itself at the stern. It may be presumed that the charm was effectual, for a breeze set in shortly after. Next day, as they approached the coast, they were startled by the reports of distant cannon; but a swallow flew by, which was regarded as a happy omen, and they were comforted. The captain was a man of experience; his vessel had been already captured by the Russian cruisers, but he had made his escape with his crew in a cockboat, in which, after four days of hazard, he reached the shore. He had sailed the Euxine for twenty-five years. His contrivance for ascertaining the set of the wind was happy his vessel had no vane; but he stuck out his long pipe, which was seldom out of his hand, over the gunwale, and it answered the purpose. The wind at last rose, and put the old captain into remarkable good-humour. He had said to an old Circassian gentleman, who had gone below through a fit of sickness, "that he was happy to see him again on deck, for when he was asleep so often, and forgot to say his prayers, they had bad winds." To a remark, that he seemed in good spirits-"Yes, yes," said he, " I have

one old wife and one son, and, whenever I can make some money for them, I can laugh all day long.' The wind fell again; but Moslem invention was not to be exhausted. The Mollah went round the deck with a little cup for paras, to buy candles to place in the mosque of a saintly Derveish at Sinab, which paras he wrapped up in a piece of rag, and tied round the tiller! In the evening, another scene perfectly Oriental occurred. The sails being trimmed, and the evening prayers said, the steersman proposed telling them a tale, to pass the time. While he knelt, as they generally do, with the tiller under his arm, and a pipe in one hand, the other being free for action, with the moonlight shinning upon his expressive features, and the surrounding circle of Turks and Circassians all listening in silence and light, the whole was an example of the involuntary picturesque. His tale was one of the old Arab family, of unhappy sultans and wonderful derveishes; but it was broken short by a fresh breeze. Another night was spent upon the waters. The sea, under the full moon, looked like a bath of silver. To add to the interest of the scene, an eclipse came on. The alarm was obviated by the Englishman's prediction of it, from his almanac ; but all his attempts to explain the phenomenon were met with that acquiescent doubt, which relieves the Turk from the trouble of thinking. "It is the will of God," said they; and this solution accounted for every thing. It is the Turkish royal road to science; and saves the brain prodigiously.

But they were now approaching their harbour and their hazard together. Morning showed them the mountains of Circassia about forty miles off; but it soon after showed them two Russian vessels, one a threemasted cutter of six guns, and the other a large gun-brig, coming down full upon them. The chase now began, and the Turks were recommended to throw their bales overboard. But this they would not do however, as something must be done, they threw overboard a gun-carriage and a Circassian flag. Their only hope was in the tactique of the Russians, who are bad sailors. The cutter commenced firing the first shots fell short. Twice before she neared them, way was lost by the necessity of altering

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her course, owing to the Russian having endeavoured to run in upon them, instead of running between them and the coast. Four or five times, while running alongside, and her shot passing far beyond them, she lost way by altering her course, either for the purpose of closing with them, or bringing her broadside to bear. The Turks were in despair, and proposed an instant surrender; but the Circassians were of other metal. The old Circassian who had been sea-sick, drew his dagger upon the Captain the moment he talked of surrender. The rest loaded their fire-arms, and fixed their daggers in their belts, to keep the sailors to their duty. The Russian fired as slow, as she had manœuvred badly; but she was too strong, and the case now seemed hopeless. The chase had continued for two hours, and the shot falling round them, Mr Bell went below, to get some of his stock of gunpowder in readiness to be thrown overboard. On his return, he took an oar like the rest, and joined in the rowing chant, or in a cheer, of" Madge, Madge," equivalent to the French-" courage," in reply to each shot. At length the cutter came within musket range, but they had now got so near the coast, that they could see the people rushing down the hills, and streaming from both sides along the beech, towards the point for which they were making. Seeing this, the Circassians on board, who had been singing their beautiful rowing chant, "Arira-ri-ra," set up a scream of piercing shrillness, to which their countrymen on shore set up an equally ear-piercing reply. In a short time, a boat, literally crammed with armed men, was alongside of them. The Russians now seemed to think, that a reinforcement of twentyfive men was not to be trifled with; for the cutter was immediately laid to, firing a shot now and then, in useless anger. The gun-brig next came up, but also brought to; and contented herself with the safe valour of long shots. The shore was now covered with warriors, who naturally took the strong. est interest in this struggle of dastardly strength with skill and courage. As the vessel neared the shore, three Circassians plunged into the sea and swam off to her, to carry the cable to land. Another large boat soon joined them. The Russians at length, having

missed their prey, drew off, after having exhibited a very humble share of either seamanship or daring. The crew and cargo were now safe landed, and all was rejoicing, hospitality, and new contempt for the blockaders.

The Circassians, though generally Moslems, have not adopted all the Moslem absurdities. For instance, they are not fatalists, at least so far as the plague is concerned; for hospitably as Mr Bell was welcomed, his first place of residence was a kind of rude lazaretto, and no one would touch any of the newly arrived until the captain had taken an oath, on the Koran, that there was no plague at the port from which he came. The goods were all fumigated; and, when a house was at last chosen for Mr Bell, it was, one which had been quitted by the family.

The country on this shore is strikingly beautiful; and this kind of landscape extends from Anapa to Sukum Khale, or nearly from the mouth of the Kuban to the borders of Mingrelia. The construction of the coast is equally singular and picturesque; and would probably afford as much interest to the geologist as to the poet or the painter. A

continuous range of lofty and wooded mountains forms the background, while from these descend valleys perpendicular to the shore. Almost all the hills are clothed with oak nearly to the summit; the hills chiefly consisting of a friable clayslate, whose dissolution fills the valleys with a rich soil.

The valley of the Subesh, foi example, the mountain-stream near which the vessel had reached the shore, was highly fertile. Trees were numerous, and all the larger ones were festooned with enormous vines, from which the people make excellent wine, and even brandy, Moslems though they be. Low hills skirted the valley; where not under tillage, clothed with fruit-trees and a beautiful carpet of grass and wild flowers. But no houses were to be seen in the valley: they lurked in clusters in the wooded dells above, a result of the war.

The family in whose "guest-house" Mr Bell resided (for it seems the national habit to have two-one for hospitality and the other for home) at length returned, and they amply fed the English stranger. Fresh supplies of pasta, (a thick porridge made of millet,) meat, either stewed or roasted; pasta with goat's milk, pasta with honey, were