[249] See [Appendix A].
[250] Heeren, Handbuch, iii. 2. 2. p. 185. Mannert, Geographie, 6. 3. p. 253, &c.
If we had no more exact information than that which has been already cited, we might infer, that the Coraxi occupied part of the modern Circassia, a mountainous region admirably adapted to the breeding of sheep. The Circassians of the present day have numerous herds of cattle and vast flocks of sheep and goats. Their vallies are distinguished by beauty and fertility. A late traveller says, that from whatever country you enter Circassia, “you are at once agreeably impressed with the decided improvement in the appearance of the population, the agriculture, and the beauty of their flocks and herds[251].” With respect to Dioscurias, we are informed, that “the memory of its ancient name is still preserved in the present appellation of Iskouriah[252].” Sir John Chardin, who visited it and calls it Isgaour, commends its safety in summer as a road for ships, but says that it is a complete desert, where he could obtain no provisions, the traders who anchor there being obliged to construct temporary huts and booths of the boughs of trees for their accommodation, whilst awaiting the arrival of the natives of Mingrelia and Caucasus[253].
[251] Travels in Circassia, &c. in 1835, by Edmund Spencer, Esq., vol. ii. p. 355. Julius von Klaproth, in the work quoted below, says, (p. 582.), that the wealth of the Circassians consists principally in their sheep, from whose wool the women make coarse cloth and felt. In the summer they drive their sheep into the mountains, but feed them under cover in winter, and at other times in the plains.
[252] Dr. Goodenough, in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. i. p. 110. See also Major Rennell’s Map of Western Asia.
[253] Chardin’s Travels, vol i. p. 77. 108. of the English Translation. London, 1686.
But, besides the general inference that the Coraxi occupied part of the modern Circassia, we are able to determine their abode with still greater precision, and even obtain some insight into their distinctive characters as a nation.
At the south-eastern extremity of Chirkess, or Circassia, on the northern declivity of Mount Elborus, and about the sources of the Kuban, the ancient Hypanis, we find a mountain clan, consisting of rather more than 250 families, which appears to retain not only the manners and habits, but even the very name of the Coraxi. Julius von Klaproth, to whom we are principally indebted for our knowledge of them, calls them the Caratshai[254]. From him we learn the following particulars respecting their appearance, manners, and employments. They are among the most beautiful of the inhabitants of Caucasus, and more like the Georgians than the wandering Tartars of the Steppe. They are well formed, and have fine features, which are set off by large black eyes and a white skin. Their language resembles that of the Nogay-Tartars. They live in very neat houses, built of pine. Their children are strictly and well educated; and in general it may be said of them, that they are the most cultivated nation in Caucasus, surpassing all their neighbors in refinement of manners. They are very industrious, and subsist chiefly by agriculture. Their soil is productive, and, besides various kinds of grain, yields abundance of grass for pasture. The country around them is covered with woods, which abound with wild animals, such as bears, wolves, wild goats, hares, and wild cats, whose skins are much prized, and martins. Their dress is chiefly made of woollen cloth, which they weave themselves from the produce of their flocks, and which is admired throughout the whole of Caucasus. They sell their cloth, called by them Shal[255], their felt for carpeting, and their furs, partly to the Nogay-Tartars and Circassians, from whom they purchase articles of metal, and partly at Souchom-Kalé, a Turkish fort on the Black Sea, which contains shops and ware-houses, and carries on a considerable trade with the Western Caucasus. They receive here in return goods of cotton and silk, tobacco and tobacco-pipes, needles, thimbles, and otter-skins. While the men are employed out of doors, the women stay at home, make gold and silver thread, and sew the clothes of their fathers and brothers.
[254] Reise in den Caucasus, cap. 24. The author thus spells the name in German characters, Ckaratschai. Father Lamberti, a missionary from the Society of the Propaganda at Naples, who remained twenty years in that part of Asia in the seventeenth century, calls them “i Caraccioli,” in which name we observe the addition of an Italian termination. See his Relatione della Colchide, hoggi delta Mengrelia, Napoli, 1654, cap. 28. p. 196.
[255] The origin of the English shawl.