82

THE TARTARS OF THE CRIMEA.

[JULY, and the cottage literally consists of a roof projecting out of the hill, and with a front and side walls. The roof is perfectly flat, and, projecting beyond the front wall, is supported by posts, and forms a sort of verandah. Whether you pass above or below them they present a very singular appearance. If below, no roof at all is visible; if above, as one writer informs us, "they would have the effect of diminutive drying-grounds for grain or coffee, were it not for the smoke that issues from the conical mud chimneys. These serve not only as apertures for the smoke, but also as means of verbal communication with the interior of the houses. On a dark night an equestrian might easily mistake his way, and, riding straight over one of these roofs, make his appearance at the front door in a manner too abrupt to be altogether consistent with good breeding."

We introduce here, from the book to which we have just referred, a description of a Tartar house in which the author passed a night when ascending the Tchatir Dagh, or Mountain Tent of the

Tartars.

Dismounting before a low verandah, we entered a sort of hut, by a hole about three feet square, and, passing through a small room, and another hole, found ourselves in a somewhat more spacious apartment, carpeted with thick white felt. Raised about six inches above the floor, a sort of divan extended all round the room, above which were suspended quantities of richly-embroidered cloths, used as handkerchiefs or towels. I bought a very handsome one of these, with an Arabic inscription upon it, for a ruble.+ Upon a shelf at the further end were piled gold and silver brocades, while, hardly corresponding with such handsome garniture, earthenware vessels were ranged upon the massive beams which supported the roof, and which were placed so low that the members of the household could reach them easily, and unwary strangers knock their heads against them continually. A great many bunches of wild thyme were hanging from the rafters, but they by no means answered the purpose of overcoming the strong smell of garlic which floated round everybody, and pervaded every thing. We were delighted with the comfortable air of the whole establishment: nothing could have looked cleaner than the white walls, or softer than the white felt, but we had not as yet experienced one peculiar property of the latter. A very small window, with wooden bars, and touching the ground, was opposite a large old-fashioned sort of fireplace, in which an ox might have been roasted whole, and which completed the unique appearance of our quarters.§

The mountains of the Crimea rise, in their higher summits, to an elevation of 5000 feet, remarkably contrasting, in this respect, with

*Oliphant's "Russian Shores of the Black Sea," pp. 231, 232.

† A Russian silver coin, worth about 2s. 9d.

They were already in the possession of numberless inmates, who did not fail to avenge themselves on the intruder who visited these cushions in the hope of finding sleep.

? Oliphant, p. 220.

1854.]

CONFESSIONS OF AN IDOLATER.

83

the monotonous level which generally prevails throughout Russia. The Tchatir Dagh is one of the highest. In climbing to its lofty peak the traveller passes through varied and beautiful scenery. Orchards and gardens abounding with every kind of fruit trees, fields of tobacco, Indian corn, flax, and millet, with extensive vineyards, are interspersed with snug-looking Tartar villages, until, as the path ascends, the beech-woods succeed the more cultivated grounds, above which tower the limestone cliffs that form the summit of the mountain.

We cannot be surprised that the Crimea has become of late years a favourite resort of the Russian nobility. Along the southeastern shores their castles and chateaux may be seen. Hedges of cypress and olive, pomegranate and laurel, line the road, which, as it climbs some lofty range, or drops into the valley beneath, is continually presenting lovely scenes to the eye. Would that gospel truth were entrenched in the Crimea! It would be a central spot from whence it might exercise a commanding influence.

ww ww

CONFESSIONS OF AN IDOLATER.

THE following account of an idolater, given by himself, is worthy of perusal. It very clearly shows the unhappiness of being such; the vain hopes and expectations of obtaining from idols what they are unable to grant; the greediness of the priests; the expense attendant on the sacrifices; and the bitter disappointments which are the portion of the worshippers. It also shows the growing influence of Christianity in heathen lands, and the welcome refuge which the gracious Saviour affords to poor weary and heavy-laden sinners. We have extracted it from the journal of Mr. S. Crowther, jun., one of our native agents at Abbeokuta.

After

June 21, 1853-An idolater called this morning at my house at Igbein before 8 A.M., and inquired after me. After he had found me, he told me that he came for peace, and not for war, and that he was sent to me by his Obatala (a god composed of white beads, cowries, &c.). As I perceived that he wanted medicine, I sent him up to Ake to wait for me. my arrival at Ake I inquired into the reason that his Obatala had sent him to me; "for it is a marvellous thing," said I, "to hear that Obatala sends his worshipper to one connected with the true God." He replied, "I do not know how or why it is thus, but so it is; and let this not prevent you from hearing me, for I had long thought of Obatala's conduct towards me, which has been altogether strange, and before he had consented to send me to you I had almost given him up." He proceeded: "I am an Obatala worshipper, as you see by my white dress. I have been his servant from childhood, and he promised me health, wealth, and a good number of wives and children. I do not believe any one has been so faithful to him as I have been: I have sacrificed goats, sheep, and pigeons without number to Obatala, and I was glad when every thing was going on well with me. I was and am still a farmer: I got a good deal from my farm, and afterwards I was able to support a

84

CONFESSIONS OF AN IDOLATER.

[JULY, wife and a child. I then increased my sacrifices: I had an Ifa priest to divine for me; but after some time my wife died. I inquired at the hands of Obatala the reason, and he attributed it to the insufficiency of sacrifices. I redoubled my sacrifices. After a year or less my child also died, my only daughter"-here he spoke with much feeling. "I again inquired, and Obatala's answer was as formerly. I again redoubled my sacrifices. Not long after I fell sick of rheumatism. I would not ask any more of Obatala, as I could not spare money then to make sacrifices, but intended to keep the little I had in hand for the doctors who would cure me. I called in an Ifa priest to divine, and he told me that he would undertake my cure-with a good remuneration, of course: but this I cared not for; I wanted to get well again. However, after one year's trial without any good effect, for I became worse instead of better, I called the priest, and asked him the reason why I did not get better. He told me that Obatala wanted sacrifices, but did not wish me to use any medicine for my cure. It was then that I thought of the unreasonableness of Obatala's answer; for how could I have expected to get well without means? I then told Obatala that I wanted to make a trial of another doctor, for I had already been told of you. Obatala at first would not consent to my going to the Oibos,* lest I would believe theirs"—that is, embrace their religion. "However, I did not give Obatala rest, for I inquired over and over for a recommendation, until I got him to agree to my coming to you; and here I am now without any more property than what you see on my body. Tell me all about your religion, and what I should do; and upon my own words I am bound to believe and do it but I also want your assistance with respect to my complaint."

I explained to him accordingly the principles of the Christian religion, and pointed him to Jesus Christ, who, I told him, was evidently drawing him, by the lovely cords of His Holy Spirit, to Himself. I called a communicant of the Ake church, who entered the room at the end of our conversation, to explain the love of Jesus to him, and the folly of idolatry, and thereby to confirm all that I had told him. The woman spoke, from the true feeling of her heart, the truths of the Christian religion, and the folly, as well as the destroying tendency, of the Obatala worship, as also the cruelty and deceitfulness of the babbalawos; for she herself, she added, had been an Obatala worshipper, but now she was thankful that she was a member of Christ's church. After our long conversation I administered medicine to this sick man, and he went away full of gratitude and joy. Before he left, he desired me to tell him whether it would be lawful for him to attend the church under the state of sickness in which he was, and whether he should at once throw away his Obatala. I told him that the church is a place where all the sick, both of body and soul, are to lay their complaints before Jesus, the true and good physi cian; and that he would find many like himself there. I also advised him not to act immediately from the impulse of the moment, by throwing away his Obatala, but to attend always God's house of prayer and hear His word, and compare His worship with that of Obatala, and then make his choice.

Since then, this individual has been regularly attending our church.

* White men.

WE are anxious to bring before our readers the shores of the Black Sea and the adjacent countries, a deeply-interesting region, but one as yet unvisited by the bright sunshine of the gospel, where false religions, of various aspects, have prevailed, and Christ, in the simplicity of that sal

86

THE CIRCASSIANS.

[AUGUST, vation which He has provided for us, is unknown. With this object we have introduced some few sketches of the Crimea, very meagre and imperfect, yet enough, perhaps, to lead the mind of our readers in that direction, and make them anxious to obtain more information than can be found in the scant pages of our unpretending periodical. There is another country to which we now turn, the mountainous region of the Caucasus occupying the isthmus which intervenes between the Euxine and the Caspian, and known under the general names of Circassia and Georgia. Circassia lies most to the north. It is a mountainous and rugged country, and is divided by the river Cyrus, or Kour, from the less broken and more fertile Georgia. The latter is under the power of the Russian Czar: the former is the home of fierce and warlike tribes, who have hitherto successfully resisted all his efforts to enslave them.*

This region is generally recognised as the cradle of the post-diluvian family of man. On mount Ararat, one of the Caucasian range, the ark rested. The adjacent lands were probably those which were first reoccupied, as the little seed of human vitality, so marvellously preserved, expanded and reproduced itself; and here man is still to be found retaining more of that beauty and excellence of feature and form which we might suppose originally belonged to him, than in other descendants from the same common stock.

The principal nations of Circassia are the Cherkesses, the Abasians, the Ossetinians, the Kabardians, the Tchetchencis, and the Lesquis. Of these, the two first-named are the most powerful, outnumbering by half all the other tribes. They may be computed probably at one million and a half, while the rest of the Caucasians do not exceed one million. They are both animated by the fiercest hostility to the Muscovites, whose deceits and violence they have alike resisted. Occupying the north-western extremity of the Caucasian range, they have there maintained themselves; and Russia, unable to force her way through a country strong by nature, and still more so when defended by a courageous people, that could not be conquered, and disdained to submit, has been obliged to limit herself to the conquest of the Black Sea coast, of which the events of the present war have already deprived her. The Cherkesses, about one million in number, are supposed to be the aborigines of these regions. The Abasians, although established there from time immemorial, exhibit in their features some admixture with the Egyptian or Mongol races. The other tribes are the relics of various nations, swept in here amidst political convulsions, as the tide of conquest has advanced or receded. Amongst the others are the Ossetinians, a fair-haired, blueeyed people, supposed to be the descendants of a colony of Medes. The Cherkesses inhabit the eastern side of the mountain chain. They are not tall, but exquisitely formed, and possessed of great muscular

* Our Frontispiece represents an ancient Greek cross, situate amid a coppice on the hill above the glen of Sûkwa, not far from Anapa, the Russian fortress on the coast opposite the Crimea, which was recently reported to have been attacked by the French fleet under Admiral Bruat. The Russians are said to have offered a high price for this relic. The inscription, rude at first, has become much defaced by the weather. The figures are, of course, Circassians. Our readers will be enabled from this to form some idea of the appearance of the country and its inhabitants.