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CIKCASSIA 603 teak and other timber, and leaving between their base and the coast a fertile tract of 30 or 40 m. average breadth, in which grain and a superior kind of tobacco are produced abun- dantly. Sugar, ginger, turmeric, and cotton are also cultivated ; but fruits and green es- culents are scarce. Sheep and the larger spe- cies of horned cattle are the principal quadru- peds. Ship building is carried on in the Go- davery river ; the coasting trade with Madras and other ports employs a large number of native vessels ; cotton stuffs, chintzes, carpets, punjum cloths, muslin, silks, and indigo are manufactured ; and fine cotton fabrics are exported to England. The native inhabitants are almost without exception Hindoos, and as a class are thought to be superior to the Ben- galese. Their villages are little better than collections of large mud huts. Four of the Circars were acquired from the emperor Shah Alum, who bestowed them upon the East In- dia company as a free gift in 1765 ; Guntoor, the fifth, passed into British hands in 1Y88. CIRCASSI A (properly TOHEEKESSIA ; called by the Circassians the land of the Adighei), a mountainous region of European Russia, form- ing a part of the Kuban district, between lat. 42 40' and 45 20' N., and Ion. 37 30' and 42 30' E. ; area, about 20,000 sq. m. ; pop. about 300,000. It is situated on the N". E. part of the Black sea to about Ion. 42 30' E. On the N. it is separated from the territory of the Black sea Cossacks by the river Kuban, and on the N. E. by its affluent, the Laba, from the Nogai lowlands; on the S. E. it borders on the Greater Kabarda ; and on the S. and S. W. it is separated from Imerethia, Mingrelia, and Abkhasia by the highest chain of the Caucasus. The whole of this country, with the exception of the low lands on the Kuban, is rugged and mountainous, embracing the Elburz and other peaks of the Caucasus, and is everywhere broken into deep valleys and intersected by streams. Toward the N. W. the mountains gradually decrease in elevation, and the range of the Black mountains (anc. Coraxici Monies), between the Black sea and the Kuban, con- sists of a number of rounded hills of moderate height. From the contiguity of the mountains to the sea the watercourses are generally of small importance, most of the rivers being but shallow streams, which in summer stagnate on the low grounds and produce miasma. In the more elevated portions the atmosphere is colder and the climate is more salubrious. The hydrography is of two systems, the waters of the S. E. district being conveyed by the Terek to the Caspian sea, and those of all other parts by the Kuban or directly to the Black sea. Some of the direct affluents of the Black sea are of sufficient depth at their mouths for navi- gation. For the prevention of smuggling and of the traffic in slaves, the Eussians have built a number of forts on the coast. On the Kuban is also a line of forts to keep the tribes in subjection. The passes leading through the mountains are narrow defiles, which can be traversed only in single file. The villages are generally situated in the valleys which are most difficult of access. The name Tcher- kesses, "cutters of roads," a term equivalent to cutpurses or highway robbers, was given by the Tartars ; the Circassians call themselves Adighei, " the noble." They are essentially a pastoral as well as a warlike people, averse to labor, and addicted to robbery and blood- shed. They are of middle stature, with broad shoulders, but otherwise slender, having small hands and feet, and keen eyes. Their bearing is courteous and dignified. Their wealth consists in flocks, herds, horses, and arms. Money as a circulating medium is almost unknown. Ac- cording to their eulogists, the Circassians are the handsomest, bravest, and noblest of mankind ; but their detractors represent them as a semi- barbarous horde of marauders. They do not Circassians. even constitute one people, but are composed of clans, subdivided into families more or less powerful, under their hereditary heads, who in turn are feudatory to the princes or greater chiefs, also hereditary, but liable to be deposed for misconduct. Circassian pride of birth is ex- cessive, and causes society to be divided into classes as strictly defined as in the most aris- tocratic countries. With all this they have a theory of republicanism, every free Circassian having a right to make his voice heard in the public assemblies. The social grades are: 1, princes or chiefs, called pshelis, Tchanules, khans; 2, nobles ; 3, middle class ; 4, retainers ; 5, serfs, employed either in cultivation of the soil or in menial service. The princes and nobles are the owners of the soil, from whom their tenantry hold the land which they cultivate. The noble lives in his village, sur- rounded by his people, and exercises a patri-