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PLATE XXVI.
A KABARDINIAN.
J^His is one of the tribes, who are generally called Tcherkessians.
They were first subject to Russia in the sixteenth century. They
inhabit the country in the neighbourhood of the Caucasian mountains,
to the south of the Nagai Tartars, of the sea of Azof, along the banks
of the rivers Terek and Soonsha, which take their rise in the mountains
near Mount Kabarda. These people at one time thr(?iv off their
allcgiance to Russia, massacred all the commissaries and civil officers,
and put themselves under the protection of the Turks. The Kabardinians,
as well as all the other Caucasian tribes, are stationary, and
very populous. They generally live in small villages, and are employed
in agriculture and pasturage, though many follow different trades, and
some few are engaged in commerce.
