The preceding, however, does not include the tribes, such
as the Eezgi, and others still fighting for their independence.
Lezgistan lies between Georgia and Daghestan, along the
two sides of the Caucasus. Including both the northern and
southern slopes of this portion of these mountains, it has a
surface of about 10,000 square miles, which is occupied by the
Avars, Zerkers and other tribes, who are subject to the Lezgi.
The great central road leads from the western side of
Georgia by the celebrated pass of Dariyel,1 which is so named
from a fortress situated on a rock washed by the river
Terek.
Dariyel, called by the Georgians Shevis Kari, or the Gate
of Shevi, is, without doubt, the celebrated Caucasian Gate ; a
prodigious work of nature, says Pliny, formed by abrupt precipices,
and having the interval closed by gates with iron
bars. Beneath the rocks runs a river,8 which emits a strong
smell.3
The remainder of the country may be described as a succession
of narrow valleys or ravines, separating steep, lofty,
and wooded mountains. These valleys, together with the few
patches of table-land occurring here and there between them,
are in general cultivated, and produce wheat, barley, millet,
oats, &c., although not sufficient for home consumption. The
people, therefore, chiefly depend for subsistence on their numerous
flocks of horned cattle, sheep, goats, and hogs, and on
the occasional supplies of grain brought from the fertile districts
of Georgia.
That part of the cpuntry which is occupied by the Ossetes
is distinguished by features which are strongly marked, and
it is covered with beech wood, interspersed with walnut trees.
1 Darjol means a narrow pass, from the Tartar Dar, or Thar, and jol, a way.
—Klaproth’s Travels in the Caucasus, p. 277-
8 In Georgian, the Thergiss, the Terek, or Tergl.—Ibid., p 377.
8 Pliny, book VI. sec. 12. “ Ab iis sunt portse Caucasise, magno errore
multis Caspiae dictae, ingens naturae opus, montibus interruptis repente, ubi
fores obditae ferratis trabibus, subter medias amne diri odoris fluente, citraque
in rupe castello (quod vocatur Cumamia) communito.'’
It has no towns; but there are numerous villages, each containing
from 50 to 500 families, who live in roughly-built
stone houses, with flat roofs, which rest upon substantial
beams. As these villages are not inclosed, and each has, in
fact, only the protection of one or two square towers, the
defence of that part of the Ossetian country, as well as of the
other districts which are still independent (especially the
Little Kabardaj, is maintained by a number of separate, but
simple and effective entrenchments. Each of these temporary
fortresses consists of an inclosure formed by two rows of
wattle work, placed four feet apart, and raised higher than
a man’s head; earth is tightly rammed between the rows,
and the wall is loop-holed throughout. Over the inner circle
thus formed, is placed a straw roof, beneath which the peasants
preserve their seed corn, as well as their agricultural
and other indispensable implements.1 This kind of defence
is also general in European Turkey, where its first use, as a
parapet surmounting the revetment of a rampart, is attributed
to another brave, but less fortunate nation, the Poles. In
recent times, it has been the received opinion of great military
authorities that the most difficult mountain countries
may be turned, and that their defences, however formidable in
themselves, must of necessity fall before a well-organized plan
of attack: but the Caucasian highlanders have shown that
this is not always the case ; for their determined bravery and
patriotic endurance continue to triumph over the rules of
tactics, though brought into operation by a succession of
skilful leaders, at the head of a powerful and regular army
of invaders, who are amply recruited from the Russian
frontiers.
| Klaproth’s Travels, p. 360.