Life of Schamyl | Page 2

of the juniper measures often
fifteen feet in circumference; and the vine climbing to the top of the
lofty elm sends its tendrils across to the neighboring beech, hanging
festoons from tree-top to tree-top, and almost making of the forest one
far spreading arbor. Lower down the pomegranate hangs out its
blossoms; the fig and wild pear their fruits; the laurel and the myrtle
their green leaves; while an infinite variety of creepers entwine
themselves around every form, and wild flowering plants, from
gorgeous rhododendrons and azalias to the lowly violet and arbutus, fill
the woods with sweet odors.
The distant view of the Caucasus, so bold in its outlines and varied in

its forms, surpasses in grandeur that of the Alps; and if from the small
number of lakes and glaciers, the interior aspects present less of that
exceeding beauty which characterizes the Swiss landscapes above those
of all other mountains, there is nevertheless a brilliancy of tints in this
oriental air, a glory of nearly five hundred miles of snow peaks, a
luxuriance of woods on the lower ranges, and a degree of cultivation in
the valleys where the hand of man has been busy since times the most
remote, which render this mountain land one of the fairest portions of
the globe, and worthy of having been, as by some traditions is reported,
the cradle of the human race.
The western portion of the mountains is fruitful to the height of five
thousand feet, and the eastern is frequently terraced with gardens. The
valleys, green with meadows or golden with many varieties of grain,
are dotted over with villages and clusters of cottages. White sheep in
great numbers and jet black goats crop the hill-sides; while in lower
pastures feed the buffalo and the camel. Herds of tame or half-wild
horses roam at large through the glades; wild boars house among the
reeds on the river banks; and the chamois looks down from its rocks
upon wild deer and gazelles grazing unscared in the vicinity of the
habitations of man.

II.
ITS HISTORY.
The Caucasus is celebrated as the scene of some of the most popular
fables of Grecian antiquity, as well as of some of the earliest traditions
of the race. For while the ark of Noah is said to have grounded on the
top of Mount Elbrus before reaching its final resting-place on the
neighboring Ararat, it was on Kasbek that Prometheus was chained to a
rock for having stolen the fire of the gods and given it to mortals. In the
mountain land of Colchis, Jason carried off the golden fleece, and
Cadmus reaped a harvest of armed men from sowing serpent's teeth in
furrows turned by the fire-breathing bulls of Vulcan. Hither wandered
that primitive race of men who were driven by the Pelasgi from the

regions of Olympus; on an island off the coast the poets located the
palace of Aurora, wherein were kept up the perpetual dances and songs
of the hours, and where was daily reborn the sun; and finally, between
the present Little Kabarda and Svanethi existed, say the traditions, the
gallant state of the Amazons, until the heart of their otherwise
unconquerable prophetess was taken captive by Thoulme, chief of the
Circassians, while long afterwards the famous Nina continued to rule
over the heroic sisterhood in Immeritia.
The ancient Persians gave to the Caucasus the name of Seddi Iskender,
or the barrier of Alexander, who here met with the first check in his
attempt to subjugate the world. Rome early sent her conquering legions
to bring under the yoke the prosperous colonies of Greece on the shores
of the Euxine; and Pompey returning home from the East, after having
chased Mithridates from the Euphrates to Colchis and Dioscurias,
graced his triumphal entry into the city with the gigantic sons of these
mountains. Genoa, in a later and more commercial age, made
settlements on the Caucasian shore, whither she sent her argosies to be
freighted with grain, skins, tallow, and the fruits of the hive, and where
she has left to this day the foundations of her walls and towers, her
carved stones and crosses, her sepulchres and a name. In more recent
times, the princes of the dynasties of the White Horde and the Golden
Camp have come from the Crimea to break their lances on the plains of
the Kuma; Attila, Tamerlane, and Genghis Khan have swept in their
victorious career along the base of these rocky ramparts of freedom; the
Persian and the Turk have waged occasional war with some of the
Caucasian tribes, though never with more than partial and temporary
success; and it is the Muscovite empire alone which has ever succeeded
in throwing the shadows of imminent subjugation over the landscape of
these sunny