Account of the Abkhazians & the Circassians | Year 1663
Relations de divers voyages curieux. By Melchisédech Thévenot · 1663
Translation:
Account of the Abkhazians
“The Abkhazians inhabit the mountains adjacent to Circassia. On their right lies the shore of the Black Sea, and to their left Mingrelia. This land is governed by two princes, one called Pusso and the other Carabice, and extends for about 150 miles. There are no towns, but many settlements on the highest mountains I have ever seen, stretching down to the seashore.
They live much in the same manner as the Circassians, differing only in that they eat meat almost raw. There is an abundance of wine in this country; their language is quite distinct from that of their neighbours. They have no written laws and scarcely any knowledge of the Christian faith. They profess Christianity, yet practise none of its duties. I have seen many crosses in this land; nevertheless, they are great thieves and habitual liars.
Two rivers run through this country, the Soutchefu and the Subsaü. The air and climate are exceedingly pleasant. When they choose a place to live, they remain there permanently and seldom abandon it. Their wealth consists in trade, all kinds of hides, wax, honey, and flax. They commonly sell these goods to Turkish subjects in exchange for other wares, for money is not in circulation among them.
Each year, numerous ships arrive from Lazistan, Trebizond, Constantinople, and Caffa (Theodosia), some of which remain over the winter. The port is called Eschifumuni. Merchants who come there do not visit their inland dwellings; all commerce is conducted at the harbour or aboard the ships. Traders are not held as hostages, for they run no danger.
They are often at war with the Circassians and Mingrelians. They are skilled horsemen and capable riders, adept in handling arms, particularly the sword, bow, and arrows. Their clothing is made of leather.”
Further Description of the Abkhazians
They resemble the Circassians in their customs, though they wear their hair differently. These peoples allow their moustaches to grow but shave their chins, while the Papari, on the contrary, let their beards grow fully. Those who have the care of the dead and pray to God for their souls are called barbali. They place the bodies of the deceased in hollowed-out tree trunks that serve as coffins or barrels, which they suspend in the air upon four stakes.
As they have no other dwelling than the forests, they possess few flocks and little cloth with which to make garments. They subsist on mead, game, and wild fruits from the woods. They have no wheat, use no salt, and take no pains to fish, although their coasts abound with fish, such is their indolence.
Hunting and falconry are their chief occupations. They have a great number of hawks and falcons, which they train for hunting. Constantinople, Persia, and Georgia all procure these birds from this country, and they are so well trained that they return to their masters at the sound of a small bell.
I shall not attempt to describe Mingrelia here, as it has already been most accurately depicted; I shall merely add that in this region grow the Sené, Séamoncé, and Hellebore, together with many other simple herbs of great virtue. The clergy of this land accompany the prince in war, bearing the cross before him, and the cemetery lies nearby.
A marginal note in another account mentions that these hollowed-out tree trunks, used as coffins or barrels, are adorned with vine branches.
Account of the Circassians
Relations de divers voyages curieux. By Melchisédech Thévenot · 1663
Translation:
The Circassians greatly resemble the Nogai Tatars I have just described, though with this difference: the Circassians dwell only in the densest parts of the woods, where they fortify themselves. They border the Nogai Tatars to the north; to the east they have the Cornuchi, also Tatars, who follow a different religion and live in another manner; to the south, the Abkhazians; and to the west, very high mountains which separate them from Mingrelia.
The greater part of their territory stretches from Taman to Demir-kapi, otherwise known as Derbent, a town situated on the shore of the Caspian Sea — a distance of about twenty-six days’ journey. Between Taman and Tomeruchi, there is a stretch of land along the coast where several villages are found.
They speak the Circassian language, as well as Turkish. Among them are followers of two faiths: some are Mahometans (Muslims), while others follow the Greek rite (Orthodox Christianity); but the majority are Mahometans, for although there are priests who come from Tarki from time to time to administer the sacrament of baptism, the people are poorly instructed in religion. They have thus become Turks in all but name, and nothing remains of the Greek faith among them except the custom of burying food with the dead and observing certain fasts.
These villages obey the Tsar of the Muscovites and a few Murzas or local lords of his court, to whom he has granted these territories in reward for their service. From the mountains they call Varrada as far as Cudescio, the first of the Circassian villages along the seashore, there is about 300 miles of extremely fertile but almost uninhabited land, extending about 140 miles from Cudescio to Abkhazia.
The peoples who live in these mountains profess Christianity, as do those who inhabit the forests of the plains. They obey various local princes. I shall mention some of their principal towns and the distances between them, according to the extent of their authority. From Tomeruchi to Carbatei there are about eighteen days’ journey — a sparsely populated region under the rule of Schaban Ogolli. From Tomeruchi to Giana is two days, from Giana to Codocio two more, from Giana to Bolettecoi about eight, from Gianacofsey to Befinda eight more, from Befinda to Carbatei eight, and from there to Derbent ten days. The princes Scacnee Temricars, kin to the Khan of the Tartars, rule this region. The princes Casbei and Sancacofsei, two brothers, govern all the villages along the seacoast.
These lands are pleasant, though thinly inhabited, for the forests there are not dense. They have no written laws nor any regular practice of religion. They are content to be called Christians by profession. They trade in slaves, hides of stags, oxen, and tigers, and in wax, all found in abundance in the forests. They till their lands with the hoe, have no money, and sell their goods by barter.
Their clothing does not differ greatly from that of the Turks: they wear shirts of dyed cotton, red woollen coats, and felt caps; they wrap their cloaks around the waist so that half the body is left uncovered.
No people in the world, I believe, are more beautiful. Both men and women wash themselves every morning for three hours; the boys and girls bathe completely naked, and the women take great care to wash and whiten their linen.
Their houses are made of two rows of wooden stakes fixed in the ground, interlaced with branches and filled with clay and mortar. The prince’s house is built in the same manner, only larger and higher. The villages, scattered throughout the forests, are not close together; they inter their dead with their horses, arms, and some of their arrows, burying them by hand, for the ground is too hard to dig with tools.
They are often engaged in fighting with the Tatars, who frequently come to raid for slaves, the principal commerce of this nation. The Nogais also make frequent incursions against them. Continuous conflict and constant exercise make them excellent horsemen; they are the best riders in all these regions. They fight with arrows both from the front and the rear, and when they die, they are buried with their weapons. They wear coats of mail that cover their faces, and they fight with javelins, spears, and lances.
Among the Circassians, theft is not considered dishonourable. Robbery is common and goes unpunished; in fact, some esteem is accorded to those who rob skilfully. The elders and principal men of the land take no notice of thefts unless some blood has been shed or a murder committed.
The most common beverage of this nation is made from water boiled with honey and a little millet; they leave this mixture to stand together for ten days, and then boil it again. This drink has the same intoxicating strength as wine, but these peoples are not much given to drunkenness. Instead of using glass, they drink from the horns of wild buffalo or other animals, and they usually drink it standing upright.
The elders and the most respected men of the land do not permit the young to drink at their feasts unless they have performed some theft with skill or committed some deed of notable daring.
The land of the Cudofsi, that is to say, sacred places, where one sees a great quantity of the heads of oxen, remains of Curban or sacrificial offerings that have been performed there. One also sees, hung upon the trees in these places, bows, arrows, and quivers, as well as cemeteries that mark the vows to which they have been bound; and the veneration of these places is so great that even the greatest thieves dare not touch them.
The word given between husband and wife, and the affirmation of a few witnesses, constitute the entire form of their marriage; they never take another wife unless the first has died, or unless they are compelled to do so by some powerful reason. The father who gives his daughter in marriage receives in acknowledgment a certain gift, and men do not find wives if they have nothing with which to make such gifts.
Those who accompany the dead to burial begin their cries and lamentations even before arriving at the house of the deceased: the men scourge themselves, the women tear their faces, while the priest, chanting certain words he knows by heart, sprinkles incense over the body and places upon the grave du pasta & du borzsa, that is to say, food and drink. Afterward, they heap earth upon the coffin, and the mound that remains marks the site of their burial.
These peoples know no other art than that of war, which occupies them entirely. The slaves of this nation are sold much more dearly than those of others, because of their beauty and their skill in the tasks for which they are employed, for by nature they are very intelligent. The horses of Circassia are more highly esteemed than the Tartar horses, because they are swifter and finer. They have two considerable rivers: one is called Psi, which flows into the Calcane, and the other is named Sil, which passes near Cabarta; there are also many small streams and brooks still well known, because they can be easily forded.
THE LAZI OR CURTI
The Lazi, also known as Curti, are Muslims who inhabit the borderlands between Georgia and Trebizond. They dwell in the high mountains along the Black Sea coast—a hardy people raised in the forests, accustomed to great hardship, who spend their lives tending flocks. When opportunity for plunder presents itself, they seize it without hesitation.
The country abounds with wolves and jackals, creatures that share characteristics of both dog and wolf. It is this abundance of wolves that has led the Turks to call these people “Curti,” meaning “wolf” in their tongue.
The landscape, though entirely mountainous, is remarkably pleasant. The hillsides are covered with trees on which the inhabitants train their grapevines to grow. I shall say no more of this region, as it is already well documented elsewhere.
From the section of MINGRELIANS
The current Prince of Mingrelia is Leuan Dadian, the fifth ruler of his line and son of Prince Munacchiar. His father met his death during a hunt when he collided violently with another horseman; his mount overturned, and he perished from his injuries. The present prince was then very young, and one of his paternal uncles, George Lipardian, governed as regent during his minority.
Lipardian had married a daughter of an Abkhazian prince from the house of Sciarapsia, a woman much beloved by her people. Despite his advanced age, Lipardian also took as wife a young lady named Dareggian of the house of Ciladze. This princess found greater pleasure in the company of the young Dadian, who was closer to her own age, than in that of her elderly husband. Dadian, for his part, thought only of indulging the passion he felt for her.
His chief minister, or vizier, named Paponia, so insinuated himself into the queen’s favour—with such public notoriety throughout the country—that Dadian repudiated her in accordance with Greek Church law. He had her nose cut off and sent her back to her father’s lands. As for his minister, he merely imprisoned him and handed him over to his cousin, the Prince of Guria.
Dadian, more besotted than ever with his uncle’s wife, removed her from her household and had all his subjects acknowledge her as Dalboda, or Queen. Yet whilst Dadian’s palace rang with celebrations of these incestuous nuptials, Lipardian held funeral rites for his wife at his own residence, as though she were dead. He and his entire court dressed in mourning and observed forty days of lamentation, according to the custom of the country.
The realm divided over this affair, and Lipardian found himself commanding considerable forces. However, he was poisoned during these preparations, his wife remained queen, and the country might have found peace—had not the vizier I mentioned, seeking to protect himself from Dadian’s vengeance, persuaded the Prince of Guria to wage war against him and forged a league between Guria, the Abkhazians, and the Professional Translation:
and the Prince of Basciaciuck; the design of the leagues was to have Dadian killed and to place in his stead one of his Brothers named Ioseph. They practised, to execute the conspiracy, one of these Abkhazians, who one day struck Dadian with a Lance from behind whilst he was leaning against a Balustrade. The assassin fled, and nothing has been heard of him since. They arrested one of the Officers who was behind the Prince at the time the blow was struck; he confessed the conspiracy. The Vizir was strangled and his body divided into several pieces, placed in a Cannon charged with powder, and the fire having been set to it, was thus blown into a thousand pieces. He had his Brother’s eyes put out, whom the Conspirators wished to place in his stead, and left him only as much revenue as was necessary for his subsistence in his misfortune and his crime. He imprisoned the Prince of Guriel, had his eyes put out, took away his wife, his son, and gave his States to the Patriarch his Uncle, named Malachia. Guriel was thus punished not only for this crime, but also for the Wickedness with which he had caused his own father to die. The tradition of the country maintains that Dadian also had the children he had from his first wife killed at that time, driven to this by the counsel of the new Queen, who wished to place her own children in their stead. Dadian afterwards made war on the Abkhazians, who during the time of these troubles had made raids into his country to avenge the affront done to his first wife, daughter of their Prince. He subjugated these Peoples, and as he could draw from them no tribute of gold or silver, he contented himself with a certain quantity of Hunting Dogs and Falcons, which is what is most rare in their country. Dadian, having thus come to the end of the civil war, turned all his thoughts to making himself Master of Imereti, of which the Prince had previously been his Sovereign. He made war on him, and although he has not yet been able to make himself entirely Master of it, because this Prince has an assured retreat in the Chaand the Prince of Basciaciuck. The aim of this league was to assassinate Dadian and install one of his brothers, named Ioseph, in his place.
To execute their conspiracy, they employed an Abkhazian who one day struck Dadian from behind with a lance whilst he was leaning against a balustrade. The assassin fled and has never been heard of since. The authorities arrested an officer who had been standing behind the prince when the blow was struck; under interrogation, he confessed the conspiracy.
The vizier was strangled, his body dismembered and placed inside a loaded cannon. When the powder was ignited, his remains were blown into a thousand pieces. Dadian had his brother’s eyes put out—the very brother the conspirators had intended to place on the throne—leaving him only enough income to survive in his misfortune and disgrace. He imprisoned the Prince of Guria and likewise had his eyes put out, seized his wife and son, and granted his territories to the Patriarch Malachia, Dadian’s own uncle. Thus Guria was punished not only for this conspiracy but also for the wickedness of having caused his own father’s death.
Local tradition maintains that at this time Dadian also had his children by his first wife killed, urged to this act by his new queen, who wished to advance her own offspring in their place.
Dadian subsequently waged war against the Abkhazians, who during these troubles had launched raids into his country to avenge the dishonour done to their prince’s daughter, Dadian’s repudiated first wife. He subjugated these peoples, and since he could exact no tribute of gold or silver from them, he contented himself with a certain quantity of hunting dogs and falcons—the rarest commodities in their land.