Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/269

Rh CAUCASUS 257 disappears almost entirely as one passes eastward of the Kazbek. Though the axis of elevation still preserves very much the same general direction from north-west to south east, the fundamental granitic ridge is altogether wanting ; and even the highest summits of the range are composed of calcareous slates and sandstones, which were supposed by earlier geologists to belong to the Palaeozoic period, but are assigned by Dr Abich to a much later age. Even the lofty summits of Schach Dagh (the giant of the Eastern Caucasus) are composed of a dolomitic limestone, which appears to belong to the Xeocomian era. To the same period may probably be referred the greater part of the limestones and shales which constitute the singular plateaux of Daghestan already described. But from the great scarcity of organic remains the determination of their age is a question of much difficulty. Minerals. The mineral riches of the Caucasus are still in great measure unexplored. Iron and copper ores are known to exist in abundance ; and coal is found in the valley of the Kuban, as well as in the upper valley of the Rion. But as it belongs to the Jurassic and not to the true Car boniferous age, it is doubtful to what extent it may prove productive. The remarkable springs of naphtha near Baku, which have long been known as an object of interest and a sanctuary of the fire worshippers, are now turned to account for the manufacture of petroleum on a large scale. Gladera It has already been observed that glaciers exist on a great scale in the Caucasus, but they are confined to a h;gher elevation than in the Alps. Notwithstanding the vast mass of glacier and perpetual snow which exists in the Central Caucasus, none of the lateral glaciers descend below 7000 feet on the southern side of the range ; while the lowest point reached by any of those on the northern side is not below 5700 feet. But, as in the case of all the principal mountain chains of Europe, there is abundant evidence of the glaciers having once been much more ex tensive and having descended to a much lower level in the valleys than they at present occupy. At the same time it may be observed that there is a total absence in the Caucasus of those lakes which form so conspicuous a feature in the country on both sides of the Alps, and which are supposed by many geologists to be connected with glacial action. Ethnology. Ethnology. The ethnology of the Caucasus is still far from thoroughly known. From the earliest times it has been noted as the region where the greatest diversity of tribes and languages existed within the smallest space (Herodot., i. 203). Pliny tells us that no less than 130 different interpreters were required by the Greek traders at Dio- ccurias, the port where all the tribes of the neighbouring mountains, as well as the more remote nations of the interior used to congregate, while others raised the number to 300 (Plin., //. X., vi. 5, 15). This is of course a great exaggeration, but it proves the fact that there existed then, as at the present day, an extraordinary number of races speaking different and in many cases wholly dissimilar dialects. The researches of modern scholars have thrown considerabb light upon the subject, and enabled us at least to classify these different tribes in certain groups or families. I. The GEORGIAN-, or, as they are sometimes termed by modern writers, the Kartalinian tribes, from their speaking a language called by themselves Kartli. These are in all probability the descendants of the people called by Greek vrriters Iberians, who were in possession of the country south of the Caucasus at the earliest period of which we have any historical account. The name of Georgian is comparatively modern, but its origin is unknown. To this family belong : 1. The Grusians or Georgians proper, who inhabit the whole country east of the Suram mountains down to the lowland steppes of the River Kur. They extend also up the valley of the Aragwa to the very foot of the main range, and occupy the extensive valley? of Kakhetia and the slopes still further east. 2. The Imeritians, who extend from the watershed of the Suram mountains westward, including the valleys of the Kion or Phasis, and its tributary the Quirilha. Their western limit is the Zenes- quali, which separates them from the Mingrelians. 3. The Minyrclians, who extend from the ZenesqnaU on the cast to the Ingur and the Black Sea on the west, while the lower course of the Kion may be considered as constituting their limit on the south. Both these nations, though long politically independent of the Georgians, are undoubtedly of cognate race, and speak kindred dialects. 4. The Gurians, a small people occupying the strip of land le- tween the Rion and the mountains on the south, which form tin- frontier between Russia and Turkey. Their language shows them to be of Georgian race, but they are closely connected with the I.az or Lazi, a tribe that inhabits the adjoining mountains within the Turkish territory, where they were already settled under the name of Lazi in the time of Strabo. 5. The Suanians or Suanclians, who occupy the upper valley oi the Ingur, above the confines of Mingrelia. They are a wild and semi-barbarous mountain tribe, who have only lately been brought under subjection to the Russians, and are still left in a condition of semi-independence. But from the natural beauty of their country, and its proximity to the highest ranges of the Caucasus, they have attracted much attention from recent travellers. They are considered to belong to the same race with their neighbouis the Georgians and Mingrelians ; though they have existed from a very remote period as a separate tribe, being already mentioned under the name of Suanes or Suani by Strabo and Pliny, in whose time they were one of the most powerful nations in the Caucasus. Their language is a cognate dialect with the Georgian and Min- grelian, but presents very material differences. II. The second principal group of the Caucasian mountaineers, and that which has of late years attracted the most attention of any, is that of the Tcherkesses or CIRCASSIANS (a name of Russian origin*, who until within a few years past constituted the whole population of the Western Caucasus on both sides of the mountain chain. They were subdivided into numerous tribes, but may be coniidered as belonging to three principal divisions. 1. The Circassians proper who designate themselves by the name of Adighe, and who formerly occupied the whole coast of the Black Sea from the neighbourhood of Anapa to Pitzunta, as well as thu northern slopes of the mountains towards the Kuban. It was this people who so long fixed the attention of all Europe by their long continued straggles against the Russian power, which, however, ended in their complete subjugation in 1864. But that event was followed by a wholesale emigration of the Circassians, who quitted their country to the number of 400,000 (or, according to other accounts, nearly 500,000) souls, and settled in the different provinces of the Turkish empire. The effect of this emigration, without a precedent in modern history, has been to leave the whole country between the Caucasus and the Black Sea, for a distance of nearly 20n miles, almost absolutely without inhabitants, except the small settle ments of the Russians at Kovo Rossisk, Tuapse, and Sukhum Kaleh. 2. The Alkhasians, a tribe occupying the coast eastward from Pitzunta to the confines of Mingrelia. They are undoubtedly a kin dred race with the Circassians, though described as in all respects inferior to them. Their numbers have also been thinned to a great extent by emigration, since their last abertive attempt at insurrec tion in 18C4, so that the interior of the country formerly occupied by them is now almost uninhabited. 3. The Kabardans, who hold the country north of the main chain of the Caucasus, from the valley of the Kuban to that of the Terek, and extending quite down to the steppes on the north. Though resembling the other Circassians in language and manners, and like them professing the Mahometan religion, they never offered any very serious opposition to the Russian arms, and have long been peaceful subjects of the Russian empire. III. Adjoining the Circassian races on the east, and occupying the very centre of the Caucasian range, are the OSSETES, an isolated race, differing both in language and in customs from their neighbours on all sides. Their country is traversed by the great highroad across the Caucasus, which has brought them especially under the observa tion of travellers, and many conjectures have been formed with re gard to their original and ethnic affinities. It is, however, conclu sively proved that they are an Aryan race, and their language has considerable affinity with the Medo-Persian branch of that family. Many resemblances have been traced in their manners and customs with those of the Germans, and some writers have supposed them to be a remnant of the Goths, while others regard them as the representatives of the Alani, who played so conspicuous a part to wards the close of the Roman empire ; but there is no real founda tion for either theory, and the evidence of their language seems decisive, that, though belonging to the great Aryan family, they have no special affinity with the Germanic or Teutonic branch of it. V- 33