382

AN ACCOUNT OF THE NATIONS

of reducing the fmall fcattered tribes to certain clafles, and ofcombining the names belonging to a particular tongue, by col-le&ing accurate vocabularies. Being imperfedt, however, in whatrelated to their manners and cuftoms, he probably confided tohis memory the tafk of filling up the chafms found in hispapers, when death prevented their completion. Induced bythefe coniiderations, I have endeavoured as much as poffible toacquire accurate Information on this fubject, partly by ocularinfpection, and partly from the accounts of perfons who werewell acquainted with that mountainous country : among thefeI fhall with gratitude record M. de Steuer, Lieutenant-Colonel and Quarter-Mafter in the Ruffian fervice. The fruitsof my refearches I propofe to communicate to the reader, with-out attending to the fimilarity of my accounts with thofe ofGuldenstadt ; as I fhall leave the farther comparativeinveftigation of the leading facts, to future travellers. Thetribes of nations, having been exa&ly claffified by the laft-mentioned writer, I fhall in this inftance generally adopt hismethod, as well as the geographica! fituation he has defcribed,while I fhall notice the tongue peculiar to each tribe. In thisnarrative, however, I propofe to comprehend only thofe nationswhich inhabit the northern parts of the Caucafus, becaufe theyare more intimately connected with Ruffia, and have at dif-ferent periods in a great meafure acknowledged its fovereignty.

The following tribes inhabit the country fituated towards theWeft of the Black Sea, beginning with the fource of the riverKuban, which rifes from the beforementioned Elburus, thehigheft mount of the whole Caucafus.

I. The