DITSON'S CIRCASSI.L. • Mn. GEORGE LEIGHTON DITSON is an American, who
has crossed the Atlantic seven times, has sojourned in the Old World for ten years, and has embraced in his actual survey all that the ancient poet fixed as the boundary of the ancient world, pr more ; for Mr. Ditson has not only "bathed with the Hindoos in the sa- cred waters of the Ganges," but " floated on the Thames and the Clyde, and heard his voice ring along the rocks of the Rhine,"— rivers which Juvenal seems to place beyond the limits whence man- kind could be surveyed to any purpose. What Mr. Ditson's objects or callings were we do not know. His present vo- lume has been written from " pencillings by the midnight lamp, after the fatigue of the daily, =genial labours of a counting- room." On his last voyage he had charge of the Consul's "esti- mable consort," an invalid ; but whether as physician or amateur is not clear. His present journey extended from Genoa to Georgia, but the full narrative does not begin till Mr. Ditson arrives at Odessa. There he remained a little time looking about him, and thence proceeded to Sevastopol in a Russian steamer, travelling post through the Crimea to Kertsch. The Cireassia of the title- page must be taken with qualification. Our traveller saw no more than could be seen in a Government steamer, calling at • Cireassia ; or a Tour to the Caucasus. By George Leighton Ditson, Esq. Pub-
lished by Newby ; and Stringer and Townsend, New York.
the different stations along the coast on Government business, with.
sciatzportunities on an occasional landing. When he had reached_ a, Mr. Ditson, with his companion, a Georgian Colonel, as- cended the Phasis—" floating in that famed stream where the re-'. nowned _Argonauts in that remarkable and seeminF fabulous Grecian expedition obtained the golden fleece." On arriving at the town or Marine he pushed on by land to Tiflis. Here his head was pretty, well turned by the attentions of "high-toned and elegant society," especially of the Prince Woronsoff. He also made an excursion across the Caucasus, and visited some of the so-called Circassian villages in the neighbourhood of the Russian posts. He did think of travelling into Persia; but a friend, whose acquaintance lie had made at Tiflis, was detained in that capital by some tender ties;. and the American, dissuaded from joining the caravan, returned- to
Khale where he embarked for Constantinople. The drimea and the regions beyond it, with the exception perhaps of Tiflis and the post-road across the Caucasus, have been so rarely visited of late years, that any account of them possesses some novelty. This novelty of region is the sole value of Mr. Ditson's book. Indifferent as many Americantravellers are, Mr. Ditson is the worst we have encoun-
tered. He seems to have picked up his knowledge of the regions he passed through, and of their history, from the Rietteer and similar works. He listens to every idle tale that is told him,- whether as regards individuals or nations ; he exhibits something like a servile truckling to rank; and he has picked. up rather lax ideas of morals and propriety in his cosmopolitan rambles. There- is neither skill nor power, nor any qualification, to counterbalance these deficiencies. "Fluent nonsense trickles from his" pen except when the subject before him possesses some novelty or substance in itself; though even then he contrives to infuse into it a part of Mg- own style. Nor does he seem to be a very reliable traveller : we know not how much may be coloured or mveiited—how much may be what are called "sketches from nature." There is possibly some of this artistical improvement in the following account of
a Mingrelian
"The family received us without embarrassment, and I may say with grace and seeming satisfaction, and made immediate preparations, in their rude way, to give us something to eat. The master of the house was about forty years of age, extremely homely-, and severe looking; while the most doe and interesting expression—in perfect accordance with her small, de- licate form and classic face—characterized this Imeretian Venus his youth- ful wife. The latter was holding a little child in her arms as we entered. She gazed intently on us for an instant., then bowed her head very low, slowly and solemnly, as a salutation. She then stood gracefully erect; and, with that natural delicacy which prompts all women, on whom Nature haa stamped her unmistakeable seal of refinement, to conceal certain portions of their person, she hastened to draw together her dress over the right breast, where a large hole had been worn, evidently by the infant being carried on that side. Her frock was long, made high in the neck, but open thence in front to the waist. When she BO gathered it up in one place as to satisfy her modesty concerning that portion of her bosom, it opened widely in the centre. She then hastily drew it back again; and after trying the experiment several times, and finding it impossible to cover both of Love'slurking-places at once, she abandoned affairs to their ordinary course. Her head was tied around with a handkerchief, from under which her dark hair fell in long braids down to her girdle. • The head-dress, pantaloons, and blue cotton frock, ap- peered to be all the articles of dress she had on. When told by the Colonel that she was pretty,,sh6 hid her face in her hands and 'laughed immode- rately. Her husband and sister-in-law, the other woman present, appeared of another race, but I could not learn of what : none of them could read or write. The little boys and girls patting about the earth floor had plenty of rags on their shoulders, but their legs were naked. A cradle attracted my attention. - It conAA..M of a short board swung to a horizontal pole sup-
• ported at each end by upright sticks. On this cradle was lashed another con- tented baby. I must not forget the sweet, active little creature, about twelve years of age who mixed the millet-dough for the cake and then at- tended the baking. 'She was beautiful, like her own eldest dater, and was offered to me as a present if I would take her with me —her brother-in-law, our boatman, seeing the admiration with which I regarded her. He said, that as there was a large and growing family of them, and as they were very r, they would willingly part with her, believing that she would be in- 'tely better off if I would condescend to'be her protector than she could be
• if she remained there : for, continued he, what can she expect—what is there to look forward to, but to become the wife of some poor rude boatman like myself, and always live in poverty? He would not sell her, he said, for he was not like most of the Circassians ; but he would give her to me if I would be kind to her.' "
This is a sketch in the plains of Crimea-
" A vineyard here and there and occasionally a neat vegetable garden at- tracted our attention ; but that which awakened the greatest interest', as being characteristic of the country, were the vast flocks of sheep and goats which as far as the eye could reach extended over the plains. They were always tended by the Tartar shepherds; who, with the same style of long, crooked staff as that used by their most remote ancestors, and with the ever attentive dog, followed near, or stood on some neighbouring acclivity which enabled them to command a better view of their charge, amounting, m some instances, I was credibly informed, to twenty and even thirty thousand ani- mals. It did, however, appear to me, at first, quite strange that any man could be induced to pass day after day for years in such a monotonous, list- less, and seemingly useless occupation : but when I began to consider the in- credible vastness of these flocks, and the advantage they have in wandering unrestrained over the almost interminable and beautiful fields, intersected by neither wall nor fence of any kind, which causes the peculiarity of the as- pect Nature here presents, I ceased to be surprised that there were so many thousands who mild well afford to give their poor time in contemplating and guarding their treasures. Of cows and horses, however, I saw none of those countless herds which browsed on the banks of the Danube ; but their ab- sence was fully compensated by the numbers of the Bactrian camel roaming over the steppes, which gave a fine effect to the scene, adding much to the pie- tumqueness of that which was already novel and exciting. But when, as was often the case' I saw these same noble and patient creatures yoked to the rude waggons of the Tartars, it seemed quite sacrilegious. They them- selves looked ashamed of the mean occupation in which they were engaged. Formed by nature to traverse the sandy deserts and to bear across them the richest of merchandise and venturesome travellers, their dragging loads of cabbages seemed at strange variance with the design of their creation. I must confess, the eight was so humiliating that I felt strong pity for them;
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