han do
so, use me as your dog; beat me, tie me up, and give me your bones to
pick." The master then told him that he had not spoken in earnest, and
that he would not send him away, and then the poor fellow began to shout,
and to jump with joy.

BROTHERHOODS.--There is a very remarkable plan in Circassia, unlike the
plans in other countries. A certain number of men agree to call
themselves "brothers." These brothers help each other on every occasion,
and visit at each other's houses frequently. They are not received in the
guest-house, but in the family-house, and are treated by all the family
as if they were really the brothers of the master.

A brotherhood sometimes consists of two thousand, but sometimes of only
twenty persons.

RELIGION.--Circassia, though beautiful, is an unhappy country. The
Russians keep the people in continual fear; this is a great evil. But
there is another nation who have done the Circassians still greater harm.
I mean the Turks. And what have they done to them? They have persuaded
them to turn Mahomedans. The greatest harm that can be done to any one,
is to give him a false religion. There are no grand mosques in Circassia,
because there are no towns: but in every little village there is a clay
cottage, where prayers are offered up in the name of Mahomet. There can
be no minaret to such a miserable mosque: so the man who calls the hours
of prayer, climbs a tall tree, by the help of notches, and getting into a
basket at the top, makes the rocks and hills resound with his cry. How
different shall be the sound one day heard in every land; when all people
shall believe in Jesus. "Then shall the inhabitants of the rocks
sing--then shall they shout from the top of the mountains, and give glory
unto the _Lord_" and not to Mahomet. (Is. xlii. 11, 12.)

But though the Circassians call themselves Mahomedans, they keep many of
their old customs, and these customs show that they once heard about
Christ.

It is their custom to dedicate every boy to God: but not really to _God_,
for in truth they dedicate him to the _cross_. Let me give you an account
of one of the feasts of dedication.

The place of meeting was a green, shaded by spreading oak-trees. In the
midst stood a cross. Each family who came to the feast, brought a little
table, and placed it before the cross; and on each table, there were
loaves, and a sort of bread called "pasta." There was a blazing fire on
the green, round which the elder