"Be slow to offend--swift to revenge!"
_Inscription on a dagger of Daghestán._

It was Djoumá.[11] Not far from Bouináki, a considerable village of
Northern Daghestán, the young Tartars were assembled for their national
exercise called "djigítering;" that is, the horse-race accompanied by
various trials of boldness and strength. Bouináki is situated upon two
ledges of the precipitous rocks of the mountain: on the left of the road
leading from Derbend to Tarki, rises, soaring above the town, the crest
of Caucasus, feathered with wood; on the right, the shore, sinking
imperceptibly, spreads itself out into meadows, on which the Caspian Sea
pours its eternal murmur, like the voice of human multitudes.

[11] Djoumá answers to our Sabbath. The days of the Mahomedan
week are as follows: Shambi, Saturday; Ikhshambá, Sunday;
Doushambá, Monday; Seshambá, Tuesday; Tchershambá, Wednesday;
Pkhanshambá, Thursday; Djoumá, Friday.

A vernal day was fading into evening, and all the inhabitants, attracted
rather by the coolness of the breeze than by any feeling of curiosity,
had quitted their sáklas,[12] and assembled in crowds on both sides of
the road. The women, without veils, and with coloured kerchiefs rolled
like turbans round their heads, clad in the long chemise,[13] confined
by the short arkhaloúkh, and wide toumáns,[14] sat in rows, while
strings of children sported before them. The men, assembled in little
groups, stood, or rested on their knees;[15] others, in twos or threes,
walked slowly round, smoking tobacco in little wooden pipes: a cheerful
buzz arose, and ever and anon resounded the clattering of hoofs, and the
cry "katch, katch!" (make way!) from the horsemen preparing for the