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Dear Reader, This book was referenced in one of the 185 issues of 'The Builder' Magazine which was published between January 1915 and May 1930. To celebrate the centennial of this publication, the Pictoumasons website presents a complete set of indexed issues of the magazine. As far as the editor was able to, books which were suggested to the reader have been searched for on the internet and included in 'The Builder' library.' This is a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by one of several organizations as part of a project to make the world's books discoverable online. Wherever possible, the source and original scanner identification has been retained. Only blank pages have been removed and this header- page added. The original book has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. 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Please do not assume that a book's appearance in 'The Builder' library means it can be used in any manner anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe. The Webmaster Der Verfa8ller di<'WOllBuchs hl.'ablichtigt eiue doutll<·bt' und eine rranz~i!l('be &tiLiun dHSelb(,D, und n.'l'lamirt in Kraft diCfM.'8lK'inihm ala Auctor suatehendee Ul.'l'bt Ifl'gen jed ... otwalge unbt'fugteo deu ....che 0411.'1'I'ranz.ifJiat'ht' Ubl'"('tr;uu~uad lIt'rallsglloo der• selben, Tho Author of this Work iDtl'ndll to publish Editiohll of it in Gi"rmanyand France, and I:iTel thi. eautlon agaillllt any traDl'lation or publication of it uuauthurizl.'d by him• .elf. _. • .:;. .. (iL' 1".:.-,-· ';'1 r, ..•.\;. IS 1I0l'S£ l:f 'lIFLII. TRANSCAUCASIA. SKETCHES OF THE NATIONS AND RACES BETWBBN THE BLACK SEA AND THE CASPIAN. BY BARON VON HAXTHAU~_~N, .\UTBOB or 'STUDID UBBB DIB INNBBN ZUSTA1mB RU88LANDli.· LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 1854. .al.oraD .... .TORI( EDWARD TAYLOB, LITTLB QtrDlI IITBBBT, LI.COU'. 1.1f ),laLDI. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. --.--~ -- BARON August von Haxthausen is already known to Europe as author of 0. valuable Work on the internal and economical state of Russia, of which no English translation has yet appeared. The following volume of Travels in the countries con~Qipg'~:~~.~~d in part subject to, Russia, which fir~t'lsees~,,~~e;'~ht in an English dress, being translated,~'-~~.m>ti\e~~originalma• nuscript, may be regarded as 8. .sequelto Baron von Haxthausen's Russian travels; from which however it is perfectly distinct. The time and opportunity of its appearance may lead to the idea that it has been written or translated with a view to events now passing. This would be' 8 complete mistake. Not only was the book written, but the manuscript was in the hands of the translator, long VI TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. before the war which now gives a peculiar interest to the scenes described in it was anticipated. The translation has not been revised by the Author, and nothing whatever has been done to adapt it to the present crisis. Whatever leaning the Author may be supposed to have toward Russia is, therefore, wholly uninfluenced by political causes, or, I am per• suaded, by any others except such as arise from his own convictions. These, nurtured by the peculiar direction of his researches, are not likely to fall in with the opinions prevalent amongst us; but they are those of a perfectly independent and honourable man. Baron von Haxthausen is a Westphalian noble of ancient race, and of conrse a subject of Prussia. He first attracted the notice of the public and govern• ment of Prussia by some very curious and interest• ing inquiries on the tenure of land in that kingdom, more especially in those provinces in which serfdom had been recently abolished. The whole turn of his mind and pursuits arc, and have always been, in this direction. It is neccssary to understand that the na• ture of the relations of man to the soil (o!/rariaclte YerAiiltnilJ8e) is the guiding clue to the condition of a people, which he has followed in all his researches. In the winter of 1842-4:3 some articles in the 'All- 1'RANSLA1'OR IS PREFACE. Vll geuieine Zeitung,' signed A. v. H., displayed so much ability and economical knowledge, that these initials were by many supposed to represe~t the great name of Alexander von Humboldt. Shortly afterwards Baron von, Haxthausen was in• vited by the Emperor Nicholas to pursue, in his do• minions, the important inquiries he had begun in the Prussian provinces. He undertook this journey with the ardour and earnestness of a man devoted to the investigation of questions of the utmost importance to mankind. It was at that time his intention to push on as far as he could into the East, where he expected to find traces of the primeval relations of man to the soil, and to get some insight into many unexplained social phenomena. This project he was afterwards obliged to abandon. He was accompanied in his journey by Prince Paul Lieven (nephew of the former Ambassador in this country), a young man of great talents, and distin• guished for attainments which especially fitted him for such an expedition. Even before he left the Uni• versity of Dorpat, Prince Paul Lieven published a pamphlet on the Division of Landed Property", which • • Ueber Vertheilung des Grundbesitaes. Y(In Paul Furst Lieven. Dorpat, 1S·J,4. • Vlll ' 'l'RANSLATOR'S PRBFACE. showed an acquaintance with, such subjects very re• markable in so young a man. The first volume of Baron von Haxthausen's travels in Russia was published in 1845 or 1846, the second in 1847. The title is 'Studien iiber die innern Zu• stande, das Volksleben und insbesondere die land• lichen Einrichtungen Russlands, ,_, Studies Oll the internal condition, the popular life, and especially the rural institutions of Russia,'-a title rather diffuse, ac• cording to English notions, but perfectly descriptive of the contents. It is, a Work full of curious and authentic 'details on the subjects indicated in the title, and is esteemed by competent judges the most au• thentic source of information concerning Russia,-a country of which scarcely anything is really known. Baron von Haxthausen has been spoken of as Rus• sianized. It is not to be supposed that he escaped the spell which the notice of a sovereign so puissant as the Emperor Nicholas, invariably exercises. He evidently inclines to view things on their favourable side. But he is by no means to be confounded with the herd of idle travellers whom a few courtly phrases throw into ecstasies. He travelled with a serious ob• ject, and was naturally grateful to the Sovereign who granted him facilities for attaining it.. • TRANSLATOR'S PREPACE. IX The illustrations are from drawings by Herr Graeb, of Berlin, from the sketches of Baron Haxthausen and his travelling companion, Prince Paul Lieven: they are printed in colours by Messrs. Leighton. J. E. T. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. WITH the exceptionof Judea, the central point of in• terest in the world's history, no region is more im• portant in the records of mankind than that which lies between the Caspianand the Black Sea, south of the Caucasian Steppes, and extends to the country around Mount Ararat.· The naturalist here discovers traces of a wide deluge,in which pre-existing forms of animal and vegetablelife were destroyed; and the traditions of all civilizednations record the story of the Flood, in which the wholeof mankind perished, with the exception of a few human beings, who sur• vivedto propagate a new race. Accepting the Mosaic narrative as fundamentally true, the question whether Ararat, or some other mountain in Mesopotamia,were the point whence the new family of man went forth to replenish the earth, cannot be ascertained with any absolute cer- b 2 Xll AUTHOR'S PRBFACE. tainty ; but I think that anyone who has Been Ararat, "the holy mountain," the most imposing which it is possible for the imagination to conceive,must-have shared the feelingwhich forced itself upon my own mind on beholdingit, that this alone could have been the summit upon which the Ark, the cradle of the new race of man, grounded and remained. The greatest geographer of recent times, Ritter, adopts this opinion; and Gorres observes, that Ararat is situated exactly on the central point where the dia• metric lines in the Old continent intersect. This region is situated in the southern part of the Temperate Zone: the climate is genial; the land presents the most picturesquescenery; and the vege• table world comprizesall the productions of Europe, from its extreme north to the southernmost parts of Spain and Italy.

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