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KASBEK AND THE OSSETE DISTRICT 101
them from their northern pastui'es ; Turkish tribes supplanted
them in the valleys of the Cherek and Chegem, and introduced
^loharamedanism in their borders. But the Ossetes still held their
own central ; highlands they had in their hands the keys of the
Caucasus, the grass-passes leading from the sources of the Terek and
the Ardon to those of the Rion and the Kur, by
which alone the
range is traversable in summer by horsemen and troops. Thej' gave
Vladikavkaz, the Key of the Caucasus— as its name implies- — to Russia.
In appeai'ance they are a prepossessing and a martial race ;
their
dress and accoutrements ai-e cared for and often costly, their daggers
and cartridge-pouches are silver-mounted. They adapt themselves
easily to civilised ways, take service readily in the Russian
army, and even outshine their Russian comrades in the ballroom.
Coming from a country where the males are as naturally given
to dancing as certain birds, this is only natural. Hence the
Russians have called them 'the gentlemen of the mountains.'
But it is in virtue of their ancient laws and usages that the Ossetes
have most interest for the world. To students of primitive institutions
and the origins of law they are exceptionallv attractive. A
Russian scholar, Pro-
fessor Kovalevsky,
has made them the
subject of his special
inquiries.'
Their earliest habi-
tations, known as kaus,
were the fortress-
farms, clusters of
buildings and out
houses, enclosed by
high walls and
AN OSSETE VII.L.V(;E
dominated by a rude tower— many of wliich still dot the slopes
of the upper valleys. It was apparently at a later stage that
' See an abridged translation of Professor Kovalevsky's 'Memoir,' by Mr. Delniar Morgan,
in the Royal Asiatic Society's Journal, vol. xx. On the dancing propensity of (Caucasians see
a capital story in Mr. F. C. (Jrove's Frosty (JmtcnsKS, p. 14.