The Avarétzes are a free people, neither acknowledging nor suffering any power above them. Every Avarétz calls himself an Ouzdén; and if he possesses a yezéer, (prisoner, slave,) he considers himself a great man. Poor, and consequently brave to extravagance, excellent marksmen with the rifle, they fight well on foot; they ride on horseback only in their plundering expeditions, and even then but a few of them. Their horses are small, but singularly strong; their language is divided into a multitude of dialects, but is essentially Lezghin for the Avártzi themselves are of the Lezghin stock. They retain traces of the Christian faith, for it is not 120 years that they have worshipped Mahomet, and even now they are but cool Moslems; they drink brandy, they drink boozá, [16] and occasionally wine made of grapes, but most ordinarily a sort of boiled wine, called among them djápa. The truth of an Avarétz's word has passed into a proverb among the mountains. At home, they are peaceful, hospitable, and benevolent; they do not conceal their wives and daughters; for their guest they are ready to die, and to revenge to the end of the generation. Revenge, among them, is sacred; plundering, glory; and they are often forced by necessity to brigandize. [Footnote 16: A species of drink used by the Tartars, produced by fermenting oats.] Passing over the summit of Atála and Tkhezeróuk, across the crests of Tourpi-Táou, in Kakhétia, beyond the river Alazán, they find employment at a very low price; occasionally remaining two or three days together without work, and then, at an agreement among themselves, they rush like famished wolves, by night, into the neighbouring villages, and, if they succeed, drive away the cattle, carry off the women, make prisoners, and will often perish in an unequal combat. Their invasions into the Russian limits ceased from the time when Azlan Khan retained possession of the defiles which lead into his territories from Avár. But the village of Khounzákh, or Avár, at the eastern extremity of the Avár country, has ever remained the heritage of the khans, and their command there is law. Besides, though he has the right to order his noúkers to cut to pieces with their kinjáls [17] any inhabitant of Khounzákh, nay, any passer-by, the Khan cannot lay any tax or impost upon the people, and must content himself with the revenues arising from his flocks, and the fields cultivated by his karaváshes (slaves,) or yezéers (prisoners.) [Footnote 17: Dagger or poniard. These weapons are of various forms, and generally much more formidable than would be suggested to an European by the name dagger. The kinjál is used with wonderful force and dexterity by the mountaineers, whose national weapon it may be said to be; it is sometimes employed even as a missile. It is worn suspended in a slanting direction in the girdle, not on the side, but in front of the body.]