the country to prove the imposture of his pretensions.  This piece of barbarism produced an effect the reverse of what they expected.  The venerable face of the Imam, the attitude in which he had expired, with one hand pointed as if to heaven, was more impressive to those who crowded round the body than his fearless enthusiasm had been,—­and thousands who till then had held aloof, now joined his followers in venerating him as a prophet.  Of this first warrior-priest of Daghestan, Schamyl was the favorite disciple and the most trusted soldier.  Kasi-Mullah was not killed until Schamyl had already fallen as it seemed, under several deadly wounds:—­his reappearance after this bloody scene was but the first of many similar escapes, the report of which sounds like a fable.  He did not, however, at once succeed to the dignity of Imam:  the office was usurped for more than a year by Hamsad Beg (Bey), whose rapacious and savage treatment of some of the princely families of Daghestan nearly caused a fatal reaction against the new sect, and the destruction of its main support, the Murids.  Hamsad Beg performed no action of consequence against the Russians; but expended his rage upon the natives allied with them, or reluctant to obey his mandates.  He was assassinated in 1834, by some kinsmen of a princely house whose territories he had usurped after a massacre of its princes.  In the affray which took place on this occasion, there perished with him many of the fanatic Murids, who had become odious as instruments of the cruelties of their Imam.  On his death, Schamyl was raised to the dignity,—­but it was some time before the mischief done by his predecessor was so far repaired as to allow him to act with energy as the prophet of the new doctrine.  One of the ill effects of Hamsad Beg’s iniquities had been the defection to the Russians of n notable partisan—­Hadjii Murad—­for many years a fatal thorn in the side of the independent party.[6] This and other difficulties, among which was the unpopularity of the Murids under Hamsad Beg, were removed by new alliances and precautions, while all that eloquence and skill could perform was applied to restore the credit of the religious system, before Schamyl could hazard a direct attack of the Russian enemy, who meanwhile had taken advantage of the delay and disunion to gain ground in many parts of Daghestan.  From the year 1839, however, the tide rapidly turned; and the result, from that date until the period at which the account closes (1845)—­when Woronzow was appointed to command in the Caucasus, with nearly unlimited powers,—­has been, that the Russians, in spite of tremendous sacrifices, were constantly losing ground and influence, while Schamyl gained both in equal proportion.  The details of the campaigns during this interval are highly interesting; and we regret that conditions of space forbid us to translate some of the exciting episodes recorded by Herr Bodenstedt.  We may, however, extract the following account of the Caucasian hero,—­whose portrait, we believe, has never before been so fully exhibited to European readers;—­