ABSTRACT
COMMENTARY 14 Shilch mur{a of the Olcolc and 'the little mountain lands' (ref. Chap. 2, p. 106, n. I and p .117, n. 4) Shikh murza (properly P. Shaikh mirza) of the Okok and his nephew Batay (R. Baitev) had attached themselves to the Kakhian mission which reached Moscow in the autumn of 1587 and had returned with the embassy of Rodion Birkin and Petr Pivov which arrived on the Terek in the following spring (cf. Introduction, Section 10). In Birkin's report the Okok are grouped with 'the little mountain lands' (gorslciye temlitsy), together with Kumuki, Minkizy, Indili and Shihuti (cf. Belokurov, Snosheniya, p. 33). From Birkin's itinerary, it is clear that these 'little mountain lands' lay between Sunzha fort and the Icabalc of the Kabardan prince Alkas in the region of the northern approach to the Daryal pass. The name covered the foothills between the T erek flats and the higher mountains of A varia. It was a rich, well watered, 'black earth' country (cf. SSTO, Vol. I, ( 1878), p. 32).
