382 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



arrant sheep-stealers and cattle-lifters. Strangers met with no 

 hospitality. On the contrary, it was the custom to exact a pay- 

 ment from them for passage, and the custom still survives in 

 petty demands made for halting in a remote village. The Suane- 

 tians may fairly be described as reverted pagans. Some Chris- 

 tian rites — fasting in Lent, and the use of the sign of the cross — 

 they have doubtless preserved. But these survivals seem to me 

 no more to entitle them to the name of Christians than our own 

 midsummer-night fires constitute us sun-worshipers. The coun- 

 try is covered with small churches and chapels, dating probably 

 from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, built, unlike the houses 

 and towers, of regularly squared blocks of limestone; the apse 

 is sometimes ornamented externally with carving or an arcade of 

 columns in low relief. The bells, as in Corsica, are suspended from 

 a wooden frame outside the church. The altar-screens are ar- 

 ranged as in Greek churches. Long before Suanetia had obtained 

 home-rule, it had advanced to church disestablishment. The 

 priests disappeared, and their place was taken by a hereditary 

 caste of local elders, who superintended the village feasts and sac- 

 rifices. The ecclesiastical property was secularized; a village 

 vestry assumed its control, and kept the key of the church, which, 

 no longer reserved for pious uses, served principally as a treasure- 

 house. Inside, in heavy chests, were stored the sacred books and 

 images — some of them beautiful works of art — Persian silks, 

 strange three-sided pieces of wood, carved with old Georgian in- 

 scriptions, flint-headed spears and arrows, and dozens of horns of 

 the Caucasian tur. These things are still kept locked up, and it 

 is almost impossible for any stranger to see them. The priests 

 having been disposed of, services and sacraments naturally went 

 too. Marriage consisted in sewing together the garments of the 

 bride and bridegroom; baptism was travestied; the ancient 

 funeral ceremonies were revived or continued. Many graves sur- 

 round the churches, but others are found under particular trees. 

 It is obvious that tree-worship survives in Suanetia. In the cen- 

 ter of many hamlets there is a venerable tree or trunk — walnut, 

 birch, or cherry — under which stand two or three rude chairs. 

 Doubtless these are old places of assembly. The people are said 

 (on the authority of a Mingrelian priest) to venerate the heavenly 

 bodies. The Suanetians who carried our goods over the chain, 

 appeared to pray to and praise the sun directly. They do no 

 work on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, thus partially making up 

 for their shortcomings by keeping the Sabbaths of three relig- 

 ions. 



The Suanetians had home-rule and church disestablishment 

 and disendowment. They had solved another pressing problem : 

 they had, without emigration, overcome the natural tendency of 



