PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB l6l 



Ghengis Khan) — a German colony ; and about 10,000 

 Persians. Most of the masons in Til^is are Persians, and 

 the tools they use are Persian — i.e., of course of de- 

 finitely Asian types. Among those to whom I turned 

 for information about the Georgian pointed shovel to 

 which allusion has been made, was Samuel Rooks, an 

 English engineer long resident in the country. He told 

 me that it was the ancient native pattern, and that it was 

 an excellent digging tool, especially in the hands of the 

 Tartars, who are remarkably clever at well-sinking and 

 other earthwork. A Tartar will dig a well for a small 

 sum, turning round and round as he works, in a circle 

 scarcely larger than gives him standing room ; drawing up 

 the earth in a skin bag, and leaving the hole beautifully 

 round and true as he finishes it. 



Samuel Rooks advised me to go to the smiths' shops 

 just above the Persian bazaar, and see a shovel forged for 

 myself. I d.id so. Entering a shop where shovels were 

 hung up at the door, I told the smith (a Georgian) that I 

 wanted two made specially, one-half the usual size, but 

 exactly of the sort used by farmers. My reason for 

 getting new ones made, was that quite lately the Town 

 Authorities have imported steel shovels from Germany, 

 for use by the scavengers, on account of their lightness, 

 and I wanted to be certain of getting the real native imple- 

 ment, and not a foreign one. 



The smith was a bright, intelligent fellow, and after a 

 sketch with chalk, to show that he had grasped my mean- 

 ing, he took a lump of iron the size of one's hand, and 

 perhaps an inch thick, and placed it in his fire. All the 

 smiths and metal workers in Tiflis use charcoal : I think 

 they are obliged to do so, to avoid smoke in so densely 

 crowded a town. One of the picturesque sights of the 

 bazaars is the number of donkeys that bring in the char- 

 coal from the forests. Thev are loaded so as to form 

 a hump or peak, that makes them look like little 



