224 Account of a Journey to Choy hi Vcrjta. 



dent, intelligent, and courageous man, whofe talents are clif- 

 playcd in his phyfiognoiny. He is of a middle flature, and 

 liill frefh and vigorous though feventy years old. He has a 

 <rreat many children, the elded of whom is forty-five vears 

 of age. The czar is exceedingly polite, and on days of fef- 

 tivily invites all the Ruffian othcers to his table. I had twice 

 this honour. We were fcrved in the European manner; the 

 , tliflies however, for the moft part, were cooked according to 

 the Afiatic taftc, but excellent of their kind. On fuch'^oc- 

 cafions the czar fits at table as the Europeans do, but in 

 conmion he follows the Aliatie cuftom. 



The czar's confort and the princelfes often appear publicly 

 on fcftivals ; but fome years ago thev were more referved, 

 being feldom feen. The childien are all ftaut and handfome. 

 OF the Tartars fubjctl to the czar of Georgia, and who are 

 diliinguiflicd by the name of Kafacb, T obtained at Tcflis the 

 following information : — 'i'hey refide on the rivers Nachatyr, 

 Tebete, Kur, Achylkl^ Panibek, and Algete. On the firll 

 lie feven villages ; on the fecoiid, thirteen ; on the third, five ; 

 on the fourth, (iftctn; on the fifth, eighteen; and, on the 

 fixth, two. Some of thefe Tartars are of the feft of Omar ; 

 others are of thai of Ali, and do not praclife circumcifion. 

 They acknowledge, befides the Supreme Being, five faints. 

 David, who had a Inuulred wives, and therefore Mahomet: 

 allowed his follower- to have the fame number; Dfchebrail, 

 nho, though inviliblc, excites the people to oH'er up their 

 prayers to God ; Alrail, who by God's command fets the 

 loul free from the body ; Michael, who weighs the fins of 

 the dead, and fend^ them either to hell or to paradife ; and, 

 ill the lail: place, Ifraiil, who, v. hen God fliall make the water 

 like the earth, wiil found the trumpet to call tl)e dead to 

 judgment. Mahomet thev do not account a faint, but their 

 lawgiver, who has commanded the«i to pray live tini«s ii\ 

 the twenty-four hours, and to implore God to lorgive their 

 fins; to purifv themfolvcs before prayer by wafliing; to un- 

 dertake a pilgrimage to his grave when poilible; not to fieal ; 

 uot to work on P'rlday, but to fait ; to obferve the feliivals, &c. 

 Tlicy divide the year into twelve months, and affign to the 

 mgnths an unequal number of days, which vary every year 

 except for the month Ramafan, which always confifts of 

 thirty, and in which their principal feliivals fall. Their 

 week has feven days, aiid begins with Friday, which they 

 call Dfchuta : the reft are, Dfchuta-Erteffi, Bafar, Bafar- 

 Erteffi, Chas, Tfcharfchembe, Pcrfchembe, They have 

 three grand feilivals. The firll is in the month Ramafan-; 

 the fecoad is called Kurban, and the third Naurus-Bairam. 



Their 



