■29 i SUANETIA. 



cessful foray into the Radscliu, and burned Kutais ; worsted 

 in tlie field, tliey were again compelled to submit to 

 Imeritia, and a prince was imposed on them, whose usual 

 residence was on the Zenes-Squali. During the fifteenth 

 century, we again find the Suanetians at war with their 

 southern neighbours. After ten years' hard fighting, they 

 were forced to surrender the Upper Rion district, as the 

 penalty for the murder of an Iraeritian prince. Traces of 

 their former connection with Suanetia may still be re- 

 cognised in the style of building and the towers of Chiora 

 and Gebi, and their inhabitants are still looked upon by 

 the population of the Eadscha as a foreign race. By 

 degrees the people about the Ingur sources established 

 their independence, but members of the princely family, 

 known by the title of Dadisch-Kilian, were, at the time of 

 the establishment of the Russian dominion, still regarded 

 as the feudal chiefs of the lower villages on the Ingur, 

 and, as such, took the oath of allegiance to the Czar. 



Ethnologists seem to have come to the conclusion that the 

 Suanetians are a branch of the Georgian family, and a study 

 of their language has convinced Herr Radde that it has 

 much in common with the Imeritian and Mingrelian dia- 

 lects. When it is remembered that in the eleven upper 

 communities on the Ingur, after the successful assertion of 

 their independence, a fugitive from the lower country could 

 obtain not only immunity from punishment for past offences, 

 but also personal liberty, and freedom from princely exac- 

 tions, it will not be thought wonderful that the population 

 of this district at the present day bears marks of a mixed 

 origin. 



Thus much for the history of Suanetia. As to the character 

 of the people, I shall quote Herr Radde, the latest traveller 

 in this country, and the only one, 1 believe, who, aided by 

 all the facilities the Russian authorities could cive him. 



