326 SUANETIA. 



extended over tlie neighbouring communities of Gegeri 

 and Betscho on the west and north. Five years ago they 

 were at strife with the nearest village of the Lendjer 

 group, in the Mushalaliz valley. Herr Radde thus de- 

 scribes his reception at Latal, and the character he heard 

 of its inhabitants : — 



' We found shelter in the courtyard of an old Suanetian 

 castle, with a friendly priest who came from Imeritia, and 

 had spent a year and a half as a missionary amongst 

 the Suanetians. He had brought his wife with him, and 

 built himself a small cottage in the inner court, which 

 was surrounded by a high wall of defence. The account 

 he gave of the progress of God's word among the Suane- 

 tians was very disheartening. They are deaf, he said, to 

 all instruction ; only by kindness can they in some degree 

 be drawn towards it. They dread being subjected to a 

 conscription, and distrust all opportunities offered of 

 bettering themselves. Despite the frequent church-ser- 

 vices, generally held here on Saturdays and Sundays, they 

 remain strangers to church principles. They show no 

 desire to allow their children to learn the Georgian lan- 

 guage, although the Government, partly by the appointed 

 priest, partly by a school lately established at Pari, has 

 provided them the means of doing so. In Latal, as in 

 most of the villages of upper indeiDendent Suanetia, it is 

 difficult to find a man who has not committed one or 

 more murders; for instance, two brothers, who lived 

 near the priest, were well kno^m to have killed seven 

 or eight Suanetians. They were two hearty old men, 

 with fearfully savage countenances. At night every man 

 drives his cattle into the courtyard, and carefully secures 

 the great wooden doors of the outside wall.' 



We witnessed an illustration of the practice last alluded 

 to, in the return of the cows shortly before sunset, and 



