^nXGRELIAN VILLAGES. 



479 



and of clay ; the enclosures are of cut stakes, planted and 

 interwoven lattice-wise. Old forest trees, fresh underwood, 

 bramble, and grass grow everywhere, regardless of the 

 houses, which are in a manner lost among them ; one is at 

 times right in the middle of a village before one has even 

 an idea of having approached it.' On the country roads 

 in the neighbourhood of Kutais, rude vehicles, half-slodge, 

 half-cart, may frequently be met, drawn by two oxen. 



Mingreliaii Wine Jar. 



and laden with one of the huge earthenware jars used for 

 storing wine, which will scarcely fail to recall to the 

 traveller's mind the story of the Forty Thieves in the 

 * Arabian Nights.' 



For nearly an hour we traversed a thick beechwood, 

 and emerged from it at the point where it is necessary to 

 ford not only the stream of the Chaui-Squali, but the larger 

 and far more formidable Quirila. Three months earlier 

 we should have found a new bridge just completed, but 



