1834.] A Sketch of the present state of Georgia. 235 



Persia, and execrating the name of Paskewitch, then Governor 

 General of Georgia, to whom they attributed all their misfortunes, and 

 from whom they had received the most flattering but fallacious promises. 



The whole of Georgia is beautifully diversified with mountain scene- 

 ry, gradually spreading out into hill and dale. The climate is delight- 

 ful, and the country well watered. It is remarkable that in Persia most 

 of the inhabited places are situated in plains and valleys : in Georgia, 

 on the contrary, the towns and villages are almost uniformly built upon 

 the sloping sides of hills or heights, after the manner of the hamlets of 

 Koordistan. The scarcity of rain in Persia, and the abundance of 

 water in Georgia, has been assigned as the reason for this difference. 

 The melting of the snows on Mount Caucasus causes floods to pour down 

 from the hills with such violence as to sweep every thing before them. 

 To give an idea of the enormous masses of snow which are constantly 

 thawing during the summer season, I will mention, that in my journey 

 across Caucasus, in August, 1828, a piece of frozen snow had detached 

 itself from a neighbouring peak, and shelved down across the road, co- 

 vering it to an extent of at least three quarters of a mile, and rendering 

 the passage nearly impracticable. The Koor, however, does not rise 

 above its banks. Generally speaking, the climate is mild and salubri- 

 ous. From April to November, the sky is for the most part cloudless ; 

 but during the night, the dews are frequently very heavy. As in Persia, 

 the sultry days are not unfrequently succeeded by intensely cold nights. 

 During the other parts of the year, there is no deficiency of rain ; and to 

 this circumstance the fertility of Georgia is chiefly attributable. The 

 winters are generally very penetrating ; every possible degree of tem- 

 perature may be had on the sloping spurs of Caucasus. 



Among various indigenous productions may be enumerated thecedar, 

 and other varieties of the pine ; the oak, the beech, the elm, the ash, the 

 chesnut, the walnut, the apple, the pear, the citron, the peach, the plum, the 

 apricot, the pomegranate, the raspberry, the quince, and many flowering 

 shrubs, among which the vine entwines itself in wild luxuriance, loaded 

 with the finest grapes. The most numerous, however, and that in which 

 the riches of the country chiefly consist, are mulberry trees, on which 

 they feed an infinite number of silk- worms. Georgia was famed for its 

 silk long before this article found its way into Italy, in the reign of Justi- 

 nian. Guldenstaedt describes Georgia as most fertile and fruitful. An 

 Asiatic's ideas of fertility differ sufficiently from ours, to explain in part 

 this assertion : for to him plantations of olives, almonds, and figs, with 

 which the country is covered, suggests the same associations of plenty 

 that are called up in our minds by rich tracts of corn land. 



