1834.] A Sketch of the present state of Georgia. 237 



are found in the mountain range of Caucasus. Coal is also said to abound 

 in different parts of the country. Strabo goes so far as to assert that 

 the numerous small rivers carry down gold dust in vast quantities, which 

 being stopped by sheep skins, placed on purpose, furnishes an explanation 

 of the fable of the golden fleece, (Strabo, xi. passim.) 



I was assured that the total population of Georgia is four hundred 

 thousand, of whom ninety thousand are Armenians, following chiefly 

 the rites of the Greek Church, and partly their own. There are at least 

 seventy thousand Russian and Georgian troops stationed throughout 

 the districts. The number of the inhabitants is doubtless increasing, 

 as previous to its connexion with Russia, the people were sadly reduced 

 by the constant dissentions of the chiefs, who, possessed of unlimited 

 power over their vassals, chose to be eternally at war with each other, 

 chiefly, if not entirely, with a view of making prisoners of both sexes, 

 for the hai'ams of the Turks and Persians. The incursions of these lat- 

 ter, moreover, utterly desolated from time to time the provinces on the 

 frontier. In 1603, when that accomplished despot Shah Abbas marched 

 into Georgia, he carried off no less than ten thousand families ; but as a 

 striking proof of his beneficent despotism, instead of making them 

 slaves, and compelling them to change their religion, as his predeces- 

 sors had done in similar cases, he settled them in different parts of his 

 kingdom, and afforded them every encouragement. The Armenian colo- 

 ny formed by him at Ispahan remains an honorable monument of his 

 wise- and liberal policy. These drawbacks, how r ever, on population 

 have of late years ceased, and it is said, that the measures now adopted 

 for the encouragement of agriculture and commerce have already pro- 

 duced the best effects. The capital is rising from a dismal-looking town 

 into a cheerful bustling city, and its population, which, in the year 1826, 

 was only 26,000, has risen in four years to 33,000. It would be super- 

 fluous to allude to the beauty of the women of Georgia, which has be- 

 come so proverbial. Their symmetrical form and regular features might 

 serve asthemodelfor the fineststatues. " Itis in Georgia," says the elegant 

 Gibbon, " that nature has placed, at least to our eyes, the model of beau- 

 ty, in the shape of the limbs, the colour of the skin, the symmetry of 

 the features, and the expression of the countenance. The men," he adds, 

 " are formed for action, andthe women for love." Yet, Herodotus says, 

 that the natives, in his time, w r ere dark complexioned (fj.c\avxpoes) and 

 had crisp, curling hair (ovKorpiKes) ; such is the change produced by the 

 mixture of nations, and the slow but powerful influence of climate. The 

 women, however, not satisfied with the prodigality of nature, have re- 

 course to the odious use of paint ; and although this is considered indica- 

 tive of want of chastity, it does not prevent the beauties of Georgia using 



