868 Sir John C h a r d i n'j travels Book III. 
Garrifon and Cuftom-houfe, under the Command of a 
Sanziac, and two Leagues farther, you crofs over the 
Mountains which part Perjia and Turky^ from whence 
you fee fevera! Villages, in which are the Ruins of 
many CaftJes, Fortreffes and Churches, the miferable 
Remains of the Grandure of the Georgians^ before the 
Turkifh and P erftanWdiTS deftroyed them. 
At the Foot of the Mountain lies a Town and For- 
trefs, both called Surham. It ftands on a very lovely 
Plain, full of Cenfes, Villages, Hillocks, Houfes of 
Pleafure and little Caftles belonging to the Georgian 
Lords, and has a Fortrefs containing a Garrifon of loo 
Men. All the Country is very v.?ell tilled, and mighty 
pleafant and delightful, as far as Gory^ except that on the 
Right-Hand lies a great City almoft in Ruins, as not 
containing above 500 Houfes inhabited, whereas for- 
merly, by Report, it had 12C00. 
Gory is a fmall City, feated on a Plain, between two 
Mountains, upon the Bank of the River Kur^ and by 
it is a Caftle on an Hill, garrifon’d by native Perfians. 
The Houfes and Market-places are all built with Earth, 
but the People are all very rich and wealthy, and it is 
fur-nifhed with all Neceflaries for human Life at a cheap 
Rate. 
II. From Gcry he December the i6th, and 
travelling upon the Banks of the River Kur, through 
pleafant Plains, with great Numbers of Villages on all 
Hands, he paffed through Calicafa, a City almoft to- 
tally ruined, and came on the 17th to Peflis^ the Capi- 
tal City of that Part of Georgia^ lying in the Province 
of Carlhueli. The Country of Georgia^ wnich is under 
the Jurifdidlion of the Perjlans, borders at this Day to 
the Eaft upon CircaJJia and Mufcovy, to the Weft upon 
Armenia the Lefier, and to the North upon the Black- 
Sea and the Kingdom of Imeretta. It is extended Irom 
Tauris and Erzerom to Panais^ and was anciently call’d 
Albania. It is a Country very Woody and Mountainous, 
unlefs in the Middle, where it is more even and level. 
The River Kur runs through the Midft of it, and emp- 
ties itfelf into the Cafpian Sea. 
The Grecians are thought by fome to have called it 
Georgia., from Georgoi., Husbandmen j but others will 
have the Name deriv’d from St. George the Patron Saint 
of all the Chriftians of the Greek Church. The Tem- 
per of the Air is very kindly in Georgia., being very 
dry, cold in the Winter, and hot in the Summer. The 
fair Weather does not begin till May., but then it lafts 
till'theEnd of November. The Soil being well watered, 
produces all Sorts of Grain, Herbs and Fruits in Abun- 
dance, fo that a Man may live there delicioufly and 
cheap. Cattle are there very plentiful and good, as well 
the larger as lelTer Sort ; their Fowl is incomparable, ef- 
pecially their wild Fowl ; their Boars Flefti is as plentiful 
and good as any in Colchis \ and, indeed, the common 
People live upon nothing elfe almoft but young Pigs, 
which are excellent Meat, and never offend the Stomach. 
The Cafpian Sea, which is next to Georgia., and the 
Kur., that runs quite through it, fupplies it with all Sorts 
of fait and frefh Fifh. There is no Country that drinks 
more and better Wine, and they tranfport great Quan- 
tities of it into Media,. Armenia and to Ifpahan, for the 
King’s Table. They have great Quantities of Silk, but 
know not how to weave it, and therefore they carry it 
into Purkey to Erzerom, and the Parts adjoining, and 
drive a great Trade with it. The Compledion of the 
Georgians is moft beautiful, you can hardly fee an ill- 
favour’d Perfon among them ; and the Women are fo ex- 
quifitely handfome, that it is hardly poftible to look upon 
them, and not be in Love with them. They are tall, 
clean limb’d, plump and full, but not over fat, and 
extreamly {lender in the Waite: But this Beauty they 
fpoil with painting and dreffing with iumptuous Ha- 
bits and Jewels. The Georgians are naturally very witty, 
and would be as learned Men and great Artifts as any 
are in the World, if they had the Improvements 
of Arts and Sciences ; but having a mean Educa- 
tion and bad Examples, they are drowned in Vice, are 
Cheats and Knaves, perfidious, treacherous, ungrateful 
and proud. They are irreconcilable in their Enmities, 
for though they are not eafily provok’d, yet they pre- 
ferve their Hatred inviolable. ^ 
Drunkennefs and Luxury are fuch common Vices 
among them, that they are not fcandalous in Georgia 
The Church-men will be as drunk as others, and they keep 
male Slaves in their Houfes, which they ufe for their 
Concubines, at which No-body is offended, becaufe it is 
fo commonly pradifed, that Cuftom makes it thouo-ht 
lawful ; yea, and they fay, he that is not drunk at their 
great Feftivals of Ea/lerimd Chriflmas, csLnnot be a good 
Chriftian, and deferves to be excommunicated. The 
Georgians are very great Ufurers, and will lend no Mo- 
neys without a Pawn. The loweft Intereft they take is 
two per Cent, for a Month. The Women are as vicious 
and wicked as the Men, and contribute more than they 
to that genera] Debauchery, which overflows the Country. 
In their common Converfation they are civil and courte- 
ous, grave and moderate. Their Habit is much like 
the Polonian, and their Bonnets like theirs, their Veils 
are open before down the Breaft, and faftened with 
Buttons and Loops ; their Hofe and Shoes are like the 
Perfians, and their Womens Cloathing is wholly in the 
fame Tafte. 
The Houfes of their Grandees, and all their publick 
Edifices, are built according to the Perftan Model, and 
they imitate the Perfians in their Sitting at Table, in 
their Beds, and Manner of Diet. The Nobility exer- 
cife an abfolute Tyranny over the People, who are their 
Vaffals, making them labour as long as they pleafe for 
them, without Food or Wages, challenging a Right 
over their Eftates, Liberty and Lives, and felling their 
Children, or making rhem their own Slaves. They 
were converted to Chriftianity by an Iberian Woman, 
in the fourth Age, but have nothing left of Chriftianity, 
but the Name ; for they do not obferve the leaft Pre- 
cept of Jefus Chrift ; they place all their Religion in 
Fafting, and making long Prayers. 
There are feveral Biihops m Georgia, with a Patri- 
arch, whom they call Catholicos, and an Archbiihop, 
whofe Sees, as often as they are vacant, are difpofed of 
by the Prince, though he be a Mahometan, and he ge- 
nerally gives them to his Relations, and the prefent 
Patriarch is his Brother. The Churches in Georgia, 
efpecially in their Cities, are kept fomething more 
cleanly than in Mingrelia, but in the Villages are full as 
nafty. The Georgians and their Neighbours build their 
Churches upon high Mountains, in remote and inacef- 
fible Places, and bow unto them at great DIftances, but 
fcarce go into them once in ten Years, leaving them to 
the Injuries of the Weather, and for the Birds to build 
their Nefts in. They can give no other Reafon for all 
this, but that it is a Cuflom *, though we may fuppofe, 
it is rather to avoid repairing and adorning them. Geor- 
gia was made tributary to the Perfians by Hhmael the 
Great, and though it has feveral Times revolted, yet 
ftill continues in Subjeflion to them. 
The City of Peflis, the Capital City of Eaf Georgia, 
is one of the faireft Cities in all the King of Perfia'^ 
Dominions, though not fo big as fome. It is feated at 
the Bottom of a Mountain, and on the Eaftern-fide of 
it runs the River Kur, which rifing in the Mountains of 
Georgia, joins itfelf to the Araxes. The moft Part of the 
Houfes built by the River-fide, ftand upon a Rock, 
and the whole City is encompaffed with ftrong and beau- 
tiful Walls, except on the Side next the River, and is 
defended by a Fortrefs on the South-fide, wherein are 
none but native Perfians. This Fortrefs is a Sanftuary 
for all Manner of Criminals. 
Peflis has in it fourteen Churches, which is very much 
in a Country where there is fo little Devotion. Six of 
them are appropriated to the Georgian Service, and 
maintained by them, and the other eight belong to the 
Armenians. The Cathedral called Sion, is built all of 
hewn Stone, and ftands on the Bank of the River. It 
is an ancient Building, in good Repair, compofed of 
four Bodies, and has a great Duomo in the Middle. 
The great Altar ftands in the Middle of the Church, 
and the Infide is full of Paintings, after the Greek 
Manner. The Armenians have alfo feveral Monafte- 
ries 
