06 
INHABITANTS OF GEORGIA. 
black teeth and white hair. Hence one. of their principal occupa- 
tions is to keep their teeth black by the help of certain herbs, and to 
whiten the hair by sprinklings upon it a certain water. The women 
have their hair very long ; but the men generally shave it close, 
except a single lock on the crown of the head, after the Japanese 
manner. 
Inhabitants of Georgia. 
“The inhabitants of Georgia,” says Sir George Chardin, “ are 
robust, valiant, and of a jovial temper; great lovers of wine, and 
esteemed very trusty and faithful ; endowed with good rational parts, 
but, for want of education, very vicious. The women are so fair 
and comely, that the wives and concubines of the king of Persia and 
his court are for the most part Georgian women. Nature has adorned 
them with graces no where else to be met with ; it is impossible to 
see them without loving them ; they are of a good size, clean limbed, 
and well shaped.” Another traveller, however, of no mean character, 
thus expresses himself with respect to these women. “ As to the 
Georgian women, they did not at all surprise us, for we expected 
to find them perfect beauties. Tliey are indeed no way disagreeable, 
and may be counted beauties, if conipared v^ith the Curdes. They 
have an air of health that is pleasing enough, but, after all, they are 
neither so handsome nor so well shaped as is reported. Those who 
live in the towns have nothing extraordinary more than the others, so 
that 1 may, I think, .venture to contradict the accounts that have been 
given of them by most travellers.” 
The other inhabitants of Georgia are Tartars, Ossi, and Armenians, 
called in the Georgian language, Somakhi. These last are found all 
over Georgia, sometimes mixed with the natives, and sometimes in 
villages of their own. They speak among themselves their own lan- 
guage, but all understand and can talk the Georgian. Their religion 
is partly the Armenian, and partly the Roman Catholic. They are 
the most oppi’essed of the inhabitants, but are still 'distinguished by 
that instinctive industry which every where characterizes these nations. 
Besides these, there are in Georgia considerable numbers of Jews, 
called in the language of the country, Uria. Some have villages of 
their own, and others are mixed with the Georgian, Armenian, and 
Tartar inhabitants, but never with the Ossi. They pay a small tribute 
above that of the natives. The Georgians are Christians of the Greek 
communion. Their dress nearly resembles that of the Cossacks, but 
men of rank frequently wear the habit of Persia..- They usually dye 
their hair, beards, and nails with red. The Georgian women employ 
the same colour to stain the palms of their hands. On their heads 
they w'ear a cap oV fillet, under which their black hair falls on their 
forehead ; behind, it is braided into several tresses. Their eye-brows 
are painted black, so as to form one entire line, and their faces 
are perfectly coated wdth white and red. Their robe is open to the 
girdle, so that they are compelled to conceal the breasts with their 
hands. Their air and manners are extremely voluptuous. Being 
generally educated in convents, they can all read and write, a qualifi- 
