DEPRAYITY OF THE INHABITANTS. 
131 
to separate the weed from the good herb, nor the taste to feel 
that it is sweeter than his neighbour’s. Sunk in apathy, he cares 
not whether rain or sunshine descend on the ground; aban¬ 
doned to indolence, it is all one to him, whether his food be the 
bramble or the grape ; and, for personal comfort, the stye would 
afford as pleasant a pillow as a bed of flowers : such is the pre¬ 
sent Kahetian ! But, that so strange a contrast between the man 
and the soil, is not always the effect of any natural cause, such 
as climate, &c. may be affirmed, from what was the character of 
the Albanian inhabitant of this very same district. 
Dr. Reniggs, who resided for a considerable time in Georgia 
during the reign of the unfortunate Heraclius, writes thus of the 
general Georgian character at that time, which, of course, in¬ 
cludes the Kahetians, their country being a province of Georgia. 
And in the reasons he gives for the moral defects he describes, 
we find the cause why the later natives of Kahetia differ so 
essentially from its earlier people, when the same country bore 
the name of Albania. 
He observes, “ that both the nobles and peasantry of Georgia 
are given up to a wretched degree of sloth, appearing to despise 
all laudable pursuits which require attention or labour ; and 
amongst others, the cultivation of the earth. But this stubborn 
indolence is not the natural bias of the Georgian. He is fully 
aware of his wants, of his miserable poverty, and of the usual 
means of relieving such a state ; but he has no hope, in applying 
to the resources apparently open to his industry. Oppression is 
at the door to weigh down his efforts, or rapacity at hand to 
seize the product of his labours. He is under the eye, and the 
hand, and the double yoke, first of his own chiefs, and then of 
the powers beyond them, till the burthen becomes too heavy to 
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