book,revenues are very ftnall, fcarcely exceeding£50,000 per an-
■ v ' , nutn, yet he contrives to maintain a ftanding army o f about
6000 men.
Th e profeffbr accompanied prince Heraclius in a campaign
along the banks -of the river Koor, 80 miles into tire
¡interior part o f Georgia, and returned with him to Tefflis.
A ll the houfes o f that capital are o f ffone, with flat roofs,
which ferve, according to the cuftom o f the eaft, as walks for
• the women. T h e buildings are neat and clean, but the
ftreets are exceedingly dirty and narrow. The town contains
one.Roman Catholick, thirteen Greek, and feven Armenian
churches. Having pafled the winter in Tefflis, and in examining
the adjacent country, he followed in fpring the
prince to the province o f Koketia, and explored the louthcrn
diftri&s inhabited by the Turcoman Tartars and fubject to
Heraclius, in the company o f a Georgian magnate whom
he had cured o f a dangerous diforder.
In July h e pafled into Imeretia, a country which lies between
the Cafpian and Black Seas, and is bounded on the eaft
by Georgia, on the north by Ofietia, on the weft by Mingrelia,
and on the fouth by the Turkiih dominions.
T h e * fovereign.-ef this diftridh, the prince or tzar Solomon,
having .upon his acceflion forbid the fcandalous traffick
pra&ifed by the noblemen o f felling their peafants, greatly
offended th e Turks, who gained b y that fpecies o f commerce
: being by their intrigues driven from his throne,
and compelled to find anafy.lura in the woodsand mountains,
¡he lived like a wild-man far fixteen years in caverns
and holes, and frequently by his perfonal courage efcaped
aflaflination, until he wasreinftated in his dominions by the
iUiffians in the late war. The prince wears uiually acoarfe
♦ » S e e jo u rn . S tv f e t . p„ 3 3^
adrefs
F R ’ O ' F E S S O E G U L D E N S T A F, D T.
dreft o f a brown colour,, with a muiket upon his ihoulder > Cy^F‘
but upon folemn oceafions he puts on a robe o f rich gold._
brocade,, and hangs round his neck a filver chain. He is
diftinguifhed from his fubjects by riding upon an. aft, per--
haps the only one in Imeretia, and by wearing. boots»
He has no regular troops, but can collect a defultory and •
undifeiplined army o f 600a men, with no artillery. Thefe
troops are drawn together by the found o f the trumpet: in
other refpedts the prince’s orders are iflued in the following,
manner at the markets which are held every Friday.. One
of his fervants afcends-a.tree near the place o f meeting, and ■
proclaims the edift with a loud voice,¡which-is communicated
to the people by each peribn upon his return to the place o f
Isis abode. His fubjedts are o f the Greek religion.
In the; almoft'unknown dominions o f this prince, who,
from his- gratitude, to Ruflia, .afforded to Guldenftaedt every
affiftance in his power, the profeffbr penetrated into the middle
chain o f Mount Caucafus, vifited the confines o f Mingrelia,
Middle Georgia, and Eaftern and Lower Imeretia; -an<J,.,
after efcaping,many imminent dangers from the banditti of.
thole parts, .fortunately returned toKiilar on- the 1 8th o f No- -
vember, w.here he pafled the winter, collecting various information
concerning the neighbouring Tartar tribes of the
Gancafus,- and particularly the Lefgees. In. the following
fammer; he journeyed to Cabarda Major, continued his
courfe, to Mount -Belbtan, the higheit point o f the firft ridge
o f the Caucafus ; ..infpectecl the mines «of M'adlhar, and went-.
to Tcherkalk upon the.Don. From thence.he-made expeditions
to Azof and Taganrog, and then along the new limits
to the Dnieper, he finiihed this-year’s route at Krementflmk, -
iu the government o f New Ruflia. In the enfuing
fpring he, was. proceeding to Crim Tartary3..,,but-receiving..
5b an.