tobacco, honey, gall-nuts, as well as other productions of the
country; and there might he much more if the people had
any wish to create wants, or even to indulge those already
known.
The desires of the Kurd seem to be limited to the possession
of an excellent horse, with substantial clothing, and a
sufficiency of the ordinary food of the country, of which milk
forms a large proportion. Therefore, if contentment be in
reality wealth, the people of this country seem to possess i t ;
and, so long as this state of things continues, they may be
considered a happy race.
Of the population of Kurdistan it is difficult to speak, with
any degree of precision, in the present state of our knowledge;
but it appears to be thickly peopled, considering the mountainous
character of the country; such is certainly the case
in those parts which have been examined by Mr. Rich,1 Major
Rawlinson, and preceding travellers.
The Sekkir, Nur-ed-din, Shinkis, Gellates, Bulbasi, Jass,
Mikris, together with the Bahdinan tribes under the prince
of Am ad iy ah, and Rowanduz, make up an aggregate of
about 400,000 souls; to whom must be added a large
nomad population, and the numerical strength of many, as
yet, unvisited districts. The number of the Chaldeans and
Nestorians proves to be much under the estimate made
previous to Mh. Ainsworth s visit to their country, but
still it may be presumed that the population of Kurdistan,
west of Zagros, amounts to about 2,500,000, or, perhaps,
rather more; and a smaller number would scarcely bear a
fair proportion to the horses and other cattle which are
known to exist in the country.
Having thus briefly glanced at ancient Assyria, we pass on
to a tract of territory lying farther north.
1 Rich’s Kurdistan, Vol. I. p. 153.
C H A P T E R VII.
RUSSIAN PROVINCES.
Their gradual acquisition.—Geographical position.—Extent.—Range of the
Caucasus.— Ddghestdn.— Position.—Extent.—Mountains.—Rivers.— Der-
bend. — Tarkii. — Bdkii. — Shirvdn. — Mountains.— Rivers. — Climate.—
Products.— Shamahkee.—Tdlish.—Lenkoran.— Inhabitants.—Character.—
Choice of a Chief.—Comparative Geography of Shirvdn.— Kardbdgh.—
Superficies.—Rivers.—Products.—Capital.—Character of the People.—The
Armenian Districts.—Nakhchivdn.—Urd-dbdd, and Erivdn.—Its ancient
History.—Provinces of Kars, Akhltskhaï, and its Castle.—Imiretia.—Min-
grelia.—Abasia, and Goria.—Elizabethpol.—Shamshadil.—Kazakh.—Bam-
bak-Shuragel.—Bortchalin.—Karketia, and Kartellnia.—General Description
of Georgia.—Products.—Population.—Lezgistdn, and the Ossetes.
I n 1724, the territory south of the Caucasus was invaded by
Peter the Great in person : this prince, having taken Derbend,
entered into a treaty with Persia, by which, in return for the
provinces of Daghestan, Shirvân, Ghilan, Mazanderan, and
Aster-àbâd, he was to recover, from the Afghans, the dominions
of Shah Tamas. These conditions were not fulfilled,
and the provinces in question were held till Nadir Shah
recovered them from the Empress Anne in 1735, when the
Georgian territory reverted to the government of its own
princes.
After the death of Shah Tamas, in 1783, the then reigning
sovereign, Heraclius, in consideration of his dominions being
guaranteed to himself and his successors, declared himself a
vassal of Russia ; and, by this fatal step, he laid the foundation
of the ruin of his dynasty, and of the independence of the
country. This event took place soon after the demise of
George XIII., the son and successor of Heraclius. in 1801,
Georgia was declared to be a province of Russia ;1 and, in
VOL. I.
1 By Ukase, September 12, 1801.
K