Georgia

Sources from old books

1685. Geographia universalis: the present state of the whole world by Pierre Duval.

Under the Name of Georgia, we bring Mingrelia, Gurgistan, Zuiria, and Circassia. Provinces where the ancient Romans were not able to establish their Empire, by reason of the sharpness of the Mountains, known by the Ancients under the Name of Caucasus, celebrated in the fable of Prometheus. All these Provinces lie between the Black and Caspian Seas, which are thought to communicate with one another, because they have Fish of the same kinds, and that those Territories, which lie between both, seem to have a superficies of but little depth, principally, when they go on Horse-back there. From thence they transport Silk, Stuffs, Wax, Honey: Little Money is made use of, most of the Georgians being so poor, that they often sell their Children to have wherewith to subsist on. An Inhabitant has been known there to exchange his Mother for a Turkish Horse, that was to his mind. There are in Georgia several Christians, and some Mahometans. The true Natives have a peculiar tongue. Several amongst them are free, some have their Kings, others acknowledge either the Turk, or the Persian, according to the necessity of their affairs. Those who obey the Turk, have great Priviledges in his Dominions; they pay him but a very inconsiderable Tribute, may enter armed and with displayed Ensigns into Jerusalem. Teflis has a particular King, who owns Allegigiance to him of Persia. Derbent often disputed by the Turks, and the Persians, is in the Passage that is called the Port of Iron, these are the Remnants of the Caspian Ports, that are seen upon Mount Barmach, with some Springs of Medicinal Oyl. The Tartars of Dagestan, who are near it, are commanded by the Schemkal, a Prince, whose Dignity depends on fate; when he is dead, those who pretend to have his Place, assemble around, and a Priest cafts a Golden Apple in the midst of them, which makes him Prince it touches; for they don't scramble for Sovereignty.

Mingrelia, otherwise Imereti, and Basciaciuch, lies near the Black Sea, at the place where that Sea receives the Faze, which contrary to other Rivers, has fresh waters above, and salt below. In the Countrey about Faze, Pheasants were first of all had. There are caught several other sorts of Birds, especially Crows, and Jackdaws. In the Year 1642, those Birds eat a prodigious quantity of Herrings, which the Sea had cast upon the Coast; to the height of a foot and half. There are White Bears, which prove that those Creatures form a particular sort of Bears. Mingrelia upon the Eastern part of the Black Sea, is the ancient Colches, famous for the Amour of Jason and Medea, and the coming thither of the Argonautes, to sharpe the Golden Fleece. This Fleece, when the Metaphor is shorn off, is thought by the wise to have consisted in the Mines of Gold, or else in the Commerce of Furs or Skins, which turned to great profit. Appian says, they were Skins, that remain'd guilt, when the Peasants made use of them to stop the Golden Sand, which they took in the Rivers, and which they cast against those Fleeces. There are still at this day Mines of Gold and Silver; but the Inhabitants of the Countrey keep them very secret, and moreover endeavour to show the Envoys of the Turks, that the Countrey is very poor. Iron is there in so great abundance, that the most part of Turkey is furnished thence with that Metal. Sena, Scammony, black Hellebore, and other Herbs and Plants grow there; but the natural Inhabitants of the Countrey are so ignorant of Simples, and the art of Physick, that a Confection of Wormwood having been prescribed some time since by an European, for the Cure of a Princess, a Mingrelian caused the Powder of a Stone of that Name, to be dissolved in Water. These Natives call themselves Odischi, or Guriel, from the Name of their Prince, and pay some Tribute to the Turk, They have amongst them several Bishops, and Ecclesiasticks, who make no scruple of following their Prince to the War, arm'd with a Head-piece, and a Cimiter on their sides, as well as several Bishops of the Empire of Germany. What is particularly Imereti, is free, the Town of Cotatis, formerly Cotyaeum, was the Countrey of Aetes, farther of Medea. In the Year 1578, Amurath the Grand Seignior, had caused a Fort to be made in the Island, which is in the Mouth of the Faze: Since that, this Fort has been demolished by the Inhabitants of the Countrey. There was in Odischi, Savatopoli, now ruined by the Floods, and formerly, as History says, frequented by above three hundred Nations of several Tongues, upon the account of its Commerce of Wool and Skins. There are above fifty Palaces seen in Mingrelia, whereof the best is Zugdidi. Scalingia is the place of the Royal Sepulture. That which we call properly Guriel has the Towns of Varthiet, and Cultiche.

Gurgistan, known by the Ancients by the Name of Iberia, is in the midst of the Mountains, where is great plenty of Mulberry-Trees: There are three parts of it; Kacheti, towards the lower-end, with the City of Zagan: Carduel, towards the middle, with the City of Teflis: And Baratralu, towards the upper part, with the City of Cori, or Gorede.

Zuiria was formerly called Albania, by reason that its Children were born into the World with white Hair: It is temperate, because it has several Rivers, which empty themselves into the Caspian-Sea. The City of Tersis belongs to the great Duke of Moscovy.

Circassia makes part of the Afiatick Sarinatia, in the midst of the Dom. Some will have it reach from Theman, near the Cimmerian Bosphorus, to Derbent, upon the Caspian Sea. It passes also under the Name of Comania. It has been the dwelling-place of the Amazons; and since that of the Mamalucks, who have been the Masters of Egypt. The Turks are said to come from one of its Countreys, called Tzurkia, which signifies Shepherd. The Circassians live much after the same manner as the Switzers; they preserve their Liberty in the Mountains, and Woods, amidst the Turks, Persians, Muscovites, and Tartars. They choose those places of the Woods as are the strongest, and there they intrench themselves, for their security, against the incursions of the Tartarian Horse; One Circassian alone in the Woods, makes head against twenty Tartars. They turn now for the most part Mahometans, tho' they were generally Christians. Robbery is not forbidden amongst them. They trade in Slaves, Skins, Furrs, and Wax; they till their Land, and are said to receive strangers after a civil manner. They are warlike, very ingenious, and as there is not in the World a more comely and handsome People, the Slaves of that Nation are in very great esteem. The Turks have there the City of Azof, otherwise Azac, at the disemboguing of the Dom into the Palus Meotis: It is a trading Town, and one of the most important of all the Ottoman Empire, by reason of its scituation; It preserves the Alliance of the lesser Tartary, and puts a stop to the Designs of the great Duke of Muscovy in those parts. The Abassan People, or Abcasses, are formidable to their neighbours. They have the best Falcons in the East. Hunting and Hawking are their principal Exercises.