(Pereg. Quat. p. 122;
Ramusio, II. 109; El. de Laprim. 276; V. du Chev. Gamba, I. 298.)
[The phenomenal rise in the production of the Baku oil-fields between
1890-1900, may be seen at a glance from the Official Statistics where the
total output for 1900 is given as 601,000,000 poods, about 9,500,000 tons.
(Cf. Petroleum, No. 42, vol. ii. p. 13.)]
[1] Polo's contemporary, the Indian Poet Amir Khusru, puts in the mouth
of his king Kaikobad a contemptuous gibe at the Mongols with their
cotton-quilted dresses. (Elliot, III. p. 526.)
CHAPTER IV.
OF GEORGIANIA AND THE KINGS THEREOF.
In GEORGIANIA there is a King called David Melic, which is as much as to
say "David King"; he is subject to the Tartar.[NOTE 1] In old times all
the kings were born with the figure of an eagle upon the right shoulder.
The people are very handsome, capital archers, and most valiant soldiers.
They are Christians of the Greek Rite, and have a fashion of wearing their
hair cropped, like Churchmen.[NOTE 2]
This is the country beyond which Alexander could not pass when he wished
to penetrate to the region of the Ponent, because that the defile was so
narrow and perilous, the sea lying on the one hand, and on the other lofty
mountains impassable to horsemen. The strait extends like this for four
leagues, and a handful of people might hold it against all the world.
Alexander caused a very strong tower to be built there, to prevent the
people beyond from passing to attack him, and this got the name of the
IRON GATE. This is the place that the Book of Alexander speaks of, when it
tells us how he shut up the Tartars between two mountains; not that they
were really Tartars, however, for there were no Tartars in those days, but
they consisted of a race of people called COMANIANS and many besides.[NOTE
3]
[Illustration: Mediaeval Georgian Fortress, from a drawing dated 1634. "La
provence est tonte plene de grant montagne et d'estroit pas et de fort"]
[In this province all the forests are of box-wood.[NOTE 4]] There are
numerous towns and villages, and silk is produced in great abundance. They
also weave cloths of gold, and all kinds of very fine silk stuffs. The
country produces the best goshawks in the world [which are called
Avigi].[NOTE 5] It has indeed no lack of anything, and the people live
by trade and handicrafts. 'Tis a very mountainous region, and full of
strait defiles and of fortresses, insomuch that the Tartars have never
been able to subdue it out and out.
There is in this country a certain Convent of Nuns called St. Leonard's,
about which I have to tell you a very wonderful circumstance. Near the
church in question there is a great lake at the foot of a mountain, and in
this lake are found no fish, great or small, throughout the year till Lent
come. On the first day of Lent they find in it the finest fish in the
world, and great store too thereof; and these continue to be found till
Easter Eve. After that they are found no more till Lent come round again;
and so 'tis every year. 'Tis really a passing great miracle![NOTE 6]
That sea whereof I spoke as coming so near the mountains is called the Sea
of GHEL or GHELAN, and extends about 700 miles.[NOTE 7] It is twelve days'
journey distant from any other sea, and into it flows the great River
Euphrates and many others, whilst it is surrounded by mountains. Of late
the merchants of Genoa have begun to navigate this sea, carrying ships
across and launching them thereon. It is from the country on this sea also
that the silk called Ghelle is brought.[NOTE 8] [The said sea produces
quantities of fish, especially sturgeon, at the river-mouths salmon, and
other big kinds of fish.][NOTE 9]
NOTE 1. - Ramusio has: "One part of the said province is subject to the
Tartar, and the other part, owing to its fortresses, remains subject to
the King David." We give an illustration of one of these mediaeval
Georgian fortresses, from a curious collection of MS. notices and drawings
of Georgian subjects in the Municipal Library at Palermo, executed by a
certain P. Cristoforo di Castelli of that city, who was a Theatine
missionary in Georgia, in the first half of the 17th century.
The G. T. says the King was always called David. The Georgian Kings of
the family of Bagratidae claimed descent from King David through a prince
Shampath, said to have been sent north by Nebuchadnezzar; a descent which
was usually asserted in their public documents. Timur in his Institutes
mentions a suit of armour given him by the King of Georgia as forged by
the hand of the Psalmist King. David is a very frequent name in their
royal lists. [The dynasty of the Bagratidae, which was founded in 786 by
Ashod, and lasted until the annexation of Georgia by Russia on the 18th
January, 1801, had nine reigning princes named David. During the second
half of the 12th century the princes were: Dawith (David) IV. Narin
(1247-1259), Dawith V. (1243-1272), Dimitri II. Thawdadebuli (1272-1289),
Wakhtang II. (1289-1292), Dawith VI. (1292-1308). - H. C.] There were two
princes of that name, David, who shared Georgia between them under the
decision of the Great Kaan in 1246, and one of them, who survived to 1269,
is probably meant here. The name of David was borne by the last titular
King of Georgia, who ceded his rights to Russia in 1801.
