It is remarkable that the
post-houses are generally one or two wersti from the villages or
towns. A traveller, in consequence of this custom, is exposed to
the inconvenience of making a special journey if he has anything to
attend to in those places.
9th September. Kutais contains 10,000 inhabitants, and lies in a
natural park; all round is the most luxuriant vegetation. The
houses are neat and ornamental; the green painted church towers and
barracks peep invitingly from between. The large river Ribon {314}
separates the town from the large citadel which very picturesquely
occupies a neighbouring hill.
The dresses of the people are as various as round Tiflis; the
headgear of the Mingrelian peasants appears truly comic. They wear
round black felt caps, in the shape of a plate, fastened by a string
under the chin. The women frequently wear the Tartarian schaube,
over which they throw a veil, which, however, is put back so that
the face is seen. The men wear, in the mornings, and in rainy
weather, large black collars (called burki) of sheep's wool, or
felt, which reach below the knees. I must here mention that the
beauty for which the Georgians are so famous must not be sought for
among the common people. I did not find them particularly handsome.
The carts which the peasants use are remarkable, the front part
rests upon curved pieces of wood, or sledge-bars; the hinder part
upon two small thick discs of wood.
My stay in Kutais was caused by the want of horses; it was not till
2 o'clock in the afternoon that I could continue my journey. I had
two stages to reach the village of Marand, which lies on the river
Ribon, where the post-cars are changed for a boat, by which the
journey to Redutkale, on the Black Sea, is made.
The first stage passes chiefly through fine woods, the second
presents an open view over fields and meadows; the houses and huts
are quite buried beneath bushes and trees. We met a number of
peasants who, although they had only a few fowls, eggs, fruits,
etc., to carry to the town for sale, were nevertheless on horseback.
There was abundance of grass and willow trees, and consequently of
horses and horned cattle.
At Marand I stopped, for want of an inn, with a Cossack. These
people, who also live here as settlers, have pretty wooden cottages,
with two or three rooms, and a piece of land which they use as field
and garden. Some of them receive travellers, and know how to charge
enough for the miserable accommodation they afford. I paid twenty
kopecs (8d.) for a dirty room without a bed, and as much for a
chicken. Beyond that I had nothing, for the people are too lazy to
fetch what they have not by them.
