Chapter XVII: Section II

_Contarini, leaving Kaffa, crosses the Euxine to the city of Phasis, whence he pursues his journey through Mingrelia, Georgia, and part of Armenia, into Persia_.

It is impossible for me to give any exact description of the city of Kaffa, or Theodosia, or of its government, as the danger of incurring suspicion obliged me to remain continually at home; on which account I can only mention such particulars as I learned from others. It is situated on the Euxine, and is celebrated for a great fair, which is much frequented, on which account the city is very populous, and is said to be very rich and powerful. I hired a vessel belonging to Anthony Valdat, which lay in the Palus Meotis, to carry me to the city of _Phasis_. When I was ready to embark, I met with two Armenians, one of whom had been on an embassy to Rome, from Uzun Hassan, and was persuaded by them to prefer disembarking at _Tina_, about an hundred miles from Trebisond, instead of Phasis, alleging that from Tina it was only four hours journey to a castle named _Arrius_, which depended upon the king of Persia, and promising to conduct us to that place in safety. Although I was by no means satisfied with this advice, I allowed myself to be guided by the consul and his brother, who agreed in opinion with the Armenians. I accordingly left Kaffa on the 4th of June[1], accompanied by the consul, who went with me to the river, where our vessel was in waiting. I had formerly agreed with the master for our passage to Phasis at seventy ducats, but on occasion of the change in our destination, I was now obliged to pay an hundred. Being aware that I should not be able to meet with any person to serve us at the place we were going to, I used the precaution to hire nine men from Kaffa, to assist the mariners of our vessel, and to procure provisions for us in our journey through Georgia and Mingrelia.

We embarked on the 15th of June, and made sail across the Euxine, direct for Tina, but had hardly got twenty miles on our voyage, when a contrary wind sprung up from the east. Observing the mariners consulting together in an extraordinary manner, I became curious to know the purpose of their discourse. Accordingly, one Bernard, the brother-in-law of our captain, said to me that he understood we proposed going to Tina, but advised me by no means to do so; as a certain _Subassa_ roamed about that neighbourhood with a band of cavalry, who would certainly make us slaves if we fell into his hands. On this advice I changed my purpose, and the wind becoming more favourable, we made sail for Liasi and Phasis, and arrived at _Varsi_ on the 29th of June, where I disembarked my horses and baggage, and sent them from thence by land to Phasis, which is sixty miles from that place. _Varsi_ is a castle, with a small village in Mingrelia, belonging to a lord named _Gorbola_, to whom likewise _Caltichea_[2], a place of small importance on the coast of the Euxine, is subject. The inhabitants of this country are very miserable, and the only productions are hemp, wax, and silk.

On the 1st of July we arrived near Phasis, followed by a vessel filled with Mingrelians, who seemed all to be fools or drunk. Quitting the vessel, we went up the river in a boat, passing an island in the mouth of the river, where Oetes, the father of Medea the enchantress, is said to have reigned. On this island we spent the night, and were sadly infested by midges. Next day we went up the river in the boat, passing the city of Asso, which stands on its banks in the midst of a forest. I here found one Nicholas Capella, of Modena, who commanded in these parts, and a Circassian woman named Martha, who had been the slave of a person of Genoa, but was now married. This Martha received me with much kindness, and with her I staid two days. Phasis is a city of Mingrelia, subject to prince Bendian, whose dominions extend only about three days journey in length. The country is very mountainous, and full of forests. The inhabitants are so fierce and savage, that they might be accounted wild beasts. Their principal drink is beer; they have some corn and wine, but in very small quantities; boiled millet being their ordinary food, which is a very poor kind of nourishment. They sometimes procure wine and salted fish from Trebisond, and import salt from Kaffa, without which they could not exist. Their only productions consist in a small quantity of hemp and wax. If they were industrious, they might procure abundance of fish, which are very numerous in their river. They are Christians, according to the Greek ritual, to which they have added many gross superstitions.

I left Phasis on the 4th of July, accompanied by Nicholas Capella, and crossed the river _Mare_ on a float. That day and the next, we travelled through a considerable portion of Mingrelia, always among woods and mountains. Towards the evening of the 5th, we came to the habitation of prince Bendian, whom we found, with all his court, reclining on a plain, under the shade of some trees. I sent Nicholas Capella to inform him of my quality, and to ask permission to pay him my respects, which was accordingly granted. I saluted him, therefore, with great respect, as he sat on the ground with his wife and children, and he made me sit down beside him. After explaining the purpose of my journey, I requested he would have the goodness to appoint me a guide. He expressed his satisfaction at my arrival in his dominions, and granted my request. He afterwards sent me some bread, a piece of beef, and the head of a sow, but so under done, that it required the extreme necessity in which we then were to induce us to eat of his provisions; but when we cannot get what we like, we must put up with what can be had. We had to wait a whole day for the promised guide. The plain in which we found prince Bendian, is surrounded by very fine trees, resembling box, but much more lofty. The prince seemed about fifty years of age, and had a tolerably handsome countenance, but his manners were perfectly ridiculous.

On the 7th of July we continued our journey, always among woods and mountains, and next day passed the river which divides Mingrelia from Georgia, having to pass the night in the open air, and, what was worse, we had nothing to eat. On the 9th, we arrived at a small city named _Cotachis_[3], which is defended by a stone fort, and where we saw a temple that seemed very ancient. We had here to pass a bridge over a large river, before reaching the plain in which the huts of Plangion, king of Georgia, are situated. The fort and city of Cotachis belong to Plangion. I waited upon the commander of this place who invited me to dinner. He was seated on the ground, on which I, and those of my suite who accompanied me, and some friends of the governor, all sat down. Before us was laid a greasy skin, on which they served us with bread, radishes, some flesh, and other execrable articles with which I was not acquainted. They continually offered me wine in large goblets, to fill me drunk, according to their abominable customs, as they are as foolish and beastly as the Mingrelians. Finding that I would not join them in deep drinking, they held me in great contempt, insomuch that I found it extremely difficult to get leave to retire and to continue my journey. But at length they brought me a guide to conduct me to the king of Georgia.

I left Cotachis on the 12th of July; and, after travelling the whole day through woods and mountains, we rested for the night in a meadow at the foot of a mountain, near a castle named _Scandes_[4], in which king _Pangrates_[5] resides. My guide here left me on purpose to inform the king of my arrival; promising to return immediately with another guide to serve me during the rest of the journey. We had accordingly to pass the whole night in the wood, starving of hunger, and full of anxiety. The guide came back early in the morning, accompanied by two of the kings secretaries, who informed me that the king was gone to Cotachis, and had ordered them to make an inventory of all our baggage, and of every thing we had about us; after which we should be provided with a passport, to travel free from payment of any duties through the whole country. They proceeded accordingly in their examination and inventory with the most rigorous exactness, even noting down the very shirts we then wore. After this they ordered me to mount my horse, and to go along with them to the king, leaving all my people behind. I used my best endeavours to be excused from this; but, instead of listening to me, they loaded me with insolence; and the only favour I could obtain, and that with the utmost difficulty, was permission to take my interpreter along with me. We accordingly resumed our journey, without meat or drink, and arrived much fatigued at Cotachis towards night; where my interpreter and me were left all night to our repose under a tree, where, indeed, they sent us some bread and fish.

The remainder of my people were taken to a miserable village, where they were left in charge of the priest; and our mutual anxiety may be easily guessed.

Next morning I was carried before the king, whom I found sitting on the ground in a hut, surrounded by several of his nobles. After paying my respects, he asked me a great number of questions, and among the rest, how many kings there were in the world? It came into my fancy to answer that there were twelve. On which he signified that I was right, and that he was one of the number; and that he was much surprised that I should come into his dominions without bringing him a letter from my sovereign. To this I answered, that when I left my own country, I did not expect to travel through his dominions, otherwise my sovereign would assuredly have given me letters in charge for his majesty; and with this answer he seemed satisfied. He asked many other extraordinary questions, from which I conjectured that my guide had maliciously represented me as carrying many valuable things; and it is probable, if this had been the case, that I had never been allowed to escape out of their hands. The royal secretaries endeavoured to persuade me that I ought to make the king a present of any article that might strike his fancy among my small baggage; but I got off without making any present, except compliments, and requesting him to appoint some one to conduct me through his dominions. This he was pleased to promise, as likewise to give me a free passport, without paying any duties, as I carried no merchandize. Accordingly, I took my leave of the king on the 14th of July, returning to the tree I formerly mentioned as my lodging, where the secretary brought me the promised passport and a guide. I then returned to my people at the village where they were kept in my absence, and was received with much joy, as the priest had represented the king as the cruellest tyrant in the world. My people could not contain themselves for excess of joy at my safe return, and even the miserable priest was so touched at the scene, that he provided us with something to eat, and we slept there that night as well as we could.

Next day, being the 15th of July, we provided ourselves with some bread and wine, to comfort ourselves on the way, and resumed our journey through thick forests and terrible mountains, which continued for two days. In the evening of the 16th, we stopt near a spring, where we remained during the night in the open air, being obliged to light a fire on account of the coldness of the weather, though in the middle of summer. On the 17th of the same month we arrived at _Goride_[6], which belongs to the king of Georgia. This city is built on a plain, watered by a large river, and is defended by a citadel which is built upon a rock. Our guide notified our arrival to the commandant, who ordered us a house for our lodgings, apparently for the purpose of extorting a present; for shortly afterwards he informed me that he had letters from the king, by which he was ordered to receive twenty-six ducats from me for himself, and that I should pay six to my guide. I endeavoured to evade this demand, by saying that the king had received me favourably, to whom I had already given seventy ducats, and could not give any thing more, and urged my free passport. But he would listen to nothing I could urge, and I was forced to comply with his extortion. He even detained me till the 19th of the month, and even then I had extreme difficulty to get leave to depart. The inhabitants of the city, who deserve rather to be ranked among beasts, looked at us with as much astonishment as if they had never seen any other men than ourselves. They told us that, on the top of a high mountain in a neighbouring forest, there was a great church, in which was an image of the Virgin, which worked many miracles, and that the church was served by forty monks, whom they named _Calojeriens_[7]. But our anxiety to get out of this abominable country, prevented us from paying our devotions at that famous church. Georgia, indeed, is a somewhat better country than Mingrelia, but the manners of the people and their way of living is equally brutal; and such were the distresses and difficulties I encountered in travelling through both, that it would be tedious to relate them. On the 20th of July we left the abominable city of Goride, where we had suffered so many vexations, and continued, our journey through forests and over mountains, occasionally falling in with villages where we purchased provisions. We had always to pass the nights on the ground near some spring or rivulet, during most part of our journey through Mingrelia and Georgia.

[1] We have already seen that it was the 16th of that month when Contarini
arrived at Kaffa. Much confusion has occurred in the dates of this
journey, which we have no means of correcting, and must, therefore, be
contented with them as they are--E.

[2] The names of places in this journal are so corrupted as to be often
quite unintelligible. Varsi may possibly be Vardon, in the district to
the northwest of Mingrelia, named Abkhas; and Caltichea may perhaps be
Sulhuali, a sea port about 30 miles to the east. Phasis probably
refers to some town on the river of that name, perhaps Subastei.--E.

[3] Probably Cutais in Imeritia, on the river Riene.--E.

[4] Perhaps Sarassan, about forty miles S. E. from Cutais.--E.

[5] Apparently the same prince named Plangion a little before.--E.

[6] Gori in Georgia, on the river Kur. The journey hitherto must have been
through Mingrelia, then apparently subject to the prince or king of
Georgia.--E.

[7] Probably Caloyers.--E.