A walk to the Chapel of David, which lies upon a hill immediately in front of the town, repays the trouble.  Besides the lovely country, there is to be seen here a fine monument erected in memory of the Russian ambassador, Gribojetof, who was murdered in Persia on the occasion of a revolt.  A cross, at the foot of which lies his mourning wife, is very artistically cast in metal.

On Monday, the 5th of September, I received my passport, about 11 o’clock; I ordered the post carriage an hour afterwards.  Herr Salzmann proposed that I should visit some German settlements, which were situated at about ten or twenty wersti from Tiflis, and offered to accompany me there; but I had not much inclination to do so, more particularly as I had heard everywhere that the settlers had already much degenerated, and that idleness, fraud, dirt, drunkenness, etc., was not less frequent among them than in the Russian colonies.

I left Tiflis about 3 in the afternoon.  Just outside the town stands, by the roadside, a cross cast in metal, with the eye of Providence upon a pedestal of polished granite, surrounded by an iron railing.  An inscription states that, on the 12th of October, in the year 1837, his imperial majesty was upset here, but that he had escaped without injury.  “Erected by his grateful subjects.”

This incident appears, therefore, to have been one of the most remarkable in the life of this powerful ruler, as it has been commemorated by a monument.  It has, certainly, not been erected without the approval of the emperor.  I am by no means certain which is the most to be wondered at, the people who placed it here, or the monarch who permitted it.

I went only one stage today, but it was so long, that I had to continue my journey into the evening.  To go any further was not to be thought of, as the country, not only here, but in the greater part of this province, is so unsafe that it is impossible to travel in the evening or night without the protection of Cossacks, for which purpose a small company is placed at each station.

The scenery was rather agreeable; pretty hills enclosed pleasant looking valleys, and on the tops of some mountains stood ruins of castles and fortified places.  There were times in the history of this kingdom as well as the German when one noble made war upon the others, and no man was safe of his life and property.  The nobles lived in fortified castles upon hills and mountains, went out mailed and harnessed like knights, and when threatened by hostile attacks, their subjects fled to the castles.  There are still said to be people who wear, either over or under the clothes, shirts of mail, and helmets instead of caps.  I did not, however, see anything of the kind.  The river Kurry continued to run along by our road.  Not far from the station a long handsome bridge led across, but it was so awkwardly placed that it was necessary to go out of the way a whole werst to reach it.