The steamer did not arrive until the 5th (Russian calendar).  Nothing is more tedious than to wait from hour to hour for a conveyance, especially when it is necessary, in addition, to be ready to start at any moment.  Every morning I packed up.  I did not venture to cook a fowl or anything else, for fear I should be called away from it as soon as ready; and it was not until the evening that I felt a little safer, and could walk out a little.

From what I could see of the neighbourhood of Redutkale and Mingrelia altogether, the country is plentifully furnished with hills and mountains, large valleys lie between, and the whole are covered with rich woods.  The air is on that account moist and unhealthy, and it rains very frequently.  The rising sun draws up such dense vapours, that they float like impenetrable clouds, four or five feet above the earth.  These vapours are said to be the cause of many diseases, especially fever and dropsy.  In addition to this, the people are so foolish as to build their houses in among the bushes and under thick trees, instead of in open, airy, and sunny places.  Villages are frequently passed, and scarcely a house is to be seen.  The men are remarkably idle and stupid; they are tawny and lean.  The natives seldom reach the age of sixty; and it is said that the climate is even more unhealthy for strangers.

Still I believe that much might be done in this country by industrious settlers and agriculturists.  There is abundance of land, and three-fourths of it certainly lies uncultivated.  By thinning the woods and draining the land, the badness of the climate would be lessened.  It is already, even without cultivation, very fruitful; and how much this might be increased by a proper and rational mode of treatment.  Rich grass grows everywhere, mixed with the best herbs and clover.  Fruit grows wild; the vines run up to the tops of the highest trees.  It is said that in time of rain the ground is so soft, that only wooden ploughs are used.  Turkish corn is most generally grown, and a kind of millet, called gom.

The inhabitants prepare the wine in the most simple manner.  They hollow out the trunk of a tree, and tread the grapes in it; they then pour the juice into earthen vessels, and bury these in the ground.

The character of the Mingrelians is said to be altogether bad, and they are generally looked upon as thieves and robbers; murders are said not to be unfrequent.  They carry off one another’s wives, and are much addicted to drunkenness.  The father trains the children to stealing, and the mother to obscenity.

Colchis or Mingrelia lies at the end of the Black Sea, and towards the north on the Caucasian mountains.  The neighbouring people were formerly known under the name of Huns and Alani.  The Amazons are said to have dwelt in the country between the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea.