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. It is probable,
however, as Marsden has suggested, that the statement about the King
always being called David arose in part out of some confusion with the
title of Dadian, which, according to Chardin (and also to P. di
Castelli), was always assumed by the Princes of Mingrelia, or Colchis as
the latter calls it.
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