Ivan G. Golovin, The Caucasus (1854)

Ivan Golovin (1816-1890) was a Russian publicist and writer, who had published several popular works about the Russian empire in French, German and English. After graduating from the University of Derpt in 1837, he pursued a diplomatic career and was posted abroad before making a mistake of publishing a book that was banned by the Russian secret police. Recalled back to Russia, he refused to follow orders and stayed in Britain; he was tried in absentia and condemned to an exile to Siberia. Between 1845 and 1860, Golovin wrote several popular works on the Russian empire, including The Caucasus (1854) that appeared on the eve of the Crimean War and sought to educate a British reader about the region's geography, ethnography and history. 

Georgians are an agricultural people, and their ploughs are drawn by as many as ten or twelve oxen or buffaloes; but their dwellings are wretched hovels, little better than dens. They bring up silk-worms at home, and keep numerous flocks. Their bridges, on the Kour, are constructed according to the primitive system that prevailed in the time of Cambyses. Skins, the same that are used as leathern bottles to carry wine, are sewed, inflated, and carefully shut. Then they are tied one to the other, so as to cover the water from one bank to the other. Over them planks are fitted up. Such are their bridges.

The Georgians soon reach maturity and old age; and their daughters marry and have children even when they are only eleven years old.

The Georgian costume partakes of both the Persian and the Circassian. The upper garment is called kaba, and covers the arholuh, and the sharwali, which have become fashionable in Russia. The shirts are in silk or cotton. The Georgians dye their hair, and they display, in that art, a skill equal to that of the Persians.

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The Immeretians, as well as the Georgians and Mingrelians, belong to the Kartwell race, though their languages are distinguished by a striking dissimilarity. The Immeretians wear the Persian costume, except the cap, which is a piece of cloth, fitted up for the purpose, sometimes embroidered with silver, and which is tied with a string round the chin. This cap, which has the shape of a vine leaf, covers only the surface of the head, and is no protection against the cold. However, its inefficiency is supplied by long and thick hair, which is dyed red, whilst moustaches are dyed black.

The Immeretians cultivate the vine, and are still more fond of wine than the Georgians. Their libations take place amidst sacred hymns, and no other kind of singing is known to them. Their dancing, like Circassian and Persian dancing, consists not of steps but of gestures and simple motions of the feet. Though Christians, they worship ancient idols, and make sacrifices of animals, especially on the tombs of the dead.