In his journal, Eastwick described how he travelled from Britain to France and then, by sea, to Istanbul before arriving at Poti. After visiting Kutaisi and Surami, he turned south to Borjomi, where he met Aleksandr Baryatinsky, Russian Field Marshal (from 1859) and governor of the Caucasus.
I was just commencing my second dream on the night of the 14th of August, when M. B____ came into my room with Colonel Blyk, chief engineer, who said he was going on a hunting expedition into the mountains next day, and would he glad of my company. He assured me that there was every chance of finding bears, though roebucks [male roe deer] were to be the main objects of the chase.
After this, excitement kept me from sleeping, and I was up at 4 A.M., and using strenuous efforts to rouse B_____ whose passion for hunting, being extremely limited, had had no effect on his natural somnolence. At last I succeeded and we walked down to the colonel's house, and, after tea and a cigar, mounted, and, attended by several Cossacks, took our way to the mountains on the left of the Kur [Mtkvari] Biver. Having crossed the Kur by a tolerable wooden bridge, we turned to the right, and then to the left, and entered a densely wooded glen. We then ascended a hill about 1,500 feet high and after dismounting, were posted in places where it was supposed the game would break cover, while the Cossacks, with a number of savage-looking dogs, beat round the base of the hill.
After a little time the dogs gave tongue and came in pursuit of two roebucks, not far from where I was, but the cover was so thick there was no getting a shot. At 10 a.m. the colonel said he must return to attend upon the prince, and gave me bis gun loaded with slugs, and said I might have the chasseurs to myself. After going on a little, B______, too, declared he must return, as he could walk no further. Indeed the exercise was very severe, as the cover was in many places most dense and full of thorns, and the ascents and descents were extremely steep. Add to which there was nothing to eat or drink, except a little coarse bread and vodka, which the Cossacks had with them. I managed, however, to cool my thirst with wild raspberries, which grow on these hills in abundance, and I was very glad to be alone with the Cossacks and Rahim, who were all eager to kill some large game. But though we worked on vigorously till 4 P.M., we could not get a shot, except once at an eagle, though the traces of bears and deer were quite fresh in many places. I, therefore, resolved to return while I had strength left to carry me home, but we had got to a place so exceedingly steep that had it not been for the innumerable shrubs and trees we certainly should have broken our necks. As it was, one of the Cossacks did not like to risk the descent, and after we had got down, we had to wait an hour for him, until he could seek out an easier place.
On returning to the hotel, I found that the troupe who had been with me in the Emperor Alexander steamer had arrived, and were to sing that night before the prince, who had sent me an invitation. I went accordingly, and sat just behind Prince Bariatinski [Baryatinsky], and next to him at supper. He talked much of hunting in England, and in a way that showed him to be an ardent sportsman. As for the concert, the most that can be said for it was that it formed an excuse for a pleasant reunion, at which some twenty or thirty ladies were present. The performers themselves, however, were highly satisfied, and drank champagne till 4 A.M., enlivening their supper with occasional bursts of song, their voices not being much improved by the wine.
The 16th was devoted to an expedition to the famous monastery of Timotismani [Timotesubani], which is 14 versts from Burjan [Borjomi], in an easterly direction. I walked down to Colonel Blyk's house at 10 a.m., and was told we should have to wait a little before horses could be procured. The post-horses, they said, were greatly overworked, and the Viceroy, on his last expedition, killed a dozen between Teflis and Burjan, coming at his usual headlong speed. To pass time I took a walk with the colonel in the direction of Suram, and went on until the road itself ended, and we were stopped by the clouds of dust which a party of soldiers, who were at work on the road, were raising. Each soldier, while so employed, gets 10 kopeks, about 4d. a day extra. The officer had scrambled up the almost perpendicular mountain side, and was singing away, with perfect unconcern, some 400 feet above our heads, with his legs dangling over the precipice and his soul dangling over eternity.
At noon we started for the monastery, in the springless carrioles of the country. The road first passes up the mountain on the right bank of the Kur, and for some distance there is a tremendous precipice on the left hand, over which a shy or mistake of the horses would hurl the carriage. The route then passes along the summit of the hills, and by a stagnant lake, where I observed some snipe, and then enters a gloomy pine forest. After some versts an extremely steep and dangerous descent leads to more open ground, in which a river is twice crossed. Beyond this again the road skirts some magnificent rocks, in the tops of which a number of square hermitages are hewn, once tenanted by ascetics, and now by many falcons and other birds of prey. Soon after this we came to a defile, and, passing over some beautiful greensward, reached a group of fine trees, where, on ground eloping up to a mountain, in a complete cul de sac of hills, stands the monastery. It is of brick, the ponderous large bricks of the East; a plain oblong building, with a dome in the centre. The inside is covered with paintings of saints and inscriptions in the priestly Georgian character. The chapels were filled with green boughs, for the Viceroy had been spending two days in it with the ladies of his court and his band of musicians. Feet tripped lightly in the gay mazurkah over the graves of the monks, and fronting the portal was a gigantic swing, which looked very like a gallows. We dined on the greensward, and when we had finished our repast some peasants brought a number of trout for sale ; none of them weighed more than half a pound. After smoking our cigarettes, and admiring the rich verdure and many-tinted foliage of the trees, we returned to Burjan [Borjomi], and sat for a quarter of an hour on the brink of a precipice listening to the band playing many hundred feet below us.
I was now most anxious to proceed to Teflis, but B_____ declared that it was absolutely necessary for him to go to Akhaltzik [Akhaltsikhe] and Abbas Tumun [Abastumani], as he had business there of importance; and as this would not cause a delay of more than a day or two, I could not well refuse to accompany him. Add to this, I was, in fact, powerless, being ignorant of the country and the languages.
At 10 a.m., therefore, on the 17th, we started for Akhaltzik in a carriole. About four versts from Burjan [Borjomi] we passed a very remarkable and picturesque ruined castle on the right bank of the Kur. It stands on a lofty, isolated peak, about 700 feet high, which shoots up in the valley traversed by the Kur, while the valley itself is bounded on either side by mountains from 1,500 feet to 2,000 feet high, those on the river's proper right being clothed with pines to the summit, while those on the opposite side are bare, with rugged cliffs and rocks piled on rocks. Similar fortresses, similarly situated, are to be seen all along the route from Burjan to Abbas Tuman, and in many other parts of Caucasia. These, with the numerous splendid monasteries, and remains of fine bridges and other public works, sufficiently prove, what history tells us, that before the arrival of the Turks Georgia was a populous and flourishing kingdom. The Turks stamped out civilization wherever they came, and turned this beautiful paradise into a den of thieves. The castle looks best from the Burjan side, and is even more picturesque than any of the castles on the Rhine. About five versts farther on I observed a large strip of the forest, many acres in extent, in which all the trees seemed to have been struck with lightning; they were all withered, and the contrast of their brown leaves with the rich green which preceded and followed was most remarkable.
At 1 P.M. we reached Akshur [Atskuri], 25 versts from Burjan. Here there is a castle like that already
described, but on a much larger scale, and the peak on which it stands is more isolated, so that even in these days of rifled cannon it is still a place of some strength. In the Crimean war it was occupied by the Turks, who were drawn out of it by a feint, and then defeated by the Georgian militia, with the loss of fifty men and two guns. The post-house is a miserable hut, which with such scenery around is doubly an eyesore. I could not, however, help feeling interested in the post-master, who was a very handsome, soldier-like looking man, when B_______ told me that he had greatly distinguished himself in the above-mentioned fight with the Turks, and had captured one of the guns. On the strength of this anecdote I gave the dirty little son of the hero twenty kopeks.
At Akshur we mounted a couple of ragged hut wiry ponies, and the head man of the village accompanied us six versts, when he applied to the head man of the next village to take his place. But he was busy settling boundaries, as indeed we saw with our own eyes, so he sent a peasant with us, who, fresh from the plough, and with his plough harness, managed to keep up with us, though we galloped a great part of the way. The hills now lost their vegetation, and rose into huge, dreary-looking mountains. Here and there a hamlet peeped out, perched on the top of a precipice, exciting our wonder as to how the inhabitants glued themselves on.
About ten versts from Akshur, we passed a detachment of soldiers at work on the road. Akhaltzik [Akhaltsikhe] is seen at a distance of six or seven versts, and has rather an imposing appearance, which is not supported on a near approach by the reality.
Close to the town the Kur is crossed by a bridge, and just before we reached this we came upon a party of Russian soldiers at ball [firing] practice. They were firing with bayonets fixed, with a wider stride than our riflemen take, and with the weight more on the foot to the rear. The attitude was not graceful, but the practice seemed to be pretty good, as the drum sounded constantly after a shot was fired. The target was about 150 yards off, and no flags were waved, nor had the signal-man at the target any cover. Moreover, the line of firing was unpleasantly close to the road, and a number of peasants with characteristic apathy approached so near to it, that I expected to see one of them rolled over every minute.
Meantime, it began to rain, and I galloped on as hard as I could, as I had no change of raiment [clothing]. The guide kept up with me, and led me to a nice house with a balcony, where I dismounted, thinking it was the post-house. Presently B______ came up, and said I was wrong, and must ride on, which, on account of the rain, I was loath to do. While we were arguing the matter, the servants of the house came out, and we found that by a happy coincidence we had stopped at the house of Prince Toumanoff, chef of the district, and B_______'s cousin.
On hearing this, we resolved, although the prince was absent, to pass the night at his house. A dismal
night it was. I was devoured by fleas in spite of Keating's powder, and B______ was still more unfortunate. The clouds, which had been gathering since 2 P.M., and which had sprinkled us pretty well as we galloped into Akhaltzik, now sent down a perfect deluge. The lightning blazed incessantly, and the thunder kept up a continual roar, which reverberated in the mountains around us. The little stream on which the prince's house was built rose to a noisy torrent, and it seemed as if the balcony would every moment be washed away, though, in fact, the water was many feet below it. In spite of all this, B______, whose powers of slumbering are quite portentous, would have remained in blissful unconsciousness, but all of a sudden the part of the roof just over his bed was blown away by the storm. Then as he lay snoring on his back, with his mouth wide open, a cataract descended on him, which literally washed him off his couch, and dispelled his dreams in a moment. Incredible as it may seem, however, he had no sooner, wet as he was, curled himself up in a corner in the next room, than he went off again into a sound sleep and did not wake till the morning.
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