My hearty thanks are due to Mr. W. R. Morfill, for his kindness in reading through the chapters on the history and literature of Georgia. O. W. Oxford, September, 1888. NOTE. In transcribing proper names I have tried to preserve the original orthography as far as possible. a should be pronounced as in father. e should be pronounced like a in made. i should be pronounced as in machine. u should be pronounced as in rude. ch should be pronounced as in church. kh should be pronounced like ch in Scottish and German. s should be pronounced as in sun. z should be pronounced as in amaze. g should be pronounced as in gun. y should be pronounced as in yellow CONTENTS. PAGE Batum to Tiflis 1 Tiflis 8 The Georgian Military Road between Tiflis and Vladikavkaz 34 The Kakhetian Road--Tiflis to Signakh 69 Signakh 78 A Trip across the Alazana 83 Signakh to Telav, and thence to Tiflis 100 The History of Georgia 113 The Language and Literature of Georgia 136 The Political Condition of the Kingdom of Georgia 155 APPENDIX. Bibliography 171 Statistics 197 Specimens of Georgian Vocal Music 201 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. A few illustrations and the map at the end of the volume are not available in the scan-set used to prepare this ebook. Several other illustrations still contain the perforated library markings.