On the morning of the 2nd, we went up the river in the boats of the country to a city called Asso, situated on the river and surrounded by woods. The river is as wide as two shots of a crossbow. When we had landed at the city I found a certain Nicolò Capello da Modone, who had settled there and become a Mahometan; a Circassian woman, named Marta, who was the slave of a Genoese; and a Genoese, who was also settled and married there. I lodged with the woman Marta, who certainly treated me well, and staid till the 4th. Fasso belongs to the Mengrelians, whose chief is named Bendian. He has not much territory, as it may be traversed in three days, and consists principally of woods and mountains. The men are brutal, and shave their heads after the fashion of minor friars. There are stone quarries in the country, and a little corn and wine is also produced, but of no great value. The men live miserably on millet made hard like polenta, and the women fare more miserably still; and were it not for a little wine and salt fish imported from Trebisond, and salt from Capha, they would be very badly off. They produce canvas and wax, but in small quantities. If they were industrious they might procure as much fish as they required from the river. They are Christians, and worship according to the rites of the Greek Church, but they have many heresies. On the 4th, we left Fasso with the above-mentioned Nicolò Capello as guide, and crossed a river named Mazo in a boat. On the 5th, after passing through woods and over mountains, we arrived in the evening at the place where Bendian, the Lord of Mengrelia, was staying. This prince, with his court, was seated in a small plain under a tree. I made known to him by the said Nicolò that I wished to speak to His Highness, and he had me sent for. He was seated on a carpet with his wife and some of his sons by his side, and he made me sit before him. When I had spoken to him and made him presents, he merely said that I was welcome. I asked him for a guide, which he promised to let me have, on which I returned to my quarters. He sent me, as a present, a pig’s head, a little beef badly cooked, and some bad bread, which we were compelled to eat from necessity, and I waited for the guide the whole day. In this plain there were a great many trees like box trees, but much larger, and all of an equal height, with a path in the middle of them. Bendian was about fifty years of age, rather handsome, but his manners were those of a madman. On the 7th we left, and travelled continually through woods and over mountains, and on the 8th crossed a river which divides Mengrelia from Giorgiania, and slept in a meadow on the fresh grass, without much provision.