Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-06-16

| many where women arc seen working ln
the fields everywhere. Women and cows are
great laborers in Germany shall never
/ forget my astonishmcnt when | saw for the
first time in Germany, a woman ploughipg,
with team consisting Of one poor, obadent
COW. thought it was woman's right to labor
carried to the extreme limit. The Abhasiau
/ women however spin the yarn and make all
/ the material necessary TO olothc themselves
and families. Their cooking is SO very sim
| pie that not much time is occupied in pre-
| pairing food, aud their lives are not rendered
bmdensome by too much labor. They an
/ wear pantaloons--no underskirts pctticoat
/ government is therefore impossible, ia land
which does not boast Of asingle specimen Of
/ that garment which, in more civilized conn
tries, every woman, il .ho be not irreclaiua
bly, strongminded, is supposed to wear
/ Over the pantaloons a dress is worn, which
/ reaches TO the feet when it is wet or muddy
the dress is usually tucked up, sometimes
/ above the knees. The shoes worn by women
ares perfect repctitionof those used nJaran.
Beneath the solcs arc affixed two pieces Of
wood about four inches high-one at the toe,
and The other at the heel; though, to an
/ appearances, these shoes are very inconye-
nient, the wearers seem TO move aboutiu them
1 quite easily. At all events, they protect the
feet from wet and dampuess
Our visit over at Abidge's house. We loft
the village Of Ldza, and returned to Pit
sounda, whore we spent the rest Of the day
in wandering about. We found tho remains
Of ancient water-works, some fragments Of
| pottery, and the ruins OF castle or large
stone building evidences of considerable
wealth aud civilization in times gone by
I All these ruins were entirely oyergrown by
trees aud dense shmbbcry.
We began our second day Of active life
early. at six o'clock, We hoped to get ready
quickly, and set out on au excursion for the
whole Of the day. Al our efforts were de-
voted to Masking The water boil for the morn
ing tea. Guatty in his white linen potti-
coat was quite as active in doing nothing
I but stand around ia the way, as on the previ
ou' day Mr. Russell was in unusually good
/ spirits, and readily consented 20 try and per-
suade the water to get UP an efrervescenca
Preparations had, however, scarcely com
menced when Colonel Freyer and his party
/ arrived. to look at the old church and fortress
/ OF course the samovar was neglected, and our
/ ten passed into oblivion Countess RuspoH
being very proud OF her house, insisted upon
showing Mrs. Freyer how convenient aud
I pleasant the rooms were. This lady, being
herself an excellent housekeeper was greatly
amazed at the dirt and disorder she behed
Aiter the party had spent considerable time
10 examining the church, we accompanied
them to the ,ea-shore, whore small boats We're
waiting 10 take them ont to the steamer.
The ladies tried TO prevail on me to return to
Lukhm, and remain, while my husband
mad the mountain journey. l. however, re-
sisted every temptation, being firmly resolved
20 carry ont my plan Of becoming acquainted
/ with mountain life and scenery. When we
got back from the soa-shore we found the
samovar cold anil Az R,-sen ana Gua1Jy
were obliged 70 make another attack. At
I ltu o tlNth ttd was i1dilNf anu az tl0N'N
o'clocl, we started on our journey, much to
the pleasure Of our guide, who had been
waiting for us, with four restless horses to
look after. since seven o'clock We intended
to make circuit Of about thirty miles. I'M
cluding some Of the most interesting places
10 the neighborhood. Though a little late,
still we hoped to accomplish our task.
our guide was Ivan Yasilievitch Acer-
bayeif am Abhasian, who learned Russian in
his youth, and speaks it quite as well a, his
mother tongue. He was educated at Kutais,
in Mngrelia, and served several years in the
militia of the country lie resigned the SER
vice, and is now a small farmer of Ldza. lie
provided MS with horses, at the price of one
ruble a day (seyonty-fye cents) Ivan is a
good fellow, knows everybody for thirty miles
around, and is consequently very useful
guide ON journey through the Pitsounda
district The Countess, who is not over
friendly to him, hints that in more youthful
days he was addicted to appropriating other
peoples horses. That, however in Abhasian
eyes, was not a crime, but rather virtue
for no man who had not established his repu-
tation as a reliable horse-thief, could hope to
induce any maiden in the country to become
his wife. Russian rule has nearly eNtin-
guished these poetic ideas, and the romantic
horse-thicf is mercilessly sentenced to inn
prisonmcnt. with hard labor and if the Of
fence is repeated, he may be obliged to per
form a pilgrimage to Siberia Civilization
is great hindrance to the romantic customs
of the gay mountaineers.
At eleven we started For distance of
about three miles, the road lay through n
perfectly level country, partly cultivated and
partly covered with young lockwood and
blackberry bushes. After that we had a
series of hills, several hundred feet high.
From these hills there are excellent views Of
the sea and the coast below. About eight
miles from Pitsounda we came upon the
river Bzeeb, large and rapidy-lowing
stream, which we crossed in boat. Our
horses were taken in charge by natives who
got them safely across, though with much
noise and excitement, About half an hour
later we arrived at the house of Prince
Inalipoff, espcctable-looking old gentle
man, who received us very cordially, and
brought watermelons and grapes for our ac-
ceptance. We had lunch with us, and as
the weather was delightful, we preferred
staying out of doors, and took position under
spreading beech. A number of cushions
were brought from the house for me to sit
upon. A bench was improvised into a table,
upon which our provisions, together with
the fruit, were placed. The old Prince, with
two of his sons and one daughterin-law,
joined us--so our company presented the ap-
pearance Of small but social and pleasant
picnic party. Our host tried to prevail on
us to make an expedition in his neighbor-
hood aud spend the night at his house As
we had determined TO return TO Pitsounda,
cost what it might, We declined his kind
= offers; and when we had finished our meal
we prepared for the continuation of our
journey, which lay through forest extend
inr several miles, In places il was very