ut two hundred miles
from the neighborhood of Trebizond to Dioscurias and the confines of
Circassia. Both the soil and climate are relaxed by excessive moisture:
twenty-eight rivers, besides the Phasis and his dependent streams,
convey their waters to the sea; and the hollowness of the ground appears
to indicate the subterraneous channels between the Euxine and the
Caspian. In the fields where wheat or barley is sown, the earth is too
soft to sustain the action of the plough; but the gom, a small grain,
not unlike the millet or coriander seed, supplies the ordinary food
of the people; and the use of bread is confined to the prince and his
nobles. Yet the vintage is more plentiful than the harvest; and the bulk
of the stems, as well as the quality of the wine, display the unassisted
powers of nature. The same powers continually tend to overshadow the
face of the country with thick forests; the timber of the hills, and
the flax of the plains, contribute to the abundance of naval stores; the
wild and tame animals, the horse, the ox, and the hog, are remarkably
prolific, and the name of the pheasant is expressive of his native
habitation on the banks of the Phasis. The gold mines to the south of
Trebizond, which are still worked with sufficient profit, were a subject
of national dispute between Justinian and Chosroes; and it is not
unreasonable to believe, that a vein of precious metal may be equally
diffused through the circle of the hills, although these secret
treasures are neglected by the laziness, or concealed by the prudence,
of the Mingrelians. The waters, impregnated with particles of gold, are
carefully strained through sheep-skins or fleeces; but this expedient,
the groundwork perhaps of a marvellous fable, affords a faint image of
the wealth extracted from a virgin earth by the power and industry of
ancient kings. Their silver palaces and golden chambers surpass our
belief; but the fame of their riches is said to have excited the
enterprising avarice of the Argonauts. [68] Tradition has affirmed, with
some color of reason, that Egypt planted on the Phasis a learned and
polite colony, [69] which manufactured linen, built navies, and invented
geographical maps. The ingenuity of the moderns has peopled, with
flourishing cities and nations, the isthmus between the Euxine and the
Caspian; [70] and a lively writer, observing the resemblance of climate,
and, in his apprehension, of trade, has not hesitated to pronounce