being rich, which is elsewhere so much coveted, our travellers endeavoured to pass for Capuchin friars, and pretended that the baggage with which their vehicles were loaded consisted entirely of books. The princess believed neither of these stories. Being informed that Chardin understood Turkish and Persian, she tormented him, by means of a slave who could speak the former language, with a thousand questions, of which the greater number turned upon the subject of love. After pushing these questions beyond the verge of decency, to the great amusement of her suite, who appeared to be more delighted in proportion as her majesty became more obscene, she suddenly turned to a still more embarrassing topic—demanding to examine the effects of our traveller, and the stores of the monks. They all now trembled for their property. Whatever she should have seen would have been lost. To allay her cupidity, therefore, and at least put off the evil day, the principal monk humbly informed her that the usual present should be sent on the morrow, accompanied by another from the travellers. With this assurance she appeared to be satisfied, and departed.
On the next day our traveller and two of the monks were invited to dine with the princess, and were of course careful not to present themselves before her empty-handed, it being a crime in the East for an inferior to come into the presence of his superior without some gift, in token of dependence and homage. Her highness of Mingrelia, who had painted her face and adorned her person to the best of her ability, in order to appear to advantage in the eyes of the traveller, seemed to be highly gratified with his present, which, though tasteful and elegant, was of small value, the better to maintain a show of poverty. Some ten or twelve ragged but merry-looking wenches, and a crowd of half-naked ragamuffins, constituted the court of this princess, her
