Pshav

Pshav, a Caucasian people forming a distinct branch of the Georgian family, whose territory comprises the upland valleys of the Aragva river and some of the head-waters of the Kur, in the government of Tiflis. The Pshavs, who numbered about 7,000 in 1890, are still a half-savage people, living in small tribal or family groups, holding their lands in common, preserving traces of the old matriarchal system, speaking an archaic form of Georgian, and, although nominally Christians, addicted to many pagan practices. (Kovalevsky, Les Pchaves, Moscow, 1888.)