OUR LITERARY CORNER

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12933, 12 October 1907, Page 7

OUR LITERARY CORNER

I, ORIGINAL AND SELECTED MATTER.

■?• ' J KOTES ON BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

TO AND FROM THE CAUCASUS.

. AMONG THE TARTARS AND , AM CIRCASSIANS. (|fl CUttT "THE PRESS.") « T Miss Constance A. Barnicoat. , Mleetod the Central Caucasus in to any other part, an here ' rtTTfound tho highest, though ■ * •£ one of the. ensie-t of Caucasian ,W t Sbriw, a double-peaked mounbeing 18.470 feet, *l^fto a 130 feet or so lower. Tho i* higher than the fi ummit ot 11 ♦ nianc. Tho Caucasus contains j≤ than the high** AL •wake.- a« d 1 1, l a number between 15,00. feet and MO feet, ">™ stiU nw]mM - aml ' 2£»»t be comparatively few of Sh a now ascent could not be made. The mountains are only really fine Un you are quite amongst them ; the rioMiue thereto are of unparalleled and quite phenomenal weansomeness. Tbr* ar« few lakes, none of importB nco; no very lfg° glaciers-if the Taifflon etandard is taken, and few m rin», co that V* iin S an y b,lt ,ws Sr« often a trouble. Wood however is fo«nd at an altitude where it could florer be found in the Alps. Conditions in the Caucasus change greatly from ye« to year. When I arrived they wero uniformly exceedingly bad, as tie weather would not hold; there wero constant storms and avalanches, »ml the enow was terribly crevassed , and dangerous. So long aro many of the aaconte, that they ought to be attempted only at full moon. Elbruz, in particular, ie hardly possible except ; Hum. . The Caucesne mountains, vi fact, are , altogether unliko any others of which j I, know anything. Mountaineering . there, for a variety of reasons, is a : much merer tent than mountoinoering . in the Alps, European or Southern, j Indeed, a person might bo quite fit for ] . the Alps, and quite unfit for tho Can- j CM'"- The climate ie soft and! rather ] ; jnoiat, not at all bracing; the sun " icorching, and tho extent of enow and '. i» co groat that the cold often 'j matches the h«at in intensity. Tho • north eido of the mountains, I have - ulffftjß been told, ie much less beairtiful than the south, and fluanetia, 1 ereryone agrees, is magnificent. On ' tho eotitth, ifi'Bome parte, there is risk of fetch on the north, and, indeed, I , think owre or less everywhere, there I is risk of dysentery, which has plagued i nM«t Caucasian exploring parties. * '• In consequence of tho roasting sun 1 and piercing winde together, the need ( for ¥«rm clothes in the Caucasus is ] greater, I.think, than in the Alps, al- i though tho latitude ie so much further 1 . ■ «uth. ■ 1 Food i»/k.great, difficulty, partiou- 1 larly bretdi :-'Wholeeome and nourieh--1119 brotdcMUot be got in the moun- * tame; l .'ftnd:'.it'h> difficult to carry i . <pno'ttp (epoiigy and' not partSulai'lj vwholesom© eithei') to last i ft l^^/*>f^ , lwW , . or." five for several i ,v*eJu.vvipy f bdee, too, is an 'immense > ' ~ the mountains, being < ifally thrwCdbys froni any climbing < spot, <nn<l'four days by one route. Only * in a town like Odessa can all ordinary 1 grocerfisjte bou|jht; ia Piatigorsk, for 1 • ;fnst*JM», no raisins were obtainable, no j prun«, and no biscuits. In fact, any- 1 one enable to endure rough and per- y ; hepe ■ insufficient food had 7 best keep 1 away from the Cauoaeue. We took < irwnth.rauetard, to make the constant , \*9tinS L of rather tasteless mutton more ) l p»l»table, and also as a substitute, for ' .hotter. r Some parties have had a t hunting gun and) supported themselves t i{ ,»*• meane, when food supplies failed. < piwwnt state of Russia, (how- c Ka^ff ~1 * * hunting * un wou,d " ;« J! 80 int ? **• mountaiiiß I took a J " r •■■■ ; " S?TV tw o-wbeeled vehicle, y •«If Un i. Bl^ ram "l ll } ckle » of c 0 " 1 " and , }■. ":W * la ™y, with a filUiy-looking R ,;fc r V Th «». l««gage is loaded on be? 1 1 driver site in front, and the i|«*»ngoft/ two on each side, on what ; the floor, their feet on the ♦ primitive, and not at all Wmfortable. There were two horses, ♦ '***• IWMito might not have satisfied - fl >\ ■ » L nonie»broeder, but who wero astonV 'S W W. ■ tron ls» since for three days , , W j dragged that troika, heavily ! . »acn f with four people in it, first ,• ; so cloggy to be barely fit :> i but bullocks, end then { which were half rocks and 1 WjPlfjltt* Of course a Now Zealand \ j-OwltiOftea goes over rougher roads, ■i bu l#n'it is a substantial vehicle. 1 •;■■■,•■••■ ajWJp.. four or five horses, which are ■ ■ ? f S»l<?hang«l. We walked at least ' ■Q Wl Wme to ease tho homes, and the troika far behind. A * * roi ?*>, moreover, has no brake, and c '*l«|U t ileecente tho two stalwart guides £ ,v JMtlii interpreter had to hang on be- ; dl their might. The inter- J - SSmIL m *y eaj; was a French siu- r '..;. H*V wrn in Russia, who proved thor- 3 • JW ,^, «n»tiefactory. He was very ° ■■"'■ ,-■"?&'.TW.rtupid, and always delighted l ' :,ir, n* own f°° us h performances. * '?:<\^l^v* , * was little of interest to • ' * ® rs * W0 wound across J J 'i2Fi 6 1 ' lU * plains, vast and [ ; : ■ )«Moißgly unending without fences, * ■'■vS^ 41 * a village, un- " "-v:VjJt "h'S* Circassian camps could be c i^iS./ ,^, . I" tno plains there was T I, "* csw 'P fc tllc, clumps of ' S|F»fwjt; pink mallows and pale yel- ' in the fenceless fields, * « immense stretches ,' #-M" flowew in b,oom . through which f 4'ii :*"*' Wack-soil road passed. Rus- j B 4|;Sjro perpetually munching half-' a ■■^Tγ? «">nWer seeds, which are sold •» hence tho quanti- 1 : '4sH, * T P ,antß Brown. The eeoondi ih >#«'?,*« began to see the little grey i v n n » r mots-protty little furry k %S* K«tUmg about and popping , * 'P .41 into . tneir holes in nil direc- o il'i-Sni- 1 -iv e m, B e Caucasian eagles h ■■■^mffi^"* , *, f ahout v •K. d, t on tne lookout for pigeons ■i ALT™ o**'0 **' J n t]w foK,st<, . °f «>urse, , $ 'Sid! 9 / 111 b&nrß . solves, foxes, J V F'Sli- nt^onntein K° ats . «nd ev»n, fl ht ™ si > »«roche. In T f ( '«rt*£f P « ; , tnere was oft(, n K«" eat S : "%ISrS^ f t' ll i l - flow * rß ' thon & seldom s #ImV?Jc Ulds -. li is mor «* Partieu. 1 P #lffi,Sf Caucasian flora is so l< fcHM' Stl i , ' th * in thel r ||Sf^ss& blossoms, scenting the 4 'WmrjJtt'% Pi «^ rß k. in fact| * } -the C*tiM.« c ""* rai l w ay north of. ■g«ffi..;/?.'r" v w 1 "-" b ".': *Wr own v. tartars, rlwv speak s i*tto*Ui u t thii- P •H": , ""'*: nor <h» l>

Tartars were largely due to my having no iiimiun with mc. We were never really away from Tartars, either on the plains or in the high valleys. They are tall, slim, wiry-looking men, usually dark, and, truth to tell, often disquictingly fcro- ] cious in aspect. They are invariably i mounted, and sit their horses to per-; fection. We wore never lone without j mooting some of them, ambling along ' over tho plains or the lew hilia. 1 hey almost always go at c quick aniblo, only very rarely .galiopin?, and ; never, I thin-k, trot tins "or can tor: n« ; ■Sometime*, indeed generally, they would .<>[x*;ik ; but they nwr arten.pt ed to iiiolpfit U3. The':r clothes are al- 1 woys similar in cut, though varying in 1 colour, cleanliness, aii'l wholeness; anr. j Circassian g.irments are much like Tar- j tar. A mounted Tartar usually wears j tho national cloak, the burka, circn- , lar and .sleevelets, woven by tho wonieii ; or tihe black wool of t.he litt'.o nrrly j Caucusinn mountain sheep. Caus'ht ! at the throat, it comes hal-f over the j honso'e tail, and covers tho rider's | boots. It is impermeable, to wet, aiwl w often worn on the most eoorcihi-ns days because it ie alloyed to be ale") impermeable to heat. At hie waist, , tucked into the invn-riablo leathern girdle, the Tartar wears a loiiig, end murderous knife, wcvl diy-layw!; other murderous weapons art* "n>bably also visible about him, ,-inJ the lEoiintain Tartars always c;irrv a gun.. Under j tho burka ia a long kind of coat, nearly down to tho heck, varyin.? in colour, but "onorally well tanned, like its wearer's face, h'y exposure to sun and rain. _ Into the front of this is lot in a V-shoped pieco of another colour; acrws the ohest are two slanting , rows of cartrid.se-ho.ldl 'is. Lco*e trousers aro tucked into high lxwte, in the case of the wealthier 'Tartars; the_ poorer onos generally swathe up their 'legs to bheir knees in mil sorts of rags. Those they never telie off till they come to pieces; indeed, they Ho down and sleep and Ret up again jturt like animals, probably never undressing. On their heads they always have a round, rather lugli co.p, generail'y of astrachan. AJtogetihar, if ei ; '** ; *ter, they are also highly picturesque figures, especially when, in their black bursas, they are silhouetted nigaanst tihe sky coming over the brow of came dietant hill. I had to spend two nights at different times in the Tartar village of Om-ousbieh. or Urusbieh, high up the Baksan Valley, about a day from the clncicrs surrounding Elbrus. It is a village of nine hundred houses, though no one would guees it, and, like all Tartar villages, it ia jammed against the hillside, not on a plain. It might almost be said that their villages aro protectively coloured, for, with their mud roofa and mud chimneys, and generally grey-brown tint, they are almost indistinguishable in colour from the rocks against which they are generally built. By day it is hard to ccc them; by night it would l>e impossible. The low ho vole, for houses is often too fine a word for them, are put together somehow out of logs and stones and mud; it is chiefly the chimneys which, distinguish a house from a stable. 1 could never get admitted to » Tartar house, for they do not allow a stranger inside. They are, of course, Mohamedane, co that one inajr be certain of finding no pigs in their villages, though there are flocks of goats. There are no J>ri>per streete, and no eor£ of drainage or, sanitation, but the aroell is. not so bad as might be expected. At Ourousbieh we were hcspitalbly received by the half-brother of the prince,' himself unfortunately absent. J Trinco" is c most misleading term, for such an individual is merely a kind of chieftain, often quite illiterate. Wβ were atonce taken to the guest house, reserved specially for travellers—a on©>rcomod wooden house, with a verandah, in a field just on the outskirts of the village. The floor was bare, but otherwise it was fairly comfortably fitted up, with a small bed, (bard but quite clean) a sofa, two sin oil tables, chairs, and photographs of English and other mountaineers who has passed that way. Tho wholo villago came crowding in to see the travellers, and it was long before they had quite satisfied their curiosity. After a long wait, the samovar arrived, Tartar hospitality always including food. If you do not oat, they aro offended, and another time will probably not receive 3*oll. Very good tea waa served, in glasses, with goat's milk cheese (very salt and Rtrong tastimg), butter, and that terror to Caucasian travellers , —Tartar bread —which is made of maize, without rising stuff, and baked in flat cakes in tho ashes, and i* the heaviest, most unwholesome stuff imaginable, enough to make any unaccustomed person ill at once. After tea, rugs and cushions were brought in piles, and beds made up on the floor for the two guides and tho interpreter, while I slept in the one proper bed. Next morning I perambuluted about tho village, rattier to the alarm of the guides, who thought it not safe; but I do not believe that Tartars ever moleet anyone . enjoying their hospitality, anyone who is tho guest of the village, as it wore. W© took a'horso and donkey at Ourousbieh, and of course I wae obliged to have a man with them—an old Tartar, a relation of the prince.. Wβ always called him "Le vieux' , at least, and he looked quite fifty-four, but I believe ho was twenty years younger. He was the skinniest, "most dfied-iip person, with a scraggy fair beard and blue eyes, but he waa not at all a bad ftort, being very willing and most ready to do whatever he could. Ho would run to pull off my boots when I camo in, or to put down tho burka for mo to sit on. in fact, ho did anything and everything Ire could. Ol course as he was a Mohaniedan, we could not hare any li-icon with us, nor co-uld we persuade him to take soup made of Laieenby's tablets except by assuring him that there was no meat in it. (N.B.—lt is fully half meat), for he would eat no meat unless he had killed it himself, ami when once I bought a little black nheep, I had to let him be butcher. Thrice daily, turned towards the sun, he performed lengthy and elaborate devotions, bending very low, and finally knocking his forehead against tbe ground. His chief fault was hie habit of dawdling, but then every Caucasian m a born dawdle, never up to time with anything. Up in the Adyr-eu Valley, while 1 lay ill in the tent, we were visited daily by mountain-dwelling Tartars, who ihardly ever leave their valley, staying m their wretched' hovel of a shelter all the year round. One most picturesque old fellow came often to see us, his gim across his shoulders, his knees swathed in leather, hi* legs in rags, and his feet in shoes which no one would think would endure for a day in those regions, but whicO. *eejn to answer very well notwithsttpding. Near the Amu" glacier, in the vicinity of Elbnw, a little tummer camp of Tartars *g3in recerred us very well, doing everything in their power for us. For a couple of months or so, between the enowt. they dwelt in a shanty of logs, with tlio crevices somewhat filled in with stones, built against some jutting-out rocks. {»««»» such n hover calling itaeTf ft human habitation. While the tent was being pitched (by permission of tlie | ar "™' near their dwelling) 1 was *ske<l m-

•n. M -;•« two rooms, one »p. e,de. the otiher with ift patently •*?£* a proper door, was with a huge wood fire, S 6 .moke df wiioh escaped as best it the" ™» * Wnd of uri kiL made table, and benches. ;s • w» *^»* bo,led to make v* tea, . a"" 1 m .*. emon X the 3w» a <*k« of bread was being fcaked The Tarter in ohar 3 e ' a miwt "-ocooe-looking person, asked was 1 French P ">>«" Russian tor "no'); ; «T nK lc9," which may not have been the t-ieht word, but wh:ch ho evidently understood. These Tartars mrere really very go o * l to us - On * was out every day hunting; the guides dined next day off a wild goat he had shot. An--1 other was a sort of veterinary surgeon ; !» third popped out with a. gun and : chivied any thievishly inclined person .' *ho might have crossed the mountains from the south side. Br gands just t'.ien infested the mast frequented pass. ; One, a very young man, was really i rery handsome, as Tartars sometim<4 are. They expected nothing for thrir hrspitality—Tartars never do,, but we i gave, them some small present. There i was a terrible thunderstorm while we j were there, the tent was damn, and ! the Tartar hut let in the rain everyj where. The' floor became heavy mud ; !there was hardly a dry spot to he ; found. It was uncomfortable enough i for nny one well; for anyone ill it I was most trying. I The Crcjwsjans treated us even bet- ' tor than tliq Tartars. Tho first we camped in a Circassian village, a slim, graceful, quite pretty little Circassian woman, waited on us hand and ' foot. Like all Circassian women, her over-dress was tucked u;> to show unyiit-coiourcd, gnily patterned trousers, reaching to her ankles. Our last night camping was also among Circassians. It had been a most trying day, lasting from 3 a.m., or earlier, when we had left in tho dark, until quite 8 o'clocii at night, when 1 puiled up in© interprecer, and e<ad I could not Co any further. The way h.d seemed interminable, whicli ni&uo it still more tatiguuig, especially as 1 had not ar- ; rived at the stage of taking anytiiing ! but a littlo brau-uy and milk. Tlic track passed over ;un endless succession : ot s.iiull green hilla, each just like all the rest, their monotony broken by , nothing except an occasional party ot Jar tars or Circassians, usu.illy accom- j paniod by tierce dogs, on which once j we had to fire, and by immense flocks of horses, cattle, or sheep and goats. Not a fence enclosed the land anywhere. They know so little of the management of stock that all the calves, run with. their mothers, and mares with very young foals ar© ridden all day, the little foal trotting as beet it can after ita mother. Wβ had gono on and on for hours, looking foe , some sign of spring-water or wood. None appeared. At last some Tartars said that if we turned a little aside, we should come to a Circassian camp; they would probably let us pitch our tent there. ( We found the oamp— a mud erection like a dog kennel, in which the Circassian* lay like a lot of animals and slept; some carts and a fire, an immense black patch near, which proved to be a herd Of Caucasian sheep, and other flocks and herds in the distance. It was absolutely like a chapter cut of Genesis or Exodua, and on© expected some of the patriarcha to appear. The chief of the camp was most amiable; we pitched our tent, and got water from the stream— tß> last there was come drinkable water. We used his fire to cook ■oup, and he offered tea, butter, and Circassian cheese, which is merely very hard ealtless curd, not cheese at all. \ve were afraid to stir from, the camp because of the terrible doge niall directions, ready to fly at us. They may be essential in the Caucasus, but no one in any civilised country would bo , allowed to keep such animate. I cannot aay 1 think I wae ever in any danger, but such.an expedition Jβ, of course, attended with many risks of one kind and another, and is almost too difficult for a woman alone. I badly wanted a man, other than the guides, if only to take some of the responsibility, end kick the interpreter when he needed it, which he often did. The ideal plan in the Caucasus would be to take every single person with you, and never depend on the incompetent* and dawdlers down there, who try everyone's patience to the verge of endurance. An Englishman I met on the train returning, told mc that the threemonths he had spent in those regions tried him much more, what with bad food and trying climate, than even expeditions in African wilds; and he was nowise surprised that I had knocked up. He concluded: "It is a very dan- j ferous expedition you have been, and j think you have got very well out \ of it." It is one, nevertheless, I hope to do again, trusting to have better weather and no illness. Piatigorsk, July,