THE ROMANTIC CAUCASUS

Evening Star, Issue 20315, 25 October 1929, Page 12

THE ROMANTIC CAUCASUS

SOVIET'S TROUBLESOME REPUBLIC KALMUCKS AND “ LOCHINVARS.” The most important of_ the bransCaucasian republics, Georgia, is interesting in that its establishment amounts to the resurrection of the ancient independent kingdom of Georgia, whoso foundation dates back_ to the early centuries of the Christian era, but which was later brought into subjection, first to the i’ersians, then to tho Turks, and finally to the Russians, states i’rolessor A. G. 13. Clark, who recently journeyed through the Caucasus. When one's trail! leaves Stallingrad, on the Lower Volga, to cut across the steppes towards the Black Sea, one is not yet within the boundaries ot the Caucasus region; but one is already travelling on the Northern Caucasian i tail way and there is a smell ot Asia in the air. The ttteppes have now taken on the appearance ot a veritable desert; not a tree or .shrub is to be seen, and presently strange, moving objects are outlined on. the horizon, which one is dually compelled to admit are camels. This land is another oi the autonomous republics, and is mliaoitcd by the Kalmucks, a people of Mongolian origin, who still live a nomadic life and are mainly engaged in cattle raising. They are mostly ot the BuUiibisfc lailli, and’ pilgrimages occasionally go forth still from thU corner 01 Kuiopo to the Dalai Lama at Tibet. Un the shore or tiie Volga, between Stailingrgd and Astrakhan, then: stands, i am told, a Kalmuck tempie, built more than a hundred years ago, and containing ancient sacred objects brought by the Kalmucks Irom Tibet. And this is a Soviet republic! Karl Marx and the Dalai Lama hand in hand! OUTERMOST RIM OF CIVILISAt lON. This journey along the outermost rim of European chiiisation was interesting, but far less comiortablc than our previous railway trips to Russia. At dawn we bad to change at Tiklioryet.sk ay a to the lino Irom Rostov to Baku. We were now well into the northern Caucasus. The Kalmuck camels had disappeared. The country was olten of the same general bare character, but the villages were larger and shltered by beautiful, largo acacia trees. Some gram was sown. Caucasian types became more and more frequent at the stations —tall, warlikelooking men wearing Astrakhan caps and girdles lull ol daggers in exquisitely wrought sheatiis. The attitude ol Russians towards Caucasians is curious to observe. The Caucasians—though not lar removed as ix people from primitive conditions—became quickly Westernised when they came down from their mountain fastnesses; they are extremely clever and resourceful, and since their absorption into the Russian empire they have often attained high positions in Russian public life; several of the leaders of Soviet Russia, including Stalin and Karakban, arc Caucasians. Wo asked why the Soviet Government had not forbidden the Caucasians to carry arms on their persons. The reply was that war would be necessary to effect such a reform, as Caucasians clung to no ancient practice more tenaciously than to tho habit of carrying personal arms. But it was maintained that the Soviet had greatly im proved the state of public safety and respect for law in the Caucasus; for example, th-y had almost succeeded in getting tho Caucasians to abandon the “Young Lochinvar ” method of obtaining their brides. A wife who was not abducted by force from under the parental roof, even though the parents were willing to cede her peacefully, had never been considered properly won in tho Caucasus. The Soviet envoys sent to show the mountaineers the errors of their ways were all assassinated, but

the Government persisted, with final success.

DIS APPO INTMENT AND SURPRISE. Tiflis is both a disappointment and a surprise. Hero the Russian element, which predominates in the towns of the Northern Caucasus, is in a marked minority, and most of the people you sec in the streets are Georgians. 1 know too little of the recent history of Georgia to account for the curious physiogo tiomy of Tiflis. Its apparent prosperity may ho illusory. Puzzled by the luxurious objects of the feminine toilette foi sale at a perfume shop, one of our party asked the girl behind the conntei iiow. if Russia was poor, people could afford such things. ‘‘ Wo are poor,’ replied the young lady, “but we Geoi gian women must have our perfumes i mvsolf would rather go hungry for days than do without thorn.” This may explain more than Georgia', phenomena: from other observers I heard that the improvement in dress noticeable in Russia generally within the last couple of years may not indicate a rise in prosp *ity, but may be acquired at the cost of stinted nourishment.