Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-09-28
THE COSSACk IN CENTRAL ASIA
Information About an Interesting People
by Famous Traveller.
Especial Correspondence.1

by Famous Traveller.
Especial Correspondence
NEW York, Sept. ga wide, treeless
plain, looking vaster and drearier than
ever beneath the creeping shadows Of
evening, amid which the last gleam Of
sunset glows red and angrily in the far
west: dark belt of matted brushwood,
marking the winding course of a shallow,
muddy river; score of camp fires
twinkling faintly along its bank amid
the gathering dimness, like stars seen
through mist; sheaves of lances and
rifles piled around them with mill
tary exactness, and groups of gaunt
white clad figures and dark, lean, woliiSh
faces fitting ghostlike to and fro in the
spectral glare of the freight. Such was
the scene upon which | came suddenly
one evening in Central Asia during Rus
sia's last war with the native tribes of
Tartary.
These men were the renowned "Cos-
sacks" of whom the world bSs heard so
much AMI seen so little, and whom it
usually pictures to itself as forever rush
ing at full gallop across a boundless
plain, with a writhing baby on their
lance point and a slice Of raw horseflesh
t'keeping hot between the steed and the
saddle-maintaining themselves and their
horses where there is nothing to eat, and
amassing stores Of i'll gotten gain where
there is no one to rob. In reality, have
always found this legendary ogre a very
jovial, boyish, simple hearted fellow,
who, though too often committing fear
N l,tr hIn..I 10, -,
battle, has never done anything worse
than many recorded deeds of far more
civilized soldiers within the memory Of
living men.
1t is with warriors like these that Rus
sia is now hewing path of conquest
across the whole breadth of Central Asia
and overpowering the fierce Afghans and
Turkomans with hardihood and en-.
durance even greater than their own. In
bearing heat and cold, thirst and hun
ger, long marches AMI unwholesome
camping grounds no man hyiIg can sur
pass the Cossack. 1t is true that against
the disciplined armies of Germany these
wild spearmen would be of little use ex-
cept as scouts and foragcrs; but for the
irregular warfare of the eastern deserts
they have no match on the face of the
earth.
Most of the men were lying stretched
on the ground after their march, in lazy
enjoyment; for Cossack's life has no
medium-either rushing across the step
pc like a whirlwind, or snoring in the
dirt like a hog. But a few were still
busy around the fires, and some of them
struck up all at once an old Russian war
song as familiar to my ears as to their
own:
Soldiers, soldiers lads of the car
Who are your fathers, sayS"
Our fathers are battles whose fame rings loud,
They are OsIr fathers-theyr
Soldiers, soldiers lads OF the czar,
Who are your mothers, sayf"
"Our mothers are tents standing white the field,
They are our mothers.-theym
Soldiers, soldiers, lads of the car,
Who are your sisters, sayf"
Our sisters are Sabers whetted to smite,
They sisters-they"
Soldiers, soldiers, tell me once more
Who are your brides, prayf"
"Our brides they are guns well loaded for fight,
They are our brides-aye, theyW
AS the song ended, | walked into the
camp quite unnoticed; for, in my soiled
white Russian forage cap, travel stained
cotton jacket and trousers and knee high
boots, was quite like enough to the
men around me to have passed for one
| of themselves in that uncertain light.
But had no wish to avoid their obserya-
| ton.
! sat down on stone and, taking out
my colored map of Central Asia, pre-
tended to be studying it, knowing well
that the Cossacks (who, like most saw
ages, are as curious as children) would
soon be drawn around Inc by the sight