Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-10-04
THE COSSAck IN CENTRAL ASIA.
Information About an Interesting People
by "A Famous Traveller.
rSpacial Corrasnondenca


ever beneath the creeping shadows of
evening, amid which the last CLEAN 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 family 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, wolfish
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 has heard so
much and seen so little, and whom it
usually pictures to itself as forever rush
ing at full gallop across a boundless
plain, with a writing baby on their
lance point and a slice of raw horsefesh
excepting hot between the steed and the
saddle-maintainingt 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 very
jovial, boyish, simple hearted fellow,
who, though too often committing fear
full atrocities when his blood is up in
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
STA is now hewing path of conquest
across the whole breadth of Central Asia
and overpowering the fierce Afghans and
Turkomans with a hardihood and en-.
durance even greater than their own. In
bearing heat and cold, thirst and hun
ger, long marches and unwholesome
camping grounds no man living 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 foragers 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 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 say:'
our fathers are battles whose fame rings loud,
They are our fathers-they."
"Soldiers, soldiers, lads of the car,
Who are your mothers, says"
"Our mothers are tents standing white on the field,
They are our mcthers-they!"
Soldiers. soldiers, lads of the car,
Who are your sisters, say:'
Our sisters are sabers whetted to smte,
They are our sisters-they,"
SOLDIERS, soldiers, tell me once more
Who are your brides. | pray!"
sour brides they are guns well loaded for fight,
They are our brdes-aye, they"
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, l 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 observa-
ton.
l 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 me by the sight
of this strange object, which, with its
gay colors, queerly printed names and
puzzling network of crossed lines, would
be very novel and startling thing to
them.
And so it proved. suddenly became
aware of a gaunt, sallow, gray mus
tached visage--so crisscrossed with saber
scars as to look just like a railway map
peering inquisitively over my shoulder.
Then another and another came edging
in beside it, till | was hemmed in by a
complete ring of wild figures and grim
faces.
Whats that picture, father? We
can't quite make it out"
ITS not picture at all, brothers-it's
plan that shows me the very way by
which you have come here from Holy
Russia and all the places that you have
passed through"
And then, seeming not to notice the
looks of unbelief and meaning grins
with which my hearers received what
they considered to be most outrageous
lie, / went on:
"Up here, at Orenburg, you passed the
Ural river and then marched eastward
TO Orsk, where you crossed the frontier
and turned to the southeast"
80 we did, comrades!" shouted half
a dozen voices at once. "He speaks the
truth-so we did"
Then you passed Fort Kara Butak,
crossed the Kara Koum desert and halt
ed here and here and here (naming and
describing the various posts, all of which
knew welD.
The Cossacks listened open mouthed