Los Cerrillos rustler. (Cerrillos, N.M.) 188?-1891, 1891-05-15

A%W0oA 0GA W
Ths swaastaas = curisas People uxiax In
sx~iisy IN ths Heart sf the o.aua.a1
Before the AuthropoioricAl society Of
s. Petersburg. . memher. DR.. 0ide-
rorge. Rad recently an Interesting
paper on the results Of his explorations
IN the heart Of c~aucazia lie had pene-
trated where few explorers had been
before. lie came 10 swanetA a long
but narrow valley Al the foot Of the FL
burr Mountain. through watch the river
fngoora winds For most of the rear
swaneta : isolated entirely from the
world. and wen In the summer eason
the mountain passes leading % the 10
eality are made extremely dangerous
by water currents. ~avalanchex and fall
ingrOckN There isa strange semi-savaFe
people in the valley numbering about
1900 families They subsist ON their
chase for wild animals. Of which there
Is Al abundance In the mountains. and
in the mild season Of the year plant just
as much grain rs Is required for their
immediate necessity. Every now and
then n Swanetan viii wander away
from his secluded home into 4 more
civilized neighborhood 20 sell a few
hides aud TO get in exchange a few
things that he misses In his native val
ley. such as cloth. cotton fabrics and
some articles Of apparel. But this he
does very seldom and with great un-
willingness for his needs are few, and
his native valley has made him love iso-
lation. They speak a dialect, the prin-
cipal element Of which Is corrupt Geor-
gian, with Persian and Kirguese terms
Of speech strongly iptermixed. They are
Of a pacific nature aud extremely shy
of strangers. DIR. olderogge introduced
himself to them Us a hawker, and, try
ing TO trade with them, drew them into
conversation and made his studies and
observations.
The dress and manner Of living Of the
Swanetans present n striking contrast
to the dwellings they occupy. They
cover their bodies with hides in the
winter and go about half naked in the
warm season of the year; of cleanliness
and comfort they know nothing. and
there is no Injuries among them. But
they live in ancient castles Of magnif-
cent construction, though more than
half ruined. There is quite a number
of such castles in the mountains that
encircle the Swanetan valley. The
Swanctans have n sort of writing, and
their folk lore is rich in curious ira
ditions and quaint legends, pointing to
a time when their intercourse with the
world was more freque Mt than at pres.
ent, and when they ranked among the
strong and civilized peoples of the re-
gion. But all this is dying out with
them. They worship four divinities
and sacrifice animals unto them. Their
conceptions of those deities are strik-
ingly suggestive of corrupted notions Of
the Trinity and the Virgin, and indicate
that they were once Christians, but
lapsed into hcathenism before Chris
tianitv took deep DOT among them.
They are strangers to all that we accept
as social morality, and live in incestuous
intercourse. There is n terrible per-
centage among them of lunatics, idiots,
c%retins, ~epileptics, and those stricken
with cognate, physical and nervous
diseases.
The physical d~eformities of the
Swanetans are commensurate with
their moral deterioration. and show
that they must have lived as they live
now for many generations. Their
heads are iattened ut the back and
abnormally elongated in the temples;
they are marked with strong prognat-
ism and with diasthem Of both the
upper and lower teeth. AS a conse-
quence of cretinism, which is prevalent
among them, nearly all the %Swanetans
have goitres, which begin TO develop
at n very early age. 1t is interesting TO
note that IA branch of the same people
living more southerly in the district
called Didian-Swaneta, nor accessible
TO the influences of the outside world,
presents q more normal element. both