The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-03-18
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN.
Neither the Circassian Nor Greeks, but
the Sikh Girls.

| Neither the Circassian Nor Greeks, but
| the sikh Girls.
The Russian is the plainest woman to
be seen in Europe-unless, indeed, the
Greek of Greece should be put before
her. One must be careful not to say
Greek unqualified, for in the islands and
Turkish ports, where some faint traces
of Hellenic blood survive, handsome
women abound It becomes more and
more the fashion for wealthy members
of this, the true race, to keep a house
in the capital, and Athens can show a
galaxy of loneliness during the winter,
no doubt But was a summer visitor
for two months, writes a London CORE
spondent, and in that time / beheld but
one face that could be termed even
passable. The girl proved to be Hun
garian. 1t is not quite so bad as that
in St Neutrality-suspicious., also, l re-
sided out of the season-because the
car was there, and very many ladies
of the court have mixed blood.
But plainness is not characteristic of
Slavs in general Polish women rank
among the most beautiful in Europe;
So / have understood, do Czechs The
Croats hold their own; and as for the
Dalmatian Slavs, / have often felt in
clined to declare that they have no
rivals In riding once from Cattaro to
Cettinje l found the lower stretches
of that tremendous mountain road
thronged with women and girls of the
lowlands-on pilgrimage, perhaps
Every one of them pressed close, with
hand 4frfSfratn,a1 Thau fnAly
hold of my bride and gathered in a
swarm, laughing, quarreling, scream
| ing, invoking all the saints of Heaven.
Such shameless beggary would seem
incredible in the west; for all were
comfortably and even handsomely at
tired in their graceful costume-wives
and daughters of peasants or townsfolk
well-to-do. But incredible, also, to US
would have been the array of beauty.
1t seemed to me, struggling through
the crush, that every young woman
there was charming, and there were
hundreds of them. A sad contrast are
the Montenegrins at the summit of
that ladder-like road The sex in Tcher-
nagora has many fine qualities and
even virtues. l believe; but all of the
masculine cast In fact, those maids
and matrons would pass for rather fine
young men elsewhere sufficiently good
looking young men, too, in a rough
way, if they would only wash; but re-
garded from feminine point of view
they are Undesirable failures If the
Russian woman resembles tame bear,
the Montenegro is grizzly of the
Rockies
Further down that most interesting
and delightful Adriatic coast one learns
| that the Greek of Greece, who is AL
bantam, of course. must not be regarded
as representing his ethnic stock fairly
in the matter of good looks. / have
never visited the Ghegghe Albanians-
that is an experience for which long,
beyond all others, to be obtained in
Europe. But doubtless their women
are superbly handsome, as travellers
assert who have had better luck than |.
For theirs is not case parallel with
the Montenegro; they are not savages,
and the one sex bears its due proper
ton in beauty to the other.
The tourist seldom finds such an op-
| portunity to observe Albanian girls.
They are Moslem in general. though
the veil is rarely worn. and it is q
| glimpse rather than look which he
obtains My notion of their beauty was
quite confirmed. One would not expect
more than two or three good looking
among dozen Albanian girls 1t is my
strong impression that every one of these
was tall. fair. rosy, blue-eyed, and pretty;
several were beautiful
The Ghegghe women must be among
the loveliest of Europe. if they be es
much superior to the Tosk as the men
certainly are. But Albanian good looks
quite vanished by migration to Greece.
The true Hellenic blood, however, has
left its trace all through the Balkan
peninsula. Even in Greece, they al
lege, there are a few secluded districts
where the divine beauty of old survives;
and l incline to credit it, for in the Ev-
zone battalions, recruited among the
mountain youth, perfect faces of the
classic cast, and tall, supple figures pro-
portioned ike that of the Apollo may
be seen sometimes The most famous
! of these Hellenic refugees is a valley in
the neighborhood of Cape Matapan,
containing 200 households, among whom,
as enthusiasts declare, all the gods and
goddesses of Olympus and all the fine
statues of antiquity may be matched.
In Servia and Bulgaria, also, one notes
girl here and there whose regu.
lar and graceful beauty is quite start
ling among her dull and stolid kinsfolk.
| make no doubt that this is an exam
pie of Throwing back" as fanciers
say, the Hellenic blood asserting itself
again. remember staying some days
with NJ. Alessanori. the national poet,
1t his chateau. A young lady of the
neighborhood was about to marry, and
she came one afternoon, with girl
friends invited to take part in the cere-
nony, for a consultation with the poet
md his daughter upon the national
iress. which was to be worn. Those
who were not pretty were beautiful, all
trimming with life and fun.
Of Circassians l have nothing to saw.
Not seldom nowadays one meets them
n the bazaars of STEAMBOAT, in the Val
ey of Sweet Waters, or even-in car
of 81 al