The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-11-01
THEY LIVE IN ARMOR.

From the Literary Digest.
Among the many diverse races thai
! occupy the Caucasus, the Danish trav
eler, Olaf LANCE describes the Chew
surians, a pagan people. who appear tc
be distinct in religion and habits from
the people of the Caucasus generally
but of whom almost nothing is known
in Europe. We condense somewhat
his description published in "Naturer
og Mennesket.' He says:
The Caucasian mountains Auatoris
gele, Archotis-tavi and Tscha-uchi,
rising to an elevation of from ten thou
kand to twelve thousand feet, inelose q
basin, the home of the Chevsurians
who number about six thousand souls.
The Chevsurians are pagans, and one
may get general idea of their civiliza-
ton when it is related that their miser-
able huts are lighted only by means OF
pine torches.
They are people in arms The men
never lay aside their heavy iron armor
nor their weapons; even while blowing
in the fields they carry them The
mail gives them a medieval appear
ance, yet the poor covering of the leg
shows barbarism. In strap on the
back every man carries whip, heavy
and strong enough TO break an arm. On
the thumb he wears an iron ring-Saze-
ruli-with a rough surface, that he
may leave an everlasting mark in his
enemy's face when he strikes him with
it.
The Chevsurians, like the old Iberians,
the modern Basques and other peoples
who preserve traces of a matriarchal
order of society. have perpetuated the
custom of the father ''lying-in" on the
birth of child. as evidence of paternal
parentage. The women are isolated at
pregnancy in special quarters known
as the ''Satschechi," and cannot return
to their own residences until after q
ceremonial publication. AChevsurian
( father has his trials, too. He must live
/ very abstemiously for seven weeks,
while friends and relatives are treated
with liquor and beer in abundance. 1t
is<believed, or the belief is pretended,
that the fathers diet reacts on the
child's health. The children's names
are drawn directly from nature. The
boys are named after animals and the
girls after sun, moon, stars or flowers.
Public opinion among the Chevsuri-
ans demands that no child be born
till four years after the marriage, and
that after that there must be three
years, at least, between births; and no
family ought to have more than three
children. Thus the Malthusian law
rules these poor people as severely as
the ''Code Napoleon" rules the French
peasants, who fear too great subdi-
vision of their farms.
The main work of the girls is to coll
lect the cows excrements and to dry
them for fuel. The boys are trained
boy eight to ten years old endeavors to
initiate the grown man.
The vendetta takes peculiar form
among the Chevsurians. AS soon as a
murder is reported, all the relatives of
the deceased go TO the village of the
murderer and burn his house. The
murderer's relatives dare not show
themselves for year lest they be
killed. AT the end of one year the
murderer, in company of 4 brother, ar
rives secretly at the altar of his victim
to make an Offering of atonement and
ask protection. Word is sent 10 the
family of the dead one that the assas-
sin wishes 70 pay the penalty for his
deed. They all come rushing and cry
ing BLOOD for blood" but enter upon
peace negotiations. 1t is agreed that
q o L., oh IL
and pay four hundred and sixteen
sheep, the regular price for homicide.
Every year thereafter he must sacrifice
q sheep to the memory of the slain one.
Only one exception is made to the pay
ing of that great penalty. If one of
the family of the deceased is danger
ously i'll, the peaeemaker announces
that the sick one will die unless the
murderer is forgiven. This IS done;
the slayer pays smaller penalty. and,
in this case, to the maternal side of the
family. This custom of paying to the
maternal side is undoubtedly survival
from the matriarchical times.
The Chevsurians have no money. The
standards of value are the OK, the COW,
the sheep and the horse. 4 stallion is
equal to four cows, a mare to six.
head which exposes the brain is worth
sixteen cows; the same price is assessed
for an injury to leg or an arm. If
one destroys the use of a thumb he
must paw the sufferer five cows, four
for the next finger, three for the next,
two for that after and one for the last.
An eye costs thirty cows.
If \ owes Il one sheep and does not
pay, Il may select c, who pays him the
sheep, and requires two from \. If A
does not pay, may go to d to get his
two sheep, while d demands four from
A, and thus ad infinitum.
Very prominent among the Chevsu-
surians are the kadagiens or sOothsay-
ers. Next IN Importance are the Das-
turiens, or sacrificial priests. Their
religion is mainly pagan, with q few
Christian and Mohammedan cere-
monies. They are not monotheists.
Sacred groves and affairs everywhere
to the gods of trees, etc, prove that.
The god of the east and west"
and the cuckoo and swallow" are
prominent deities- The cat - an &C
cursed animal among them
AS 10 the race affinitics of the Chew
surians, Olaf LANCE concludes that
they are mixture OF Georgian Cir
cassian and Ossets. with the ars' ele-
ment predominatinG
TAKING SWORDFISa
From The Nevv York tribune.