The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-09-05
PEOPLE WHO ARE AIDING THE
CRETAN REVOLUTION.
In the Country Districts the Houses
Are Absolutely Bare of Fur
siture-FruEal, bat Lazy.


tionists will hasten the partition of the
Ottoman empire among the Europ ean
powers. thus forming great change in
the map of Europe
For these brief reasons the people of
Greece are of more than ordinary in
terest just now. But there will be no
discussion of the political situation
here. The cable attends to that. AS a
matter of fact the average American
tourist can find more to interest MIN
in study of modern Greece than in
trying to solve the political problem of
the day
The Greek people are a queer tumble
of the misty past and the present, With
the past predominating. This does net
refer to the Greeks residing in the lar
ger cities, but to the people of the
country districts, whose native ideas
and habits have not been disturbed 10y
contact with the floods of foreign
sightseers who overrun certain locali-
ties to view the famous antiquities.
Greece is a little place but the march
of progression has moved so slowly IN
the rural districts that it is more diff
cult to make journey of 80 miles here
than it is to travel 1000 miles in the
United States In size the whole king
dom of Greece is about as large as the
state of West Virginia, being about
$4,000 square miles in extent. 1t lies
between the fortieth degree of latitude
on the north and the 36th on the south.
or on the same lines as Philadelphia
and Knoxville. Athens is between
these two, corresponding with Rich
mond.
f,,f., h.,
dreds of different places. It has more
bays for it's size than perhaps any other
country on earth. Yet all of the inn
pOrtant cities are located inland. The
reason Of this is that the ancients
feared invasions by foreign foes and
builded their cities where they would
be less open to sudden attack
A Queer Mixture.
The Greek of today * like his ,oun-
try, a queer mixture. He has few vices
except that of laziness. He is not am
bilious and he is more ready to boast
of his ancestors than to emulate them.
He cherishes the ancient glories of Ath-
ems and Sparta, and he abhors the
Turk. In this latter he is surprisingly
energetic. He is hospitable democratic
and talkative. He is superstitious, as
much so as the peasant of Ireland. If
he has a disturbing dream in the night
he tells of it to the rising sun to ward
off the threatened disaster. Kindly
and evil spirits and fairies abound in
the land, and every hill, to him. has
its ghostly inhabitants. He is cheerful
and in adversely is patient.
He eats sparingly is seldom a drunk
ard and has a fine physique and an
abundance of good looks. But his
wife, or sister, while sharing the good
health, is seldom pretty She does
much of the hard labor, and under the
seaseless strain is worn and bent at 80
The young girls are fair too look upon
but in few years under the drudg-
cry they willingly submit to, they are
barely commonplace.
Are Frugal Eaters,
Gluttony is not one of the crimes Of
the Greeks. They eat little meat. A
bountif1l repast is made up of barley
bread, goats cheese, black dried olives
and wine. Bread and wine in many
cases form the principal meal of a big
strong man. Others chew raw beans
and wash them down with wine F,v-
cry one drinks wine for the reason that
water is scarce in most of the smaller
towns, and what there is of it is rot
exceptionally good. In some places
water is sold in the streets by ped
dlers, but the natives seldom buy it,
for wine is just as cheap and more
healthy. Nearly all of the native wine
is favored with rosin. The people
seem to fancy it, although it takes an
American some time to become accus-
toned to the taste. Fair wine can be
bought for three and four cents a
quart, and good wine for eight cents.
Olive oil is an important figure in the
diet of the people. 1t is used as butter,
cream, lard and suet and in every
cooked dish 1t is unquestionably
healthy, but it becomes dreadfully mo-
| notonous to strangers. Honey is used
instead of sugar, but tea is unknown
il the country districts. Coffee is serv-
ed black and never with milk. Lamb
and goats flesh are the meats mostly
used. Beef is expensive, being import
ed from the Black sea. The tobacco Is
cheap and mild and is generally smok-
ed in cigarettes. which are rolled by
the smokers.
Furniture a Scarcity.
The houses of the country folks do
not compare favorably even with the
negro cabins in the southern states at
| home. They are never high, even in
the cities, because the people dislike
the labor of climbing stairs, and, more
over, they stand in perpetual fear of
earthquakes. The sides and roofs of
many houses are made of bamboo-like
weeds, plastered with mud. OF furni-
ture there is next to nothing
An average interior is divided into
two sections by a heap of dry furze.
One side forms the abode of the domes-