Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-05

Written for The Evening Star.
1t is only a short journey from the civil
lied cities of southeastern Russia into the
! rugged wilds of the Caucasus, that noun
famous boundary land between the orient
and the occident. where the manners and
customs of medieval times still prevail and
mans daily life is still ehock full of
| thrilling adventure and stirring romance
Now that parts of the Caucasus are linked
| by railroad with European Russia, it is
possible to pass in few hours from TWEEN
| tietl century civilization to an environment
| that might have been compounded out of
| the days of Robin Hood and the Thousand
and One Nights
| Though they are nowadays poiced by
| the Cossacks, the brave and hardy noun
| tain tribes of the Caucasus are still the
| freest of all Russia's subjects After more
| than a century of war with them. Russia
| has found it best to drive them with a
! loose rein and wink at a good deal of their
brigandage and internecfne warfare.
There are many old men now living
among the tribes in Daghes;an who took
| part in the wonderful fight masntained
| against the cars hordas by Prince
Schamyl from 1881 to is .. They speak with
| pride of the frequent victories they won
| over Russian forces which outnumbered
| them by ten to one. Naturally, they do not
| dwell with equal ms .eGce upon their de-
| feats. Listening to these stories told round
| the camp fire, the young men become pos
sessed of a spirit of unrest; and that is
| why tribal fights, small insure ctons
against the Russians, and isolated acts of
brigandage are 50 common all through the
region.
cleverly. The sons of the tribal chef.ains
| are frequently lured away from their
mountain villages by the offer of comm:s-
sions in the Russian army and large grants
of tolr n,.a
| trained In civilized ways at the military
| academy They take to their profession as
duck takes to water. and advance with
remarkable speed. Thus it comes about
| that some of the highest officers in the
| Russian army today started in life as bare
| footed little barbarians in mountain VII
| lagos of the Caucasus.
Best and Bravest
This is particularly true of the Ossetes,
whom the Russians call 1.-The gentlemen of
| the mountains because of their fine quail
| tiles They are the best and bravest of all
| the Caucasian tribesmen An Ossete on
| his mountain heath is a fine looking crea-
| ture He usually stands over six feet, and
| has stalwart. martial bearing. He looks
every inch the comic opera brigand, with
| his picturesque eastern costume of at least
| half dozen colors and his sash full Of
silver-mounted pistols and daggers. He
would rather fight than eat. At the least
anront to his honor or dignity, he Is ready
TO engage in deadly combat If you look
at him he may take it as an insult: and il
you don't look at him he may be equally
enraged at the neglect.
But though he is so difficult to get along
with, he has his good poins. He is a chival-
rous foe and a stanch friend. with a SPLEEN
uful stock of the primitive virtues. LAS
brave as an Ossete'' and "As honest 2s an
Ossete" are common sayings throughout
the Caucasus.
terms with these warike mountaineers.
in the commissioned ranks of the cars
army. They take to civilization readily,
and are lions in society. They cut US out
alike in the ball rooms and the boudoir,
said Russian officer to the writer. 1.-The
Russian soldier Is famous a dancer all
over Europe. but the Ossete beats him He
is famous. too. for his ability to make
himself pleasant to ladies' but there again.
he is beaten by the Ossete, who was an
ignorant barbarian only few years ago."
Primitive Customs.
The .Ossetes who stay at home in the
Caucasus retain their primitive tribal Gus
toms and pagan religion. Until few years
ago they practiced deadly family vendettas
like those Of Corsica-"blood revenge they
called the custom: but the Russian authori-
ties stamped 1t out after infinite trouble.
and tribal crimes are now atoned for by
the payment of cattle to the injured parties
on a cast-iron tariff drawn up by the Rus
slams
The queerest custom of the Ossetes is