Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-05
PRIDE OF GEORG|ANS
Leads Them to Preserve Their
Picturesque Costumes.
TOPBOOTS FOR REDEEMER
Figure of Christ in National Garb
With Pistol in Belt.
SULLEN TOWARD RUSSIANS
People Resent Their Loss of indie
pendence-Good Farmers, Despite
Their oralde Tools.
sULLEN TOWARD RUSSIANS

BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
TIFLIS, Caucasus, June ., 1910.
The railway to Tifis from the Black
sea enters the mountains about 40 miles
from Ba toum and climbs up very slowly
with two locomotives over a solid track
between timber-crowned hills. There are
forests Of locust trees white with bios
sons whose perfume fills the air. The
locust seems to be very popular and Is
not only planted around every station on
the railway, but around all the dwelling
houses, farmhouses and the cottages
in the villages along the way. The farm
houses look like timber claims in our
western states. but all the trees are To-
Gusts.
There are q good many orchards, and
the ounce and apple trees are in bloom
They seem to be we'll trimmed and cared
for. The rocks along the canyon are
honeysuckles. which are in blossom just
now, and you can fancy how beautiful
a railway right OF way can be where the
walls are covered with such foliage on
OOtH SlueS. the SCSHSTS Is uOt 81
wild as I expected from the printed de-
scriptions l have read.
Fields Green With Wheat.
We crossed the divide through a long
tunnel at an elevation OF 3,027 feet and
dropped down rapidly into a lovely wide,
level valley. every acre of which seems
to have been plowed and sowed to wheat
last fall, for it is covered today with a
carpet of living green. The city of Tiflis
Is $50 feet above the sea, about the
same latitude as Rome, and has an an
nual rainfall of nineteen inches, which
is sufhcient to raise all kinds OF staples
of the temperate zone without irrigation.
Eotwit hst anding the restless and tur-
bulent disposition of the Georgian and
other races which make up the popula-
ton. the farming element seems to be in
dustrious and prosperous, and, although
their houses and the manner In which
they live their tools and implements
would not be tolerated by an American
farmer. their standards Of comfort and
luxury are not high. and they would be
no doubt contented If they had political
liberty and were not so constantly re-
minded that they are the subjects no
longer Of a Gecrsian king, but Of a Rus
sian car. IL the government would do
something for them to promote their ma
terial interests they might be more con-
tented, but the Russian oficial regards
the Georgian as an undisciplined and re-
belaious race, and as long as such rela-
provement.
Oil Used as Fuel.
Long trains OF tank cars stood on the
side tracks at almost every station, either
loaded with oil for Batoum or empties
on their way back to Baku to be refilled.
Two Of the most important oil companies
have their own pipe lines following the
railway across the entire Caucasus from
Baku to Batoum. but the weaker and
less wealthy operators use the railway.
There is an odor of petroleum almost
the entire distance chiefly because the
locomotives burn that kind Of fuel. but
also owing to the continual leakage of
the tank cars along the track. The
track between the rails Is black with oil
almost the entire distance between the
Caspian and the Black sea, which keeps
down the dust, although it is an accl-
dental and not an intentional device.
One would never tire OF the fantastic
costumes that are to be seen at every
railway station. The men wear tall Chin
ney pot hats, Of Persian iambskin, which
look very heavy and very hot and you
can't see how they can endure them in
this summer weather. The hats must
weigh several pounds, but IL You ask the
weight is nothing: and that, like the
Irishman's sheepskin coat. the fur keeps
the heat out In summer as 1t keeps the
cold out in winter.
varied coiors. We are accustomed to see
the Cossack at Buffalo Bills great moral
show In a dark gray coat. but the Georg-
ians, whose costume u precisely dmtlar
in every particular. affects bright colors,
reds and blues OF various shades, grays
and browns, as we'll as whites and BLACKS.
according to their taste and some Of
them have their shakos of Persian lamb
dyed the same shade as their coats.
Many Georgian gentlemen wear beautiful
cioaks Of heavy cloth. as thick as q
board, with a pile heavier than that Of
plush and curled like astrakhan wool.
We we're told that this material Is home
spun. too. and 1t makes stunning gar
nlent.
Boots Fashionable Footwear.
Every gentleman wears high top boots
outside of his trousers. which are very
loose, and hang over his boot tops like
the knickerbockers of an English school,
boy Sometimes the boots are embroid-
cred in colors over the shin and down
the calf Of the leg. And every gentle
man wears an arsenal in his girdie con-
slsting OF richly mounted knives and pis-
tolls. which look very formidable, but l
am told, are seldom used.
A Georgian dandy il a great sight and
you see them everywhere in the eau
casus. The most perfect costume and the
most becoming to their dark compilations
| intensely black hair and boards and their
glowing black eyes is, l think, q pure
White coat and Z shake Of white lamb' 9
wool. And with that color the Georgian
gentleman usually wears. long dagger
with an ivory handle and an ivory
sheath and revolver mounted to
match; although some people might
fancy q gentleman done up in scarlet,
| who Is also worth looking at
! fancy as those Of the men. Ii 10 mostly
! head dress and q veil They do not wear
| bright celors like their husbands and
| brothers, but chiefly black. The head
dress is little skull cap about an inch