Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-01
R|zEH, A FAIR CITY
Set in a Rich Garden on the
Black Sea Coast.
BUT LIFE Is HELD CHEAP
Hat or Handkerchief Sufficient as
the Price of Murder.
PEOPLE HONEST OTHERWISE
Wouldn't Cheat You in a Trade, But
Would Knife You and Take
Your Purse.
BY WILLIAM f.. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.


| RIZEH, Armenia. May 90. 1910.
| There is long range Of snow-clad
mountains along the southern coast of
the Black sea. REACHING almost the en-
| tire distance from Trebizond to Rizeh our
| next stopping place. and between them
and the water side are low foothills COW
cred with farms. The new wheat just
now is lvid green that lights up a
lovely picture.
There is no more beautiful seacoast. In
deed. there is nothing to surpass this
landscape in the Alps or the Pyrenees or
the Andes or the Rocky mountains or
anywhere else owing to the great variety
of scenery that lies between the water
and the snow-capped crags. Just now
nature is all smiles. Both the woods and
the fields are alive with glory. The TO-
Hage is perfect, rhododendrons and
azaleas hide the scars in the rocks and
creepers drape the rugged cliffs with
profusion of garlands that artificial deco
ratiOns cannot cOmpareNWith. Here and
there the farming land is broken by
lofty precipice rising thousand feet or
more directly out of luXuriant vegetation.
just as an artist would put some bold
figure into picture to offer contrast
to the peaceful cultivated slope. And the
lofty mountain peaks look holder and
sterner because they rise so near the
wheat fields. the gentle valleys dotted
with white villages and the somber for
eStS that are SO thick and so green.
Fine Fruits Are Grown.
We ale told that the finest oranges,
cherries and other fruits in the world
come from the slopes that line the shore
Of the Black sea. We are told, too. that
cherries got their name from the town of
Kerasun, which was called Cherrysus by
the Greeks We are too early, of course,
a ho
captain says that in the summer and fall
cherries. grapes, plums. peaches, pears
and melons-tiner than can be found in
Paris-"can be bought for almost moth
ing"
The people, of the villages on this part
Of the coast, and particularly those of
the town of Rich are sailors and fisher
men. They are wild, reckless, handsome
fellows, wearing short open jackets OF
scarlet or blue with 3ouave trousers, pur
pie or yellow sashes bound around their
waist, and a knotted black turban with
the tasseletA ends hanging down over their
shoulders. Most of the seamen on the
Turkish cruisers and gunboats come from
this town and the neighboring villages.
"Rizeh is the most beautiful place on
the Black sea-" said the captain with
shrug, "but everybody carries a knife
and would not hesitate to kill a stranger
for his hat or his handkerchief
And we learned afterward that there
are 200 murderers serving sentences from
QIIeen years TO lie IN the prison To-Day
We saw some Of the short sentence men
at the windows as we passed the prison
and somebody was standing on a tomb
in the cemetery under the windows talk
ing to them in loud tone. The people
on the street did not appear to pay
any attention to him, although he was
very much in earnest.
Illiterate, But Partisan.
Near by was more interesting crowd.
Our steamer brought the mail from Con-
stantinopIe and fifty or sixty citizens of
Rich were gathered in a compact body
around the steps of the post office while
some gentleman read the news aloud to
them. We were told it was a regular
practice every time mail came in
Most of the population are illiterate, but
they are intensely patriotic and partisan,
and keep close tab on political events at
Constantinople and elsewhere.
They must be very superstitiOus also,
judging by the precautions they adopt to
protect their houses and fields from the
evil eye and other uncanny influences.
The skull Of goat or sheep, with
bunch of red peppers attached to it, was
hanging from the corner of the caves Of
almost every dwelling. We saw similar
amulets in the gardens, orchards and
fields to protect the fruit and the crops.
An old shoe and a bunch of garlic is
equally efficacous, we were told, if you
haven't tine skull of sheep. The peas
ants in the country believe in miraculous
cures. in witchcraft and all such things,
and often sacrifice animals at the shrines
of saints to fulfill vows they have made
in time of danger or distress On a GER
tain day in summer they splash water
each other: in the spring every
woman releases a pigeon she has kept
during the winter, and in some places the
women go out to Welcome the storks
which fly in here at a certain time of
the year. A new baby is always passed
over flame and young girls leap through
fire to insure good husbands.
The patriarchial system prevails very
generally among the farmer peasants.
and the father or. after his death, the
eldest son is the head and dictator of
the family. 4 newly married couple al
ways goes TO live in the house OF the
groom's father and the bride is con-
demned to perpetual silence in the pres
ence of the family until her first child is
born or until another marriage takes
place in the same house. A young wife
is not permitted to speak to any one
save her own husband and to him only
when they are alone. But after her
first baby Is born she is considered
worthy of sufficient respect to be rec
ognized as member of the household
Although this practice doubtless would