Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-28
THE PEOPLE OF DAGHESTAN
BY WILLIAM z. CURTIS
pecial Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago

for the sheepmen of Wyoming and other
states. A grove OF elms or hickory or
other flexible saplings can be planted at
a slight expense. and when they are two
or three years old they can be cut and
braided like basket work. The people
over here make filters eight or ten feet
long and four or five feet wide, which.
when supported by light posts. make
strong and "hog-proof' fence. Every
ranchman has one. and moves it from
pasture to pasture following his fiocks.
and turns the sheep and lambs into this
movable corral every night.
The men we see around the railway
stations are Tartars, whose love of society
and excitement bring upon them the con-
tempt of the phlegmatic Germans and
Russians. who scorn such diversions.
Their love of dress also excites the de-
rision or their neighbors. They cling to
not give it up. They wear the kalak. a
long coat with a pleated skirt, and a
hood OF white wooden cloth, called q
kabula, over their heads with a long end
and tassel hanging down their back. 1t
is much more graceful than the fez, but
1t Is not so dignified as the turban.
The Russian government is diverting
immigrants to this section of the eau
casus from other parts
Russian of the empire. AL
r;on4, though one Of the old
est communities in the
universe. it is still thinly settled. The
revolution OF the land-hungry peasants
of European Russia in 1905 was followed,
you will remember. by legislation in the
duma similar to that OF the British par
lament concerning Ireland. and the great
estates are being purchased by the gov
eminent, broken up into small farms and
sold to the peasants on long time, at a
low rate Of interest. This movement was
FASTENED and the land owners were per-
suaded to sell by arguments similar to
those used by the tenantry In Ireland.
The landlords who still refuse to yield
are having hard time of it. Their
barns are set on fire, their cattle are
mutilated, their wheat fields are burned
and various other penalties are imposed
upon them. There is now law au-
thorizing the compulsory appropriation of
large estates. and the lands belonging
to the crown and the church are being
divided and disposed OF slowly among
peasant farmers imported from the more
densely populated sections Of Russia.
There are many Germans here, de-
scendants OF immigrants who were in
duced to come into the Caucasus by
Catherine the Great 125 years ago. She
gave them large grants of land and re-
lieved them from taxation and military
service as an inducement to develop the
ing their own business they have man
aged to get along with the fiery-hearted
and hot-tempered Tartars.
The Germans make the best farmers
and are the richest portion OF the pop
ulation. Armenians. Per-
All Races SLAMS and Greeks. are
p.-., the tradesmen and the
oPA0'U' same races furnish the
mechanics and laborers. Representatives
of all the races Of central Asia are to
be found here. and many of European
stock. Latins and Greeks. Huns. Iberians
and Italians. because when the tidal
waves of humanity, to which / have al
ready referred. receded. a good deal OF
driftwood was always left behind.
Daghestan has been known to history
for 1900 years. Josephus tells US OF q
race called the Alans who dwelt upon the
coast OF the Caspian sea and along the
northern slopes Of the Caucasus. whence.
passing through Iron Gates" they fell
upon the Modes and nearly exterminated
them. They invaded Armenia eight or
nine hundred years before Christ, and laid
everything waste behind them. They
crossed over into Persia and made them
selves at home in that country until they
were driven out by Cyrus the Great.
The Iron Gates" so called, were a
part Of a great wall like that Of the
Chinese, which in prehistoric times ex-
tended from the present city of Derbent,
on the shore of the Caspian sea, to the
mountain Of Koushan-Dagh. near the
western limits of Daghestan. This wall
is believed to have been built a thou
sand years before the Christian era, dur
ing the reign of a monarch called Nash
ervan the Just. for the protection Of his
people. who lived north Of the Caucasus,
against the wild tribes Of Asia. 1t was
eighteen or twenty feet high and SO thick
that a squadron of cavalry could gallOp
along its top.
Remnants Of that extraordinary work
are still preserved, and the ruins Of forty
three castles along its foundations have
been counted between the mountains and
the sea- There was only one gate, which
remained in perfect preservation until the
middle ages.