Semi-weekly herald. [volume] (Durango, Colo.) 1907-1917, 1910-07-18
CITY or TtFLis IS A coNoLoMER
ALTON OF MANY NATIONS.


OF the Chicago Record-Herald.)
TlFLIS. Caucasus. June 3, 1870
Right Honorable James Bryce, British
ambassador to Washington. who visit
ed Tiflis thirty-five years ago or more,
on his way to climb Mount Ararat,
described the city as "a human melt
ing pot. city of contrasts and mix
lures. into which elements have been
poured from half Europe and Asia and
In which they as yet show no signs of
combining. The most interesting
thing about il" he said. is the city IT.
self the strange mixtures OF so many
races. tongues. religions, customs. Its
character lies in the fact that is has
no character but ever SO many differ
ent ones Here ali these people live
side by side. buying and selling and
working for hire. yet never coming In
10 any closer union. remaining indif'
ferent to one another, with neither
love nor hate nor ambition, peaceably
ubeying government of strangers
who conquered them without resist
ance and retain them without effort,
and held together by no bond but It's
existence. OF national life or numeri-
cal life there is not the first faint
glimmer: indeed, the aboriginal people
of the country seem scarcely less
strangers in its streets than do all the
other races that tread them
There are said to be seventy differ
ent languages spoken on the streets
OF Tiflis, or at least so many dialects
of the various races of Europe ana
Asia who have been attracted here by
business and other interests and in
search of employment. Many OF these
dialects belong to the same parent
language: many of these races sprang
from the same stock, but each has ac-
uuired a certain individuality by rea-
son of its environment and conditions
under which it has been living. As
Mr. Bryce says, probably, nowhere
else in all the world can so great a
variety of stocks, languages and relig.
ions be found huddled together in so
narrow an area. All these races live
together, not merely within the limits
OF the same country, a country politi-
cally and physically one, but to great
extent actually on the same soil, mix
ed up with and crossing one another.
In one part Georgians, in another Ar
menians. in third Tartars predomi-
nate. but there are large districts
where Armenians and Georgians; OF
Armenians. Georgians and Tartars; or
Tartars and Persians; or Persians,
Tartars and Armenians are so equally
represented in point of numbers that 1t
is difficult to say which element pre-
dominates This phenomenon-so
strange to one who knows only the
homogeneous population OF west
European countries or of country
like America, where all sorts of ele-
ments are day by day being flung in
to their melting pot and lose their
identity almost at once"
What Mr.. Bryce wrote thirty-five
years ago of Tiflis is equally true to-
day. Perhaps it is even more true
than 1t was then because of the in
crease of population. Tiflis Is twice
as large by the census of 1905 as
was in 1875, when he was there.
bird's-eye view of this curious old town
can be obtained by taking funicular
or inclined plane, railway to the top
of bluff. where there are a restaur-
ant, teahouses, merry-goronnd and
other simple amusements which are
much patronized by the working class
es. Standing upon platform you can
take in the whole panorama. The diff
ferent sections of the town can be
pointed out to you-the Russian, Ger
man, Georgian, Persian. Armenian and
Tartar quarters, with the brown river
dividing them and the roofs painted in
different colors.
Whenever you see a group of dark
crimson roofs you may know that they
cover Russian soldiers, for that is the
color OF their barracks, selected, a
cynical friend remarked, by accident,
and not by design-althoueh it is very
appropriate to the business upon
which the garrisons are engaged.
The Armenians paint their roofs a
copper. green or silver gilt. similar to
the steeples on their churches, which
are ugly looking cylinders with tin
caps shaped like a cartridge although
the cross that springs from the top OF
each sanctifies it. They are in strils
ing contrast with the Byzantine domes
of the orthodox Greek church. There
are two sects. the Russian and the
Georgian, who disagree more from ra-
cial than from theological incompati-
bility. The Greek domes are of the
shape of an inverted tarnip and are
painted blue, which adds to the pic
tnresqueness of the scene.
You can see several mosques pat
rOnized by the Persian Mahommedans,
but they are shabby, dirty places,
without the slightest attractive feature
and very poor places for any respect
able person to pray. Judging from
their houses of worship, the Persians
have not much respect for their own
religion. although they look thoughtful
and earnest and sincere, and they pray
aloud like the Pharisees of the Bible,
regardless of others, and the sounds
from mosque are often like hub
bub.
We went into a mosque in the tail
ors' quarter the other day and saw an
old Persian priest with whiskers dyed
a vivid scarlet. | asked Naskidoff,
our dragoman, why the old man made
himself look so ridiculous, and he ex-
planned that 1t Is the fashion--that is
all. As the priest is the only man in
Tiflis | have seen so decorated, he
must be introducing the style and is
not receiving much encouragement.
The tall spire of Lutheran church
rises proudly from the German quarter
and we went there to call upon Pastor
Mayer in his comfortable and home
like manse-the most homelike house
l have seen in all this country, with
shelves filled with books. grand
piano. with sheet music scattered over
the lid, and a reading lamp on the
center table. l had heard that there
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