The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1919-10-31
hiqhlanders of the Caucasus Who
Have Kept Free From Gentle
Admixture.
ScORN THE PLAINS PEOPLE
Their Language and Many Of Their
Customs Are Peculiar-Date and
Circumstances OF Settlement in
That Region Unknown.

LondOn.-Of all the scattered tribes
and remnants of the Jewish people.
none is less known to the world ut
large, and certainly none presents
more striking contrast to the common
conception of the modern children Of.
Israel than the Jewish Highlanders Of
the eastern Caucasus. Yet there are
probably none In all the world who
have kept the Jewish blood more pure
and free from gentle admixture. nor
any who have more faithfully pre-
served the traditions, beliefs and Gus
toms of the times before the exile.
Indeed. they hold themselves quite
alOOf from the other Jews Of the eau
casus region. refusing to intermarry
with them. TO worship with them. or
even to have social Or commercial In
tercourse with them beyond the limits
Of the barest necessity. No Scottish
Highlander ever scOrned the Lowlander
one-half so much as these Highland
er Jews scOrn their kinsmen Of the
plains and Of the urban ghetto.
Traditions Fail to Explain.
The date and the circumstances OF
their settlement in the Caucasus high
lands are unknown, even in their own
traditions, but it is certain that they
have been there for nearly Il thousand
years. In that time their physical
characteristics have been materially
modified by their environment and
mode of life. With characteristic Jew
fish faces and complexion, they have
tall, stalwart, muscular bodies, re-
sembling the best of the Hill men of
India. or some Of the giant Highland
ers of Scotland. Their life is of course
purely rural. since they have no con-
siderable towns, and they devote them
selves to agriculture. and the growing
of grapes and tobacco. From the
grapes they make both wine and
brandy, and of these beverages they
are heavy drinkers. Indeed they have
the unenviable reputation of being the
hardest drinkers in all that part of the
wOrld-which might easily be, since
the MOhammedan tribes around then
are almost entirely total abstainers
However. drunkenness is little known
among them, if at all.
They are also great fighters. Tha
is generally a characteristic Of noun
tatneers. and in these highland Jew!
it is highly developed. They alway!
20 armed. rs do the Montenegrins. ant
are never backward in using thei
weapons for defense. They do not
however, share in any of the bloot
feuds of the Circassian tribesmen. no
do they join in their raids and quar-
rels.
Their language is neither Hebrew
nor that of the country in which the.
live. but rather what philologists tern
Parsi.Tartar. or mingling Of old Per
sian and Tartar. From this circun
stance it is inferred that their ances
tors went to the Caucasus from Persi
In the days of Cyrus the Great. o
Darius. Perhaps they were fugitive
from Persian captivity: or else the
preferred going to the Caucasl
rather than back to Palestine. There
indeed one ancient legend which tell
that they wandered northWard in ques
of Mount Arurat and the remains q
NOahs ark.
The patriarchal mode of life pre-
walls among them. When son MAJ
ries he does not establish Il home Q
his own. He simply builds Il wing o
his fathers house anu lives in it. l
this fashion there are often three G
four generations living in n singl
house. which consists of single stor
spread over large area of groun,
Each house has it's own allotment {
land, comprising grain field. Tobacco
field. vegetable garden and vineyar
and all are kept in a high state Of GU
tivation. though with primitive met
DDS. Each garden is inclosed With
wall Of rubble and clay about 81
feet high.
These highland Jews have no rabbi
end no religious head. They have Z