Jackson County journal., 1919-10-10
HIghlancers of the Caucasus Who
Have Kept Free From Gentle
Adlnixture.
SCDAN TIE PLAINS PEOPLE
lheir Language and Many of Their
Customs Are PecuIar-Date and
Circumstances of Settlement in
That Region Unknown.

1-oLuOI.-OI all the scattered tribes
ana remnants of the Jewish people.
none Is less known to the world at
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
nave Kept the Jewish blood more pure
ana tree from gentle admixture, nor
any VINO 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 Cau-
casus region, refusing to intermarry
win them, TO worship with them. or
even to have social or commercial in
tercourse with them beyond the limits
OF tne barest necessity. No Scottish
highlander ever scorned the Lowlander
one-half so much as these Highland
er Jews scOrn their kinsmen of the
pains and of the urban ghetto.
Traditions Fail to Explain
Inc date and the circumstances of
lhelr settlement in the Caucasus high
lands are unknown, even in their own
traditions, but it is certain that they
nave Deen there for nearly thousand
years. In that time their physical
characteristics have been materially
modified by their environment and
mode of life. With characteristic Jew
lsh faces and complexion, 1hey 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
serves 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 them
are almost entirely total abstainers.
However, drunkenness Is little known
among them, if at all.
Ihey are also great fighters. That
Is generally a characteristic of noun
ta'neers, and in these highland Jews
1t Is highly developed. They always
go armed, as do the Montenecrins. and
are never backward in using their
weapons for defense. They do not.
however, share in any of the blood
feuds of the Circassian tribesmen nor
do they join in their raids and quar-
rels.
1helr language is neither Hebrew
nor that Of the country in which they
i've, but rather what philologists term
Parsi-Tartar, OF a mingling of old Per-
sian and Tartar. From this circum
stance it is inferred that their ances-
tors went to the Caucasus from Persia
in the days of Cyrus the Great, or
Darius. Perhaps they were fucitiyes
from Persian captivity; or else they
preferred going to the Caucasus
rather than back to Palestine. There is
indeed one ancient legend which tells
that they wandered northward in quest
or Mount Ararat and the remains of
NOah's ark.
The patriarchal mode of life pre-
walls among them. When a son mar
rleS he does not establish a home of
his own. He simply builds a wing on
his fathers house and lives in it. In
this fashion there are often three or
four generations living in a single
house, which consists of a single story
spread over large area of ground.
Each house has its own allotment of
land, comprising grain field, tobacco
field, vegetable garden and vineyard,
and all are kept in high state of cul-
tivation, though with primitive meth
Ods. Each garden is inclosed within
wall of rubble and clay about six
feet high.
These highland Jews have no rabbis
and no religious head. They have no