Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-03-20
CAUCASUS MAY AGAIN
WIN PRUMlNtNl POSITION

AAA6
Interest. the long line Of mountains
which separates Europe from Asa
gives promise of once more attain
ing The headline position 1t so often
has held throughout the ages says
a bulletin from the National Geogra-
phic Society.
made up of four hundred miles
Of majestic peaks, IN three ridges,
the Caucasus stretches from northwest
10 southeast like a petritred ave
whose northeastern face Mount TO
the snowy crest, but whose southwest
ern front, facing toward Turkey seems
dashed into countless precipices by
the titanic forces of nature.
"Once the Caucasus was a fabled
land Of rivers of gold and rich zine
yards. of orchards bent low with the
weight of luscious fruit and of stored
hills rich In all the known minerals
of the age.
'The Caucasus Is the most interest
ting rabbit warren of humanity on
the globe. For uncounted ages, var
ious peoples sifted through the secIud-
cd valleys leaving a fraction OF their
number in some remote spot so That
at one time Ell Azizi said that there
were 500 tribes and dialects in the
region $50 miles long and 100 miles
broad, which he called the Mountain
OF Languages
.sStrabo spoke Of 10 races Of men,
some of them armed with poisoned
arrows and wearing skin shoes with
apjked soles. Troglodytes there were
and are. The Caucasus is a sort OF
three ring group of natural marvels
compressed between Europe and Asia,
between h Black Sea II the Cas-
plan.
ION the European slope, the eau
casrls is thanked by the Cossaks or the
Don, the Kuban and the Terek, along
whose banks the famous Tolstoy serv-
Cd as q young soldier.
ION the Asiatic side. there are the
new republics of Georgia. AZerbaijan
and Armenia, partly carved from
Russian, partly from Turkish lands,
within the Caucasus itself there
are still many strange RIDES MOST
handsome of all are the Mingrelians
and their neighbors tho Imeretians.
The CURTAINS and Swans, the kheVsuls,
Tushes and Abkhasians, tho
the Ossetiana, Lesghians, Tchetchens
and T,artars-al1 are huddled In q re-
zion 50 lacking In roads or modern
communications that each tribe is as
continent of its own.
1.-THE people who have left the deep
est impress on the Caucasus, although
most OF them emigrated to Turkey IN
1854, are the Tcher6ess or Circassians.
The loneliness of their forms
the lure of countless harem tales and
fhe daring of the men furnishes the
contrast to the houri-like charm OF
the Circasslan maidenS who made
harems popular, not only along the
beautiful ,Bosphorus, but in romantic
literature as well.
'rThe Tcherkess gave to the Cauca-
Gus and the fancy dress ball the Tcher-
keska. the familiar skirted costume OF
- Fsa-n l. 49, fhA 1ithn (lQnf-
gian grendee. 1t is the original opera
bouffe uniform, with n narrow waist
% and fiaring skirts above soft boots
without heels. This costume Ia also
distinguished by eighteen cartridge
cases ranged across the chest, when
is made imposing not only by TINS
p~esambulant ammunition dunn but
also by the fact that the upper portion
of the outer garment is left unfastened
30 that the dark shirt below shows
wider and wider toward the top.
'sFornerly. real cartridges gave a
truly martial aspect to the dress in
which a straight sword worn diagon-
ally across the front and another just
as sharp suspended from the side
were almost the only visible weapons
until the automatic revolver came
into fashion.
But comparative wealth n peace
overlook the Georgians and the other
town dweIlers who wore the striking
dress and gradually these cartridges
were changed for decorative tmita-
tions. Some of them were made of
ebony at one end and ivory at the
other.
Thus the Caucasian Beau Brummel
could vary the color scheme by re-
versing the decorations so that a white
costume would be trimmed In black
from cartridge case to dagger and a
dark tchereska could be enlivened by
Ivory cartridges and ivory handled
daggers hanging from a shining silver
belt.
"Moderndty has gone ever farther.
One of these cartridge cases is now
sometimes used for a fountain pen and
the ultra fastidious dandy sometimes
has hollow decorations In whose solid
gold shell Is concealed rich perfume
for the moustache.
'"The North Caucasus Is not dis
tinguished solely by legendary lore anc
fancy dress manhood. The broaC
fields which sweep gently UP toward
the slopes produce some of Russia
most abundant grain crops II form
an important field for the sale ant
use of modern agricultural machinery
"A little deeper among the foot
hills, hundreds of thousands of sheel
roam the slopes. climbing toward tn
eternal snowfields and 125 mileSHI
in summer, returning to the valleys c
tho Kuban and tho Terek whe,
the cold of winter sweeps through
the few passes hat pierce the Ions
mountain barrier.
sheltered among the hills and of
ferlng wonderful mountain views @
the main ridge of the Caucasus, whicl
reaches a height three times that o
Mount Washington. lie the North eau
.casus Mineral Baths at Pyatigors
and Kislovodsk, whose popularit!
among the wealthy was second onl
to that of the winter resorts of tn
Crimea.
cat Kislovodsk Is the famous MAJ
zan' spring. with a flow of a hal
q million gallons a day. in whose effer
vescent waters bathing was cheap al
though the water when bottled com
manded q high price In European elite
and even in Persi and Siberia. The Cir
cassians called this sparkling carboni
water the drink of heroes
$50 much has been written abou
Georgia, Armenia n the Azerbaijal
republic south of the mountain from
tier thai few realize that just mort
Of the historic rock wall between Eur
ope and Asia there lies one of tn
richest regions in the world"
PERTH AMBOY