Evening star., 1924-08-16
monaghan TRIBE
TAKING BIG STRIDES
High State of Civilization
Found in Oo-Ia-Ia, Capital
of Oirad State.
BY r. A. MACKENZIE.

BY r. A. MACKENZIE.
Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Daily News.
MOSCOW. July 1o-The Atai
Mountains may reasonably be said to
be the heart of Asia. They stretch
from the south of Siberia to the Cobb
Desert. You can travel from them In
one direction to Tibet, in the other to
Peking.
For sheer natural beauty the Altai
Mountains rank among the wonders
Of the world. But there Is more con-
tagious disease visible among the
people there than anywhere alse l
know. There are more snakes OF
dangerous varieties there than any
where else. And in the remote noun
tain Businesses one finds the home OF
shammamism, which bears the same
relations to modern spiritualism that
quadratic equations do to the multi
plication table.
There, too. discovered city which
though unrecognized by most Rus
sian maps, has between 5000 and
10000 people and is the center OF one
of new Russia's most interesting and
ments.
While in Biiski, in southern Sibera,
I first heard OF the city OF O-la-la-
the name sounds as though it came
In a peasants basket cart, drawn by
a couple of sturdy mountain ponies.
l set off to see 1t.
Great Beauty Of the Mountains.
There were between 80 and 20
miles to travel and three rivers to
cross. This had to be done without
change Of horses-hence the need to
their harness, the peasant driver was
a cheerful soul. and the day was all
that could be desired.
There was a regular ferry across
the first river, and soon we came in
view of the wonderful line of the
Of sight. Right. left and front, peak
behind peak. line behind line, at first
a background of faint blue, and then
a vision Of snow peaks crowning iron
The country of the lowlands was
amazing, with. great stretches of
wonderful birches. bigger and fuller
OF color than 1 have known any
where else.
The second river and the third
were crossed by mechanical ferries
A stout wire rope is swung high up
from side to side of the river. A
barge is attached to the rope by a
running wire. The current and good
side to side.
Rare Drinks to BE Had.
We did not stop to rest our horses
until nearly 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
My driver had special reasons for push
ing on so far. He described to me. in
lyric terms, the wonders of the drinks
ls that were to be had In the village
beer mead, of such amazing strength
that one glass made a man happy for
the rest Of the day. Still more potent
would cause the very pigs to sing.
I tasted neither of them. l knew
that before our journey was over that
day we should be travelling in the dark
over risky mountain roads and shaky
mountain bridges. At such times the
less one has to drink the better
Surely enough. we found later in the
day what we expected In the fight
ing following the retreat of Kolchak's
paths had been blown away and
bridges had been destroyed. The
bridges had been replaced by the
simple plan of throwing beams over
roughly across them.
A Russian. travelling in the same di-
rection, kept his cart close to mine all
day. We parted when weentered Co.
la-la, and later he explained why he
had SO cultivated my company. He
was carrying 10000 rubles (nominally
$15.OOO) of government money for the
purchase Of leather from the noun
taineers. There are still bandits in
these regions. and he thought that if
we were stopped two could put up a
better fight than one
Entertained by the President.
1t was quite dark when from a cliff
edge we saw in the valley below few
reached there I found the streets un-
lighted and SO deep in mud that one
could hardly step off the cart I
made for the Office of the ispolkom.
the local governing body. There. I
Ing telephone. When the president
heard that l was there he bade me
come to his home. There are neither
hotels nor inns in Oo-la-la-
by any stretch Of imagination, be con-
sidered a palace. but to me it was a
haven. 1t consisted of two rooms. a
small bedroom-study, with a wooden
ssa ss1e ans Il. k,shsn and did no
discover until next day that he had
given me his bed. Then he invited
me to his table, where honey, black
bread and hot tea made a feast.
dent Of the Oirads. is, in his way. a
very remark BILE man. He lived for
many years in Mongolia, where he
won great fame as hunter l tried
but he preferred to talk of his people.
Bad Treatment From Russia.
Tho Oirads, a Mongol tribe, lost
their country to the Russians two
generations ago in the czarist cam
paign for the military domination OF
Central Asia. They resisted in vain.
The Russians strovc to suppress their
When they could not do the latter
they sought to scatter them. There
were over 100000 Oirads when the
Russians first came. The number
In 1904, during the Russo-Japanese
War, the Oirads thought their hour
had come and rose again. They were
badly beaten and well whipped
Death, prison. exile and ruin were
dealt out among them with no mig
When the great war came the poo
pie knew better than to try to fight
again. But when the bolshevists sue
ceeded and declared part of their
rights OF small nationalities the
Oirad people took the bolstevists at
their word and claimed their inde-
pendence.
This placed MOSCOW in a quandary.
1t wanted to keep its word and yet
of separate nations around it, pos
sible centers for intrigue and counter
revolution. There were also now
/ some 10000 Russians in the land who
must be considered.
An Autonomous Oirad District.
A mutually satisfactory scheme was
at last evolved. A little block of
m arn nd 1R r
called the Oirad autonomous district
This country is under Rusaia hut