HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



Hittitos. A wonderful old Greek fortress stands fairly well preserved 

 ou top of a high hill to the east. It was built about four hundred 

 years before Christ and made of stone so largo that modern engineer- 



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■ iNi; iir IlMllMANNS l.iH. lAKI'S l;\ll \1 



ing skill would be taxed to place tlieiii there. How the amient >ui- 

 . eded will remain one of the secrets of his-tory. 



It was a funny sight to see a Turkish barber at worU on his 

 iiL-tim who sits anywhere in the 

 street and is shaved without the 

 help of soap or water. 



Tribizonde is- the last stop be- 

 fore Batum. Here the Caravans 

 started for the interior of Persia 

 in the year 401 B. C. The fa- 

 mous retreat of Xenophon and 

 his ten thousand Greeks ended 

 here. Here he reached safety 

 and found supplies for his ex- 

 hausted troops after a march of 

 1,500 miles through hostile coun- 

 try. 



The Caucasian mountains are 

 located at the extreme south- 

 east corner of Europe, in Russia 

 and form a solid wall, seven 

 hundred miles long and extend- 

 ing from the Black sea to the Caspian. These mountaias are from eight 

 to sixteen thousand feet high and in the entire seven hundred miles. 

 only two passes are known. The Caucasian mountains have been a 

 barrier between Europe and Asia since the world began and army 

 after army has gone to pieces against them. On the north slope of 

 the Caucasian range, are the Steppes of Russia, with a climate about 

 like Dakota and from this region comes the well-known Cossack. In 

 a distance of about seventy miles the climate is entirely changed and 

 the south side of thei-e same mountains enjoys a sub-tropical climate 

 and here grow olives, oranges and palms. 



The history of the Caucasus begins in tradition with Thargamos, a 

 great grandson of Japhet, son of Xoah, and later this land was the scene 

 of the Greek Argonautic expeditions. It was near Batum that Jason 

 found the Golden fleece and slew the dragon that breathed fire from 

 his nostril.'. The people in the beginning were Argon tribes. Alex- 

 ander the Great and his army conquered part of the Caucasus and 

 Pompey's Roman legions later held the coast, after which came the 

 Byzantine Empire. Then for a long period the Mongols from across 

 the Caspian sea under Tamerlane held the plains and coast and in 

 turn were driven back by the Arabs who controlled in the eighth 

 century. Venetians, Persians, and Turks each in time, held more or 

 less of this historical part of the world, but through all these changes, 

 the Georgian kingdom remained a natiim from 302 B. C. until the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century, more than two thousand years. 

 During all this period the invading army held the coast and parts 

 of this country, but the native had only to return to his mountains 



ONE OF HOFFM.\NNS \ARDS1. MR. PENROD SEEN IN N.VTIVE GARB. 



and remain unconquered. Each nation or tribe, however, left some 

 of its people who intermarried with the original Caucasian and 

 formed villages of their own, and today covering only a few miles 

 simmers this strange melting pot of many nations. The Rui-siau na- 

 tion has been the only one throughout all time to completely conquer 

 this country, and rather than live under Christian rule, between four 

 and five hundred Mohamniedau Circassians left their mountain homes 

 and emigrated to Asia Minor. Under Russia the country has en- 

 joyed a long period of peace and prosperity. The Georgians and 

 Circassians make fine soldiers and many of the Czar's regiments are 

 formed of them. The Russian policy, however, is to keep the Cau- 

 casian regiments in some far away section of its vast domain and 

 the soldiers in the Caucasus (and there are many), are from Russian 

 Poland or north Russia. In this way the soldiers and the people 

 have no interest in common. 



The Circassians are a proud race and are justly noted for thodr 

 good looks, both male and female. One blot on their history, how- 

 ever, is the fact that they sold their daughters to slave dealers, and 

 the harems of Turkey and Egypt were filled with Circassian and 

 Georgian girls. To the credit of Russia, this disgraceful traffic was 

 stopped in 1774. Their liomes are nearly always in small villages in 

 order to protect them from Kurds or other lawless bands. Their 

 dwellings are dug out of the hill sides, stones forming the front. A 

 Caucasian village looks much like a village of the Pueblo Indians. 

 The natives are very primitive and many queer customs prevail. Xo 

 pictures adorn the walls and 

 they have no furniture except a 

 few homemade chairs. They are 

 great lovers of food and drink 

 but a knife or fork is not con- 

 sidered necessary. A traveler is 

 always welcome and a guest is 

 made much of. The best wine 

 they have (and they make won- 

 derful wine from their native 

 grapes) is produced and a ban- 

 quet held; the host expects his 

 guest to drink Vnuch, it being 

 considered a great compliment to 

 become intoxicated, this proving 

 the excellency of the wine and 

 the guest 's approval. 



Circassian walnut grows in all 

 parts of the Caucasus, but prin- 

 cipally in Mingrelia and Circassia. The main value of the trees 

 has been the cro|> of nuts, which have been an article of trade 

 for centuries. 



The walnut trees originally weie jilanted in the same manner as 



I.N i:i:ai II Al r.ALl \l. 



any orchard, but there have been so many wars and invasions, that 

 an entire district might be depopulated and for many years deserted 

 and in this way sections that originally were orchards, appear to be 



