120 CASUALS IN THE CAUCASUS 



a frontage uniform in solidarity, looking impenetrable, 

 unscalcable. 



One of our pack mules was ill, and unable to travel, 

 so we had to search for a substitute, and effected an 

 exchange with a dealer of the sect known as the 

 Dukhobors, Russian dissenters, who were exiled to 

 Transcaucasia by the Imperial Government in the 

 reign of Alexander I. For many years they were com- 

 pelled to keep within a stipulated radius, now one 

 meets them all over. Have we not admitted the 

 Dukhobors to Canada as settlers ? It is quite im- 

 possible to spell their name correctly. No two English 

 writers render it alike, and every Russian scholar 

 differently. It is understood to be derived from doukh, 

 spirit, and harotsya, to wrestle, probably because any 

 individual Dukhobor may soulfully wrestle with the 

 Spirit during times of worship. 



Just how and wherein they differ from the religious 

 tenets of their forbears. Orthodox churchmen, is 

 rather hard to gather. The Russians don't seem 

 to know or care, and the Dukhobors themselves 

 won't tell. They recognize the omnipotence of no 

 earthly Power — that was one of the reasons which 

 led to their banishment — and subscribe to no outward 

 forms of religion, which they say should be expressed 

 spiritually. To their way of thinking a smoke-stack 

 is just as holy as a church steeple, both being man- 

 made, and nothing holy can emanate from frail 

 humanity. Prayer is shown by deeds, not words, 

 and a behef is general among the sect that the joys of 

 the Hereafter may be gained by worthy members of 



