THE LAND OF THE STALKING DEATH 



403 



Photograph by Melville Chater 



A FAMILY OF YFZIDI REFUGEES STEALING A RIDE ON AN AMERICAN RELIEF TRAIN 



Rumor and hunger conspire to keep the refugees of the Transcaucasus in motion. Many 

 of the people have nothing to leave behind, and the report that food can be had at some 

 remote place starts a melancholy migration for bread. Neither the Moslems nor the 

 Christians have harmed the Yezidis. but famine is no respecter of persons or religions. 



high about the room, and a chorus of 

 liveried trumpeters who sound fanfares 

 at the close of every toast. Once again 

 one realizes that, though the Georgians 

 have gone red republican, Zenda's dear 

 old comic-opera kingdom still lies deep in 

 their hearts. 



THE GEORGIAN IS ENJOYING A BELSHAZ- 

 zar's FEAST 



In short, the Georgian has absorbed all 

 that was worst in the luxurious Russian 

 civilization, under which he lived from 

 the conquest of the Transcaucasus in 

 1801 to the downfall of Tsardom. Of 

 earlier influences, the Persian is betrayed 

 in his national costumes and in his arts. 

 which have been completely obliterated 

 by the Turks. He and his language alike 

 are unclassifiable. They originated too 

 far back of that respectably remote past 

 when Tiflis was already a caravan center, 

 linking East and West. 



Whencever he came, the Georgian is 



of an ancient race, and embodies all of 

 an ancient race's charm, together with 

 its tendency toward degeneration. The 

 Georgian nobility is a byword, resting 

 upon a feudalism which endured so long 

 as to become an anachronism and a decay. 

 "What with an incredibly fertile soil of 

 pasture land and vineyards, exhaustless 

 manganese mines, and an enriching tithe 

 system, the Georgian noble sank into a 

 sloth from which his present-day de- 

 scendants have never risen, and which 

 left them an easy prey to Russian upper- 

 class luxury. Just now, drunk with the 

 heady wine of sudden liberty, they are 

 enjoying what looks to the outsider very 

 much like a "Relshazzar's feast. 



SUCCORING 20.000 ARMENIANS IN Tll-T.IS 



Mix solely with the Georgians and you 

 would never realize that, huddled in 

 Tiflis 5 back streets, there are some 20.000 

 Armenian refugees who are being cared 

 for bv the American Committee. These 



