THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



261 



so beautiful that the traveler covets them 

 every one. 



FORMIDABLE HEADGEAR 



Even the elaborate headdress of the 

 men is never so delightful as the best of 

 the shawls worn by the women ; but it is 

 more striking, especially as the traveler 

 draws near to Persia and the Caucasus. 

 Huge lamb-skin shakos, of all shapes and 

 no shape, are the accepted headgear even 

 for August. I have seen them two feet 

 high and almost as wide. 



To counteract the warmth, or for other 

 reasons, the Moslem keeps his head 

 shaved; and the appearance of a man 

 with a heavy black beard and no hair 

 above his ears is at least unfamiliar to 

 Americans. At every landing one catches 

 new suggestions for comic costumes for 

 stage use. 



We carried from Astrakhan to Pe- 

 trovsk a Persian whose lamb-skin hat, 

 never seen off his head, at meals or at 

 night, was no blacker than his villainous 

 beard, which did not conceal the fact that 

 his chin was only an inward slope, and 

 that his teeth lapped fondly over each 

 other. His eyes roved perpetually, in 

 different directions, and he was ever on 

 the grin. His coat was a long, gray one, 

 with spreading skirt, and his shoes were 

 picturesque green. 



He was no more picturesque than the 

 long-haired "anarchist" — who may have 

 been merely a genius from New York, 

 visiting his native Russia ! — wearing what 

 appeared to be a suit of pajamas, braided 

 with black cord and frogs, and a black 

 Windsor tie. He did not, however, as 

 do many Russian men, wear a bracelet. 

 At least he looked cool, whereas not a 

 few of his fellow-passengers wore furs, 

 making no change of costume the year 

 around. 



WHERE BATHING SUITS ARE 

 UNAPPRECIATED 



Nobody here sees any incongruity in 

 persons clad in heavy furs and woolens 

 looking over the rail at the natives — men, 

 women, and children— bathing unclad. I 

 have seen many bathers in various parts 

 of Russia, but I have yet to see the first 

 inch of a bathing suit. Even at Petro- 

 grad I passed a woman bathing in the 



Neva within a hundred yards of passing 

 tram-cars. 



This leisurely travel gives occasion for 

 philosophising upon many of the vanities 

 of life. Thus, I have observed a greater 

 number of handsome men at Volga land- 

 ings than appear on all the moving-picture 

 screens of America. Most of them were 

 hamals, or coolies, or, as we would say, 

 stevedores, dressed in rags, with a cum- 

 bersome pack-saddle on their backs, upon 

 which they commonly bear loads of two 

 and three hundred pounds. Unlimited 

 material for matinee idols — Persians with 

 regular features, black moustaches, and 

 large, languishing eyes — is living its life 

 of merry jest and cheer along the Volga, 

 carrying burdens which two men would 

 not essay on the docks of San Francisco 

 or Philadelphia. 



They have never heard that "Beauty 

 is its own excuse for being," so they 

 heartily bend their backs to unbelievable 

 burdens. Often I have watched proces- 

 sions of them going up steep gang-planks, 

 each man bearing on his back a packing 

 case — a full-sized, full-weight, packing 

 case, such as two draymen in America 

 move only by turning from side to side. 

 Nothing is carried except on the back. I 

 saw a large drop-forge being borne ashore 

 a few days ago, and while three other 

 men were steadying it, the weight of the 

 machine, which could not have been less 

 than 500 pounds, came on one man's back. 

 These professional burden-bearers of the 

 Near East, Kurds and Persians and Ar- 

 menians, carry heavier loads than even 

 the Korean coolies or the hill-women of 

 the Himalayas. 



SONGS AND HORSE-PEAY TIGHTEN THE 

 TOIEING HOURS 



As they toil they sing. Quips and jests 

 and horse-play are common with these 

 human drays as they race with one an- 

 other up and down gang-planks. Songs 

 of the Volga toilers are known every- 

 where, but I never heard them so well 

 done as one night at a port where a square 

 box, evidently containing a stone of many 

 hundred - weight, was to be dragged 

 aboard. It was placed on a long plank, 

 as if to increase the friction, and this 

 was drawn by ten men, pulling upon one 

 rope. An extra stone, weighing two or 



