Show 0 11 ae WE PIRATES Est honian butr outrages En kindled wrath of danish kings records show they were regarded as a daring predatory people of the baltic the Esthon ians lans who constitute tour four fifths of the population ot of the russian baltic province of esthonia Esth Est onla bonia which lies between riga kiga and petrograd Petro grad are the subject of a bull bulletin etla issued by the national geographic society from its washington headquarters like the finns to whom they are closely related the Esthon lans laus or estas a race numbering people more than of whom reside in esthonia Esth onla retain many characteristics which bespeak their mongolian origin they are long armed and short legged have brond broad face and low brows are usually beardless and have oblique eyes the die first record of the ectlis in europe reveals them as a daring predatory people of the baltic whose outrages en kindled the wroth wrath of danish mugs kings as early as the twelfth century in 1101 1191 and HOG 1100 canute VI i sent it 11 strong expedition against them and forced a number of the lawless hands bands to accept christianity and allow themselves to be baptized hardly had tho the warlike proselyte rs left the shores however than the inhabitants reverted to barbarism and their heathen practices A quarter of a century later inter waldemar Wald cmar 11 II was more successful ile he subjugated subjugate a the northern northera portion of the land unit and brought the inhabitants under submission to the danish Pini sl crown it wag waa never a willing submission however and for more than years the inhabitants gave their conquerors endless trouble until 1343 waldemir IV decided that they were not worth the bother so he sold his interest in the rebels and in their land to tile the knights of the sord who were vere gradually spreading their net of power northward nor thiard front from teutonic lands for more than years bearg thereafter the lot of the Esthon lans was virtually that of serfdom under theft it german landowners in the sixteenth century both the nobles and the fortified towns of esth onla placed themselves under the protection of the swedish crown but they were forced to acknowledge a new master after peter the greats success ful wars against charles XII NIL for the last thirty years the russian imperial government has been making systematic efforts to abolish the Esth onlan language to which the people have clung tenaciously harsh regulations as to the use of the language in the schools have not served to t wean the people from their language however one characteristic which has served to preserve the esth language through the centuries has bag been the peoples love for poetry and they have rare natural gift tor for versification fi the orthodox greek church of russin russia also has conducted an active program in esthonia Esth onla but according to the latest religious census 00 per cent of the inhabitants are still lutherans Luth erans |