Show fi o J t j fo f v o Ne If East Easty st O 1 b y ly c A. A YA j Yf i R ri t I c a I 3 1 fr w t i A Prepared by the National Geographic Society Washington D D. D C. C With the problems o of western Europe Europe Eu Eu- rope looming large and news of the time theold theold old Russian empire confined chiefly to more or less official communications from Moscow an important port of the world where for a half halt century century century cen cen- tury international Intrigue found a fertile field has dropped almo almost t completely com coin from sight This is the region of ot the peoples who have hn been aptly called orphan races the races the Inland In in- land laud Near Xeal East embracing the Trans Trans- caucasus and the sections east of the Caspian which marked the edge of the like glacier encroachment of the huge Slav Slay empire southeastward toward toward toward to to- ward India Of all the varied peoples who Inhabit inhabit In in- habit that rabbit warren of humanity the Caucasus the time Georgians are most most- Interesting With the thc Armenians the they form lorm an nn important outpost against dangers The Time great at mountaIns mountains mountains moun moun- that sheltered l and man many another patriot have ha shut off the thearl vanous various van vari arlous ous tribes and races in secluded valleys val val- valleys alle le leys s 's where they have I VC retained their peculiar customs Thus the time mountains of have hn kept that recluse among nations an Island in a sea of history A few miles south of the snow ridge of the time Caucasus there is a wretched little tIe village whose fame should he be world has claims to antiquity that make most towns appear appear ap ap- ap pear as embr embryos os for Its citizens assert assert as as- sert that it was ti-as founded by one of Noahs Noah's sons who sti strolled oiled on over c from Mount Ararat one day after the time waters toad ad subsided td and chose this site because because because be be- cause of Its excellent drainage Below Delow Its terraced homes two rivers unite the clear clem cold hastening has hns hastening from its Its birthplace In the eternal snows of time tile Caucasus to the hot depression of the Caspian and the Kufa Kurn sullied and dirty swinging in from the west to make Its way down the depression and across the time barren steppe between between between be be- tween the time mountains of and the highlands of Armenia Original Home of the Georgians On a rock cUff cliff opposite this quiet city with the fight cat name the kings of ot Georgia erected their first castle castie but it was in Itself that Georgia was born The Georgians admit ad all- nut mit their descent from the Arcadians and but laut there is as nothing in their appearance or per l tI indicate their descent from anything Thc They seem to have ascended from the time plane of other men Militant of or appearance handsome some of oC countenance chivalrous and unfamiliar lur lar with hard hurd toll toil these lovers of wine women and song are as princely princey prince prince- y ly in 11 beating bearing as the unwashed Bedouin Bedouin Bed nell before his Ills desert tent Part fart of them are mountaineers the mountaineers the most picturesque picturesque picturesque pic pic- brigands that ever carried an nn ar arsenal enal at their belts The rest are arell ll agricultural people whose contact with the time soil does docs not prevent pre them from frown holding their chests up like soldiers soldiers sol sol- diers in uniform Time The Georgian women omen conquered the Turkish rulers b by the palace route hut hum the tile Georgian men are handsomer their wives and nd in n Georgia the time male hale wears the fire fine 1 plumage lumn e. e But he lie treats his ifs wife and daughters well veil and never allows s them to act as ns servants Turkestan begins In the west by being a n land Janel of desert dust and dreariness find and ends end in the east in lovely lo and fertile Its inhabitants in habitants insist that In spring Ul there re lire ate green spots here bore and there but butIn butIn butIn In few tew places Is there thero enough rain ram to give an on annual house house cleaning to tax tva 3 trees and anal shrubs Turkestan including the of Khiva and the time Emirate of both of which claimed Independence after the World war is three times as large as ns Texas yet ct It was almost lost lostin in the time Tsars Tsar's domains It has as many people as ns New York and anel Massachusetts Massachusetts combined and anal there are as few Russians as os there are native born bora Americans on Manhattan Isle Its two largest rivers empty into a sea about aboul the size e of Vermont New Hampshire and Massachusetts and do their best to keep It from dr drying up Into a salt pile but the they are slowly losing the battle The first point of ot interest along the railway Is the oasis which can cnn easily be distinguished in III spring but resembles the desert In late fall and winter It is ts the largest oasis In Turkestan Turkestan Tur Tur- ICO miles long and 10 miles wide Here dwell the mans mans huge huge fine looking fine men who wear sheepskin hats a foot high The owe as ns much of their charm to their fantastic headgear us as does a stage beauty When they remove 10 re- move inore them and reveal the shaved heads and gaudy embroidered skull skullcaps skullcaps caps ealS beneath thc they seem seven yet et there are man many of ot the older men whose majesty of hearing bearing is not a matter of costume alone Their red cotton give e them a princely stateliness which the and booted hooted Russian with his shirt flopping lacks Farther e cast ast lies the romantic mud flower pot of which might be e any desert city In crumbling crumbling crumbling crum crum- bling walls and composed of mud laud houses which have e almost no windows on the streets A good rain would wa h It t awa away and If left Jert to the ravages ravages ravages ages of time this ancient city would soon sink to the level of the dust from which it was constructed But nut Bok nok lara hara m like c many another ancient city does not owe its permanence to brick marble or 01 reinforced concrete and it will probably survive io for a few more centuries patching up here and rebuilding Ie re building there never ne completely old find and never wholly new Architecture of What hat costume does for architecture did for The once the time show place of Central Cen Cen- Central Asia still retains much of ot Its former beauty for the tinted tiles which encase the Imposing facades i of the time mosque schools of ot Dar Shir-Dar Tillah Karl Carl and Beg neg have lUl retained re re- as ns much of their Oriental brilliance brilliance brilli brilli- ance as us Is pleasing to the western eye ee Time has hns touched the tiles of or Samar Samar- kand with loving fingers leaving all aU that was beautiful and nothing that was garish garish- Balm Baku Is Js more c cosmopolitan than for is only cosmopolitan cosmopolitan cos coso In an Asiatic sense while Baku contains European Influences and Inhabitants as ns well From one one- end to the other the Caucasus is a aast avast avast vast ast mine of copper capper Iron tin zinc and other metals In the lovely lo Alazan Alazan Ala Ala- zan Valley of some of the worlds world's finest wine Is grown and th North Caucasus Is s a granary where American agricultural machinery ha has reaped rich harvests but at the time east enst eastend eastend end of ot the Caucasus it Is oil that has made modern history and made a u familiar name among business men menthe menthe menthe the world over Baku Is well welt built In spots and Is tremendously wealthy but It leeks Jack the distinction of or a city that has hns grown gracefully It savors ors of the non riches and time tile boom town still at a time when n It is already I declining as os an nn production oil center I with and rising to Wl lest st Its laurels from to oil port porton I on in tb the Caspian |