Show aleal 1 ar ah rao I 1 2 bf eel xa aft Q r N ap I 1 V tf I 1 Y V ea fac ati N 01 1 12 0 1 A A 7 A prepared by the national geographic society washington D C with the problems of western europe looming large and news of the 0 old id russian empire confined chiefly t to 0 more or less official communications from moscow an important port of the world where for a halt half century international intrigue found a fertile field has dropped almost completely from sight this Is the region of the peoples who have been aptly called dussias Rus sias orphan races the inland near east embracing the trans caucasus and the sections east of the Ca caspian which marked the edge of the glacier like encroachment of the huge slav empire southeastward toward india of all the varied peoples who inhabit that rabbit warren of humanity the caucasus the georgians are most interesting with the armenians Armen ians they form an important outpost against dangers the great mountains that sheltered and many another patriot have shut off the various tribes and races in secluded valleys where they have retained their peculiar customs thus the mountains of Dag hestan have kept that recluse among nations an island in a sea of history A few miles south of the snow ridge of the caucasus there Is a wretched little village whose fame should be worldwide world wide has claims to antiquity that make mahe most towns appear as embryos for its citi citizens asbert that it was founded by one of noahs sons song lie strolled over from mount blount ararat one day after the waters nad had subsided and chose this site because of its excellent drainage below its terraced homes two rivers unite the clear cold dragwa hastening from its birthplace la in the eternal snows snowa of the caucasus to the hot depression of the caspian and the kura sullied and dirty swinging in from the west to mate make its way down the tiflis depression and across the barren steppe between the mountains woun talus of Dag hestan and the highlands of armenia original home of the georgians on a rock cliff opposite this quiet city with the cat fight name the kings ot of georgia erected their first castle but bitt it was in itself that georgia was born the georgians georgian admit their descent from the Accad lans and Sumer Sum lans but there is nothing in appearance or it indicate their descent from anything they seem to have ascended from the plane of other men militant of appearance handsome of countenance chivalrous and lar far with hard toll these lovers of wine t e women and song are as princey princely ly in bearing as the unwashed un ded bed euln before his desert tent part n of them are mountaineers the most picturesque tu tur esque q brigand bri gands that c ever carried an arsenal at their belts the rest are am agricultural people whose contact with the soil does not prevent them from holding their chests up like soldiers in uniform the georgian women conquered the turkish rulers by the palace route but the georgian men are handsomer than their wives and in georgia the male wears the fine plumage plu mace but lie he treats his bis ftfe and daughters well weil and never allows them to act as servants burkeman turkestan Turk Tur keMan estan begins in the west by being a land of desert dust and dreariness and ends in the cast in lovely aud and fertile ferghina Fer ghana its inhabitants insist that in spring there are green spots here and there but in few places Is there enough rain to rive an aa annual house to the lusty dusty trees and shrubs turkestan Turk estan tin th ot of khiva and the emirate of both of which claimed independence after the world war Is three times as aa large os as texas yet it was almost lost in the tsars asars domains it has as many people as new york and massachusetts combined and there are as few russians Kus as aa there are native born eborn americans on manhattan Alan hattan isle its tw two largest rivers empty into a sea about the size of vermont new tew hampshire and massachusetts and do their best to keep it from drying up into a salt pile but they are slowly losing the battle the first point of interest along the railway rai 1 way Is the achal oasis which can easily be distinguished in spring but resembles the desert in late tall fall and winter inter i it is the largest oasis in tur destan ICA miles long and 10 miles ade aide here dwell the mans huge line fine looking men who wear sheepskin hats a foot high the Tur komans owe as much of their chaim to their fantastic headgear as aa does docs a stage beauty when they remove them and reveal the shaved heads and gaudy embroidered skull caps beneath they seem commonplace yet there are many of the older men whose hose majesty of bearing Is not a matter of costume alone their red cotton give them a princely stateliness which the and booted russian with his shirt hopping flopping lacks farther east lies the romantic mud flower pot of which might be any desert city in crumbling walls and composed of mud houses which have almost no windows on the streets A good rain would wash it i away and if left to the ravages of time this lin ancient clent city would soon sink to the level of the dust from which it was constructed but like ilka many another ancient city does not owe its permanence to brick marble or or reinforced concrete and it will probably survive tor for a few mo more to centuries patching up here and rebuilding there never completely old did and never wholly near architecture of what costume does for architecture did for the Re gistan once the showplace show place of central asia still retains much of its lt former beauty for the tinted tiles which encase the imposing facades facade of 0 the mosque schools of shir dar tillah karl and clug beg have retained as much of their oriental brilliance as Is pleasing to the western estern v eye time has touched th the e tiles of with loving fingers leaving all that liaa as beautiful and nothing that was garish baku la 19 more cosmopolitan than fur for Is only cosmopolitan mo in an asiatic sense while baku contains european influence and inhabitants as well from one on end to the other the caucasus Is a vast mine of copper iron tin zinc and other metals in the lovely ala aia zan valley of some of the worlds finest wine Is grown and ohp th north caucasus Is a granary where american agricultural machinery has halt reaped rich harvests but at the east easl end of the caucasus it Is oil that bas ha made modern history and made baku bako it familiar name among business men the world over is well built in spots and Is tremendously wealthy hut but it ill lacka k I 1 the distinction of 0 a city that has grown gracefully it savors of the nou nouveaux veaux riches and me boom town still at a time when it Is already declining as an an oil production center with brozny and maikos rising to wrest its laurels from the he oil port on oa the caspian |