THE ROMANTIC CAUCASUS

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 230, 28 September 1929, Page 17 (Supplement)

THE ROMANTIC CAUCASUS

SOVIET'S TROUBLESOME REPUBLICS. KALMUCKS AND 'LOOHINVARS' THE PUZZLE OP TIFLIS. The most important of the transCaucasian republics, Georgia, is interestingin that its establishment amounts to the resurrection of the ancient independent Kingdom of Georgia, whose foundation dates back to the early centuries of the Christian era, but which was later brought into subjection, first to the Persians, then to the Turks, and finally to the Russians, states Professor A. F. B. Clark, who recently journeyed through the Caucasus. When one's train leaves Stallingrad, on the Lower Volga, to cut across this steppes towards. the Black Sea, one is not yet within the boundaries of the Caucasus region; but one is already travelling on/the Northern Caucasian Railway, and there is a smell of Asia in the air. The steppes have now taken on the appearance of a veritable desert; not a tree or shrub is to be seen, and presently strange, moving objects are outlined on the horizon, which one is finally compelled to admit are camels. This land is another of the autonomous republics, and is inhabited by the Kalmucks, a people of Mongolian origin who still live a nomadic life and are mainly engaged in cattle-raising. They are mostly of the Buddhist faith, and pilgrimages occasionally go forth still from this corner of Europe to the Dalai Lama at Tibet. On the shore of the Volga, between Stallingrad and Astrakhan, there stands, I am told, a Kalmuck temple, built more than a hundred years ago, and containing ancient sacred objects brought by the Kalmucks from Tibet. And this is a Soviet republic! Karl Marx and the Dalai Lama hand in hand! The Outermost Rim of Civilisation. This journey along the outermost rim of European civilisation was interesting, but far less comfortable than our previous railway trips to Russia. At dawn we had to change at Tikhoryetskaya to the line from Rostov to Baku. We were now well into the northern Caucasus. The Kalmuck camels had disappeared. The country was often of the same general bare character, but the villages were larger and sheltered by beautiful, large acacia trees. Some grain was grown. Caucasian types became more and more frequent at the stations—tall warlike looking men wearing Astrakhan caps and girdles full of. daggers in exquisitely-wrought sheaths. The attitude of Russians towards Caucasians is curious to observe. The Caucasians—though not far removed as a people from primitive conditions —became quickly Westernised when they came down from their mountain fastnesses; they are extremely clever and resourceful, and, sjncfc their absorption into the Russian empire, they have often attained high positions in Russian

public life; several of the leaders of Soviet Russia, including Stalin and Karakbau, are Caucasians. We asked why the Soviet Government had not "forbidden the Caucasians to carry arras on their persons. The reply was that war would be necessary to effect such a reform, as Caucasians clung to no ancient practice more tenaciously than to'the habit of carrying personal arms. But it was maintained that the Soviets had greatly improved the state of public safety and respect for law in the Caucasus; for example, they had almost succeeded in getting the Caucasians to abandon the "Young Lochinvar method of obtaining their bridee (a wife who was not abducted by force from under the parental roof, even though the parents were willing to cede her peacefully, had never been considered properly won in the Caucasus). The Soviet envoys sent to show the mountaineers the errors of their ways wore all assassinated, but the Government persisted, with final success. Disappointment and Surprise. . Tiflis is both a disappointment and a surprise. Here the Russian , element, which preponderates in the towns of the Northern Caucasus, is in a marked minority, and most of the people you see in the streets are Georgians. I know too little of the recent history of Georgia.to account for the curious physiognomy of Tiflis. Its apparent prosperity may be illusory. Puzzled by the luxuri6us objects of the feminine toilette for sale at a perfume shop, one of bur party asked the girl behind the counter how if Russia was p6or people could afford such things. "We are poor," replied the young lady; "but we Georgian women must have our perfumes. I myself would'rather go hungry for days than do without them." : This may explain more than Georgian ■phenomena; from other observers I heard that the improvement in dress noticeable in Russia generally within the last couple of years may not indicate a rise in prosperity, but may be acquired at the cost of stinted nourishment.