LONELY RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 2 November 1907, Page 3

LONELY RUSSIA.

EXPERIENCES OF MISS HARMCOAT. London, August 0. Miss Constance Barnicuat, lias now come back to Loudon, writes a London correspondent, and i understand that slu; hail a run of bad luck during her ratlwr large undertaking, for she sull'ered from illness which prevented her doing much in the way of mountain-climbing. However, she says she will make another attempt at a future time. Miss Barnicoat was looking forward with eagerness to add some fresh ascents to her list of mountaineering exploits, but she says that illness—the first illness of her life—attacked her provokingly at the foot of the heights and prevented her from doing anything of note. Nevertheless, this New Zealand lady can claim tile distinction of having penetrated into an exceedingly dangerous country, where no Engliswonian had ever set foot liefore. Her companions were two Italian guides. According to her account of her experiences which has appeared in a London paper, the little party, on crossing the frontier froin Vienna, made first for Piatagorsk, a South Russian wateringplace, which the traveller could scarcely dejiounce sufficiently. It is a place of no drainage, no sanitation, no accommodation, ■' atrocious food, filthy streets, and no security of life or property. Robberiis take place nightly, and murders are a pqgiilaf amusement, notwithstanding the prevailing martial law. Leaving the wretched den with thankfulness, Miss Barnicoat [frocceded by "troika" to the mountains—a three days' journey. It would Tiave been quicker to walk, but the troika was necessary for the luggage. During this part of the trip she slept (on ground wet with the constant rain) in a tent in the open, but at the end of three days they reached a Tartar village, and were hospitably entertained at the guesthouse. This is a primitive building which all Tartar villages of any pretensions keep just outside their own boundaries for the entertainment of passing travellers. It has a hard, but clean, bed, and food is provided by the village in generous quantity, though to the unfamiliar palate it is g£poor and unwholesome quality. The tea is good, but the black bread and the Circassion cheese make sad eating. Villagers, however, are extremely offended if the guest fails to do justice to the entertainment, and rather than hurt their hospitable feelings Miss Barnicoat tackled the fare with what courage she could muster.

The friendly attitude of the Tartars she ascribes to the fact that she had no Russians (whom the Tartars hate with deadly hatred) in her party. Nevertheless, the aspect of her hosts was not a little unnerving, for all tlie men carried huge knives, besides revolvers and sundry other weapons, which conspicuously. All this time the weather had been very bad, rain and storm persisting day and night; and after Miss Barnicoat hail made only one ascent—of a little-known mountain—she was struck down by i chill, and imprisoned in her tent for several days As it would have taken eight days to fetch a doctor, and the only other human beings for miles were two or three Tartar hunters, the sufferer had to manage with the nursing of her two Italian guides, of whose devotion and trustworthiness she speaks highly. They were two brothers, named Pession, mcmliers of a famous guide family, "I consider Italian guides essential for the Caucasus," remarked Miss Barnicoat. "French guides are, of course, very good, buT where they cannot get wine, and the food is as bad as it is in the Caucasus, they are not nearly so tractable as the Italians.

Miss Barnicoat sufficiently recovered to be able to push on to Mount Elbruz, the highest summit, whose double peaks reach an altitude of over 18,000 ft, but her strength was still inadequate to the task of climbing, and she had to be content with letting the guides make tile ascent.

In the circumstances she thought it unwiso to cross the mountains, for the best-known of the passes is infested with murderous brigands; and so the party turned back to Piatigorsk, Of the scenery of the Caucasus the terrible weather prevented the traveller from judging in any detail, but in the unfavorable conditions she reports that the mountains are wonderfully beautiful, once the very wearisome approaches thereto are overcome.

Miss Barnicoat intends to go again, for she learns that the illness which invariably attacks the traveller on the first visit seldom recurs at the second attempt. She gained much instruction as to the amazing state of lawlessness and backwardness prevailing in Southern Russia. All foreigners agree that the Russian in that part of the Empire has 110 more self-governing capacity than a child.

On tile day that.the constitution was proclaimed in one town, a soldier exclaimed "Wo are free now! I will go and shoot my ollicer!"—which he did. It was his conception of liberty, and will stand as a type of the peasant's reasoning in Southern Russia. Competent judges say that the country will be unsafe for Europeans for at least another eight or ten years. Food, besides being very bad, is very deal-; and worse, it would seem, are the table manners of even the "best people." Hiss Barnicoat vividly described the Russian officers at the restaurants gnawing chicken bones like a larger sort of dog. Then the quantity of "palmgreasing" necessary in all walks of Jif-j is a thing to despair over. Twice, on the South Russian "express" (so-called because it stops a long time at every station), Miss Barnicoat had to pay "extras" for "the speed of the train!' 1 and without noticeable acceleration of speed. It is the much cheaper way there to travel without a ticket; nobody checks you as you enter the train, and by bribing the conductor with something less than the price of the ticket, justice is satisfied. Men in South Russia have been known to hold "seasons" for years and years, having "made it right" periodically with the inspectors. Altogether it is a comic country, which Jfi*s Barnicoat cannot rt)commfcnd to pleasure-seekers.