The Human Race Part 11

The former is composed of certain people known under the names of the Teleouts, Sagas, and Kachintz, whose language bears some general affinity to Turkish dialects; these give themselves up to hunting, fishing, and agriculture, and are subject to the Russian Empire.

The Northern group is formed of two people: the _Ostiaks_ and the _Vogouls_ who have retained Finnish dialects.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 50.--RUSSIAN NORTH-SEA PILOT.]

The Vogouls form only a very insignificant population dwelling east of the Oural, and have undergone such mixture with the Turks and Mongolians as to have adopted to a great extent their characteristics.

The Ostiaks who dwell upon the banks of the Obi appear to have preserved in much greater perfection the characteristics of the Finns. They are a people devoted to hunting and fishing, with red hair, very uncivilized, and partly idolatrous.

Madame Eva Felinska, during an exile in Siberia, inspected, as far as possible, the Ostiak huts. These habitations were so foul, and gave forth such putrid miasmas, that, notwithstanding her curiosity, this lady was unable to remain in them more than a minute.

The Ostiaks cover their skins with a layer of rancid fat, over which they wear a reindeer skin. They eat uncooked fish or game, this being their ordinary food. But from time to time they go with large buckets of bark to Berezer, where they collect, and devour as delicacies, the refuse of the kitchens. Fig. 51 represents an Ostiak hut.

The Finns of Eastern Russia comprise the _Baskirs_, the _Teptiars_, and the _Metscheriaks_ of the Southern Oural: three small peoples who speak Turkish dialects mingled with Finnish words, and who exist in very much the same way. The Baskirs are the most numerous; they are engaged in rearing horses and bees. Like the Cossacks they furnish bodies of cavalry to the Russian army.

The Finns of the Volga comprise the _Tchouvachians_, _Tcheremissians_ and _Moadueinites_, who likewise speak dialects interspersed with Turkish words: a short time since they turned their attention to husbandry.

Certain populations scattered through the governments of Perm, Vologda, Orenburg, and Viatka, are the remains of a people of some consideration, formerly independent, civilized, and commercial, whom the Russians subdued, and to a large extent absorbed: these are the _Permians_.

The Finns of the Baltic, or Finns properly so called, have been long under the rule of Teutonic nations, and have generally preserved the characteristics of the family we have described above. Among them are distinguished the _Livonians_, _Esthonians_, _Ischorians_, _Kyrials_, _Ymes_ or _Finlanders_, and _Quaines_, who are respectively the remains of the ancient inhabitants of Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, Finland, and Carelia, where they are now mixed with the Slavonians and Teutons.

During the last century the Quaines pushed forward to the extremity of Norwegian Lapland, of which they at present form the princ.i.p.al population.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 51.--OSTIAK HUT.]

_Bulgarians_, _Servians_, and _Bosniaks_ or inhabitants of _Flavinia_.--In order to describe these, we need do no more than refer to the general facts which have been stated above with reference to the Southern Slavonians. We will merely borrow a few descriptions and ill.u.s.trations from the work of M. George Perrot, a French writer, "_Voyage chez les Slaves du Sud_," published in 1870, and well known on account of the excellent history it contains of his travels in Asia Minor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 52.--ISIGANE OF VOAKOVAR.]

M. George Perrot travelled through Slavonia, Croatia, Bosnia, and the strip of territory recently cleared to serve as a frontier to the Mussulman possessions, and which bears the name of _Military Confines_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 53.--SLAVONIAN PEASANT.]

M. George Perrot first of all gives us some types of the inhabitants of Slavonia, which we shall reproduce here. Figure 54 represents a peasant from the neighbourhood of Essek, a town of Slavonia.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 54.--A PEASANT OF ESSEK.]

While halting at the borough of Vouka, situated a few leagues from Essek, M. George Perrot thus describes the peasants of these parts.

"The majority of the men around us have hair which is blond or of different shades of chestnut. Although much burnt by the sun, they are not generally so dark as the Magyars. Many of the women, who are tall and slender, are really beautiful. Their eyes especially, which are bright and sparkling, and sometimes blue, though more frequently of a dark grey, are charming. The lower portion of their face is less agreeable; the chin is usually prominent, and the lips are rather thick.

"Their costume recalls that met with in the East. The men wear a slouch hat of black felt with the edges turned up, a linen shirt, and full trousers down to the ankle; this in hot weather, when they are in working order, forms the whole dress. One or two loungers, who joined us, were more completely dressed than this.

"They wore large boots of thick leather, and over the shirt a waistcoat of blue cloth, adorned in front, with white metal b.u.t.tons, and behind, with embroidery in yellow or white. On another occasion, when we were on the boat, we saw some men who, in addition to this, wore, over the waistcoat, a short cape or half-cloak, which did not fall lower than the waist, and of which, as a rule, the sleeves were allowed to hang loose.

In winter, they add to these, warm robes of sheepskin or large mantles, which put me in mind of the rough overcoats worn by our waggoners.

"As to the women, they make me think of the Albanians of Attica. This fine September afternoon, they are wearing a long chemise, embroidered with eyelet holes and coloured patterns; this chemise, which leaves the neck very open, would reach to the ground, but in order to permit of freer movement in the fields or at home, it is. .h.i.tched up, and supported by a coloured girdle, wound two or three times round the body; being thus held up, the chemise forms elegant and symmetrical folds, falling in front as low as the ankle, while behind, it extends to about half way down the calf of the leg. Over the head is thrown, in various fashions, a kerchief, which is usually white, but which on festive occasions is embroidered with silver and gold; the ends of this fall down the back, or over the bosom, as may suit the taste of the wearer. When the best dress is donned, a cloth ap.r.o.n, the colour and pattern of which bear a resemblance to the carpets which I have met with in Servia and Bosnia, hangs down to the knees; over the chemise is worn a species of waistcoat without sleeves, and ornamented with gold or silver embroidery. In winter, they guard against the cold by wearing over all a thick overcoat of sheepskin. All the garments worn by the women are worked by their own hands and busy fingers, during the long winter evenings."

[Ill.u.s.tration: 55.--HERDSMEN OF THE MILITARY CONFINES.]

M. George Perrot remained for rather a long period in the provinces now called the _Military Confines_ or _Frontiers_, and he describes the miserable state in which the Slavonian peasantry exist there, where they are obliged to live side by side with wild hordes of Mussulman soldiers or pandours.

Figure 55 shows peasants of these districts returning from pasture.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 56.--WOMAN OF THE MILITARY CONFINES.]

Figure 56 is given by the author as a type of the Slavonian women who inhabit the Military frontiers.

Let us quote a few more of this traveller's impressions.

"What struck me in all the villages of the Confines through which I pa.s.sed, were the guard stations, before which loitered, or slept beside their guns, suspended on the wall, five or six _Granzer_. In summer, they wear merely their trousers and shirt of coa.r.s.e white cloth, and sometimes a sort of brown jacket with red facings, which they also wear for field work. In winter they are seen enveloped in their large hooded cloaks of red cloth; and, thus equipped and armed, guard their flocks on the moors. The state furnishes them, for exercise and service, with guns similar to those used by regiments of the line; but when not on duty, many of them prefer long guns of Albanian manufacture or shape, with swallow-tailed stocks. These guns are transmitted from father to son for several generations. Besides these, they wear in their girdles, one or two pistols, and a kind of dagger with a bone handle inlaid with coral or gla.s.s. In this guise they have rather the appearance of Bosniak _bachibozouks_, than of civilized subjects of His Majesty Francis Joseph, const.i.tutional Emperor of Austria, and King of Hungary. Their uniform, consisting of a blue trouser fitting close to the leg, and a vest of black or white wool, is only produced on field days, or in war.

"But what is it that these sentinels are guarding? This is just what I have never been able to understand. No enemy, from Belgrade to Sissek, was threatening; and these villages are exposed to no more disorder than those of the neighbouring provinces, where they dispense with all this armed exhibition. This, therefore, is another of the useless and erroneous consequences of the military regime: here are hands taken day after day from their labour in the fields, and with no greater advantage than that of acquiring the habits of idleness and drunkenness, usually contracted during the period of barrack-room inactivity."

In Fig. 57 we represent one of the military stations of the Confines, with the guards belonging to it, called Granzers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 57.--GRaNZERS AND THEIR GUARD-HOUSE.]

"All those who have lived for some time among the Granzers, have been struck with their indolent apathy, their careless and continued idleness. For whose sake should they exhaust themselves with work? Under the rules of their community, their wives and children are almost beyond want. As regards themselves, to-morrow they may be torn from their orchards and fields, to encounter death in Italy, or on some other frontier; would it not be madness to expose themselves to privation and fatigue in view of a future upon which they have no means of reckoning? Besides this, does their property, which they can neither render as valuable as they wish, nor sell or bequeath as they may think proper, belong to them sufficiently to give them any pleasure or profit in its improvement? They have maxims which accurately indicate their character; 'Go late to the field and return early, so as to avoid the dew;--if G.o.d does not aid, what is the use of working?' Being accustomed to rely only, as they say, 'Upon G.o.d and the Emperor,' they refuse to recognize the advantages to be gained from any modern invention, better tools, or more advanced methods of cultivation. 'Thus I found it, and thus I will leave it,' is a saying of which they often make use in speaking of their patrimonial domain.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 58.--TSIGANE PRISONER.]

"The only thing which, in spite of all the shackles which enchain and benumb their limbs, would have been able to arouse their minds and impart to them some desire for progress, is instruction. But ignorance is profound in the Military Confines; the regimental schools that exist are very insufficient both in number and quality; in certain districts, especially in Southern Croatia, the villages are so distant from one another, that the children, who do not dwell in the borough where the school is, are unable, without difficulty, to go there at any time.

Besides, why should the government do much as regards instruction? It is clear, that, if the people of the Confines were better taught, they would be less resigned to their hard lot. If it rested entirely with the government, the schoolmaster would be entirely banished from these parts.

"Upon the banks of the Danube and of the Save, where the Confines abut upon the river, which is continually traversed by packet-boats, travellers, and merchandize, the people of the frontiers have nevertheless daily communication with the inhabitants of the neighbouring provinces, and even with strangers. This contact somewhat opens their minds and suggests new ideas; but it is chiefly in Southern Croatia, in the districts called Ba.n.a.l and Karlstadt, that the characteristic features of the _Granzer_ are most frequent and striking.

There commences, south-east of Karlstadt, what is termed the _dry-frontier_; this is no longer a water-course such as the Danube or Save, but a line purely conventional, forming the boundary between Austria and Turkey.

"Surprises and hand to hand combats were recently matters of frequent occurrence upon this frontier, which is more difficult to define and to preserve; at the commencement of this century, certain forts, and other places, such as Zettin, which the Turks a.s.saulted in 1809 and 1813, were still the subject of dispute. Here, moreover, the Frontier territory is no longer from fifteen to twenty kilometres, but from five to six myriametres broad; the people subject to the military regime, here, therefore, form a more h.o.m.ogeneous and compact ma.s.s. Cases of armed brigandage, and a.s.sa.s.sinations, which were very common in the whole of this country, are now becoming rarer; but theft is the crime which requires most frequent punishment. The ancestors of the _Granzers_ lived chiefly by plunder, and such habits are not removed in a day."

M. Perrot made a journey in Bosnia, down the course of the river Save.

He stopped in a borough of this province, of which he speaks thus:--

"After a visit to the Bosniak priest, we wandered about the town, where we made several small purchases with a view to smuggling. I replenished my pouch with a Bosnian tobacco which is by no means so good as that of Macedonia. I purchased a rug such as are worked also by the women of Slavonia and the Military Confines: this is not, like the tissues of Persia and Anatolia, thick and soft, but a rather thin and dry quality of cloth."

Here, also, in designs and in combination of colour, are found the same innate taste, and the same boldness which is met with usually in oriental workmanship. The Slavonian women, in Austria as in Turkey, would be no unworthy rivals of the Turcoman women, who, in the neighbourhood of Smyrna, and from the high meadow-lands of the Taurus down to the low deserts of Persia, execute, beneath their black tents of goat or camel hair, those marvellous pieces of needlework, for which, at the present time, we pay so high a price.

The inferiority of the products of this domestic industry in Turkey in Europe, is attributable to the fact, that, here the women being within comparatively easy distance of large markets, filled with European wares, are enabled to procure there wools suited to their wants, already dyed by industrial processes: but it will be understood that the colours thus obtained, which are produced with a view to cheapness and variety, are far from possessing the fresh and durable tints of those colours, few in number, always the same, and almost all obtained from the animal and vegetable worlds, the secret of which has been handed down in the bazaars of the East, and under the tents of the nomadic tribes, from the time when Nineveh, Babylon, Susa, Tyre, and Sidon, were at the height of their prosperity.

"Our purchases at an end, we returned along the banks of the Save, and, while the ferry was attempting to pa.s.s a herd of bullocks, which had just been purchased in Bosnia, I amused myself by noting the picturesque mixture of costumes and types which the bank, on which were most of the market people, offered.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 59.--BOSNIAK PEASANT.]

"Here was a jobbing blacksmith, who had set up his shop in the open air, hammering and putting in order the pots which were brought to him; or sharpening with his hammer, the points of long iron clamps, used to connect the rafters of houses. His arrangements were most primitive. Two vertical posts supported a horizontal piece, upon which worked the lever, by means of which the bellows were set in motion. In front of the orifice by which the air escaped, a small anvil was fixed in the ground.

Around the proprietor, seated on the ground, a number of tools were scattered. The long shirt and puffed out trousers of the blacksmith appeared white by comparison with his skin, although he had probably worn them for some weeks; his chest and arms were bronze coloured.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 60.--BOSNIAK PEASANT WOMAN.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 61.--BOSNIAK MERCHANT.]