Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

objects on the earth, and could have looked upon us during the late civil war, and have seen, dimly through the glass, the movements of immense bodies of men, he would have said, "This nation has an immense population; there is a tremendous outpouring of the people; this nation is in a state of extraordinary prosperity." Precisely so the man's sensorial, the point where the nerves of sense concentrate, recognizes, in this desperate effort of the vital organs to get rid of an enemy, a sense of strength and exhilaration in place of the languor and feebleness he felt just before. But in a little while, when Nature has, by all her efforts, disposed of this poison, the man sinks down to his former condition, and a great deal below it. Nature has made her superior struggle; she has got rid of the poison; but she has tired herself in the effort. The next time Nature makes the same struggle, but she has not the same strength. The second glass does not make the man feel so good. The more a man drinks, the more he has to drink to attain a certain condition. He has to take more and more. Nature turns constantly to rid herself of it, and by-and-by becomes tired out and gives it up. There are men who are not very perceptibly affected by liquor. It does not make them drunk. It does not hurt them, they say. But it does hurt them. I never knew a man who drank a good deal without becoming intoxicated, whom liquor did not kill fast. And for physiological reasons. If a man will take poison, it is better to get rid of it than to keep it in the system. Drunkenness is one of God's infinite mercies, sent to help poor, mistaken, human beings to get rid of the consequences of their iniquity.

What we should do depends largely upon what we are able to do. It is not easy to fly in the face of public opinion. Laws will, after all, be merely a reflection of the moral condition of the people. They will always be a little better, but not much better. If you should say that no one in the country should do a bad thing, it would be useless, because human nature, in the development to which we have reached, would not sustain such a law. Public sentiment is advancing. It does not allow men to make a parade of vices which were once tolerated. The time will come when men will not be licensed to sell alcoholic liquors, when grogshops will be where gambling-houses are now, out of sight.-HORACE GREELEY in Herald of Health.

[Yes, public sentiment is advancing. Common schools, Sunday-schools, and other schools are elevating the moral standard of society, and the time is near when, in this country, drunkenness will be regarded with the disgust it deserves. To day, the nations of the earth are suffering from the poisons of alcohol, opium, and tobacco. But, thank God, the better portion-the women-are tolerably free from the disease. It is in them and in the right training of the rising generation that we hope. Let us try to save the children from the poisons.-ED.

A. P. J.]

AMONG THE ORANGE GROVES. FLORIDA AS A WINTER RESORT AND AS A HOME.

In addition to its large and increasing influx of permanent settlers, Florida is every winter attracting thousands of health and pleasure seekers from the North, and a great deal of interest attaches to whatever relates to this wonderful semi-tropical region.

Having spent the last winter and the larger portion of the summer here, and fully decided to make it my future home, I will give the reader some facts, mostly the results of my own personal observation and experience, in relation to its climate, soil, and productions. I will leave out of view in this sketch the northern tier of counties bordering on Georgia and Alabama, which partake of the climate and other characteristics of those States, and need not be described here.

Passing south of the thirtieth parallel of latitude, we enter the true Floridian zone. Here the climate assumes an almost tropical character, and the seasons differ radically from those of every other portion of the Union. A tradewind, an alternate land and sea breeze, a dry and a wet season, and great uniformity of temperature throughout the year, are its prominent characteristics. The Gulf Stream, here flowing close to the coast, brings us the warmth of equatorial seas and the perpetual verdure and bloom of the tropics.

The changes of the seasons, as recognized farther north, are here scarcely perceptible. Even in mid-winter one sees around him only verdure and flowers. Most of the trees are in full leaf; the grass is green and fresh; the fragrant yellow jasmine hangs its wreaths of golden bloom overhead; the houstonia and the violet nestle everywhere underfoot; and a thousand birds warble in the myrtle thickets or among the shining leaves of the live oak and the magnolia.

In fact, of winter, properly speaking, there is none south of Jacksonville. What is called by that name closely resembles that brief season of autumnal relenting known at the North as Indian summer, except that the skies are clearer and bluer. The atmosphere is dry and elastic; very little rain falls; and cloudless days are often continuous for weeks.

The average temperature of January last, on the banks of the St. John's River a few miles south of Jacksonville, was about 70°. February was a little cooler, with some frost and one or two chilly northeast storms. We had also some rough winds from the northwest, which made an overcoat comfortable during a portion of the day. Such weather, however, was the exception, and fine balmy days the rule. Wild flowers could be gathered at any time in the "pine openings," and the songsters of the grove did not forsake us. I have forgotten the average temperature of this month, but think it was about 62°.

One might suppose that where there is no winter, there can properly be no spring; but even in Florida this season brings with it softer airs, and breathes new life into the half-sleep

ing vegetation of field and forest. The deciduous trees-the hickory, the maple, the sweet gum, the cypress, and the black jack-put on their new robes of fresh verdure, contrasting finely with the darker green of the pine, the live oak, the magnolia, and the orange; and flowers of every hue make gay both open field and shady grove.

The true summer is as brief in Florida as farther north. The continuation of the highest temperature, which is less perceptible here than in the Carolinas or Georgia, is only during one fourth of the year. The remaining three fourths, namely, from September to June, is unlike anything known in northern climates, but resembles spring more than autumn or winter, and the weather during nearly the whole time is incomparably delightful, the only exception being the rough and chilly winds which occasionally blow from the northwest. These are, I presume, the "northers" of Texas greatly modified and softened by their overland journey southeastward.

The comparative coolness of the summer in Florida, contrary to the commonly received notion, is as marked a characteristic as the mildness of the winter. The thermometer ranges higher in New York or Boston than at St. Augustine or Tampa. The mean average temperature of last June-and June is the hottest month of the year in the South-was 80°; and at New Smyrna, on the Atlantic coast, near the twenty-ninth parallel of latitude, the average temperature of the summer is 820, and of the whole year 720. The nights are invariably cool in all parts of the State.

The comparative coolness of the summer in Florida, especially on the peninsula, is owing, in a great measure, to its position between two seas. From the east it is fanned by the cool and bracing breezes of the Atlantic, and from the west by the balmier but refreshing airs of the Gulf of Mexico, both of which are distinctly felt at the center of the State, across which they seem to chase each other back and forth.

The rainy season commences about the 1st of July, and continues till the middle of September, during which time it rains more or less nearly every day, but seldom all day. The showers generally commence about one o'clock P.M., and are entirely over before six o'clock. They are accompanied by heavy thunder and the most vivid lightning. The nights and mornings during this season are clear and cool. The remainder of the year, though called the dry season, is not without a moderate quantity of rain. In the latitude of Jacksonville, and farther north, the rainy season is irregular, the tropical influences which cause it being less strongly felt there than farther south.

In reference to the healthfulness of Florida in summer, differences of opinion exist. Careful observation and inquiry lead me to the conclusion, however, that no State in the Union is more healthful. There are unhealthful localities, as in every other extensive region, and, as in all new countries, the opening of the forest and the breaking up of the soil en

gender more or less malaria and give rise, in constitutions duly prepared, by a bad diet and unhealthful habits generally, for the germination of the seeds of disease, to bilious and remittent fevers; but these, for reasons which I can not now go out of my way to explain, are of the mildest type, and rarely prove fatal. With the exception of these, scarcely any disease exists. The healthfulness of the climate in winter is proverbial.

Some people have an idea that Florida is one great swamp, with here and there a patch of dry land arising, island-like, out of it. Others,

on the contrary, picture it as a region of sandhills and "pine-barrens; while the fact is, it is one of the most beautiful and fertile of all the Southern States, and has less swamp land than almost any other, either North or South.

The lands of Florida are mainly of three kinds Pine lands, Hammock lands, and Swamp lands. The pine lands are variable in quality, some tracts being very rich and others very poor; but, in the main, they are light, sandy, and only moderately fertile. The forest growth (long leaved pine) is very sparse, and the ground is covered with a luxuriant crop of grass, affording excellent and never-failing pasturage; for the grass of Florida is never killed by winter frosts or seared by summer drouth.

Hammock lands are of two kinds, high and low. High hammocks are formed of fine vegetable mold mixed with a sandy loam and resting on a subsoil of clay, marl, or limestone. They are covered with a heavy growth of live oak, hickory, water oak, sweet gum, magnolia, and other hard-wood trees, and are for general purposes the most desirable lands in Florida, producing all the crops of the country in great abundance and with comparatively little labor. The low hammocks are lower and moister, have a soil of greater tenacity than the high hammocks, and are still more fertile; but some of them require draining, and all are more difficult to clear and break up, which renders them less desirable for a person of moderate capital. Their forest growth is similar to that of the high hammocks, but heavier.

The hammock lands are generally found in small tracts interspersed among the pine lands, and both must generally be bought together. In some parts of the State, however, as for instance in Alachua, Marion, and Hernando counties, they exist in larger bodies.

The swamp lands are intrinsically the most valuable of all, but as they require a heavy outlay of capital in clearing and draining, they are in little demand. Their fertility is unsurpassed if not unequaled, and once thoroughly prepared they produce immense crops. Four hogsheads of sugar to the acre, in one instance at least, has been produced on this kind of land (near New Smyrna), while the best lands in Louisiana produce scarcely more than one.

No other State in the Union is susceptible of so great a variety of vegetable productions as Florida. Corn, rye, oats, Irish potatoes, beans, peas, cabbages, turnips-in short, all the common crops of the North-grow here to per

fection side by side with the sugar-cane, rice, Sea Island cotton, arrow root, cassava, sweet potatoes, indigo, Sisal hemp, benne, and many other tropical and semi-tropical plants. Of fruits, we have the peach, the plum, the persimmon, the pawpaw, the fig, the olive, the guava, the pomegranate, the orange, the lemon, the lime, the banana, and, in the southern portion of the State, the pine-apple and cocoa-nut.

Florida now offers a fine field for Northern enterprise. Men with small means, if they possess pluck, energy, and perseverance, can perhaps do better here than anywhere else. Land is cheap, the climate favorable, there are no long winters to provide for, and the necessaries of life are easily produced. On the St. John's River, and especially in the neighborhood of Jacksonville, market gardening is becoming a leading pursuit, the produce being shipped to New York. Fruit growing-peaches, grapes, and oranges-will pay largely, particularly the last named.

Sugar-cane, to which the climate is much better adapted than that of Louisiana, is on the whole the safest if not the most profitable crop, where suitable land can be obtained. It matures here as perfectly as in Cuba, and a plantation requires renewing only once in ten or twelve years, whereas in Louisiana the plant is necessarily treated as an annual. Two hogsheads of sugar to the acre is not an uncommon yield, and this may be greatly increased by manuring and thorough cultivation.

But there are drawbacks here as well as elsewhere, among which are: the lack of the social and educational advantages existing in the older States.; the scarcity and untrustworthy character of labor; the high prices of nearly everything except land and lumber, which the new settler is necessitated to buy; and the large admixture of the negro element in the population, and the consequent insecurity of all movable property. This is the most serious obstacle the settler encounters, and is sometimes truly discouraging. Nothing is safe from the thieving propensities of the Freedmen, unless it can be locked up or carefully watched and guarded. I make this statement with regret, but my obligations to those who may look to this article for a trustworthy statement of the disadvantages as well as the advantages of Florida seems to require it. The re-establishment of civil government, and the enforcement of the laws which should follow, will, it is hoped, partially remedy this evil, as well as many others.

The other drawbacks I have mentioned are temporary in their character, and will of course gradually disappear.

Persons going to Florida to look for a farm with the purpose of settling on it at once, can not go too soon after the 1st of October. Preparations for the next season's crops should be commenced in the fall. Families should take a good supply of clothing suitable for the climate, and the necessary furniture and farming implements. Such provisions as will not spoil by keeping may also profitably be purchased at the North. These last remarks may

not apply, however, to persons going from the West by a long overland route, where the expense of transportation would be too great.

Those having merely pleasure in view can of course take their own time, but they will find the autumn a delightful season for excursions, hunting, fishing, etc. Game and fish, and especially the latter, are abundant and excellent everywhere.

Invalids should not delay till too late in the season if they desire to get the full benefit of the climate. Go early in the fall-that is, soon after the 1st of October, if you can. The transition will not then be so great from the coolness of the North to the warmth of the South.

Formerly St. Augustine was almost the only resort of invalids in Florida. The "Ancient City" is still much frequented, but the St. John's country from Jacksonville southward is quite as favorable to health in the winter, and has far greater attractions. It is now getting its full share of visitors. It is decidedly the region for the sportsman, whom a fine steamer will take up the magnificent St. John's River into the depths of the tropical wilderness, where game and fish are so plentiful that the most truthful tales of hunting and fishing there have the air of fables.

Jacksonville, on the St. John's, is the common point of departure for all parts of the State. The fare from New York by steamer, at present, is $30; by rail a little more, and by sailing vessel much less. The emigrant will do well to look about in the neighborhood of Jacksonville, and consider carefully the advantages and disadvantages of that locality before deciding upon the place for a home. Unimproved land can be had within five miles of town at from $1 25 to $20 per

acre.

The latter price is for land bordering on the river. One mile from the river, equally good land can be bought for $5 per acre, and perhaps for less. Improved places, with good dwellings, inclosed fields, orange groves, etc., are held at comparatively high figures. Some beautiful places of this sort may be found on the St. John's River.

Jacksonville itself is a beautiful little city of some 6,000 inhabitants, literally embowered in orange groves and evergreen oaks; and, strange to say-it being a Southern city, and the present being after-the-war"-times-is thriving in business and growing rapidly in extent and population. Northern capital, energy, and enterprise tell the story. A majority of the people, both in the town and in the neighboring country, are from the North and West. We have steamers twice or three times a week between this place and Savannah and Charleston, with the promise of direct steam communication with New York at an early day. With its outlook upon one of the finest rivers in the world-here from one to two miles wide—its delicious climate, and its unsurpassed commercial advantages, the "City of Oaks" is destined to become an important and populous place. Its orange groves, when

loaded with fruit, present a magnificent appearance, some of the trees being perfect pyramids of green and gold.

The hotels of Jacksonville are plain, unpretending houses; but the traveler may count upon a plenty to eat, and a disposition on the part of their proprietors to do the best they can to promote his comfort.

I intended to say something of orange culture-its pleasures and profits-but I have already overrun the space I had allotted to myself and must close, hoping that I have at least imparted some useful information in regard to an interesting and little known region of country. D. H. JACQUES. GLEN EVERGREEN (Jacksonville P. O.), FLA.

HOW TO TRAVEL,

BY RAIL, RIVER, OR SEA.

"EXPERIENCE is a good teacher." One who would learn the most of a country through which he is to pass, should first read the best guide-books, study the maps, and thus obtain a general outline. Then, when on the ground, personal observation completes the work. A stupid boor may go around the world, by land and sea, and really know very little more than when he started. Why? Because he is ignorant. But if educated, he sees its geology, botany, natural history, and ethnology, and he can describe what he sees. A mere vacant looker takes in nothing but vapor and space. Suppose, for example, a stranger wishes to "see the sights" on our noble Hudson, alias the North River. If he reads the guide and examines the map he is prepared to appreciate its historical interests, which lie thick along its shores, from Staten Island to Troy. Without these aids he will, of course, see stretched out before him some of the most beautiful and sublime scenery in North America. But he may have, at the same time, authentic descriptions of all the celebrated places-such as Forts Washington and Lee, the Palisades, Spuyten Duyvel, Yonkers, Hastings, Tarrytown, Irvington, Dobbs' Ferry, Piermont, Nyack, Sing Sing, Peekskill, West Point, St. Anthony's Nose, Newburg, Poughkeepsie, Catskill, Hudson, Greenbush, and Albany-places familiar enough to Americans, but only heard of by foreigners. Let the same course be pursued in traveling by rail, and one may form a tolerable judgment of the country through which he passes.

LUGGAGE.-We prefer this term to that of baggage. Most persons carry too much. It is a great care and a greater incumbrance. Here experience comes in to warn the weak

cnes.

Plan your trip. Fix on the time it will take. Pack only necessary garments. Look to comfort rather than to show. Travel by rail or river by day, when you can-by night, when you must.

EATING, DRINKING, STUFFING.-Like children without judgment, for the want of something to do, many who travel cat early, much, often, and stuff all the time. The stomach,

unused to this abuse, gives up in despair, and constipation, dyspepsia, headache, nervousness, and sleeplessness are the penalties for such transgressions. Reader, did you ever ride in a smoking car? Did you ever notice the puddles of tobacco spittle all along between the seats? These are evidences of our taste, culture, refinement, and high civilization! Ladies are said-now and then oneto enjoy the rich perfumes of the fragrant weed, and thus encourage their lovers or husbands to do their best at smoking and spitting. To us, the thing is an unmitigated nuisance.

POLITENESS.-A single ticket is construed, by selfish persons, to entitle the holder to a double seat, and on taking possession he proceeds to store his freight, consisting of cane, umbrella, carpet bag, over-coat, shawls, straps, and other rigging. He then seats himself in the middle, and is soon wrapped in the arms of Morpheus, or is absorbed in the last sensation novel. Delicate ladies may pass and repass in search of a seat, but our fellow-traveler, or traveling fellow, neither sees nor hears them, till the gruff conductor roars out, “Make room there for this lady!" Then, with a groan and a grunt, the “gentleman" puts his things under his seat and grudgingly moves along.

THE WINDOWs.-Dust, soot, sparks, bad air, wind, or rain are inseparable from railway travel. And no two are agreed as to how we may best avoid the nuisances. One must have the windows open or he suffocates; another must have them shut, or the cinders will put out his eyes; one is gouty, and one is phthisicky; one is corpulent and hot, another is thin and cold. These are some of the infelicities which will, we may hope, be got rid of as we progress in railway improvements. Already splendid and spacious cars are being constructed for the great Pacific Railway, with state-rooms, saloons, kitchens, sleeping berths, and all the necessaries to make a passage as pleasant and as comfortable as a sea voyage in a first-class steamer. Those roads and lines which provide the best accommodations-like the best hotels-will get the most patronage, and the most fame and gratitude.

AT SEA.-Here is a place for the largest display of agreeableness. If one is benevolently disposed, and sociable withal, he will become popular with all on board. Music, recitations, speeches, lectures, gymnastic exercises, and indeed anything entertaining, may be indulged in, by passengers and crew, when on the bounding sea. One soon tires of state-room solitude, and remains in the cabin only during meal times and stormy weather. He is out on deck watching the waves, the clouds, the ships when passing, the seagulls when on the coast, porpoises and whales, icebergs, and other objects. If sensible, the passenger will make the acquaintance of old seamen, and learn from them about life at sea. He must keep his conceit and vanity to himself. Modesty and real worth will be seen and appre

ciated. Keep out of the way of the waiters and sailors. Observe all the rules of the ship, and make no more trouble than is absolutely necessary. If possessed of the right spirit, good motives, good habits, with a hopeful, courageous, trusting nature, one may travel to the ends of the earth without accident, sickness, or loss. But if one wishes to be a nuisance and it comes natural to some-he may easily make himself such, and meet with mishaps and losses on all sides. He who would make a successful voyage or tour must "conform" and bear in mind that tritest of sayings, "When among Romans, do as Romans do."

[blocks in formation]

BASE-BALL has fallen. Yes, the "national game" has become degraded. It is a pity that our young men can not have a game of an elevated, manly, heroic character! It is a pity that just now, when the good results of base-ball play are beginning to show themselves in the vigorous health and muscular frames of many of its promoters, that it should be made a subject for gambling. At certain match games which were played recently, as we are informed by the daily papers, "large amounts of money changed hands," among the spectators. A noted New York club is said to have "sold" the result of a match by "permitting" their adversaries to outscore them, and that in consequence a great many sanguine betters on the superiority of the New York club lost heavily, having offered large odds. Such nefarious dealings can not but excite the indignation of the honest and the grief of the good. At the race-course, in the "sample room," in the bagnio, where there are a thousand low and groveling incentives to immorality, we expect to find betting, gaming, or swindling; but on the base-ball ground, where muscle meets muscle in friendly controversy, and all the hard knocks are given or intended to be given the senseless, swooping ball, and where the noblest of our youth may engage for healthful pastime-for a pastime it should be always made, and not severe labor, as in too many instances-we expect to find only good-humored emulation among the players, and friendly sympathy among the lookers-on, with nothing of a "fancy" character. If a game like base-ball can not be maintained without impure, coarse, and vicious adjuncts, better that it be at once dropped from the list of social pastimes, lest too many of our youth, from being lovers of healthful muscular activity, become involved in the meshes of vice and moral degradation. "Barked" shins and broken fingers may be easily mended, but a disfigured reputation may never be entirely repaired. Once more, abandon the bat, boys, if you can not keep it pure.

THE surest road to health, say what they will,
Is never to suppose we shall be ill;
Most of those evils we poor mortals know,
From doctors and imagination flow.

THE TURKOMAN TRIBES.

"GOD created Turkestan and its inhabitants in his wrath," said a native of Central Asia to Arminius Vambéry, the celebrated Hungarian Orientalist; "for as long as the bitter, saline taste of their springs exist, so long will the heart of the Turkoman be full of anger and malice."

This well describes the character of those nomadic tribes inhabiting the portion of Central Asia extending southward from the Caspian Sea to Afghanistan, and from the borders of Persia to Bokhara in the east, whose chief occupation is to descend suddenly, like the sandstorm of their own deserts, upon the cultivated lands of their neighbors, or to attack and plunder the richly-laden caravans as they move across their territory. Attention has lately been directed toward these peculiar people by the researches of Vambéry among them while disguised as a pilgrim dervish, and what he furnishes is, in fact, the only reliable modern source of inforImation that we have upon the subject. Nearly every traveler who had previously ventured into their territory had been mercilessly slaughtered, and Vambéry adopted the only method that could possibly have proved successful.

The Turkoman has played a very important part in Central Asiatic history, and, indeed, in European civilization. He has furnished the foundation upon which the present Turkish empire is built. He forms the Turko-Tartaric branch of the great Turanian race, who, ever since their advent in history, have been occupied in bloody expeditions and terrible conquests. His nature has not changed for a thousand years; he is still the tented barbarian, content to live upon the spoils wrested from his more industrious neighbors; still, in a great measure, "" a wild man, his hand is against every man, and consequently every man's hand is against him." His pas

time has always been war; his fierce animal nature has never been curbed; he may have been conquered, but civilization has made no impression upon him. He is still content to look with his piercing eyes and immense perceptives across the boundless sand waste, to watch patiently for the wealth-laden caravan, and to indulge his nature in excesses of which he alone is capable. He is still a rude child of nature, gratified with appeasing his own

passions and subject to all his superstitions. He gazes with excited awe at the fata morgana, as it suddenly hangs out its heavenly splendors in the air. In it he sees similitudes of cities, towers, castles, caravans, and horsemen engaged in deadly combat, and gigantic shapes, which disappear and again come forth in other parts of the heavens. This alone strikes him with terror, for he thinks these are the ghosts of murdered victims and ravag ed cities still hanging in the aerial regions.

[merged small][ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

HIS CHARACTER-THE ROBBER. "Robbers" would indeed be the most expressive title which we could apply to the Turkoman. "The life of a Turkoman," says Pritchard, "is passed in the most reckless plunder;" and how could we better describe his race than by presenting the picture of him as he is found-simply as a marauder-making continual descents upon his Persian or Afghanistan neighbors, or robbing the pas

toral tribes that eke out a scanty subsistence
by keeping herds and flocks upon the green
oases of the desert. He recognizes the Per-
sian as a lawful slave when he can get him,
and it is against this people that his energy is
mostly directed; for he knows that he can
sell each captive he gets for from twenty to
twenty-five pounds sterling. The raids of the
Turkomen upon the tents of their unsuspect
ing enemies are generally made at midnight
They make one, two, or even three assaults,

and seldom are repulsed. Indeed, they appear to be as courageous as they are cruel, and it not infrequently happens that a single Turkoman secures as many as four or five prisoners The terrified Persian will, sometimes, seeing the hopelessness of further resistance, throw himself down upon the ground before his captor and ask for the chains with which to be bound. In 1861 five thousand Turkomans are said to have nearly annihilated a Persian army of twentytwo thousand strong.

When the Turkoman has once
secured his prisoner, he has no
qualms of conscience in regard

to his disposal. If he can not
take him along, he drives a stake
into the sand and fastens him
there to die. But this is too

great a loss. If he can not find
room for him on the saddle, he
drives him before him under the
burning sun.

Vambéry relates an instance of the cruelty exercised by these people toward their slaves. In the court-yard of the Khan of Khiva, the capital of the State, he saw three hundred Persian prisoners of war, clothed in rags, and half dead through fear and hunger. They were placed in two divisions; in one, those who had not yet reached forty years of age, and who could be sold, ing or presented as slaves, and in the other, those who, by reason of their rank as leaders, or of age, had been sentenced to be hanged. The former were fastened together with great iron rings around their necks, in lots of from ten to fifteen, and were driven off northward to be sold, while the gray-bearded old warriors waited for the executioner. "I saw close beside me," Vam

[graphic]

béry says, "eight old men deposited in a row, with their backs upon the sand; their limbs were bound. Presently the executioner came along, and placing his knee upon the breast of each in turn, gouged out both the eyes of his victims, and wiped his blood-stained knife upon the beards of the dying men. The scene

was appalling, as the poor victims, now released from their bonds, groped moaningly around with their hands, attempting vainly to stand, and in their efforts dashing against each other with their eyeless heads!" But these atrocities do not always go unpunished. The reprisals of the Persians are equally as sudden, and hundreds of Turkoman prisoners are yearly brought into Teheran, the capital.

The chief of these Turkoman robbing expeditions is always selected for his cunning and skill; and he is obeyed only so long as he is successful. These nomads themselves will acknowledge no head. "We are a people without a head," they say; "we are all equal; with us is every man a king;" and, accordingly, they have hardly a shadow of government. When not engaged in these pillaging excursions, the Turkoman gives himself up to a merely sensuous life, smoking, and relating his wild and reckless adventures to his friends.

It is during this time, too, that he attends to his devotions, although profit and tradition have far more influence upon him than the Koran. The Persians, too, are followers of Mohammed, but of a different sect, and their mutual hate is perfect. The Turkoman considers the Persian a "heretic," in fact, and therefore feels justified in making him a slave. But Vambéry thought that he would treat his Sunnite neighbors in just the same way. The Afghanistans are Sunnites, yet he plunders them as often as is convenient. Vambéry once asked a robber, celebrated for his devoutness, how he could sell his religious brother, the Sunnite, as a slave. Has not the "Prophet" ordered that every Mussulman is free? The man answered with indifference: "The Koran, the Book of God, is certainly more noble than man; yet men bought and sold it for pieces of gold. Yea, what wilt thou more? Joseph the son of Jacob was a prophet, and he was sold!" Such is his character in brief!

TURKOMAN WOMEN.

sacred; for the transgression of either sex is followed by immediate punishment. Her dress consists of a red silk skirt, tied around her waist with a silken sash. She wears always a profusion of ornaments-generally of massive silver-bracelets, rings for the neck, ear, and nose, and amulets, which hang down like the badge of a European order. Her skin is exceedingly fair, almost white; her hair is short and thick, and therefore she interweaves with it a long string of goat's hair, which she

COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE.

Courtship and marriage take place at about the age just mentioned. Previous to that period the young girl does not vail her face, and the suitor may gaze upon her just as long as he chooses. All outside matters relating to marriage are "fixed" by her relations or female friends, who arrange the dowry, while the mollah seals the contract and appoints a lucky day for the wedding. On that day the tent is made to present an extraordinary clean

appearance, and is decked with carpets, silks, and feathers. The bridegroom usually makes his appearance about mid-day; but if they are both poor he does not come until evening, and no guests are then invited. The mother, sisters, relations, and friends of the bride provide themselves with as many articles of silver as possible; these they place upon three or four camels, with silks. and carpets, and, mounting, proceed to the tent of the bride. The men, in the mean time, form two groups; one follows behind the female party, while the other, mounted and armed as if ready for a robbing expedition, precede, riding in full career up to the door of the bride's tent, where they fire off their muskets. Then follow speeches and counterspeeches; the female relatives are determined not to give her up, while the men, on the other hand, are as determined to possess her. But finally she is willingly captured; and the men who have come on foot stand outside the door, holding the corners of a large carpet. The bride is at last brought out, laid gently upon the carpet, and the men then run with their burden in all haste to the camels. Their flight is protected by the mounted horsemen against the female relatives of the bride, who run after the carpet-carriers and assault them with clods of earth. It is understood, among themselves, that as soon as the flying party reach the camels the pursuit shall cease. Then the bride makes her appearance; a woman attendant immediately covers her face with a vail, and the procession takes its departure for the marriage-tent. If on the road she pass by a dwelling-tent, or meet people, she removes the vail, that they may see her face. Before the marriage-tent the collected crowd cheer and hurrah as loudly as they can, while the children are treated to pastry or other delicacies. Through this assembly the bride is brought into the tent, where she must sit,

[graphic]

TURKOMAN GIRL IN HOLIDAY COSTUME.

Let us turn to the more attractive picture of the young Turkoman woman, as she appears in her native costume. Up to the age of sixteen she is not allowed to work. The period of youth is her holiday; her troubles and privations begin only with marriage. Now, she has almost perfect freedom, and can go from tent to tent, and even to the neighboring tribes, without the least fear of molestation. Her person is

profusely ornaments with little silver or glass beads. These, when she walks, make a very pleasant jingle, which always accompanies her. Indeed, a love of this "jingle" appears to be a national failing. Vambéry quaintly remarks that the man, too, is fond of pretty clatter;" he will either deck his wife or his horse with these little balls, or otherwise rob a Persian slave and decorate him with chains; but "a clatter he must have."

« AnteriorContinuar »