making of mosaics is important. Mosaics are pictures made by fitting
together wee bits of stones, enamels, or glasses of bright colors. A
pair of cuff buttons or a brooch may bear a spray of flowers, which
looks like delicate painting, but is really made by the fitting together
of these bits of stone. Cameos are cut from shell or onyx. Many sea
shells are composed of layers of different colors of shelly matter. Onyx
is a stone which is layered with different colors. A cameo is a piece of
carving cut in such materials so that the different colored layers give
different parts of the design. The work is beautiful and delicate.
Perhaps the finest cameo cutting is done at Naples.
The Italian enjoys games. Several kinds of ball games are favorites with
him. He delights in throwing dice and other games of chance. Boys are
fond of _morra_. There are two players: at a given signal each extends
one hand with a certain number of fingers stretched out; at the same
moment each calls how many fingers he thinks both will have out. If
either guesses right, he wins. This is a very old game, and was played
in the time of Rome’s imperial grandeur.
The gayest time of the year for young and old is the Carnival. Every one
is on the streets. They wear masks and are hideously dressed—like
clowns, deformed and distorted beings, devils, animals. They make a
great din and play all kinds of pranks. They throw flowers and paper cut
to bits on one another and sprinkle passers-by with water. Men, women,
and children all take part in this wild fun. The more ignorant Italians
are superstitious. They fear witchcraft and the evil eye, and most of
the lower class carry some lucky stone or other object to protect them
against such dangers.
VIII.
BASQUES.
On both sides of the Pyrenees Mountains, in France and in Spain, there
dwells a people which does not speak an Aryan language, the Basques.
Many writers who have studied the Basque language have wondered how it
came to exist alone in the midst of so many languages that have no
relation to it.
The people who speak this language are called French Basques or Spanish
Basques according to which side of the Pyrenees is their home. They
differ somewhat. The Spanish Basques are usually short,
clear-complexioned, with rather long and narrow heads and brown or black
hair. The French Basques are frequently quite tall, have much broader
heads, and sometimes light hair. Neither French nor Spanish Basques are
pure in blood, being much mixed with their neighbors. Still, it is said
that a Basque can generally be known by his face. The upper, forward
part of his head is wide and bulging, while his face is long, narrow,
and ends in a pointed chin.
The Basques are famous for their good health, their fine forms, and
their quick and graceful movements. They are industrious, hard workers.
In the uplands the men are shepherds, in the lowlands farmers and
herders, and on the coast fishermen and sailors. In the cities they work
at the docks, loading and unloading vessels. Women work at this hard
work just the same as men. Formerly the men engaged much in piracy.
Basque women are much employed as nurses in Spanish families.
They are a gay and happy people. Men play tennis, and women play
skittles. Formerly they had many dances; one only of these is still
kept. It is danced by men only, and though the steps are difficult, the
dance is slow and grave. They delight in poetry and are able to compose
rapidly. Verneau says: “One may say that in the land of the Basques
every mountaineer is born a poet, but the poetry is made up on the spur
of the moment. In the midst of the delights of a feast, some one at the
table rises. All noise ceases. Complete silence is made about him. He
sings; the stanzas follow one another without effort and without
fatigue. His song is grave and measured; both the air and words are made
at the moment.”
The Basques, especially those living in the mountains, are proud, happy,
and independent. They are easily angered and quick to fight. They love
their old life and customs and dislike changes. They still use many
old-fashioned things such as the clumsy ox-cart, with great, solid
wooden wheels and heavy wooden axle. The old dress has disappeared in
many places, but is picturesque. Men wear rather loose and baggy
trousers, a close-fitting vest, a sort of blouse or jacket that reaches
only to the waist, a wide, white collar turned down over the neck of the
blouse, and a loose necktie with streaming ends. They wear a loose cap
jauntily on the head. Men and women both delight in bright colors.
Their food is simple, but they are always ready to share it with guests.
Strangers are welcome to the best the family has, which is generally
corn bread and cider, with bean soup and boiled cabbage. They celebrate
Christmas by killing a pig, the flesh of which gives the family a feast
for a long time.
[Illustration: BASQUE CART (VERNEAU).]
They are proud of their strange and difficult language, which _they_
call _Euskaric_. They call themselves _Euskaldanac_, which means “the
speakers,” just as if other people using a different speech did not know
how to speak at all.
The Basques have produced some famous men. The great sailor Magellan,
who circumnavigated the globe and discovered the Philippines in 1535,
was a Basque. So were Ignacio de Loyola and Francis Xavier, who founded
the _Society of Jesus_ or the _Jesuits_. Within recent years many of the
Basques have left their old home and gone to seek fortunes in new lands.
In all more than two hundred thousand have migrated, some to Havana and
Mexico, but many more to Montevideo and Buenos Ayres.
IX.
FINNS.
Finland, forming part of the Russian Empire, is bordered on the south
and west by the Baltic Sea (Gulfs of Finland and Bothnia) and stretches
as a narrow band almost north and south. There has been much discussion
as to just what and who the Finns are. Some writers think them true
white Europeans related to the long-headed, fair whites; others believe
them Mongolians who have moved from Asia into Europe, where they have
changed their color and appearance—partly by marrying with fair whites
and partly by the influence of climate and other conditions—but who
retain their old Asiatic language.
Whichever is right, the Finns are an interesting people. There are about
one million and a half of pure blood dwelling in Finland. There are two
quite unlike types,—the Tavastland and Karelian Finns. The Tavastland
Finns are rather tall and large built, with a large and broad head, a
long and large face, light skin, light hair, and large and light eyes.
They are rather quiet, a little morose though kindly, and have a great
love for their old life and customs. The Karelian Finns are darker, with
dark brown or black hair and dark eyes. They were quite tall, but less
strongly built than the Tavastland Finns; they have a longer head and
smaller head and face; they are more lively, gay, and enterprising. It
is the Karelians who more nearly resemble the Finns of Asia, Ostiaks,
and Samoyeds. Both kinds of Finns, though differing in appearance, speak
one language, which is not Aryan, and is related to the languages of
Northern Asia. The Lapps, Turks, and some other peoples of Southeastern
Europe speak tongues related to the Finnish.
In the cities and towns of Finland the people are much like their
Swedish, German, and Russian neighbors. But in the small towns and
villages and in the country they retain many old and curious customs.
There they live in old-fashioned houses or even older-fashioned tents.
The houses, built of logs, had low, broad, two-pitched roofs and
consisted of a single room; there was one door and some small windows.
Only recently have they used glass in the windows. The furniture is
simple. Clothing and other articles are hung on pegs against the wall or
over poles which are supported by hooks from the roof. Big, ring-shaped
loaves of rye bread are hung up on these poles also. Outside the house
are several small buildings used as store-rooms for treasures and the
sweat-bath house.
The old tents are now rarely seen. They were circular, and their
framework was made by setting poles in the ground so that their upper
ends met; branches were worked in to fill the spaces between these and
form walls, and moss and turf were tightly packed in to fill all
openings. A doorway was left and a smoke hole.
The sweat-bath house is found everywhere. It is large enough to
accommodate a good many bathers at once. Two sets of wide benches run
around the inside of the house, one higher than the other: these are for
the bathers to sit or lie upon. They reach the higher benches or
platforms by means of a short ladder. In one corner of this sweat-house
is a dome-shaped oven or fireplace built of stones. This is heated very
hot, and then dippers of water are thrown upon the hot stones, until the
steam fills the whole building. The bathers bask in the vapor, rub and
strike themselves with bunches of birch twigs, and then dash cold water
over themselves. They delight in these vapor baths, and every one—men,
women, and children—takes them. _We_ would not enjoy it much, for there
is much smoke mixed with the steam. Similar vapor baths are used in
Russia, and recently “Russian baths” have come much into use among
ourselves.
Like many other northern peoples the Finns make many articles from birch
bark. Boxes, vessels, carrying sacks, and even shoes are made from it.
The climate of Finland is rather bad; winters are long and severe. The
people raise some plants, but their agriculture is simple and
old-fashioned. They burn over the space to be planted, work the ashes
and soil with crude tools, and plant the seed. Their crops sometimes
fail and terrible famines result. At such times they have made bread
from bark and roots crushed between rude grinding stones. Such bread is
called _famine bread_.
[Illustration: FINNS SINGING (VERNEAU).]
The Finns love song and poetry. It is said that every village has one
poet, or more, and that he prepares a new song whenever aught of
importance occurs. Besides these new songs they have many ancient songs,
of which they never tire. When they sing the songs of the olden time,
two men seat themselves face to face upon a bench, join hands, and rock
backward and forward in time to the song. First one sings a line or
passage, and then the other repeats the same, and so they continue,
rocking back and forth and singing the whole night through. Sometimes a
third man plays upon the _kantele_, while the others sing. This kantele
is somewhat like a zither; it has a flat sounding-body upon which are
strung from three to eight strings of different lengths. It is usually
picked with the fingers like a guitar. It is said that the first kantele
was made of fish-bones, though it is not easy to see how that could be.
Until less than a hundred years ago, although these old songs were much
loved, no one had written them down. They were learned by heart from
father to son, and thus kept alive through the centuries. A man named
Lönnrot became interested in them and copied many of them from the
mouths of the singers. In 1825 he printed a book of them, and later he
gathered and published still more. To this book of songs he gave the
name of the _Kalevala_. It is one of the great poems of the world, and
it tells of the life and doings and beliefs of the Finns of the old, old
time. The style of the _Kalevala_ is lively and quite unlike most
English poetry. In _Hiawatha_, Longfellow copies this style; so when you
read _Hiawatha_ again, remember that it is like the old Finnish songs.
The Finns are very fond of the _Kalevala_ and their other ancient songs.
They are jealous, too, of their old customs, and dislike to see them
pass away. They have some societies the purpose of which is to keep
alive a knowledge of the past of Finland. But though the Finns love
Finland and its old life, they are not to-day an independent nation.
They were invaded long ago by Sweden, and later on by Russia. For a time
Finland was a half-independent kingdom under Russian control, but lately
its power has been again reduced, and it is part of Russia itself.
What we have said of the Finns is true of the country people. In the
cities things are much the same as in other European cities. In
Helsingfors we should find one of the great universities of Europe, and
many educated and distinguished men Finns by birth and language.
X.
LAPPS.
In the northmost part of the Scandinavian Peninsula and Finland live the
Lapps. There are probably not more than ten or twelve thousand, all
told. They have had much contact with the Finns, and speak a language
related to Finnish. In many customs they resemble them. This is not
strange, as the land they live in is much the same.
[Illustration: A GROUP OF LAPPS (VERNEAU).]
But while all Finns are tall, the Lapps are short. Most of the men fall
below five feet. Little and thin, they are yet strong and quick in their
movements. Their skin is dark, their hair black and straight. Their
heads are big and broad, and they have good foreheads and projecting
cheek bones. Their eyes often seem to slant downward at their outer
corners. While they are really dark skinned, they are not nearly so much
so as they appear, for they are usually filthy. When their faces are
washed, some of the women have quite fair skin and rosy cheeks. Life is
hard among the Lapps, but they often live to be old—sometimes even to
one hundred years or more.
Those Lapps who live farthest away from the Finns, Russians, and Swedes
still wear the old style of dress. In winter their garments are made of
reindeer hide: the hair, which is left on, is worn next the body. Both
men and women wear big mittens of skin. They have caps on their heads,
and fishermen and herders may be distinguished by the style of these.
Fishermen’s caps are pointed, while those of herders are square. In
going out over the snow in winter, Lapps have long, narrow runners of
wood fastened to their feet, and carry a pole in their hand. These
runners are five feet or more in length, and only a few inches wide, and
on them—aided by their poles—the Lapps glide along finely over the hard
snow.
Some Lapps are constantly wandering. Others settle down in quite
permanent homes. The wanderers build tents similar in shape to those of
our Sioux Indians and of the Finns. A lot of poles are set up in a
circle with their upper ends meeting. This framework is covered with a
cloth or with turfs. The settled Lapps live in houses, the framework of
which consists of posts set upright and poles lashed across. Small
storehouses for food are built near by, and these are set up on four
posts to keep the contents out of reach of dogs and other animals.
When they greet each other, the Lapps rub noses together. This mode of
kissing is found also among other northern peoples, like the Samoyeds in
Asia and the Eskimos in America. Mothers cradle their babies in a sort
of trough hollowed out of a piece of wood. This they carry on their
backs when they journey, and hang on a tree or set into a snowbank when
they work.
Of course every one thinks of reindeer when Laplanders are mentioned.
And it is not strange, because reindeer are useful indeed to these
little people. They furnish three useful things,—milk, meat, and skins.
The reindeer are kept in herds and form almost the only wealth of their
owners. Some herds number perhaps a thousand reindeer. These herds must
be constantly watched. Men, women, and children all help in the work,
and the many dogs kept by the Lapps are chiefly helpful in guarding the
herds. The women do the milking, and each of the reindeer cows is milked
twice a day. They give little milk, hardly more than a cupful at a
milking, but it is rich and thick and can be thinned with a good deal of
water. Some of the milk is drunk fresh, and from the rest the women make
a kind of cheese. When they wish to milk a reindeer, they approach the
animal carefully, throw a lasso over its head and wind this around the
snout so as to hold the animal quiet. The reindeer are also much used to
carry burdens and to drag sledges.
[Illustration: LAPLANDER ON SNOW-RUNNERS (VERNEAU).]
Besides the flesh and milk of the reindeer the Laplanders eat its blood,
which is boiled down into a sort of pudding. The meat which is not eaten
fresh is dried and stored away. Fish are dried and smoked. Birds and
their eggs are much eaten. Bread, much like the “famine bread” of the
Finns, is made from roots and barks. Soup is made of pine bark mixed
with fat and flour or meal.
The Laplanders who live in settled houses depend upon hunting during the
fall and fishing during the summer. They hunt reindeer, squirrels, and
birds. Wild reindeer they take chiefly by pitfalls: they dig a hole, or
trench, in the path over which the reindeer is likely to pass, and
carefully cover it with branches, earth, and grass. When the animals
have fallen in, they are easily killed. Lapps are fond of the eggs of
water birds, and to secure them they build nests for the birds in trees
near the water, and then rob them after the eggs have been laid.
The Laplanders are great believers in spirits. To summon these they use
drums or tambourines, consisting of a ring of wood over which a membrane
is tightly stretched. This has jingling objects fastened to it which
make a noise when the instrument is beaten or rattled. Upon the membrane
are rudely painted, curious figures, usually in red. Thus the sun,
animals, and human beings are pictured, and are believed to help the
drummer. The Lapps greatly fear their god of storms. He is believed to
drive the storms forth from his cave with a club and to bring them back
with a shovel. They fear him most at the season when the young reindeer
are born, and then pray to him not to let loose the storms, lest the
little creatures perish. Through their sorcerers they secure from this
god, storm strings with three knots tied in them. Each of these knots
represents a storm. If one knot is untied, a little storm is let loose;
if two are untied, a greater one; if three, there is a fearful tempest.
These strings are used against enemies or those who have tried to do
them harm. The neighbors of the little Lapps think these can do them
much harm with their wind strings and other magic, and they dread and
hate them.
XI.
TURKS.
With the Turks we pass from the peoples of Europe to those of Asia, for
the European Osmanli Turks are only the most settled branch of a large
group of peoples, most of whom lead wandering lives and live in Central
and Northern Asia. All speak almost the same language. Formerly there
was a great Turkish Empire, which stretched from the borders of China to
the Caspian Sea. The present peoples of the Turkic group live within
this area and in European Turkey. Among the most important of these
peoples are the Yakuts, Turkomans, Uzbegs, Nogais, Cossacks, and
Osmanli,—the latter being the Turks of European Turkey.
We shall speak only of the Yakuts, Turkomans, and Osmanli. The Yakuts
occupy an area along both banks of the Lena River and extending west
from it. They are wanderers and raise herds of cattle and horses. They
live chiefly on the produce of their herds, eating horse flesh
especially, and making much cheese. Like many of their neighbors they
are fond of _koumyss_, a drink prepared by fermenting mare’s milk. Those
living farthest north, near the delta of the Lena River, also hunt small
animals for food. These wandering herders, living in tents, are not
quarrelsome; they respect age, and the old men control affairs and
determine the time for moving camp. Women are well treated by their
husbands, but one man may have several wives. In such cases, the wives
live each in a separate tent, and these tents are placed about the tent
of the husband. Men pay the father of their wives, for these, with
cattle and horses. When a man among the Yakuts dies, they dress him in
his best clothing and place in the grave with him his knife, a flint and
steel, some tinder, and a little food. The burial is always under a
tree, and two graves are dug. In one the man is buried with his head
turned toward the west. The man’s favorite horse is brought in his
finest harness and loaded with presents: a fat mare is also brought.
These are both killed and buried in the second grave that they may
accompany their master.
[Illustration: CARAVAN PREPARING TO START: ASIATIC TURKS (VERNEAU).]
The Turkomans, who live in Southern Turkestan and adjoining regions, are
probably more like the ancient Turks in appearance, than any of the
other Turkic tribes of the present. They are somewhat tall, with a
broad, rounded head, broad face, prominent cheek bones, little slant
eyes, a low nose, rather thick lips, and projecting ears. Their skin is
yellowish, their hair is coarse and black, and they have little beard.
They delight in bright clothing, and the women wear much jewelry. It is
said that they wear so many jingling ornaments, that a party of passing
women make a noise almost like the tinkling of bells. The Turkomans live
in large, round, wall tents: the light framework of poles is covered
with great pieces of felt. This felt is beaten by the women from sheep’s
wool and camel’s hair. They are comfortable within. The floor is often
covered with fine rugs or skins, and handsome woven stuffs are hung upon
the wall or thrown over the sitting places. These fine articles are
partly woven by the women and partly stolen from passing caravans—for
the Turkomans are dreadful pillagers. Until very lately they were also
slave-hunters and stole many Persian women to sell as slaves. The
Russian government has almost put an end to this trade. The Turkomans
raise horses, sheep, and camels. They eat the flesh of these animals and
drink their fresh milk. Unlike the Yakuts, they do not care for koumyss.
When an important man among the Turkomans dies, they raise a heap of
stones over his grave. If he was a very pious man, they pay great
respect to his grave and consider it a holy spot. A man who is ill or in
trouble may visit this grave to pray there; if he has an animal that
suffers from some disease, he leads it around the grave to cure it. Such
ideas about a pious man’s grave prevail in all Mohammedan countries. All
the peoples of the Turkic group are Mussulmans, though you would never
think it from the way in which Yakut and Turkoman women go about
unveiled.
The Osmanli are the true Turks of Europe. Probably you would expect to
see only Turks in Turkey. That would be a great error, for really only
about one-tenth the population of Turkey is made up of Turks. There are
many Armenians and Bulgarians, besides Greeks and others. The Osmanli
Turks do not look like Mongolians, but their language and real blood
relationship are with the yellow Asians, rather than with the white
Europeans. It is not strange, however, that they present so mixed a
type; Turks have long married with white slaves, and there is much
Caucasian blood—both European and Asian—in their veins.
Constantinople is one of the most beautiful cities of the globe, and is
probably the most important Mohammedan city. The _mosques_, or places of
worship, are everywhere and recognizable by their pretty minarets.
Friday and not Sunday is the day of service. Daily prayers are required,
and the hours for prayer are called by the _muezzim_. When the call is
heard, no matter what he may be doing, a good Mohammedan stops his
occupation, spreads his prayer cloth, faces the sacred city of Mecca,
and goes through his prayers.
The Turk is _not_ industrious and lacks energy; he enjoys ease and
amusement. Perhaps a part of this is due to his being a fatalist; he
believes that what will happen, _must_ happen; that he cannot in any way
change the course of events. So _why_ should he hurry and worry? He _is_
fond of trading, but even there is not in haste. In the bazaars the
seller and buyer haggle a long time over the prices. The one never asks
the price he expects to get, but one much larger; the other never
expects to pay the price first asked, but one much lower. Mohammedans
who can afford to keep them may marry four wives; they often own many
female slaves beside. These wives and slaves live in a special part of
the house called the harem, where no visitors except women enter. When
Turkish women go upon the street they are closely veiled, and none of
their face except the eyes can be seen. Mohammedanism permits polygamy,
but it forbids wine-drinking. While not all Turks obey this command,
they are usually temperate, and drunkenness is rare.
XII.
THE PEOPLES OF ASIA.