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About The Bonneville Dam chronicle. (Bonneville, Or.) 1934-1939 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1937)
SIX THE B O N N E V I L L E DAM C H R O N I C L E about his neck was a clean, white Russian shirt, while the rest of his costume was made up of a corduroy coat, Russian riding breeches, and knee boots of excellent black leather obviously imported from ¡soviet Rus sia. Tribal headquarters were soon crowded with Kirghiz. News passed swiftly around the village that a stranger who had lived in Istanbul was visiting the chief; so the more important tribesmen had come to pay their respects to both the chief tain and his guest. Sayjan Beg and the visitor were sitting on sedirs opposite each other, while the on lookers sat Turkish fashion on the floor or stood about, leaning against the walls. On this first evening and subse quently, sitting cross-legged around camp fires, the guest found the no mads had rather old-fashioned ideas I about geography. To them the world is flat and no amount of explain ing can alter their conceptions. The earth is surrounded by "the great sea,” while the sun circles about the earth. Young Ladies of Central Asia. They have heard of Russia, China, Iran (Persia), Turkey, Kashmir, Prepared by National Geographic Society. directions for retracing steps and Hindustan, Tibet, Afghanistan, and Wathlnirton. D. C.— W NU Service. picking up the right trail. the mysterious far-away England. E YO N D Bukhara and Samar "And carry greetings from the But America means nothing to most kand, Central Asia, lies Kalmucks to the chief of the high of them; in fact, the guest was in Tashkent; and from Tash land Kirghiz,” he called as they variably taken for a Russian un kent eastward stretches an parted. less he explicitly told them that he ancient silk caravan road to Cathay. Following his directions, at the was a Ferengi—an Asian word of It winds across steppes, mountains, first fork beyond an old sheep cor ancient origin derived from the and the Chino-Russian boundary un ral, the stranger dismounted to ex word "Frank” and used to denote til it runs past the glamorous Cen amine the muddy trail. It was even all western Europeans. tral Asian metropolis of Kuldja (or as he had described; there were Dwellers in the Valley. Ningyuan) in Sinkiang. whose ba many tiny tracks made by a flock zaar is a riot of color and whose of goats which had recently passed During a lull in his cross-exam community is an amazing mixture up the slope to the right. From ination by the circle of nomads, he of tongues. there the trail led over a series of questioned the chief about the dif Here, in the winter, old-style Rus hogbacks until suddenly it came out ferent peoples living in the valley. sians in gay troikas race to and on the crest of the last ridge. "There are two main races here from all-night parties; solemn pro Below lay the goal the traveler in the Tekes, nomadic Turks and cessions of Mongol lamas parade had been aiming at for three Mongols,” he said. "W e Turks are through the streets on horseback; years—the Tekes, the valley of val represented by the Kirghiz and Ka and long-robed Chinese and Turki leys, the nomad paradise of Cen zaks, two great tribes whose cus merchants shout and gesticulate in tral Asia. toms, language, and religion (M o the crowded market places. Above the opposite valley wall, hammedan Sunni) are almost iden In summer lumbering oxcarts re the foothills of the Celestial moun tical; in fact, in the time of Genghis place racing troikas and, from the tains leveled off to a great plain Khan we undoubtedly were one streets which have become dust which stretched away to meet the tribe. ponds, clouds of fine sand swirl snow line. On that undulating "However, we now have distinc aloft to hover over the city like a plateau were those far-famed high tions: our dialects are slightly dif pall. Then life in Kuldja becomes lands which the traveler had come ferent; the Kirghiz women wear a unbearable and the populace, by to see. unique headdress, and through the horse, wagon, and on foot, packs oil years we Kirghiz have been more Paradise for the Nomads. for the mountains. successful in amassing wealth. We Even in distant Istanbul one hears come from Issyk-kul (Warm Lake), And so it was that, after spending seven winter and spring months in tales of how the nomads migrate to across the border in Russian K ir the snows and dust of Kuldja, a these Tekes highlands, bringing ghizistan, while the Kazaks have traveler found himself in mid-June with them their flocks and herds to migrated from the dry steppes of two days by horse south of the city, spend the summer months in a ver Kazakistan, in southern Siberia. half lost in the mountains and itable earthly paradise for Moham "The Kalmucks, or Mongols, in searching for the famous Tekes val medans, drinking the f a m o u s the other end of the valley have m are’ s milk, feasting on mutton, lived for centuries, with only a few ley. interruptions,” he continued, “ a law His trail was winding up the bot sporting, loving, and marrying. Far across the valley in one of unto themselves, with their Tibetan tom of a deep ravine. The steep slopes were bare of trees, but cov the recesses could be seen a scat religion, Mongolian language, and ered with an unbelievably rank tering of brown huts amid a black unspeakable customs. They have growth of grass and weeds. This splotch of trees. It fitted the de always dispensed their own civil vegetation formed walls of the nar scription given by Kuldja friends; it and, to a large extent, criminal jus row trail, cutting off his view of must be the winter quarters of the tice.” everything save a thin band of sky nomads, the home of Sayjan Beg, above and a short patch of trail chieftain of the Kirghiz. The horse Indians of the Jungle man seized the bridle rein and before and behind. First as Rubber Makers Suddenly a horseman emerged picked his way down the perilous zigzag trail. Savages of South America had from the overgrowth onto the trail "So you are a real Am erican!” rubber shoes, bottles and balls be in front. He was a Kalmuck, a nomad from one of the Central exclaimed Sayjan Beg, the Kirghiz fore Columbus was born. An Indian in the jungle tapped a rubber tree Asian tribes of Mongols; his dark chieftain. He was seated cross-legged on a and from the milk or latex made skin, high cheekbones, and brim less, domed felt hat made that cer sedir (deep Turkish couch) reading what he wanted directly. He simply tain. Apparently he had been watch the introduction the visitor had let the latex coagulate or dry on a form, states a writer in the New ing the traveler from some vantage handed him. The visitor had to explain to him York Times. point and was accosting him for a his coming to the Tekes. His Tatar European technicians developed purpose. cousins had been fellow students at more complex methods not because Kaimuck Points the Trail. Robert college, in Istanbul. While they were ignorant but because la They rode together up the trail at the school they had captured his tex does coagulate spontaneously at for a short distance without speak fancy with tales of their home city, times. In fact, this tree-milk is much ing. Among nomads silence is a Kuldja. and the Tekes valley. When like blood. It clots. So for genera prelude to greeting. It is a fine the boys returned home, they had tions European and American man- given him a warm invitation to visit ufacurers had to make their rubber point in their social etiquette. them. goods from crude rubber or huge "W here are you going?” As he Sayjan Beg was strangely cast for clots of latex. Such a clot can no turned back in his saddle to speak, a nomad chieftain, small, thin more be brought back to its original his expression was decidedly un boned, and delicate; yet, as one state than dried blood. Hence the friendly. came to know him, his littleness necessity of chewing or kneading "T o the Tekes valley,” was the was forgotten and one was conscious crude rubber in powerful masticat reply. only of his wiry strength and v i ing mills and manipulating it in "W hat is your business in the tality. He had unbounded nervous machines of a dozen different kinds Tekes?” energy and a regal manner, coupled before it is possible to produce a " I visit Sayjan Beg. the chieftain with a quick, decisive way of utter satisfactory rubber shoe or hot of the Kirghiz.” ing commands. One suspected Rus water bottle. The man drew rein and swung sian blood somewhere in his strain, In spite of this expensive and his horse around, his face a com for his skin was much lighter than troublesome kneading and chewing plete transformation. Where before that of the Kirghiz about him. I of crude rubber, the finished ar- had been sullen distrust, there was i tides are not quite so good in Chief’s Head Always Covered. now smiling friendliness. some respects as those made by Perched on his head was the em "This trail does not lead to the savages in the Amazon forests. Our Tekes,” he explained. " I f you fol broidered velvet Moslem cap. for rubber products are well made, low it you will be lost in the moun he considers it a breach of etiquette but the Indians' are tougher and tains and have to spend the night in to be seen with uncovered head, ei stronger. ther indoors or out. Buttoned tight the ODcn.” Then he cave elaborate B F R ID A Y , J A N U A R Y 22, 1937 First Aid Roger B. Whitman to the Ailing House G IVIN G AN OLD HOUSE A NEW APPEARANCE support. The porch railings are also finer. All of the jig-saw work, the elab OT far from where I live, there orate moldings, and the fancy orna is a house fifty or sixty years ments were stripped off, and where old. It is very well built, quite needed, were replaced with parts of large, and on a prominent location; much simpler design. Those old but few people gave it a second ornaments were only attachments. glance. The main part of the house They had no part in the structure and its extensions are well designed of the house, so that there was no and in proportion. That it was not loss of strength. As it stands to a show place was due to the jig day, the house is one of the best saw work all over it, to its ugly and looking in the neighborhood. The useless tower, and the ornaments old-time residents are still m arvel on its large and ungainly porch. ing at the change, and at the slight In its day that house was the effort with which it was gained. last word in architecture, and was There are houses of that kind in very greatly admired. But with almost every old neighborhood. As the change in styles, it grew out of a general thing, they are strongly date, and became known locally as built, and if there is no demand the "old-fashioned house on the for them, it is only because of hill.” their old - fashioned appearance. Not long ago the house was With no great effort or expense, any bought by an architect who saw its of those houses can be brought in many virtues. Within a month he to line with modern design. The completely altered its appearance ornamental work is no more than by a few comparatively simple an attachment, and can be stripped changes. For one thing the tower off. Moldings, porch columns, steps, entrances and other parts of ex was taken off, and the roof given cellent design, can be had in stock simpler lines. The great porch also at i lumber yard. The result is came off, and was replaced by a a stout and well built house, mod new porch with a roof that, while ern in appearance, and usually suf amply strong, is much lighter in ap ficiently increased in. value by the pearance than the old one was. The operation to more than pay for the new porch columns are delicate and change. © By Roger B. Whitman in proportion to the roof that they W N U Service. N B IL L Y M IN K IS DISCOVERED T E R the rats left the big barn A F Billy Mink found it less easy to get plenty to eat. There were mice in the big barn, and for sev eral days Billy managed to catch enough of these to keep from going hungry. But mice can get into places too small for Billy to follow, and those that were left soon learned to keep out of his way. Then, Billy’ s thoughts turned to the hens in the henhouse. He had not intended to kill any of those hens because he knew that as soon as he did, the farmer who owned them would hunt for him, and then he would have to move on. He was so comfortably located that he was not anxious to move on. But one must eat, and now that the rats had disappeared and the mice had learned to keep out of his way, Billy’ s thoughts turned to those hens. It was the very night after the fire which the rats had started in the back shed of the farmhouse that Billy made up his mind to have a chicken dinner. He slipped under the henhouse and up through a hole in the corner which he already knew about. A ll the hens were roosting high fast asleep, with their heads under their wings. Had Reddy Fox been in Billy Mink’ s place he would have been somewhat puzzled as to how he should catch one of those hens. But Billy wasn’ t puzzled. Not a bit of it. You see, Billy can climb almost like a squirrel. Reddy Fox would have had to jump, and probably would have awakened and fright ened the whole flock. Billy Mink simply climbed up to one of the roosts, stole along it to the nearest hen, and with one quick snap of his stout little jaws he killed that hen without even waking her. Now, had B illy’ s cousin, Shadow the Weasel, been in his place, he would have gone right on killing those hens from sheer love of kill ing. But B illy Mink killed that hen simply because he must have some thing to eat, and one hen was more than enough to furnish him a din ner. When he had finished his dinner he went back to his snug bed under the big woodpile. Of course, when the farm er came out to feed the hens in the morning he discovered what had happened. He didn’ t know who had killed that hen, but he knew thatt it must have been some one very small to have got into the henhouse. He hunt ed about until he found the hole in the dark corner. He knew that that hole had been made by a rat, and at first he thought it must have been rats that killed that hen, and this increased his anger. That afternoon he happened to look out of the barn door toward the woodpile and he was just in time to see a slim, brown form whisk out of sight under the wood. "Ha, ha'.” exclaimed the farmer. "N ow I know who the thief is. There { is a mink in that woodpile. He is ' the fellow who killed that hen last night. I think, Mr. Mink, we’ ll make "When a man doesn’ t want a gjrl you pay for that hen with your any longer it’s usually because he ! brown coat.” likes them short.’ * J © T. W. Burgess.— WNU Service. 1 Ç abby Ç ertie