Part 3

Just now people are apt to forget how much _we_ owe to the dark whites. They have done _much_ for the world. Greece taught Europe to think, developed an art and architecture which impressed the world, formed a literature and theatre that have never been surpassed; Rome taught mankind government and law; Italy has produced the greatest paintings; Spain discovered the New World. These are a few of the achievements of the dark whites. Nor are they idle now; in Greece and Italy to-day, in Spain and Portugal, art, invention, literature, and science are making rapid progress.

Every one has seen Italians. Those who come to us are mostly poor, and badly represent their people. They are dark skinned, dark brown or black eyed, black and curly haired, and have fine and regular features. They are, perhaps, the handsomest of European peoples. They love the company of others in their work and play. They delight in bright colors, and the women fasten bright kerchiefs about their dark hair, fold a brilliant cloth across the breast, and hang gaudy earrings in their ears. The Italian language is sweet and lively, and the people who speak it are impulsive and sunny in disposition, though easily angered, and quick to resent an injury.

Perhaps old Rome was the greatest city the world has known. The Roman people ruled the known nations, and their armies and governors were in all lands. Fine roads connected the city with every part of the Empire, and fragments of these roads still exist though almost two thousand years have passed. Rome was a centre to which flocked the painters, sculptors, poets, and orators of the world; there they produced their great works. At Rome were grand temples, great public buildings, the mighty Coliseum where public games were held. Ruins of these famous structures are still visited, and show the ancient grandeur of the dark whites of by-gone days.

Not far from Rome are ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, towns where many of the Romans had their country homes. In the year 79, more than eighteen hundred years ago, Vesuvius burst forth in a terrible eruption and destroyed the two cities. Pompeii was buried under a sheet of “ashes,” while Herculaneum was overflowed by streams of lava. For centuries no one knew that underneath these layers of “ashes” and lava a great part of the two cities lay undestroyed. Recently, by digging away the covering, they have discovered many curious and interesting things. House walls, paintings, tools, weapons, ornaments, all remain to tell us how the ancient Romans worked and lived.

But later Rome was also great. It was the central city of Christendom, the seat of the Pope’s power, the location of the Vatican. For this reason it was the place where master minds dealt with great problems, where great architects designed wonderful cathedrals, where painters produced the famous pictures of the world. Nor is Rome small to-day. She is no longer the mistress of the world; the temporal power of the church has been lessened; but modern Rome is still the capital of a great nation, a centre of enlightenment, a hive of industry; a shrine to which the lovers of art and beauty make their pilgrimage.

Even the poorest and meanest in Italy love music, painting, and statuary. Everywhere in public places one sees sculptures in fine marble. Such works in our own land would run some risk of injury or destruction, but in Italy no one thinks of harming them. The Italians all love music, and most of them know how to play some instrument.

Italian mosaics and cameos are famous. At Florence particularly the 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.

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_.

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.

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.

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.