UNDER
THE CARPATHIANS
HOME OF A FORGOTTEN PEOPLE
A Forgotten Spot
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Face of A
Country
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UNDER THE CARPATHIANS HOME OF A FORGOTTEN PEOPLE
A Forgotten Spot |
Ivan's Castle |
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One of the most forgotten spots of this forgotten country is the Verchovina - a narrow band of mountains and hills stretching from the Uzok Pass
eastwards along more than half the length of the former Polish frontier. Owing
to Its isolation it leads an individual life of its own. It is the poorest part
of Carpatho Ukraine. The people of the tribe called Boiki live in wooden huts of
primitive construction. Some of the huts consist only of a single room where the
family and the animals are herded together; others have two rooms, one of them
being used as a combined shed and store-room; only a few of the Boiki dwellings
have separate outhouses. The windows of the cottages are few and tiny, admitting
little light, and chimneys do not exist. The smoke has to find its way out
through the door, the windows, or the roof, and there is always a cloud of smoke
hanging under the ceiling.
To give the reader an idea of how these backwoods
people live and feel and think, we have included an adapted version of a simple
local story . . .Ivan's
Castle in the Air
East Slovakia Genealogical Research Strategies
