Odessa is about twenty hours' run from Sebastopol, and is the most northerly port in the Black Sea. We came here to get coal, principally. The city has a population of one hundred and thirty-three thousand, and is growing faster than any other small city out of America. It is a free port, and is the great grain mart of this particular part of the world. Its roadstead is full of ships.
Engineers are at work, now, turning the open roadstead into a spacious artificial harbor.
It is to be almost inclosed by massive stone piers, one of which will extend into the sea over three thousand feet in a straight line. There was not one thing to remind us that we were in Russia. The church had a slender-spired dome that rounded inward at its base, and looked like a turnip turned upside down, and the hackman seemed to be dressed in a long petticoat with out any hoops. We do not get ice-cream every where, and so, when we do, we are apt to dissipate to excess. We only found two pieces of statuary, and this was another blessing.