Norwich bulletin., 1916-12-12
THE WAR PRIMER
BY National Geographic Society

Odessa-If it should happen that
| the converging BulGarlan and Ger
man armies. advancing from the DO
| brudja, and the Austro-Ge forces,
descending through the TransyivanIan
passes, should approach threateningly
near to Jessy now that they have &C.
| cupied Bucharest, the Rumanls.n gov
eminent will be forced 20 transfer the
national capital temporarily to some
| adjacent and friendly city, Just as Bel
GUM, Serbia, and Montenegro were
forced to do, and as France did When
the first rush of the Germans men
aced Paris. In the event of such
transfer it is probable that Odessa,
known as the capital Of Southern Rus
| STA, and, next TO Petrograd, the great
est seaport in the Cars domains, will
| extend it's hospitality to King Ferdin-
and and his ministers. Tho National
| Geographic Society describes this
prospective asylum Of the RumanianS
in the following war geography bull
etin: =
IF Odessa were as gay ami frivo-
lous today IS it was prior to the out
break of the European war the Of
| fetal set of Rumania would feel en-
| tirely at home in the great Black Sea
port, for life among the upper classes
of this South Russian metropolis was
almost as rapid as in Bucharest, IA
| miliarly known as the Paris IF the
Near East. In fact, before the war
no other city. save Bucharest, so
| closely resembled Paris and Vienna in
| its hectic nignt-life as did Odessa,
| with it's hundreds of side walk cafes,
| it's municipal opera, its palaces of
chance and it's gilded halls of the half
world.
with its half dozen excellent flar-
| bors to which came ships of many
| chimes for car goes of wheat from
| RnSSia'S f1anxhaTStibla grain fields
and its Level plains to the north over
which produce could be shipped from
and imports could be distributed to
| every part OF the empire, Odessa S
remarkable growth to ]. city of more
| than 100000 inhabitants in the course
of less than a century and a quarter is
| not altogether surprising. Its total
| imports and exports before the war
were valued at a hundred million dol
| lars a year.
"a unique analogy between this
prospective temporary capital Of Ru-
| mania and of the ca pital city of the
United States may he drawn. Both
were started at about the same times
| during the last decade Of the eighth
zenith century-and both were begun
| not through the natural demands of
commerce but through the far-seeing
wisdom of the chief executives of the
| two nations. And perhaps the oldest
| coincidence is the fact that Doth were
| planned by foreign civil engineers of
| the same nation, for while Major L
| Enfant was devising the city of mag
| nifcent distances with its squares.
its diagonal avenues and its circles, to
! be erected on the banks of the Po-
| tomac, Volald, also a Frenchman, laid
out Odessa on the shore Of the Black
Sea. While President Washington
was dreaming into being the beautiful
| city which bears his name, the car
l ina Catherine the GrQat piUi1O
| her energies to the upbuilding of a
municipal bulwark which would mark
a further advance toward the chief OBJ
| ject of the Russian Bears desire
| Constantinople.
Like Washington, Odessa was laid
out in the midst of virtual wilder
ness and swamp. An isolated Turkish
| fort, Khaji-Bey, stood on tine site of
| the present city at the time (17s9)
when it passed into the possession of
| Russia, although Greek coionists' in
| the early years of the Christian era
| Odessa. A French captain, de Rfbas,
was in command of the Russian troops
| that stormed the fort, and to him.
with the aid of Voland. the czarina
entrusted the work of erecting q city
and building a harbor. After de Ribas
| came Armand, due do Richelieu, in
| 1903, refugee from the French Rev
| olution, who was made the first cap
| tain Of the newly formed municipal
| district, and who was largely instru-
mental in the early Development of the
| city. Richelieu was succeeded as
Governor by Prince Woronzoff, Rus
| sian born but educated in Cambridge
University while his father was serv-
| ing as Ambassador to England. It is
not surprising, therefore. in view of
the enlightened government accorded
| the city by these three men of ocei-
4 dnnfe1 frajIoiYer that ildazSn Should
! early have assumed the aspect Of a
! western Europe metropolis.
"An imperial palace is at hand for
| the occupancy Of king Ferdinand
should his court be removed here. In
ordinary times this handsome building,
with its classic lines, and It's beautiful
| gardens, is the residence of the com
mander -in-chicf Of the Eighth Army
Corps, for which Odessa is the head
| quarters. 1t was erected by Prince
! Woronzoff and occupied by him for
many years. One of the striking ar
ohitectual features of the palace is a
beautiful pergola of granite columns
| standing on a promontory at one end
| Of the 160-foot bluff which rises pre-
cipitously above the harhor and along
which is the fashionable promenade
of the city.
up to two years ago the railway
| distance between Odessa and Moscow
| was more than a thousand miles, but
a new line, via BGkhmatch, recently
| completed, reduces to 814 miles the
| length of the iron artery connecting
| the great seaport with the metropolis
| of central Russia. The steamship dis
lance between Odessa and CONSTANT
nople is $50 miles; between the re-
Gently captured Rumanian city oil
Constantine and the Russian port 1t is
ITO miles.
Five and ten miles respectively tt
the north and to the southwest OF
Odessa are these 1imans' or lagoons
famous for their muabaths, which are
said to be highly beneficial to persons
suffering from rheumatism, govt ane
cutaneous diseases. The most popu.
lar of these lagoons is 200 miles long
about mile broad, and ten feet deep
and lies 16 feet below the level of the
Black Sea. The saline slime which
forms the floor OF the lagoon Is from
f1a% -A1,fn1~