New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-09-23
THE DOBRUDJA
A Desolate Spot, but Little Known Until
Recent Years.

! Patrick Vqur ~ The Manchester Gu1rdiGr)
Much has been heard Of the Dobrudja since
the passage, of the Lower Danube by the Rus
SLAMS advancing upon Bulgaria. This region
/ is one of the most deSolate in Southeast Eu-
rope. and in later summer and early autumn
certainly the most pestilential SO little
/ known was il previous TO its cession by Bull
garia 20 Rumania four years ago that the
majority of British photographers did not
give even it's name on their maps.
bounded on the north and west by the Dan
ube and on the east BY the Black Sea, the
/ Dobrudja has for centuries been the refuge
of cvil-doers and the lawless. while in the
! last two generations many conscrpt mas
1 fed from Rumania, Bulgaria, Russia ana
! Hungary 20 find freedom in the Businesses or
its marshes. The Dobrudia under the Bull
cars was kind of No Mans Land for their
authority held no farther than the gend-
armes could shoot, and they were very dis
/ inclined to 60 polling about in its extensive
"fcr country" in the execution OF law and
! Justice In Rumanas hands, however, the
| Dobrudja has undergone changes An ef-
fort TO stay the foods from the Danube was
! in contemplation before the war, together
with a scheme for draining the extensive
/ lagoons west Of the st. Georges mouth OF
/ the river and cast of Tshernavoda. For
centuries the region has been an uncultl-
yated desert. dotted here and there by wan
dering hocks and their herdsmen, whose
cloaks of plated reeds serve equally against
sun and rain. Some Tatar tamll!es-the
surviving evidences of Turkish occupation
pitch their encampments in the highest spots,
or make away in the unhealthy season 20 the
/ rocky coast-a sorry change from the land
of their forefathcrs, the Crimea, from which
they had fed at the time Of Russian con-
quest.
kostendJi, to give the Dobrudja's seaport
! its old name, which stretches along nigh
headland running north-northeast into the
Black Sea, has an open harbor, with bad
anchorage But under Rumanian auspices
the place is becoming a fortified port Of
great importance. A few miles west of Kos
tendii there can be traced the east end Of
The Canal of Constantius" The triangle
formed by the Danube and the sea is so
nearly complete that the distance from Kos
tendii to Tshernavoda, near the Danube end
of the canal, can be walked on a good day
| in spring in eight or nine hours. BY cut
ting this is,hmus the Romans calculated on
linking the Danube with the Black Sea, 50
that thew might avoid the shoals and sand
hanks which more or less choke all the
rivers mouths, save the Sulina. While dig
ging the canal they hcaped up the earth
| taken from the vast trench upon the right
bank, perhaps with the intention of using
IL as means Of defence. And to this day
tho folk OF Tshernavoda term it IRA jan s
Wall" The canal, in their neighborhood, is
still full Of water, but it ultimately disap-
pears among the marshes farther eastward.
One strange feature Of this melancholy
waterlogged region Of marshes and knobs is
the numerous barrows or tumuli which rise
from all parts Of the coast wherever the
Romans made intrenchments and camps.
Many Of them so large as TO give the
appearance Of natural hills. Some have
thought that they mark the place OF sepul J.
chrc OF the officers and men killed in de-
fcnsivc warfare against the wild barbarians
OF the north. Others have conjcctured that
they form the burial places Of the slaves