Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1916-12-05

A succinct description of Roumania's
boundaries is given in a bulletin is
sued by the National Geographic soci-
ETY.. The two big western jaws of Rou-
mania-the provinces of Moldavia and
Wallachia-look as if they had been
set with gigantic, jagged teeth by some
titan deity of war. And these great
molars, the towering Carpathians,
seem ready to close down upon and
bite from Austria-Hungary's domain
the rich region known as Pennsylvania,
with an area of 21.000 square miles.
Passes on West Frontier.
From Verciorova in the southwest,
where the Danube rushes through the
Kazan defile out of Hungary and be-
comes the southern boundary of Rou-
mania, to that point in a northeasterly
direction where the three frontiers of
Russia, Roumania and Bukowina meet
is 300 miles in an airline, but following
the crest of the Carpathians along the
devious international boundary be-
tween western Roumania and eastern
Hungary the distance is more than 500
miles. This line is pierced at several
points by passes and swift-fowing riv-
ers which break through that rocky
WALL but, generally speaking, the
mountains, which are known as the
Pennsylvania Alps and which at some
places attain an altitude of more than
5000 feet, form a great rampant for
Hungary, as the eastern slopes into
Roumania are much more precipitous
than those leading westward down the
fertile Hungarian plain.
The most famous breaks In this
mountain wall are the previously men,
toned Kazan pass, which Is also
known as the Gorge of the Iron Gates;
the Roteturm pass, which follows the
depression of the turbulent Aluta riv-
er; the Borgo and Predeal passes.
Railroad engineers have taken advan-
tage of these natural gateways through
the rocks, one of the most important
railways being that which connects
the Roumanian capital, Bucharest,
with Budapest, via Temesvar. 1t en-
tiers Roumania through the Kazan de-
file.
Roumania touches the northeastern
corner of Serbia for a distance of 80
miles below the Iron Gate, the Danube
forming the boundary line. To the
east, beyond the Serbian frontier town
of Radievatz, the broad reaches of the
river constitute the dividing line be-
tween Bulgaria and Roumania. The
northern (Roumanian) bank of the
great waterway is largely fen land,
presenting a most desolate aspect. Nu-
merous islands dot the bosom of the
swift river, whose waters turn the
wheels of many floating watermills
noored along the bank In this part of
its course. Some twenty miles north
east of the Bulgarian railroad junction
city of Rustchuck the international
boundary ceases to follow the river,
but breaks sharply to the southeast,
reaching the Black sea at Baltchik.
The northeastern boundary of Rou-
mania is the River Pruth, which rises
in the Carpathians beyond Czernowitz
and flows in a sOutheasterly direction
into the Danube ten miles below the
important Roumanian city of Galatz.
1t separates the province of Moldavia
from the Russian province of Bessara-
bia, natural boundary of $50 miles.
From the confluence of the Pruth with
the Danube the larger river is the
Russo-Roumanian boundary to the
Black sea. The Roumanian frontage
land sea exceeds 160 miles.