Norwich bulletin., 1917-04-06
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society

The Crimea-'Hanging down into the Black Sea like a butchers cleaver
 with it's handle pointed east and the near corner of the blade joined to the mainland of Russia, the Crimea, where Fit was first planned to exile the abdi- eating Car is about as near to being an island peninsula well can be- even though very narrow strait IS the only water that lies between it and Q second connection with the main and. On the one side-to the west = lies the Perekop Gulf, and to the east, shut out from the Black Sea by the handle of the cleaver, is the Sea of AZov."
 Thus the Crimea is outlined in bulletin issued by the National Geo graphic Society from it's Washington headquarters for geographic research concerning this Florida of Russia jut- ting out into Europe's inland sea.
 with an area matching that of New hampshire, a population equal to that of New Hampshire and Vermont to- Cether and a climate that borrOwS good features from Florida and South ern California and bad ones from many places, the Crimea is one of the most fascinating bits of territory be-
 tween Portugal and Cochin China Its populace a congress of races. its in dustries ranging from the growing subtropical fruits and the housing of Russia's elite as they flee from the cold. to the herding of sheep and the growing of grain, it is place of many sided activities
 As the men of wealth of America nave their winter homes in Florida and those of Western Europe have theirs along the Riveira, the people of position in Russia have their country seats in the Crin1ea. And beautiful places they are. for in Russia the rich are very rich. The height of the social season is from the middle of August fo 0f
 "The peninsula is occupied by S55,- 900 people, according to the last cen sus, mostly Turkish-speaking Tartars, with a scattering of Russians, Greeks morality are said to be roverbial traits of the Crimean Tartars, who have teen undergoing the influences of rus Siheation for several generations. They have taken up vine culture, fruit grow ing, and kindred occupations with a zeal seldom equalled east of the Aegean.
 'Of course most interesting of all
 things CriE1ean are it's history, it's
 fortress, and it's imperial palace In the second century B. B. the Seythians founded kingdom there, and the land passed through many changes, now under one sovereignty and now under another, finally passing to the Tartars,
 who in turn were brought under the
 rule of the Turks. In 11S3 Russia
 forced the last khan to abdfcate, and made the Crimea a part of one of her provinces. The Grim Ttartars, who
 give the peninsula it's name, by req son of their substantial admixture of Greek and other bloods, have lost most of the Mongolian features, being slender in build; possessing aquiIline tai slant, and countenances not quite so inscrutable as the Eastern type. Tn the Crimean war fought by England, Trance and Turkey against f1a 6r7o feesf <nfe at SevastopoI Here the factors of unlimited resources operated in the Allies favor. Through their command of the sea they could secure every
 thing needed, while the Russians could bring up their supplies only across the barren steppes, whose highways were marked at every step by the dead and the dying, both man and beast. .The novels of Tolstoy give a gra- phic picture of the Crimean war from the Russian viewpoint-depicting the miseries of the march, the anquish of the life in the easements, and the the lines under shelIfre, there to await the night attack that might or might not come. It was in this war that Florence Nightingale rendered ser synonym of minfstering angel of the worlds battlefieIds. Then men. knew nothing of the cause Of cholera and
 such diseases. and the soldiers died .1t is estimated that fifty thousand British soldiers lie buried in the cem- etery outside of Sevastopol. Before the present war this vast City of the Dead was watched over bp a German who could speak no aEngifsE, but who was proud of his privilege of guarding the ashes of those who fell at Balak- lava and Inkerman.
 When Stephen Graham visited the cemetery the old keeper told him they had thirty-five varieties of o1eander in | the cemetery.
 "The imperial Large Palace, to | which the dethroned monarch was to retire is situated at Livadia, surround ed by a magnificent park. It is of l recent construction, and was com pIeted only six years ago. Hard by is l the simply constructed Small Palace, in an upper room of which Alexander | III died. In no other country in the world was the reigning ruler possessed ' 0f So uianv lands or SfIef1 eXFeT1 sive