Norwich bulletin., 1918-06-29
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society.

Russian Travel in Wartime.-W. T. Ellis, traveller and war correspondent, gives. a graphic picture of the con ditionS which an American traveller in Russia faces today in trip down the River Xolga, the Mississippi of the SIav empire. A part Of Mr Ellis communication to the National Geo. 1 graphic Society is issued as the fol- l lowing war geography bulletin: Wars gentle art of foraging is no new acquisition for Russia. All travel | is based on the assumption that most of the passengers will carry food with them or secure it en route. It is the rare person who depends entirely upon the dining-car or the ships restau- rant
 Tt is perfectly au fait for gentle man. and even for a military officer. i to enter dining-roem with box of caviar or a loaf of whitish bread and a couple of cucumbers, or d jar of l jam in his hands. It may be that he | carries dried fish by their tails or watermelon under his arm. IL IS to se
 cure these supplies that passengers rush ashore at every stop. Most have come from the sad. and soggy black bread of Petrograd and Moscow; and
 before they are far down the Volga 7, they find themselves in the realm of
 plentiful white bread, or near white
 bread, and even, in some places, of real pastry.
 There is abundance of grain in
 some of these towns, but the local committees will not permit it to be shipped out-another illustration of the everywhere apparent fact that l Russia's fundamental need is or ganization and transportation. The traveller has scarcely come out from
 under the depression of the bread lines of the North, and the nightmare of black bread, whe;i suddenly, at As
 trakhan, he finds himself unce more in the black bread-line zone. Of dairy
 products and fruits-Inilk, butter,
 cheese, eggs melons, potatoes, onions,
 egg plants, tomatoes, beans, apples, peaches; pears, plums and luscious
 grapes-there is no stint in Astrakhan; 1;
 but bread and sugar are procurable
 only by ticket.
 Many river ports have fe0d in
 plenty and the peasant women bring it down to the Wharves- During the
 time the steamer is at the dock the
 scene is busy one, passengers milling
 about like cattle in a corral, as they
 pass from vendor tc vendor, seeking
 bargains. This frequent exodus to
 the shore of shoppers for food is the most absorbing spectacle of the Volga River journey. It never loses it's .hu . man interest.
 The. peasant women and children are patient, pleasant, and shrewd mer- chants. Neither they nor their GUS
 toners are bothered by such trifies
 as dust or germs; for the only booths of this bazaar are baskets and few , I-feet of earth, along the dusty dock or ] it's approaches. Here round loaves of
 dusky bread. IS to A inches in dia ) meter, are displayed, that they may later be gathered to the bosoms of
 hungry passengers and borne to their , cabins. Lucky is the soldier who can pillow his head upon one of these l loaves by night and much upon it by
 day.
 ,' The idea of Russia's plenty is visu alized along the riHed Upstream l ships are laden within and without small ports there are, literally thous- , ands of watermelons on display. Small fruits are abundant. Some things are : even cheap at places, as watermelon for 10 or 15 cents and loaf of bread } for about the same.
 , Much of the fresh produce must gc
 to waste. The passengers on the boats
 do their utmost to prevent that un-
 desirable fate for edibles. for they