Norwich bulletin., 1920-12-21

the sheltered valleys grow grapes. figs, elves and all the. tender fruits. mag nolias, bays and nlyriles; and a pro- fusion Of wild Mowers and graEses
 fhat the delights of It's mild tclimate
 sere discovered early IS testified by ne ruins of Greek, Byzantine and italian architecture which are to be found among the mosques of the later .fatars the palaces of the Russian i'm perial family and nobility, and the magnificent modern hotels of the plea sure towns to which the prosperous lasses of Russia fioclted before the world war. Yalta. in those care-free days, was Russ.as Nice, Newport and
 ldiami rolled into one; is cafe and casino life was os hectic. gay and ex-
 l,ensive as that 10 be found in any of the worlds pre-war playgroundA
 The Crimea is peninsula that tarely efcaped being an island IL
 hangs from the mainland Of South
 Hussia down Into the Black Sea. like founder. IL is attached 5y the narrow ribbon of the Isthmus of Perekop, a strip of land only three-quarters Of a
 rnile wide and only a few feet above sea level. On one side is the Black Sea and on the other the stagnanL l shallow, nal-odorous waters of the Si-
 watch, or Putrid Sea, n lagoon Of the | Gta ol AL0Ns HIS l1 onl. 1nDIVA-
 sn natural land connection between | tEe mainland and the Crimea, but a l few miles 10 the east a narrow part Of | the Putrid Sea has been bridged by tbe | railroad which enters the penlnsuia ktill farther eastward peculiar na-
 tural formation, a mere thread-like | causeway of sand known as the Ton | que of Arabat, stretches for more than 60 miles from the mainland to the base of the 'hounder's tail that forms the eastermost extension of the Crimea-
 canal has been cut through this spit
 Of sand near its northern end 10 con-
 rect the waters of the Sea Of Azov and
 those of the Putrid Sea. The intrench-
 iag or mining of these three marrow
 land entrances to the crimes arc rels-
 lively simple matters from the point
 Of view of military eBgiDecrirg.
 The greatest width Of .e Crimea
 north and south Is 1I5 miles. and its
 greatest length from head to tan ls
 s25 miles. IL contains about a.7oo
 square miles. and is thus approximate
 ly tne size of the state Of Vermont or the island of Sicily. Before the world . war It's population was about 2.0Oo. DOC. The Cimmerians, Cclts and close cousins of the Welsh, wero the first
 people known to be in possession of
 the Crimea. at the early dawn of Greek history. They were driven out by the l efNg &Nahk NNAN i, established hy the Greeks al a laier , date. The Huns overran the Crimca
 when they surged into Europe. IL was oolonixed by ByZahtine Greeks. Hene-
 tians and Genoese. The Tatars later . took control and set up Mohammcd- an state under line of Khans. Bak-
 thiSarai, tbeir capital remains little . changed today. slice of Asia in Eu-
 rope. The dominant feature of the
 old Tztar city is the palace of khans.
 which in many ways Is like the AL
 hambra of Granada
 The Crimea was conquered by i Cathnrine the Great of Russia in lTIi xnd remained a part of the Russia em- pire until that political entity's col '' slpse fin IsiT. Ghe bulk of the popo- I hltion remains Tatar though there is
 an>admixture of both Greek and Its 70 s iisn blood in the nominally Tatar peo- : ole.
 a "Sevastopol. on the west coast o. . tie Crimea, was a great military post d tI the days of the old Russian regime a and it was as well the home port oi . the Russian Black Sea fleet. From o there. according to cherished imperia
 dreams, was to go forth on the Rus . sian counterpart of Der Tag th, q forces that would wrest the Posphor a IS and Dardanelles from the Turk if and place the cross of St. George ovei 2 Constantinopie and the cross of Chris s over Sancta Sophia