Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-08-26
Geographic News
Bulletins BY the
National Geographic Society
WHAT is TIE UKRAINE

What is the Ukraine? The Poles
and the Lithuanians of a few cen
turtles g knew we'll this most tur-
bulent section over which they at
tempted to rule, and Imperial Rus
STA for a long time was greatly
troubled by this very unruly part
OF her expansive domain. The Tar
tars and the Turks felt it's proxi-
nifty because of tie many raids
made upon them by the wild warri-
ors of the steppes," says Nevin o.
Winter in a communication to the
National Geographic Society.
THE Ukraine, or little Russia, has
had a troublesome career. The wild
Scythians helped to feed ancient
Greece and her colonies from these
same endless steppes whence Ger
many expected to draw sustenance.
A thousand years ago Kiev was al
ready becoming an important place.
When the Saxons still ruled Eng
land, in the long ago, the banks of
the Dnieper were a meeting place
for many races, drawn thither by
commerce. Religions differences had
not yet arisen, for all were worship
ers of idols. Even then a Slav . ,o-
pie were safely tablished here
sowing and reaping their harvests
and sending their surplus grain
down the river to the Black Sea.
The name Ukraine means Dor
der-marches.' For centuries it was
the bulwark that protected Poland
and Lithuania from the Tartars,
Turks, and other migrating Orien-
tails. As a result 1t has had cruel
taskmasters.
THE native population was large
ly Cossacks. a wild and unruly peo-
pie at that time. They were not
originally a tribe, but were men who
went forth into the wilderness TO
find freedom. The vast steppes. COW
cred with grass to the height of a
horse. within which a multitude Of
game lurked, lured them on.
There were Poles and Lithuani-
ans and Russians and even Turks
among them. They became mar
velous shots, riders, and swimmers:
their horses were famous FOR their
swiftness and endurance. Their Diff
ferences gradually blended in a unity
of purpose and principle.
THE Ukraine includes southeast
ern Russia, with the exception of
the province known as Bessarabia,
. PaA tAfSS VI Nv ito ~
the Balkan states and is peopled
with Rumanians and Bulgaria.s.
The great seaport of Odessa and
surrounding country have been add
ed to it under the new alignment.
1.-THE Ukraine does not reach
much north of Kiev or east Of
Kharkov, but it is a large State in
itself, about as large as the Ger
mar Empire. with some twenty five
or thirty millions of people living
in it:
Ukraine is Kiev, around which ma
tional life probably centers hecause
of the deep religious associations in
connection with the shrines and
many holy places. 1t was at M
time the capital of all Russia. Khar-
kov is the leading commercial town
in it, unless Odessa, on the Black
Sea, is considered,
There is a lure an out the limit
less stretches OF the steppes in the
Ukraine. III wide, level spaces. or
in gentle undulations, they reach out
until sky and horizon meet in a
barely perceptible line. Parts of It
remind one very much of our own
western prairies. In spring ana
summer it is an ocean of verdure,
with varied shades of green of the
growing vegetation interspersed with
flowers Of many hues; later, in the
autumn, after the crops are har-
vested, it becomes a brown waste
Of stubble and burned-up pastul es;
in winter it is a white, g%listening
expanse of snow.
THE unending forest land Of the
north has disappeared, not sudden
ly. but by degrees. Most Of it is
%treeless, however, and a feeling of
sadness almost depression involun-
tarily creeps upon n as he travels
over the steppes for the first time.
There are not many old towns
in the Ukraine. Except in Kisv and
K~harkov, one will hardly find u
building more than a hundred years
old. No old medieval churches built
UP by the toll of generations of de-
vout hands, no old chateaux of the
nobility, no palaces rich in pict res
will be encountered. The great ma
jority OF the towns are still big,
overgrown villages.
1.-THE towns are separated fr I'm
each other by enormous distances,
with imperfect communication. The
peasants plant their villages in the
lee of some swell in the surface or
by the edge of a stream in which
they "a water their fiocks during
the drought which may come