m. The river valleys are in general flat; only along the steep borders

of the plateau are they cut deep. The steep western border is very picturesque, with its deep gorges and loess walls. Many vigorous springs appear here, among them the well-known Parashka spring, from which a heavy column of water rises from time to time.

The oldest rock layer of the Rostoche is the chalk-marl. Above it lie, in almost undisturbed horizontal layers, miocene limestone, sandstone, clay, sand, Diluvial loam, while sand and broken stone with many boulders, which are of unmistakable northern origin and were transported by glaciers and streams of the ice period as far as the southern part of the Rostoche, form a heavy cover everywhere. The ground is not very fertile, sand and marl soil being particularly wide-spread.

The northern part of the Rostoche, beyond the Tanva valley, is a broad, slightly undulating plateau, which, in its highest part, reaches a height of only 340 m. The western edge of the plateau is distinct and steep and declines in places 100 m. to the low country of the Vistula. Toward the north the plateau surface declines very gradually and merges almost imperceptibly into the plain of the Pidlassye. The river valleys, as those of the Buh, Vepr, are broad, flat and marshy.

The geological constitution of the northern Rostoche is almost entirely similar to that of the southern part. Its soil cover, too, is not very fertile, and only great woods have survived, especially in the districts of the old morainic sand and loam. Only in the neighborhood of the Pidlassye does the soil become more fertile. For the configuration of surface of the Rostoche, the recent post-glacial raising of the ground has also been of great significance, altho here it was not nearly so intensive as in Podolia.

The Volhynian Plateau extends over a broad space between the Buh in the west and the Teterev in the east, between the swampy plain of the Polissye in the north and the Dniester-Dnieper watershed and the upper Boh valley in the south. The Volhynian Plateau does not possess the compactness of the Podolian or Rostoche Plateau. The swampy lowland of the Polissye extends along the rivers into the heart of Volhynia, thereby dividing its plateau country into several sections of different size. Likewise, the inner structure and geological constitution of Volhynia is variable. Western Volhynia, situated between the Buh and Horin Rivers, has a sub-layer of chalk marl, which is capped in places by layers of clay and sandstone and limestone of recent tertiary date. Eastern Volhynia lies entirely in the region of the primeval Ukrainian Horst, whose plicate granite-gneiss sub-layer is covered by old tertiary deposits. In this tectonically disturbed region we meet with traces of early volcanic action. Near Berestovetz, Horoshki, etc., species of eruptive rock appear as signs of radical disturbances of the earth’s surface.

The surface soil of Volhynia is black soil only in the south. Beyond that we find here sandy soil, white earth and loamy soil, as signs of a one-time glacial covering and the action of fluvio-glacial waters. Many regions of loamy ground are rich in vegetable soil and not without considerable fertility.

The lowest part of the Volhynian Plateau is the western part, which lies between the broad, marshy, flat valleys of the Buh and the Stir. The slightly undulating, almost level plateau surface, which declines imperceptibly toward the Polissye, here just attains a height of 200 m., while the next section, between the Stir and the Horin is the highest part of Volhynia. As an extension of the above-mentioned northern edge of Podolia, the Kremianetz-Ostroh hill-country intrudes between the two rivers. Over 400 m. high, near the city of Kremianetz, it declines toward the north, a steep section torn by gorges and ravines. Near Dubno, the plateau is cut into a picturesque hill country with a maximum height of 340 m. The hills of Volhynia have steep, often rocky declines and flattened rocky peaks. North of Rivne and Lutzk they finally begin to be lower and more rounded, then they dwindle to a flat billowy tract of land, until, at the borders of the Polissye, we see only an almost perfect plain.

Between the Horin and Sluch Rivers, the Volhynian Plateau becomes more uniform. Its surface is flat, and broad valleys of the rivers which flow toward the east, forming numerous ponds, part it slightly. Only in the south is a height of more than 300 m. reached; in the north, where the granite sub-layer appears everywhere, especially in river valleys, barely 200 m.

The eastern part of the Volhynian Plateau extends, at first, as a narrow plateau zone between the valleys of the Boh and the Teterev on one side and of the Sluch on the other. Then the plateau spreads out like a fan toward the north. At the source of the Boh and the Sluch, the plateau reaches a height of 370 m.; at the sources of the Teterev, 340 m. Here the surface is level, except that here and there low, gently-rounded hills arise. In the broad, northern part, the Volhynian Plateau becomes much lower and finally separates into individual plateau islands, as, for example, near Novhorod-Volinsky, Zitomir, Ovruch, which rise gently from the marshy lowlands.

The valleys of the Volhynian rivers, broad, flat, with gentle slopes and marshy bottoms, differentiate the Volhynian landscape most strongly from the Podolian. The Volhynian landscape presents a view of flat, wooded hills, slowly flowing streams between flat banks, marshes and marshy meadows, sandy ground—all signs of the proximity of the Polissye.

The Dnieper Plateau has the outlines of a longish, irregular polygon. On the northwest it is bounded by the rocky valley of the Teterev, on the southwest by the Boh River, on the south and southwest by the Pontian steppe-plain, on the northeast by the Dnieper River.

This great space, however, does not constitute a uniform plateau. The broad river valleys and broad depressions which traverse the plateau have parted it into several sections. Only the uniform sub-layer and the geologic character, as well as the uniform appearance of the landscape, determine the natural unity of the region.

The sub-layer of the Dnieper Plateau is made up of the primitive granite-gneiss clod of the Ukrainian horst. The granite-gneiss formations were folded in the pre-cambrian period. The folds and quarries stretch principally from north to south, and appear very distinctly near Zitomir and Korsun, and at the rapids of the Dnieper. The mesozoic layers also, which lie close to the granite-horst, are folded at Trekhtimiriv. The tertiary layers, which form a thin cover over the granite, lie mostly in undisturbed horizontal lines. Only along the right, steep bank of the Dnieper we see them folded and broken thru by quarries. In the neighborhood of the Shevchenko barrow they appear most distinctly.

The occurrence of eruptive rock in the south of the plateau, appearing in mound-shaped flat hills, is, however, connected only with the old disturbances in the horst.

This species of rock of the Dnieper Plateau appears almost solely in the declivities of the valleys and balkas. Otherwise it is covered everywhere by an immense mantle of loam, loess, and chornozyom. The glacial deposits, whose southern boundary passes through Zhitomir, Tarashcha, Chihirin, and Kreminchuk, present, in the territory of the Dnieper Plateau, examples of genuine fluvio-glacial moraine, as well as sands of no great depth, and in rather erratic distribution.

The configuration of surface of the Dnieper Plateau is varied enough. The greatest height (300 m.) is reached south of Berdichiv. Toward the east and southeast the plateau becomes constantly lower. This lowering, however, does not proceed regularly, different sections of the plateau presenting different conditions in this respect.

The section projecting furthest toward the west to the Sob and Ross Rivers is a level, slightly divided plateau, with a maximum height of 300 m. The tributaries of the Teterev, Irpen and Ross flow slowly in flat valleys thru whole rows of ponds. Where they enter the plain they finally have steep granite banks and rocky beds. The plateau section between the Sob and Ross Rivers in the west and the Siniukha and Huili Tikich in the east has more valleys. The river valleys and balkas are deeper, their sides rockier, and thru them the plateau is transformed in places into chains and groups of flat hills. But this plateau section is lower than the preceding one, attaining only 260 m. Still lower is the section between the Siniukha and the Inhuletz. It attains a height of only 240 m. and is very even. The granite sub-layer appears here even in the level steppe; the valleys and balkas are cut deep with rocky bottoms and rocky slopes.

Besides these three sections, the Dnieper plateau embraces two long strips of plateau which stretch along the right bank of the Dnieper. The one is surrounded by the Dnieper, Irpen, and Ross Rivers, the other stretches from the source of the Tiasmin to the rapids of the Dnieper. The height of these strips of plateau is negligible, the highest points attaining just 190 m. near Kiev, 240 m. between Trekhtimiriv and Kaniv, 250 m. near Chihirin, and barely 180 m. at the first of the rapids. The steep declivity with which the plateau strips descend to the Dnieper plain emphasize the antithesis between plateau and plain in this region very markedly.

The difference in level surpasses 100 m. near Kiev and Katerinoslav and 150 m. near the Shevchenko barrow, not far from Kaniv. The declivity of the right bank of the Dnieper is much torn by gorges, and everywhere we see picturesque rock piles. The steep bank appears, especially to a plain-dweller, like a chain of mountains and is even called “the mountains of the Dnieper.” The idea of a “mountain bank” of the Dnieper, therefore, need not be rejected outright. The aspect of Kiev and the Shevchenko barrow is one of the most beautiful in the entire Ukraine.

On ascending this “mountain chain,” however, which appears so imposing from the left bank of the river, and looking toward the west, we find before us only a slightly undulating plateau surface, with rounded dome-shaped hills and deep valleys, belonging to the right-hand tributaries of the Dnieper.

The nature of the landscape of the Dnieper Plateau is, consequently, different from that of the Volhynian or Podolian. The lightly undulating plateau, gradually becoming flatter toward the east and south and broken up only near the river valleys into flat dome-shaped hills; the valleys of the rivers, wide, not deep, and yet with rocky river beds and rocky slopes, with loess gorges and walls; the mighty Dnieper with its picturesque mountain shores; the never-ending grain steppes crossed by little woods, mohilas and long, extended old walls of rock—this is the landscape view of the old Kiev country, the heart of the Ukraine.

The Dnieper Plateau becomes constantly lower toward the southeast, without, however, losing its original landscape nature in the least. Near the Dnieper rapids we see, quite distinctly, that the miocene-covered sub-layer of granite of the Ukrainian plateau group stretches straight across the river and is the cause of its rapids. But the differences in level at that point are no longer different from the variations in a plain. In the region of the source of the Samara and along the Donetz the land finally rises above the 200 m. level again. We are now in the Donetz Plateau.

As near as Isium we confront the first boundary post of the plateau in the steep chalk rocks of Mt. Kremianetz on the Donetz River. Further down we see the picturesque rocks of the famous monastery of “the Holy Hills.” All these are parts of the northern verge of the plateau, which is its limit on the north. Near Slavianoserbsk and Luhansk this picturesque border reaches a height of 70 m. The course of the Donetz also forms the eastern boundary; the southern boundary is formed by the small strip of the Pontian Plain on the shore of the Sea of Azof; the western border is denoted by the plain on the left bank of the Dnieper.

The Donetz Plateau stretches in a long flat ridge from N. W. W. to S. E. E., and extends a flat side-ridge to either side. The longer one goes southward, almost as far as Mariupol, the other northward to Bakhmut. The surface of the plateau is very level and declines very flatly toward all sides. Only light billows of land traverse the steppe surface, which is strewn with countless tumuli. In the south these hills often have a core of granite. The river valleys have steep, altho not high slopes. They divide the uniform surface of the heights but slightly. From the surface configuration one could never guess that at this point there was once a mountain range which fell victim to the exogenous forces of the earth’s water and air blanket. Only an insignificant part of the surface of the Donetz Plateau lies more than 300 m. high; the highest point, Tovsta Mohila, barely reaching 370 m.

In its inner structure it is entirely different from all other parts of the Ukrainian group of plateaus. The entire south and west of the plateau is composed of folded granite-gneiss, of the Azof part of the horst, capped by a thin tertiary layer, and in many places (especially between Volnovakha and Kalmius) broken thru by eruptive rock formations. Next to these, in the north and south of the plateau, lie limestone, slate, clay and sandstone formations of devonian, carbonic, permian, jurassic and cretaceous age, folded and broken thru by ravines. Over this leveled basic range lie the horizontal tertiary layers. The great development of the coal-containing carbon layers gives to the monotonous, only recently bared steppe elevation of the Donetz Plateau, great significance for the industrial life of all Eastern Europe. The coal-fields of the Donetz Plateau, 23,000 km. in size, are the richest and most important coal region of the present Russian Empire. Thanks to these “black diamonds,” a forest of factory chimneys (sparsely sown as yet, to be sure) has sprung up within the most recent past in the black steppe, where the anthracite and pit-coal collieries furnish the desired nourishment. Besides this, the permian layers of the Donetz Plateau hold great deposits of rock-salt. Here, too, lie the only quicksilver mines of the Russian Empire in Europe. Rich copper deposits are being exploited here, besides which we must mention the occurrence of zinc, silver, lead, and even gold in this Donetz region, which has not yet been sufficiently explored by the mining prospector.

The Donetz Plateau forms the easternmost member of the Ukrainian plateau group, which constantly narrows toward the east. Outside of this, the group rises only at the southernmost spurs of the Central Russian Plateau above the 200 m. level. These regions of the Ukraine, however, we may safely discuss in our description of the Dnieper Plain, for the transition from this plain to the Central Russian elevation is so imperceptible and gradual, the plateau character so undecided, that even from the scientific morphological point of view, one can hardly find any difference between the plain landscape and the neighboring combined elevated surfaces.

THE UKRAINIAN PLAIN COUNTRY

The Ukrainian plateau group, which passes thru the Ukraine in its entire length is hemmed in on both sides by two plain regions. Without a break they accompany the extended plateau groups in the north and south, uniting finally on the left bank of the Don and the country below the Caucasus. The northern plain district accompanies the northern decline of the Ukrainian horst, concealing a tectonically disturbed substratum; the southern district accompanies the northern border of the Black Sea and parts the broken chain of plicate mountains from the plateau group of the Ukraine.

The northern plain district of the Ukraine joins directly on to the Polish lowlands, and, indirectly, to the North German lowland.

The first section of the northern plain district is called Pidlassye (Podlakhia, land on the Polish border). Its northern boundary consists of the southern limits of the White Russian Plateau; the western boundary of the flat elevations near Sidlez and Bilsk; on the south the plain borders on the spurs of the Rostoche; in the east the boundary is the Buh-Pripet divide, which is only 170 m. high. The surface of the Pidlassye is very even, only slightly undulating in places on the north and south borders. The river valleys are very broad and flat. Only the great forest (the well-known Biloveza forest lies here) and the water-courses bring variety into the monotonous country. The main stream of the Pidlassye, the Buh, as well as its tributaries have the character of genuine lowland rivers. They flow thru their over-great valleys in great turns, divide into many arms, and form innumerable old river beds. Besides these we find, in southern Pidlassye, a large number of lakes and many swamps and moors which mark the sites of former lakes.

The chalk and tertiary substratum appears only in very few places, the rest being covered everywhere by sand and loam, which include boulders and rubble of Finnic-Scandinavian origin. These are traces of the great (second) glacial period of Northern Europe, which covered the entire region of the Pidlassye with glacial ice. The lakes are morain-lakes. The ice of the glacial period did not reach Pidlassye. At that time a broad primeval river valley formed here as an extension of the primeval Vistula river valley. In this valley the water from the melting glacier flowed off to the east toward the lowland of the Polissye.

The Polissye (woodland) is one of the most remarkable lands of Eastern Europe. Only a low (170 m.) and very flat divide, which is crossed without difficulty by the Dnieper-Buh ship canal, separates the Polissye from the Pidlassye. In the north the White Russian Plateau approaches, in the south the Volhynian, in the east the Polissye extends beyond the Dnieper to the spurs of the Central Russian Plateau. The region thus bounded forms an immense flat trough, in the vertical axis of which the Pripet River flows. The bottom of this trough is very flat and lies at a height of 120–150 m. Only in places do we find almost imperceptible rises of ground. The substratum of the Polissye is composed of chalk marl with numerous holes made by springs (vikno = window), while in the east oligocene formations also appear. But this substratum is seen very seldom, all the rest of the Polissye being covered with diluvial sands and great swamps. The sands take in all the elevated places and form wandering or wood-covered dunes. These sandy rises of ground, together with the elevated banks of some of the rivers, afford the only sites for human abodes. All the remaining land is marshy wood, genuine forest swamps, bog or moor. The Pripet with its tributaries, the Stokhod, Stir, Hornin, Ubort, Uz (on the right) and the Pina, Yassiolda, Sluch, and Ptich (on the left), comprises the water system of the Polissye. All these rivers flow very slowly and deposit the mud which they bring from the plateau regions surrounding the Polissye along their courses. By this means they raise their beds and their banks more and more, so that all these Polissian rivers flow upon flat dams. At the time of high water the rivers overflow their banks and flood the entire lowland far and near. At the time of the melting of snows in the spring, or of the strong showers in the early summer, the entire Polissye is transformed into an immense lake, above whose surface only the flooded forests and the settled sandy elevations of ground are visible. The spring flood lasts from two to three months, the summer floods the same length of time, for the water flows off very slowly because of the slight decline. On the highways and railroads all traffic is blocked and certain places in the Polissye may be reached only by water. During the flood period the rivers have often sought new beds, and this explains the frequency of old river beds and river branches, which are peculiar to all the Polissian river courses. And, as reminders of the floods, innumerable pools and marsh lakes remain behind.

These periodic floods are the main cause of the continuance of the Polissian swamps. We can find two main types of marshes in the Polissye. In the west and north of the region, great peat moors, with pine woods, predominate; in the south and east treeless marsh meadows, overgrown with willow brush. These are called hala. Many fictions are told by the inhabitants of the Polissye about the swamps and small marsh lakes being bottomless. For a long time it was even believed that the swamps lay lower than the normal surface of the rivers. But exact measurements have proved these “fairy tales” to be false and have shown that the swamps of the Polissye are not deep and lie at a higher level than the rivers. Since 1873 the Russian government has been working to drain the swamps and reclaim them for civilization. Up to 1898, 6000 kilometers of canals are supposed to have been dug and 32,000 square kilometers of ground made usable.

The glacial period was of great importance for the surface configuration of the Polissye. Apart from the traces of the main glacial period, which are met with frequently in southern Polissye, it was the third glacial period that was of marked significance. The water from the Baltic glacier flowed off thru the region of the present Polissye and formed a large lake with the Dnieper as its outlet. The deposits of this lake are to be found especially in the south of the Polissye basin. The lake was then gradually filled in, the northern and western tributaries bringing more sand, the southern ones mud. At the same time the Pripet River cut in more deeply, and was, therefore, constantly more able to carry the waters of the Polissye to the Dnieper River. Swamps have taken the place of the lake and have gradually covered the entire land. The many smaller lakes of the region (the largest of them are Vihonivske Ozero and Knias) are the only remains and proofs of the one-time great lake. Only at the time of high water does the Polissye recall the memory of former times.

Dreary is the Polissian landscape. The dark forest in the deep-bottomed swamps alternate with the open marsh-meadow covered with pools; with gliding flow the many-armed rivers traverse the gloomy country. On yellow-white sand-dunes stand a few log-houses amid wretched little fields and poor meadows, corduroy and brush roads stretching for miles connect small, very sparsely scattered human settlements.

The Polissye Plain also extends to the left bank of the Dnieper, and there imperceptibly passes over into a comparatively narrow lowland district which stretches along the main river of the Ukraine. This is the third member of the series of plains of the Ukraine—the Dnieper Plain. It extends toward the southeast as far as the region of the rapids (porohi) of the Dnieper and rises slowly toward the northeast, passing over into the Central Russian Plateau. The transition takes place so imperceptibly that the difference in the nature of the country only becomes apparent at the furthest bounds of Ukrainian territory, which practically lie in the southern spurs of the Central Russian Plateau.

The Dnieper Plain is quite level only along the river itself. Every year a strip of the plain, in places 10 km. wide, is flooded by the Dnieper River, wherefore it is full of old river beds and swamps, on the Desna and near Cherkassy, where the lowland, too, enters upon the right Dnieper bank, and also of sand-dunes. Near Chernihiv and Uizin the landscape is quite Polissian and the name Polissye, too, is often used here to denote the region. Toward the southeast the Polissian character begins to gradually disappear. Black earth takes the place of the sandy soil, the forest mantle becomes constantly thinner, and the flat, undulating steppe-plain, with its innumerable barrows and plate-shaped depressions of ground, where, in springtime, small steppe lakes glisten in the sunlight, increases very rapidly.

The river valleys, along which the Dnieper Plain intrudes far into the Central Russian Plateau, are very wide valley slopes on the right, and flat slopes on the left side. Sand, swamps and forest terraces cover the flat valley bottoms, which are flooded every spring.

At the porohs of the Dnieper the country rises much higher than at Pereyaslav or Kreminchuk, where the Dnieper Plain rises barely 50 m. above sea-level. At the porohs the landscape on both sides is that of a low rock-plateau. The picturesque rocks of the Dnieper banks, the rapids and ledges of rock in the river bed, everywhere remind us that here the Ukrainian Horst is crossed by the main stream of the Ukraine. Not until we get down to the Zaporoze (land below the rapids) do we find the genuine lowland character again—in the Pontian Steppe-plain.

The transition of the Dnieper Plain to the southern spurs of the Central Russian Plateau is marked only by the rising of the valley slopes of the tributaries of the Dnieper in this region. Beyond that, the surface of the high bog, lying between the rivers, remains as flat and level as on the Dnieper and below the 200 m. level. Moreover, the spurs of the Central Russian elevation nowhere within Ukrainian territory attain the level of 300 m. The spur between the Dnieper and the Desna barely reaches a height of 230–240 m.; near the high Desna bank, the spur between the Desna and the Sem barely 260 m. About the sources of the Sem, Psiol and Donetz, the country attains a summit height of 280 m.; between the upper Donetz and Don only 250–260 m. From these highest regions the country declines imperceptibly but steadily toward the southwest, south and southeast.

The general nature of the land in the region of the southern spur of the Central Russian Plateau is entirely analogous to that of the neighboring Dnieper Plain, except that the river valleys are more deeply cut. The right valley-side descends to the river in a steep slope, furrowed by water rifts. The broad, flat valley bottom is occupied by river branches and old river beds, marshes and marsh meadows, sand areas or dunes. The left bank rises very gently, and we at last come upon the level, or at most slightly undulating surface of the water-shed, between two rivers. It, in turn, declines suddenly to the neighboring river and the succession of land-forms begins anew. This monotony of landscape reminds one of the neighboring Great Russia. The only variety is afforded here by the details of landscape, which appear most numerous in this region of the Ukraine.

These are rain water-rifts (in Ukrainian balka, provallia, yaruha). In this, and often in other plateau and plain lands of the Ukraine, they become a terrible scourge. The heavy mantle of black soil, loess and loam favors the formation of water-rifts as well as the loose chalk and old tertiary strata (marl, sand, clay). The strenuous cutting down of forest in the past century has given the final impulse to the formation of such water clefts. In the loose soil, no longer held together by the forests, the water-rifts grow and spread after every heavy rain with terrible speed, and may, in a few years, reduce a wealthy farmer to the beggar’s staff by transforming his most profitable black-soil fields into a maze of deep, dry ravines. Only a national re-stocking of the forests could bring the land relief. Especially in the neighborhood of the high precipitous banks of the rivers, the water-rifts work their mischief.

The glacial age had no particular significance for the surface configuration of the Dnieper Plain and the adjacent plateau spurs. Only in the north Chernihov country we find real traces of the glacier. The large peninsulas which the southern limit of the glacial boulders forms along the course of the Dnieper and the Don are by no means to be regarded as traces of two great glacial tongues. The sand and loam masses, with enclosed glacial boulders, which are found in the region of these peninsulas, are of fluvio-glacial origin, and were deposited by melted ice from the glacier on its way to the Black Sea. The northern limit of the black soil region is not in the least affected by these problematic glacial peninsulas.

After the glacial period, however, movements of the earth took place in the entire Ukrainian plateau group. It rose considerably, and the erosive action of the rivers began. At the point where the axis of the Ukrainian horst cuts the Dnieper, we find this rise of ground also in the Dnieper Plateau. The rapids of the Dnieper were formed at that time, and, up to the present, the giant river has not succeeded in leveling its falls.

That tectonic disturbances are not unknown to the Dnieper Plain we learn from the occurrence of volcanic rock and displacement of the strata near Isachki, not far from the city of Lokhvitzia, and on Mount Pivikha, north of Kreminchuk. It seems that along the northeast border of the Ukrainian horst a greatly disturbed area is hidden beneath more recent flat-piled rock layers. Great disturbances of the magnetic force of the earth seem to indicate the same.

The Dnieper Plain forms the last member in the northern plain district of the Ukraine. The southern plain district which extends along the northern banks of the Black Sea, from the delta of the Danube into the Kuban region, has since ancient times borne the accepted name of the Pontian Steppe-plain. Its old Ukrainian name is simply nis (lowland) or dike pole (wild field). The steppe-land and the river district, to this day, bear the famous name of Zaporoze (land below the rapids).

The Pontian steppe-plain is bounded on the north by the spurs of the Bessarabian, Podolian, Dnieper and Donetz Plateaus. On the south, by the sea-shore and the country at the foot of the Yaila Mountains, in Crimea. Past the Danube deltas the steppe-plain merges into the exactly similar steppe-plain on the Kuban.

The surface of the steppe-plain is exceptionally flat, slightly undulating only at the northern border, where the transition to the southern spurs of the Ukrainian plateau group proceeds imperceptibly. Innumerable barrows (mohyla) are as characteristic of the landscape of the Pontian Steppe-plain as the flat plate-shaped depressions of the ground, with small temporary lakes, the swampy flat valleys and the small salt marshes with their peculiar vegetation.

The many balkas, which divide the steppe-plain into innumerable low plateaus, do not affect the grand uniformity of the steppe landscape very much. As in the neighboring plateaus, they are cut in deep, but do not become visible to the traveler until he comes directly upon them. The pliocene steppe-lime which predominates in the entire steppe-plain, covers the sarmatian and Mediterranean strata, and reveals the crystalline substratum only in the west of the Dnieper in the neighborhood of the Dnieper Plateau, and forms rocky cornices on the slopes of the balkas. Lesser tectonic disturbances, in the shape of anticlinals and synclinals, have affected these youngest tertiary formations also. They are covered by a mantle of loess and black earth, which becomes constantly thinner toward the south. The typical chornozyom gives way, south of the parallel of Kherson, to the brown, also very fertile steppe-soil, which is accompanied in long stretches, however, by the saline earth. To the east of the Dnieper, at the southern spurs of the Donetz Plateau, the crystalline substratum also appears to a great extent, in banks of rock, in the midst of the steppe-plain.

Only along the large streams of the steppe country does the nature of the land change. Their valleys are broad and swampy, covered by the so-called plavni. Interminable thickets of sedge and seeds, marsh forest and meadows, together with innumerable river branches, old river beds, and small lakes, make up a beautiful, fresh, verdant country in the midst of the boundless steppe, whose vernal dress, resplendent with blossoms, turns yellow and blackish-brown in summer and fall, from the fierce glow of the sun.

STREAMS AND RIVERS OF THE UKRAINE

The Ukrainian rivers are genuinely typical of Eastern Europe. The great uniformity of the surface configuration of the Ukraine is responsible for the lack of that variety in its own river system which characterizes the waters of Western and Central Europe. But the great extent of the land does cause the Ukraine to have mountain, plateau and lowland streams, so that it does not attain the degree of uniformity in hydrographic conditions of Russia proper.

The Ukrainian river system concentrates in the Black Sea. From northwest, north and east, the rivers of the Ukraine tend toward its sea. Besides, the western boundary lines of the Ukraine lie on the Baltic slope. There, in Podlakhia, in the Kholmshchina, on the San River and in the Lemko country, the Ukrainian people has had its seats since the dawn of its history. In most recent times Ukrainian colonization has gained also parts of the Caspian slope on the Kuma and Terek Rivers. But the region drained by the Black Sea surpasses both the other regions so much in extent and in the size of its rivers, that the Baltic and Caspian region of the Ukraine dwindle in comparison. Nature has, therefore, turned the Ukrainian nation toward the south and southeast to the Black Sea. But, at the same time, she has not denied the Ukraine a convenient connection with the north and south of the globe. The main European river divide is, perhaps, nowhere so flat and so easy to cross as in Ukrainian territory. From the Dniester to the San (bifurcation of the Vishnia creek near Rudki), from the Pripet to the Buh and Niemen the passages are easy. Since ancient times portages have existed here, and in modern times the Pripet has been connected with the Buh and the Niemen by means of canals (King’s Canal and Oginski Canal) which, however, are at present entirely antiquated and almost useless. Besides, the widely branched water system of the Dnieper outside the Ukraine affords easy passage to the Dvina (Beresina Canal), Volga and Neva, in White Russian territory. Over these waterways and the portages lying between them the old path of the Northmen led from Scandinavia to Constantinople. This most important aspect of the Ukrainian water system promises at some future time to bear rich fruit, if the recently-formed plan to build a waterway for navigation on a large scale, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, utilizing the course of the Dnieper, should become a reality.

The Baltic watercourses of the Ukraine flow into the Vistula. Several large Carpathian tributaries originate in Ukrainian territory. Here the rapid Poprad carries the melted snow of the Tatra to the Dunayetz. The source of the Visloka also lies in the Ukrainian Lemko country. The last and largest Carpathian tributary of the Vistula belongs, in three-fourths of its extent, to Ukrainian territory, namely, the navigable San. It receives from the Carpathians the Vislok on the left and the Vihor on the right. The other tributaries of the San on the left side, the Vishnia, Sklo, Lubachivka and Tanva, come from the sub-Carpathian country and the Rostoche Plateau.

All the Carpathian tributaries of the Vistula have only at their sources the character of mountain streams, with swift currents, in rocky river beds, lined by banks of water-worn material. Even in the mountains their valleys become wide, covered with banks of pebbles, sand and loam, and overgrown with willow-brush, and their falls insignificant. In the sub-Carpathian country the banks become low and sandy, the stream slow, and the water-level is very unsteady, owing to the cutting down of forests in the country of the source. In spring, when the snow melts in the mountains, and at the time of the early summer rains, there are terrible floods; in dry summers the rivers dwindle to almost insignificant proportions.

From the Rostoche the Vepr, navigable from Krasnostav down, flows thru a broad, marshy valley, into the Vistula. The northern declivity of the Podolian Plateau sends its largest river, the Buh, navigable from Sokal on, down to the Vistula. This river is really a genuine lowland river. Its valley is wide and flat, the river winds with its muddy bed thru forest marshes, thickets of reeds and willow brush, now parting into a dozen branches, now flowing in a wide bed, past fresh, green meadows and dark forests. The same lowland character is a common quality of the left-hand tributaries of the Buh, the Poltva, Rata, Solokia, Krna and of the Luha on the right hand. The Mukhavetz, Lisna, Nurez and Narva, on the other hand, are typical woodland streams, which roll their great mass of water thru the forests of Podlakhia.

The Pontian Rivers of the Ukraine belong to the six great regions drained respectively by the Danube, Dniester, Boh, Don and Kuban.

Of the great region drained by the Danube, only the Carpathian country of the sources of the Theiss, Sereth, and Prut lie within Ukrainian boundaries. The Theiss is formed by the junction of two source-rivers near the Svidovez and the Chornohora, and collects all the rivers of the Ukrainian country belonging to Hungary—the Visheva and Isa on the left, the Torez, Talabor, Velika Rika, Bershava and Bodrochka, which consists of five source-rivers (the Latoritzia, Uz, Laboretz, Tepla and Ondava). All these rivers of the Hungarian-Ukrainian mountain country break their difficult way in deep, picturesque passes, thru forest-covered mountain chains. Innumerable rafts carry the trunks of the fallen Carpathian giants into the treeless plains of Hungary. Here, too, the rivers suddenly lose their mountain character; their currents become sluggish, their waters turbid, their banks swampy.

Of the Sereth and its tributaries, the Sochava and Moldava, only the sources belong to Ukrainian national territory. On the other hand, a considerable part of the Prut country lies within it. The Prut River rises at the Hoverla, where it forms a beautiful waterfall along the crater walls. Then it flows in a picturesque defile toward the north, forms another waterfall at Yaremche, then immediately leaves the mountains, uniting in the sub-Carpathian hill-country with the roaring Cheremosh, which also rises in two source-rivers on the slopes of the Black Mountains and flows in a deeply-cut meandering valley thru the beautiful Hutzul country. In the sub-Carpathian country the Prut has a wide, flat valley, taken up in places by marsh meadows. The river winds down the wide valley in countless twists, forms side branches and old river beds, and reaches the Danube in the midst of liman-like lakes and bogs, not far from the swampy delta. Outside of the mountains, the Prut receives only insignificant tributaries of small volume. Between the Danube and the Dniester we see only a few miserable little steppe rivers, emptying into salty or bracken liman lakes (e.g., the Yalpukh and the Kunduk Rivers).

The important Dniester River attains a length of over 1300 km., and possesses the greatest variety of distinct sections of river of all the Ukrainian streams. It originates in the High Beskid, near the village of Vovche, as a very energetic, wild creek. In a defile it advances into the sub-Carpathian hill-country, where it has deposited great masses of rubble. The mountain stream changes rapidly into a lowland stream and forms great swamps in the Dniester Plain, which, in high-water time, are converted into large river lakes. From the left bank, the Dniester here receives the muddy Vereshitza (from the Rostoche), which forms many ponds, from Western Podolia, the Hnila Lipa. All the remaining tributaries of this section of the Dnieper come from the Carpathians, on the left the Strviazh (Strivihor), on the right the Bistritza, the mighty meandering river Striy with the Opir, and the Svicha (with the Misunka). All these rivers are mountain streams, flow in beautiful defiles, and deposit great masses of rubble on the verge of the Carpathians. Beginning at the delta of the Svicha, the Dniester Plain becomes a wide, flat-bottomed valley, in which the river flows along in great bends and receives the Limnitzia and both the Bistritzas from the Carpathians. Near Nizniv the banks approach each other very closely and the Dniester enters a yar (cañon), not leaving its steep sides until near Tiraspol. The Podolian tributaries of the Dniester on the left side, the Zolota Lipa, Stripa, Sereth, Zbruch, Smotrich, Ushitza, Murakhva, Yahorlik, roll their turbid waters in similar cañons toward the Dniester. The Bessarabian tributaries, on the contrary, have wide, swampy valleys. All these plateau rivers are slight in volume of water, altho some of them attain considerable length. Only in the spring, when the snow-blanket melts, do their waters overflow the banks. In summer the water-level becomes very low, and the water of the early summer showers is stored up in the many ponds, which are found in large numbers, in the country about the sources of these rivers. All these plateau rivers are not even navigable for rafts; even the little fishers’ boat can hardly find its way along the muddy shoals.

In its cañons the Dniester River assumes all the characteristics of a plateau river. Its waters generally take up the entire bottom of the cañon, leaving very little space for the abodes of men. The incline of the river is not uniform, but constitutes a series of slight steps. Sections with rapid currents alternate with quiet depths. The small brooks which come down the short lateral gorges of the Dniester cañons bring great masses of loose stones and rubble into the river bed, as a result of the reckless destruction of forests, and build constantly growing cones of rubble, which the river must remove slowly and laboriously. They also form dangerous shoals and hinder the development of navigation on the Dniester. The river also forms regular rapids, near Yampil, where a layer of granite stretches clear across the river. For this reason the Dniester, tho navigable along a stretch of almost 800 km., has not become an important waterway. The navigation of the Dniester, which becomes more active from Khotin on, is now on the wane. Eight hundred years ago sea vessels were still able to reach the old Ukrainian royal city of Halich.

The floods of the Dniester are famous. In the spring, when the snows melt in the Carpathians, the Dniester Plain is converted into a great river-lake. The Carpathian tributaries bring the main stream so much water, that it cannot easily flow off thru the narrow cañon, and so, floods the whole wide Dniester Valley for weeks. Then there is high water even in the cañon of the Dniester, but it has little scope.

Near Tiraspol, the Dniester Valley widens out again. Swampy plavni wilds extend on both sides of the river. In a beautiful, rapidly growing delta, the Dniester empties into its liman, which it is slowly filling in with its precipitates. Two narrow outlets (hirló) break thru the bar of the liman and connect it with the sea.

Between the Dniester and the Boh, not one river finally empties into the sea. Even the largest rivers of the region, the Little and Big Kuyalnik and the Tilihul end their courses in limans, which are entirely closed off by bars. The valleys of these coastal rivers are narrow, becoming wider at last, when they are about to enter the limans. The current is always slow and the water often evaporates completely in the summer.

The Boh, falsely named the Southern Bug, is a real plateau river. It rises in the village of Kupil, near the source of the Sbruch, on the Austrian border, and flows as a typical Podolian mud-streamlet, in a flat valley, covered with ponds and swamps. But, beginning at Mezibiz, its bed becomes rocky, the valley slopes become high and keep approaching each other. The Boh Valley gradually becomes a cañon-like “yar,” altho it is at no point so deep as the Dniester Valley. The granite-gneiss formations of the Ukrainian horst appear here as picturesque shore rocks and slopes along the river and form innumerable rapids (as, for example, Constantinivka) in the river bed. Stony beds and narrow, rocky valleys are also found in the most important tributaries of the Boh—the Sob, Siniukha, Inhul on the left; the Kodima and Chichiclea on the right. All of them have little water, and in dry summers only a chain of ponds marks the valley road of the river. The main stream, too, has not much water, being unfit for navigation even in the time of the spring floods. Only the last 130 kilometers of its course, from Vosnesensk down, are navigable. At the entrance of the Inhul the Boh begins to widen considerably, the current becomes slow, and the depth at Mikolaiv sufficiently great to enable smaller sea vessels to reach its harbor. Slowly widening, the river gradually turns into the Buh liman, which has the winding outline of a river and unites with the great liman of the Dnieper. The entire length of the Boh is over 750 kilometers.

We now come to the main river of the Ukraine, the majestic Dnieper. To the Ukrainian people the Dnieper bears the same significance as the “Matushka Volga” to the Russians, the Vistula to the Poles, and the Rhine to the Germans. The Dnieper is the sacred river of the Ukraine. Like a divinity it was honored by the old Polans, the founders of the ancient Ukrainian state of Kiev; Slavutitza was the name given it by the Ukrainians of the monarchy. It was esteemed as a father and provider by the brave Zaporog Cossacks, the champions of Ukrainian liberty. For many centuries the Dnieper has played an important part in the folk-lore and literature of the Ukraine, in traditions and fairy-stories and folk-tales and in thousands of folk-songs; since ancient times it has been sung by all Ukrainian poets, from the unknown bard of the epic of Ihor, to the greatest of all Ukrainian poets, Taras Shevchenko, and so on, down to the youngest generation of the poets of the Ukraine. To them all, the Dnieper is the symbol of the Ukraine, of its life, and of its past. Not without cause did Shevchenko ask to be buried on the mountain shore of the Dnieper, “that I may see the endless plains and the Dnieper and the crags of its banks and hear the rushing of the Rushing One.” For no one is able to repeat the impressions which fill the soul of every Ukrainian when he looks down from this beautiful observation point of Shevchenko’s grave upon the majestic river below. How many thoughts, then, arise about the glorious, and yet so unspeakably sad, past of the Ukraine, about its miserable present and the great future toward which the nation tends, amid great difficulties, as does the Dnieper toward the Black Sea over the porohs. And we do not wonder that the Dnieper has become the national sanctuary of the Ukraine. With this river are connected all the important events of the historical life of the Ukraine. The Dnieper was the father of the ancient Ukrainian empire of Kiev; by way of the Dnieper a higher culture made its way into the Ukraine; on the Dnieper the Ukrainian Cossack element developed, which, after centuries of subjugation, gave the Ukrainians a new government. The Dnieper River has, since hoary antiquity, been the most important channel of intercourse between the North and the South of Eastern Europe; it has been the means of connecting the Ukraine with the sea and the cultural realm of Southern Europe. Its present importance, despite the low grade of culture in Eastern Europe, and despite Russian mismanagement, is great, and is growing rapidly. And if in the future the river is made accessible to sea-going vessels and becomes a road for large-scale navigation, its significance may become almost incalculable.

The Dnieper is the third largest river in Europe, after the Volga and the Danube. The length of its course is more than 2100 km. The region it drains includes 527,000 sq. km., not much less than the whole of France. Among the streams of the globe the Dnieper ranks thirty-second.

If the Dniester possesses some of the properties of a Central European river, namely, mountainous country at its source and many mountain tributaries; if the Boh is a genuine plateau river; the Dnieper, on the other hand, is the real type of a river in Eastern Europe. It rises in White Russia near the village of Clozove. A little swamp, which was formerly a small lake, situated at a height of 256 m., forms the source of the river. Because of this small height of the source, the Dnieper has, as, in fact, all the Eastern European rivers have, a very insignificant incline and an average speed of current of 0.4 m. per second. The source of the Dnieper lies near the sources of the Dvina and the Volga, as well as the source streams of the Neva.

Near its source the Dnieper is a small, muddy streamlet, which seeks its way southward in a flat valley, three miles wide, between swamps and moors. But quickly its volume increases, and, as near the source as Dorogobuz, the river becomes navigable for smaller vessels. Here it suddenly turns to the west, both valley slopes, but especially the left one, become higher and steeper, the valley narrows down to ½ km. But after a short stretch it becomes wide and swampy again at Smolensk. The depth of the river is very irregular, the pools (plessa) attaining a depth of 5 meters, the rapids often less than ½ meter. From Smolensk to Orsha the Dnieper Valley again becomes hardly 1 kilometer wide, between high banks. On the left bank picturesque, rocky precipices appear. At Orsha the Dnieper turns to the south, retaining this direction as far as Kiev. Down to Shclov the Dnieper Valley remains narrow, with steep slopes, then it widens slowly but steadily. The depth of the river reaches 10 meters, but many shoals, great morain boulders and broken sandstone make navigation difficult. Below Mogilev the spurs of the White Russian and Central Russian plateaus withdraw from the Dnieper and show only on the left side. The river reaches the low plain of the Polissye and flows in majestic turns thru swamps and meadows which are dotted with old river beds. In this section of its course the Dnieper receives the Druch and the voluminous, navigable Beresina on the right, and the navigable Soz on the left. The Dnieper receives an especially great amount of water from the Beresina. River navigation is doubled below its entrance, mainly because of innumerable rafts which are traveling to the treeless South Ukraine and the Black Sea from the forests of White Russia.

From the mouth of the Soz numerous low islands appear in the bed of the Dnieper. The river divides into numerous branches. The entire trough lying between the Dnieper and the Pripet is a labyrinth of river branches, lakes, old river beds, swamps and fens. Thru the Pripet the volume of the Dnieper River increases twofold, and very seldom flows along in a single bed.

The tributaries on the right side, the Teterev and the Irpen, bring the Dnieper the first remembrances of the Ukrainian plateau country, and soon its spurs appear on the right river bank. The Dnieper presses against this bank and forms the picturesque precipices above which glisten the gilded domes of the ancient churches of Kiev. Here the Dnieper receives the largest of its tributaries on the left, the navigable Desna. Thus the formation of the Dnieper River is completed, its source-rivers, the Pripet, Beresina, the upper Dnieper, the Desna and the Soz have united to build a majestic stream. Its normal average width is 600–850 meters near Kiev. During the spring floods, however, the width of the river exceeds 10 km.; from the high, right bank one can barely see the woods of the left. All the islands, sand-banks, swamps, meadows, river branches and old river beds disappear beneath an interminable mass of yellowish water, rolling slowly toward the south. Deep into the valleys of the tributary streams the high-water enters, and receding, leaves behind a layer of fertile river mud. Not without reason did Herodotus compare the Dnieper with the Nile.

The floods generally occur but once a year—in the spring, when the snows melt. In this respect the Dnieper differs from the Dniester and is similar to all the other rivers of Eastern Europe. In the early summer, at the time of the greatest precipitation in the Dnieper country, small floods occur only occasionally, because the rain-water is stored up in the many swamps and moors of the upper Dnieper country. The spring high-water originates in the great masses of snow, which remain lying all thru winter, melting and flowing off all at once in the spring. After an ice-drift lasting 5–12 days, the high-water comes and lasts a month and a half. It attains its highest level in the middle of April; at this time the water stands at 3.2 meters above normal at Mogilev, 2.2. meters at Kiev, 2.6 meters at Kreminchuk, 2 meters at Kherson, 0.3 meters at the delta. The spring floods are at present becoming greater and more irregular, consequently more dangerous, too, than they have been previously. The progressive destruction of forests has contributed most to this condition.

From Kiev down, the Dnieper River turns in a flat curve to the southeast and retains this direction as far as Katerinoslav. The right bank remains steadily high, torn by gorges and crowned with rock formations, with numerous niches, which betray former places of contact of the river bends. The view, defended especially by Russian scholars, that the mountain bank of the Dnieper, like that of all other Eastern European rivers, originated thru the influence of the rotation of the earth (Baer’s Law), notably does not apply to the Dnieper, for the plain on the left very distinctly crosses over to the right shore at three places; at the mouth of the Stuhna below Kiev, between the mouth of the Ross and Cherkassi, and north of Chihirin. Recent movements of the crust of the earth, by elevating the Dnieper Plateau in huge sections, prepared the ground for the mountainous shores; the resulting steep declivities were attacked and transformed by the river current, aided by an effective simultaneous action of the winds.

The left bank of the river is very flat, taken up by swamps, lakes, old river beds and wooded fens. Great wildernesses of reeds cover the swampy banks of the numerous river arms. Great masses of sand brought by the tributaries on the left side are thrown up by the steppe winds and from dune landscapes in various places.

The tributaries of the Dnieper River in this section are of far less importance than the above mentioned northern ones. From the right side the river receives the plateau streams Stuhna, Ross and Tiasmin, from the left the Trubez, the Supo, the Sula with the Udai, the Psiol with the Khorol, and Holtva, Vorskla and Orel. All these rivers increase the volume of the main stream only to a slight degree. The width of the river at the point where it flows along in a single bed is regularly 1 km. on the average; at the narrowest part, to be sure, only 150 meters. Where the river branches off into several forks, however, the complete width, even at the time of low-water, is more than 4 km., at high-water over 8 km. The depth of the river, too, is very changeable. The tributaries on the left side bring great masses of sand to the main river bed, forming great banks of sand, which slowly move downward and cause great changeability of the depth. Over such banks of sand the depth of the river is hardly 1½ meters, but attains a depth of 12 meters where the river flows in a narrow bed.

Between Kiev and Kreminchuk, the majestic character of the Dnieper River is most apparent. The slight incline here causes a current of only one-third the speed of the current of the Volga. With an impressive calm the waters of the Dnieper flow along; it seems as tho the mirror-like mass of water were motionless. But soon, above the mouth of the Psiol, the speed of the current is suddenly tripled, so that the steamboats must exert their entire force in the up-stream trip. The low left bank begins slowly to rise; the river valley, up to this point, wide almost beyond reach of the eye, becomes narrow, the river forks and islands gradually disappear, and at the mouth of the Samara both banks approach the stream with steep precipices. The direction of the river becomes southerly and the section begins where the Dnieper breaks thru the granite ledge of the Ukrainian horst, the famous section of its rapids.

Here the Dnieper assumes all the characteristics of a plateau river. The river valley becomes so narrow that at high-water the river spreads over the entire valley bottom. The settlements take refuge on the heights of the steep bank. The granite-gneiss sub-layer appears in steep precipices and high picturesque rock formations on the valley slopes. We are confronted with the same cañon-like valley on the Dnieper, then, as on the Dniester in the Podolian Plateau. Yet there are certain fundamental differences. The river valley is at most 100 meters deep, and the granite slopes do not form compact valley sides such as we see in the yars of the Dniester. At every moment the steep decline is broken by numerous gorges, picturesque foothills; and jutting cliffs lend to the river landscape of the Dnieper Valley, at this point, a variety unknown in the yar of the Dniester.

The section of the Dnieper River from the mouth of the Samara to Veliki Luh, at the mouth of the Konca, forms a river country which is the only one of its kind in Eastern Europe. It is the section of the Dnieper rapids. The post-tertiary elevation of the Ukrainian horst, at this point, has forced the river to dig its bed into the hard granite and gneiss rocks. Despite great masses of water, the river has not succeeded in equalizing its incline. For this reason, we find in its bed innumerable rocky islands, ledges of rock, separate cliffs and great boulders. In a wild, roaring torrent, the current beats against these obstacles, creating deep pools and dangerous vortices. But not at all places was the river destined to saw thru the obstacles in its way. At many points solid ledges of rock lie right across the river. Its mass of water falls down over these granite steps in immense foam-wreathed billows and seethes about innumerable boulders, remains of already parted ledges. The dull roaring and rumbling can be heard, even by day, for several miles. These are the rapids of the Dnieper—the “porohi” and “zabori.”

The porohi are not real waterfalls or cataracts; the incline of the river in this section is 35 meters for a stretch of 75 km., and is, therefore, too slight for regular falls. The greatest incline attained within this stretch of river is 6%. Therefore, only the individual branches of water between boulders form small falls, while the main channel only shoots along down-stream in a long, foam-covered streak, over the inclined surface of the ledges. In summer, the depth above the rock ledges is barely 1½ meters, while in the spring even the highest reefs of the rapids disappear beneath the masses of the high-water.

Still, the rapids of the Dnieper are even now a great hindrance to navigation. Within the porohi section, steamboat navigation is altogether impossible, and the smaller rowboats or sailboats can risk it only during the spring floods, and then only the down-trip. Only the rafts can pass thru the porohi at low-water time, altho with great danger. The up-stream trip is almost impossible, even in the smallest vessel, altho, at one time, everyone who desired to join the Zaporog Cossacks was required to undertake this daring enterprise.

The Russian government has attempted, indeed, to make the rapids of the river navigable, and has caused a navigable canal to be formed at each fall, thru blasting of the rock ledges. But these canals have been planned in so impractical and even faulty a manner that the river pilots (lotzmani) still use the old “Cossack paths” to a great extent (the Cosachi khody) to bring river boats and rafts thru the porohi.

The width of the river in the rapids section remains unchanged—1 to 1¾ kilometers. Only at its exit from the porohi, at the so-called Wolf’s Throat (Vovche horlo), the river narrows down to 160 meters. The quiet sections between separate rapids are usually very wide and as much as 30 meters deep.

Of genuine rapids (porohi), according to the pilots, who are direct descendants of the Zaporog Cossacks, there are nine; of the larger sabori (ledges of rock which do not obstruct the entire width of the river), six. The first rapids below Katerinoslav are the Kaidac rapids (Kaidazki porih), with four ledges of rock. Then follow the Yazeva Sebora, the Little Sursky porih, with two ledges, the dangerous Lokhanski porih with three ledges, and the Strilcha Sabora, with the great rocks of Strilcha skela and Kamin Bohatir. The next rapids, Svonez and the far-sounding Tiahinska Sabora, allow vessels easy passage, but after passing thru the Dnieper the pilot must exert all his strength. Even from the Svonez rapids on, one can hear the terrible roaring and rumbling of the largest of the porohi, the Did (grandfather) or Nenassitetz (insatiable). Masses of white foam cover it completely, the water shoots down over the twelve ledges of rock with the speed of an arrow. The vessel groans and creaks, but flies thru the porih in three minutes, if it can only escape the dangerous rock of Krutko or the terrible whirlpool of Peklo (the Hell). Or it may happen that the ship is dashed to pieces in the Voronova Sabora, which is full of dangerous reefs.

After the Did and the insignificant Kriva Sabora, comes the Vnuk (grandchild) or Vovnih, whose four ledges, covered with great billows and masses of foam, holds many hidden dangers for the sailor. But “after overcoming the Grandfather and the Grandchild, don’t go to sleep, for the Awakener will wake you”—meaning the next following Porih Budilo (Awakener) which also is dangerous for ships. We then come past the Tavolzanska Sabora, where the beautiful crag (Snieva skela) rises, to the next to the last porih, Lishni (the Dispensable), with two insignificant edges of rock, which offer but slight dangers. The last porih, however, which bears the name of Vilni (free) or Hadiuchi (serpent falls), is very dangerous for ships and rafts, for the channel winds in serpentine twists thru the six ledges, and the pilot must exercise all his skill in order to steer the ship entrusted to him safely thru the dangerous channel. After this follows the narrow (160 m.) “Wolf’s-Throat” (Vovche horlo), with three great rocks; the small Javlena Sabora, three dangerous “Robber Rocks” (Kameni Rosbiyniki), and two granite precipices, Stovli (Pillars), and we come into the Zaporog country (Zaporoze).

Here the Dnieper valley widens and numerous islands appear in the stream. The upper ones, for example, Khortizia and Tomakivka, which were once the site of the first Zaporog Sich, are high, rocky, and overgrown with forest. Further south the steep left-hand valley slope recedes far from the river and the so-called Veliki Luh begins. It is a labyrinth of flat forest and reed-covered alluvial islands, river branches, old river beds, lakes and swamps. Here were located the hunting and fishing grounds of the Zaporog Cossacks; here was their dwelling place, wonderfully fortified by nature and surrounded by an inaccessible wilderness of forests and waters, and the center of their military state; of the century-old oaks of the Veliki Luh, the Zaporogs built their ships, in order to pay their daring visits to the lord of Islam in his own capital. But the glorious days are past, the warlike life and activity has disappeared, and strange colonists, whom the Russian Government has sent here to settle, now occupy the ground on which the second Ukrainian state originated.

From the many-branched mouth of the Konka (also named Kinska voda) the Dnieper River turns toward the southwest, which direction it retains until it disembogues into the sea. From this point on, the river nowhere flows in a single bed; an enormous number of side arms branch off from the main arm or unite with it. The broad river valley, whose right bank continues to be high and rocky for a time, is taken up by the plavni formation and winds like a broad band of freshly growing verdure thru the steppe, which stretches out dry and golden-brown in the hot midsummer. After receiving, as its last tributary, the steppe-river Inhuletz, it empties with nine arms into its liman, below Kherson. Of these arms only two are navigable for larger vessels, and the immense Dnieper liman is at most only 6 meters deep. The river brings down great masses of sand and mud, and fills up its liman so rapidly that strenuous dredging is necessary, in order to make it possible for small sea-vessels to reach the harbor of Kherson.

The Dnieper River brings the Black Sea, on the average, 2000 cu. m. of water per second. It is navigable, even for large river boats, along a stretch of 1900 km. The ice-cover lasts 100 days at Kiev; 80 days in the lower part of its course.

The tributaries of the Dnieper are very numerous and important; their total length is over 13,000 km. Of those on the right, the Pripet River is the most important. It gathers in all the waters of the Polissye and is the typical river of that district. Its length exceeds 650 km. Rising in the northern spurs of the Volhynian Plateau, very close to the course of the Buh, it immediately reaches the Polissian Plain and becomes a navigable river over 50 m. wide and about 6 m. deep. In the main axis of the Polissian basin the Pripet turns eastward and becomes about 100 m. wide. The incline of the river is very slight, the number of turns and river arms enormous. Between swampy woods and moors the river forms labyrinths of delicate, intricate waterways and stagnant pools. Near Mosir, where the river turns to the southeast, its width reaches 450 m., its depth 10 m. Of quite the same type are the tributaries of the Pripet: the Turia, Stokhod, Stir with the Ikva, the Horin with the Sluch, the Ubort and the Uz on the right; the Pina, Yassiolda, Sluch and Ptich on the left. All of them are navigable along great stretches. The remaining right-hand tributaries of the Dnieper, the Teterev and the Irpen, have the Polissian character only near their mouth, otherwise they are purely plateau rivers with rocky beds. The Teterev is able to transport rafts of logs, while the other rivers of the Dnieper Plateau, as for example, the Ross (altho greater than the Teterev) and the Tiasmin, are entirely unfit for navigation, as a result of their rocky beds and their small volume in summer. The last large Dnieper tributary, the steppe-river Inhuletz, altho barely 100 km. shorter than the Pripet, is, for the same reasons, only capable of carrying logs in the last 150 km. of its much-twisted course.

Of the left-hand tributaries of the Dnieper only the northern ones possess a sufficient volume of water to be navigable. The Soz, which is 550 kilometers in length, becomes as wide as 150 meters, and is navigable for a stretch of nearly 360 kilometers. The Desna is the longest of all the Dnieper tributaries (1000 km.). It rises near Yelnia, on the Central Russian Plateau, and flows in a broad symmetrical valley, which it floods in places every spring to the extent of 10 kilometers. The normal width of the river at low-water is 160 meters; the depth is 6 meters. Despite many shallows and sand-banks, the Desna is capable of bearing rafts along a stretch of 250 kilometers, and is navigable for 700 kilometers even for the larger river boats. Of the Ukrainian tributaries of the Desna, the most important is the Sem, which is 650 km. long and navigable for 500 kilometers.

All the other left-hand tributaries of the Dnieper flow in broad valleys, with high right slopes and low left slopes, covered with stagnant waters, marshy meadows and areas of sand. But, altho they all look very imposing at the time of the spring floods, yet, neither the Sula with its high wooded banks, nor the Psiol with its 670 km. of length, neither the Vorscla flowing along between sandbanks and dunes, nor the Orel sliding slowly along with its twisted course—none of these have any significance for navigation. Only the steppe-river Samara, flowing between granite banks, is capable of floating rafts along a short stretch. There was a time, however, in which all these rivers were navigable, even for ships of considerable size. Great old anchors and wreckage of ships, which are found in the beds and banks of these rivers, are sufficient proof of this fact. The cause of the present condition may be sought in the destruction of forest in the drainage country. The spring floods, increased from this cause, develop considerable destructive activity, filling up the river bed with masses of sand and mud, floating brushes and stumps of trees. The decreased volume of water in the dry season, due to the drying up of the swamps and springs, can not transport these deposits further, and the river becomes unfit for any sort of navigation.

The Don (Din) is the fourth in the series of rivers of Europe. It is over 1800 kilometers long, but the country it drains is smaller in area by 100,000 square kilometers than that of the Dnieper. Hardly one-fourth of the Don country belongs to the Ukraine, and even less of its course. For this reason it was long considered as a border stream of the Ukraine on the east, until the past century extended the boundaries of Ukrainian territory into the Kuban region and to the Caspian Sea.

The Don rises in Lake Ivan-Ozero, which has also an outlet to the Aka on the Central Russian elevation of ground. Its valley is at first deeply cut, its bed rocky. Then the valley widens and becomes symmetrical, the left bank becomes flat and swampy, covered in places by wide areas of sand. In the source region the direction of the river is south as far as Korotniak, then the river turns to the southeast, forms a sharp bend at the mouth of the Ilovla, approaching to within 60 km. of the Volga. Then the Don repeats on a small scale the direction of the course of the Dnieper, turns toward the southwest, and disembogues in thirty arms, of which only three are navigable and only one accessible to sea-vessels, into the Sea of Azof. Its delta region is very rich in fish and is growing very rapidly. The general volume of the Don is twice as small as that of the Dnieper and is subject to many vacillations. During the spring floods the water-level reaches 6–7 m. above the normal and the river becomes as much as 10 km. wide. At the time of low-water, on the other hand, the river, despite its width (in the lower part of its course) of 200 to 400 m. and depths of 2–16 m., is full of sandbanks and shallows, so that navigation on the Don is but slightly developed, altho more than 1300 km. of its course may be considered fit for floating rafts of logs and 300 km. for ships. The freezing-time lasts on the average 100 days.

Of the left-hand tributaries of the Don, the Voronizh, Bitiuh, Khoper, Medveditza, and the Manich (famous, because of its bifurcation) are the most important. Of the right-hand tributaries only one, the Donetz, is important. Its entire course belongs to Ukrainian national territory. It is 1000 km. long, and, in its southerly and then south-easterly direction, entirely analogous to the Dnieper and the Don. The Donetz flows in a broad valley and washes beautiful white cliffs along the steep right bank, crowned with dark forests. The Donetz is capable of floating rafts along a stretch of over 300 km., and is navigable for 200 km. more.

Of the steppe-rivers which tend toward the Sea of Azof from the east, only the Yeia reaches its goal. All the rest end their courses in lagoons.

The last great river of the Ukraine is the Kuban, 800 km. long. It rises in the glaciers of the Elbrus and flows, a roaring mountain stream, in a narrow and deep rocky defile. A great number of the mountain streams of the northern Caucasus slope empty into the Kuban and make it a stream of considerable volume. In the Stavropol hill country the Kuban turns in a widely-drawn curve toward the west. Its valley becomes broad and flat, covered with bogs, swampy forests and wildernesses of reeds. From the left side it receives a number of tributaries from the Caucasus, the most important being the Laba and the Bila. In the midst of immense plavni, lakes and limans, the Kuban forms its many-armed delta, which carries its waters partly to the Black Sea, partly to the Sea of Azof, and embraces the peninsula of Taman.

The Kuban always has a large volume, the floods coming in the early summer, when the snow blanket of the Caucasus melts. Navigation is greatly injured because of banks of sand and rubble, brush and tree-stumps, but is, nevertheless, possible for a distance of over 350 km.

THE UKRAINIAN CLIMATE

The great uniformity of Eastern Europe, in respect to its morphology, we find repeated in its climatic conditions. But, to the same extent that the attentive investigator, upon close observation, finds several independent morphological individualities within the Eastern European low country, he will also observe important climatic differences in this great half-continent.

The Central European climatic zone stops at the western borders of the Ukraine. Similarly, the cool Eastern European continental climate, which rules over all of White and Great Russia, embraces only insignificant borderlands in the north of Ukrainian territory. The Ukrainian climate assumes an entirely independent position. It is more continental than that of Central Europe and differs from that of Great Russia in its greater mildness. The Ukraine shares with France the advantage that in its territory the direct transition from the temperate climate of Eastern Europe to the Mediterranean climate of Southern Europe takes place.

The thermal conditions of the Ukraine, despite its great size, are very uniform. The yearly averages fluctuate between +6° and +9° C. Ternopil, in Podolia, and Vovchansk, in the Kharkov country, have the same yearly temperature of +6.3°, Pinsk +6.7°, Kiev and Kharkiv +6.8°, Lviv (Lemberg) and Poltava +6.9°. The differences are confined within a space of 1°C. Chernivtzi (Czernowitz) in the Bukowina, Yelisavet in the Kherson region, and Luhan in the Donetz region have an annual temperature of 7.6° or 7.7°, Katerinoslav on the Dnieper, Tahanroh on the Sea of Azof, and Stavropol in the sub-Caucasus country 8.3° or 8.2°. This great coincidence of yearly averages in so widely separated places is all the more surprising, since the mean temperature falls considerably directly behind the borders of the Ukraine. Thus, Kursk has only +5.2°, Voroniz +5.4°.

Not until we reach the southern borders of the Ukraine does the mean temperature rise considerably. Odessa and Kishiniv have +9.8°, Mikolaiv +9.7°, Simferopol +10.1°, Sevastopol +12.2°, Katerinodar +12.1°, Novorossiysk +12°, Yalta +13.4° mean annual temperature. The last-named place actually lies in the narrow belt of the Mediterranean climate, on the southern slope of the Yaila Mountains.

Comparing the annual averages of the Ukraine with those of different places in Western and Central Europe, the latter appear relatively much higher. London, situated in the same geographical latitude as Kursk has an annual temperature almost twice as high (+10.3°). London is on the average even a little warmer than Simferopol, which actually lies 650 km. nearer the equator. Brussels lies a little more north than Kiev, yet it is in the mean warmer than Odessa.

The cause of this unfavorable relation is the severe winter of the Ukraine. The mean temperature of January is +3.5° in London, +2° in Brussels, +1.2° in Frankfort a m., -1.2° in Prague, -3.3° in Cracow. In the Ukraine the January means are much lower. Lemberg has -4.6°, Kiev has -6.2°, Kharkiv -8.3°, Luhan -8°, Vovchansk -7.7°, Katerinoslav -7.4°, etc. To be sure this is not remarkable when compared with the January temperatures of even the south of Great Russia, where the winter suggests polar conditions, but the antithesis to the winter climate of Western and Central Europe is striking. Hammerfest, the northernmost city of the earth, is one degree warmer than Kiev in January and even a little warmer than Lemberg.

On the other hand, the summer of the Ukraine is even warmer than that of Western and Central Europe. The July mean of London is +17.9° C., of Brussels 18°, Lemberg the same, but Kiev has as much as 19.2°, Kharkiv 20.9°. The differences in the summer temperatures are much smaller, however, than the differences in the winter temperatures—hence the comparatively low annual mean in the Ukraine.

These figures clearly show the continental character of the Ukrainian climate. The influences of the Atlantic Ocean, which still strongly dominate the climate of Central Europe, become slight in the Ukraine. Particularly, the southern part of the Ukraine is almost unaffected by the mitigating influence of a nearby ocean, and the necessary result is the low winter-temperatures. But the continental character of the Ukrainian climate is, nevertheless, not so strongly marked as that of the Russian or Siberian climate. Kamishin, Semipalatinsk, Blagovieshchensk, situated on the same degree of latitude as Kiev, have a January mean of -11.6°, 17.5° and -25.4°, and a July mean of +24.1°, +22.2° and +21.3°, respectively. The influences of the Black Sea, altho in general not great, are at least unmistakable in the coastal region of the Ukraine.

The difference between the mean of the coldest and that of the warmest month is slighter in the Ukraine than in Russia or Siberia, to be sure, but it is, at any rate, considerable. Only in the Mediterranean climate of Southern Crimea does the difference amount to as little as 20°. The rest of Crimea, the sub-Caucasian country and the northwestern part of the Ukraine as far as Kiev and Uman have a difference of 20°-25°, Lemberg, for example, 22.6°, Pinsk 24°, Chernivtzi 25.1°, Kiev 25.2°. On the other hand, the southern and the entire eastern part of the Ukraine, especially east of the Dnieper, shows a considerable difference, from 25° to 30°, as for example, Kiev 25.4°, Odessa and Mikolaiv 26.3°, Poltava 27.3°, Kharkiv and Tahanroh over 29°, Luhan and Katerinoslav 30.4°.

The winter appears severe in the entire Ukraine, with the exception of Crimea and the sub-Caucasian country.

The January mean temperature of -4° to -8° then obtains in the entire wide territory. Lemberg has -4.3°, Tarnopol -5.5°, Chernivtzi -5.1°, Kiev -6.2°, Vovchansk -7.7°, Katerinoslav -7.4°, Mikolaiv -4.3°, Tahanroh -6.7°, Luhan -8°. Even the southern lands of the Ukraine have a low mean for January, for example, Odessa -3.7° (Kishiniv -3.5°), while Kamenetz owes its exceptionally high mean, -3.3°, to its sheltered location in a “yar.” The January isotherms run from northwest to southeast in Ukrainian territory, in a wide curve, which becomes increasingly flat toward the southeast. For this reason the cold in the Ukraine grows in intensity not in a northern but in a northeastern direction. The mean annual minimum almost everywhere exceeds -20° (Lemberg -19.2°, Chernivtzi -21.1°, Tarnopol -23.4°, Kiev -23.2°, Mikolaiv -21.4°, Luhan -28.4°). The absolute extremes attain very high values. The absolute minimum amounts to -30° in Mikolaiv and Odessa, -33.1° in Kiev, -34° in Ternopil, -35° in Lemberg and Czernowitz, -40.8° in Luhan.

The Ukrainian winter is far less variable than the Central European or even the Russian. Only in the northwestern borderlands of the Ukraine does a thaw, brought by the Atlantic winds, frequently appear. The duration of the frost on the Pontian shore is at most two months, in the Pontian steppe-plain and the southern spurs of the plateau groups three months, in all the rest of the Ukraine three and a half. Only in the northeastern borderlands of the Ukraine, located on the spurs of the Central Russian elevation and the Donetz, does the frost period extend over four months.

In Southern Ukraine the winter is followed directly by a sunny spring, with dry east winds, which partly degenerate into sand-storms (sukhovi). Everywhere else in the Ukraine wet, sloppy weather follows the steps of the receding winter. Toward the northwest it continues longer and longer. The sloppy weather of spring consists of a constantly varying succession of frost, thaw, snowstorm, rain and sunshine, ending in the southern part of the Ukraine usually in the middle of April, in the northern and northwestern part at the end of April or even at the beginning of May. The actual spring following thereon is very short thruout the Ukraine and usually lasts three weeks, except in the northwest, where it continues thru the entire month of May. The mean April temperature is everywhere higher than the annual mean (Lemberg +7.8°, Tarnopol and Kiev +6.9°, Czernowitz and Odessa +8.6°, Luhan -8.1°). But the month of May is quite as warm as July in England. On the other hand, we find May frosts in the entire Ukraine as far as the shores of the Black Sea, altho they do not appear so destructive here as in Russia proper.

The Ukrainian summer is everywhere marked by considerable heat. Only in the northwest corner of the Ukraine (Rostoche, Pidlassye, Polissye, Volhynia) is the summer moderately warm (Lemberg +19.1°, Ternopil +18.7°, Pinsk +18°).

The July temperature of all the rest of the Ukraine is much higher than this. The July isotherm of +20°, like all the July isotherms of the Ukraine, runs in a northeast direction past the source of the Sbruch and the mouth of the Pripet, and the further we advance from this line towards the southeast, the hotter the summers we find. On the lower Dniester and Dnieper the mean July temperature exceeds +23°. Following are a number of July means: Czernowitz +20.1°, Kiev +19.2°, Vovchansk +20.3°, Odessa +22.6°, Katerinoslav and Mikolaiv +23°, Luhan +22.4°, Tahanroh +22.8°. The strongest degrees of heat are +37° to +43°, and the mean annual maxima are +30.3° for Ternopil, +31.1° for Lemberg, +32.7° for Czernowitz, +32.1° for Kiev, +35.2° for Mikolaiv, +35.5° for Luhan. The duration of the heat period with temperatures of +20° and over is two months southeast of a line which runs near Kishiniv, Poltava and Kharkiv, one month southeast of the line of Mohiliv, Kaniv and Kursk. The total duration of the summer is only in the northwest of the Ukraine as short as three months; otherwise it is four, and on the Black Sea even four and a half.

The autumn of the Ukraine is regularly very beautiful and comparatively warm. The month of October has a mean of temperature higher than the annual (Lemberg +8.5°, Ternopil +7.7°, Czernowitz +9°, Kiev +7.5°, Vovchansk +7°, Katerinoslav +9.7°, Luhan +8.4°, Odessa +11°, Mikolaiv +9.7°, Tahanroh +9.1°). But even in October the warm sunny days are followed by night frosts. The moist autumnal weather which begins the transition to winter lasts as much as two months in the northwest; beyond that, one to one and a half months. The mean date of the earliest frost is October 19th for Kiev, October 11th for Luhan, October 28th for Micolaiv, and November 10th for Odessa.

A different position, climatically, is that of Crimea, the sub-Caucasian country, as well as the mountain islands of the Carpathians, the Yaila and the Caucasus. In the temperature conditions of Crimea and the sub-Caucasus country, the influence of their southerly location and the proximity of the sea is everywhere apparent. The mean temperature is everywhere higher than +10° (Simferopol +10.1°, Sevastopol +12.2°, Katerinodar +12.1°). The winter is short and comparatively mild (January mean of Simferopol +0.8°, Sevastopol +1.8°, Katerinodar +2.1°, Stavropol -4.7°), but very variable. The degrees of frost are sometimes quite high (Sevastopol -16.9°, Stavropol -25.6° as absolute minima), but the frost period is short (one to two months). The spring begins in March with full force; in May follows the five-months’ summer. The July means are very high, especially in the sub-Caucasus country, the heat period lasting everywhere more than two months. (July mean of Simferopol +28°, Sevastopol 33.1°, Stavropol +20°, Katerinodar +25.3°). The long autumn also is very mild.

South of the Yaila and Caucasus Mountains, on the shore of the Black Sea, lies a narrow strip of land which actually shows Mediterranean climatic characteristics. The winter lasts less than a month and is very mild (January mean of Yalta +3.5°, altho the absolute minimum is -13°), and, as in Novorossiysk, cold, bora-like gusts of wind are common in times of heavy cold. After a long spring follows a six-months’ summer, which passes imperceptibly into a mild autumn.

The climate of the mountains of the Ukraine has been but little investigated. In the entire Ukrainian territory there is not a single meteorological observatory. The general characteristics of mountain climate, its greater uniformity, the smaller difference between the warmest and coldest months, the belated beginning of all the seasons, etc., may be found in all the mountains of the Ukraine.

Only the climate of the Ukrainian Carpathians is somewhat better known. The dreariest climate is that of the Beskyds and the Gorgani. The five-months’ winter and long periods of sloppy weather in the spring and in the fall encroach upon the short summer. The Chornohora chain, despite the greater height of its peaks, upon which the snow in sheltered places remains lying thru the entire summer, has a much milder and pleasanter climate. The influence of the warm summer of the adjacent plain regions limits the duration of the sloppy weather in spring and autumn. For this reason, the mountain valleys have a short but very beautiful spring, a warm summer, and a wonderful mild autumn. The mountain pastures have in place of the summer only a three months’ spring.

In the Yaila Mountains, as a result of their small size and height, the characteristics of typical mountain climate are lacking, but in the Caucasus we find them in their highest development. The analogy to the Alps is perfect, but the influence of the continental steppe climate of the surrounding country is unmistakable, expressing itself in the position of the various climatic regions, in the height of the snow limit, in the development of the glacial covering, etc., very distinctly and very differently than in the Alps, which are surrounded by countries with a climate of a different kind.

We now come to the second group of climatic phenomena, pressure and wind conditions. The Ukraine may, in this respect, be divided into two great regions. The line of high pressure which separates these parts, called by Voiekoff the great axis of Europe, extends from the bend of the Volga, near Tsaritsin, over the porohi section of the Dnieper at Katerinoslav to Kishinev. North of this line, west winds prevail, bringing Atlantic air into Northern Ukraine. In the south, east winds prevail, bearing the influences of the Asiatic steppe climate. This wind divide is most distinct in winter. In the northern part of the Ukraine we find chiefly west and southwest winds, which mitigate the frosts and cause precipitations of rainfall; in the southern part dry, cold east winds prevail, increasing the cold. Sometimes the east wind increases to a snowstorm (metelitzia, fuga) which whirls up terrible masses of snow, filling the air with snowflakes until absolutely nothing can be seen, and causes terrific destruction. Herds of a thousand head fall victim to its icy breath, even in the steppes of Crimea, and woe to the traveler who is caught in a snowstorm in the steppe.

In November and December, in Southern Ukraine, moist, warm south winds frequently come up from the Pontus. But the absolute balance is on the side of the freezing east winds, to which is to be ascribed the severe winter climate of Southern Ukraine. The northern half of the Ukraine as a rule, is seldom reached by the east winds, the northwestern corner very seldom. Their occasional appearance is accompanied by heavy frosts with fair weather.

In the spring, east and south winds blow, especially over Southern Ukraine. They often change to heavy sand-storms (sukhovi) very harmful to the crops, which carry clouds of sand, with which they form miniature dunes as high as 30 cm. The east and south winds, at such times, penetrate even into Northern Ukraine, altho with the exception of the northwest corner.

In the summer, on the other hand, the west, northwest, and southwest winds hold a decided balance over the east winds, even in Southern Ukraine. They bring moist Atlantic air and rain into the entire land and mitigate the heat. The occasional east winds increase the heat and bring periods of drought, but usually not until August, when they are rather frequent. In September all the winds are weak thruout the Ukraine, with high pressure. That is why the fall is so beautiful too. Then, in October and November, follows the gradual transition to the winter wind conditions.

The third group of atmospheric phenomena, humidity and precipitation, possesses the same great uniformity in Ukrainian territory as the other two elements of the climate. The humidity of the air in the Ukraine is in general slight. It is greatest in the forest-covered partly swampy West and Northwest. Toward the southeast the humidity in the Ukraine constantly decreases. Fogs appear seldom and are only light, so that the antithesis to Western and Central Europe, as well as Russia, is striking. The light night and morning fogs which appear, especially in the latter part of summer and in the fall, only contribute to the beautification of the landscape, by flooding the depressions of land like a sea. Cloud-formation is much slighter in the Ukraine than in Western or Central Europe, or in Russia proper, the dreary Muscovite country. The greatest number of clouded days occurs in the western and northwestern part of the Ukraine; toward the southeast and east the number of such days dwindles continuously. The least amount of cloudy weather occurs in the month of August. In September and October the increase is very slight. November and December are much cloudier and January is most cloudy all over the Ukraine. After that the cloudy weather lessens considerably at first, then slowly, until August.

The atmospheric precipitations in the Ukraine are in general insignificant, except in the Carpathian and Caucasus regions. The Ukraine has less rainfall than Central or Western Europe. The Atlantic Ocean, the most important source of the precipitations in Europe, lies far distant, and the cyclonal systems on their way east drop their collected moisture upon Western and Central Europe. For the Ukraine, and particularly for the eastern part of it, there is, therefore, very little left. In this connection the Black Sea has only a local significance, and the evaporation of water from the rivers, lakes and swamps, from the plants and the ground, is hardly worth considering, except as it happens in the summer.

The great amounts of precipitation are to be found in the mountains of the Ukraine, where rising currents of air help along the condensation of the water vapor. Even in the Low Beskid the precipitation exceeds 1000 mm. (Yasliska 1170 mm.), in the Gorgani and Chornohora we find in large areas, especially on the southern slope, a precipitation of over 1200 mm., in a few places 1400 mm. (Kobiletzka Polana 1377 mm., Bradula 1419 mm.). The amount of precipitation is still large in the entire Pidhirye, but at only a short distance it decreases considerably. Lemberg has only 735 mm. of rainfall, the southern part of the Rostoche as much as 900 mm. in places, since the western edges act like chains of mountains to the west winds. But Czernowitz, near as it is, has only 619 mm. and the Podolia on the Dniester still less. The Khotin lying in the yar of this river has only 300 mm., which best illustrates the significance of local conditions. At a greater distance from the curve of the Carpathians the amount of precipitation shows a slow but regular decrease toward the southeast. Only in the northern part of the Rostoche and the northwestern part of Podolia does the amount of precipitation attain 600 mm., while further toward the south and east a wide zone stretches out with only 500–600 mm. (Pinsk 581 mm., Kiev 534 mm., Uman 546 mm., Poltava 532 mm.). Another wide zone, which extends from the mouth of the Dniester to the bend of the Don, has a precipitation of between 400 and 500 mm. (Kharkiv 465 mm., Katerinoslav 475 mm., Kishinev 471 mm., Yelisavet 444 mm., Odessa 408 mm.). The next narrow zone of the Pontian and Crimean steppe has a precipitation of less than 400 mm. (Mikolaiv 360 mm., Sevastopol 386 mm., Luhan 379 mm.), a corner of Crimea on the peninsula of Tarkhankut has even barely more than 200 mm.

The Yaila Mountain Range is too small to have any marked influence on the increase in the amount of precipitation. Yalta has only 508 mm. precipitation. On the other hand, the influence of the Caucasus is very great. The sub-Caucasus Kuban region, to be sure, has only 400–500 mm. precipitation, Stavropol 720 mm., Novorossysk 691 mm. However, the amount of precipitation on the southwestern side of the Caucasus Mountains increases uncommonly. At the borders of Ukrainian territory, Sochi has not less than 2071 mm.

From this account we see clearly enough that, in comparison with Central and Western Europe, the Ukraine is rather poor in rainfall, especially in the southeast. But the distribution of the precipitations among the seasons is so favorable that most of them fall at the time they are most needed, namely, in the early part of summer. The entire Ukraine lies within the area of the summer rains, only the narrow strip of the south coast of Crimea and the Caucasus are within the area of the winter rains.

The reason of the preponderance of the summer rains lies in the western and northwestern Atlantic winds, which, in that season, have easy access far into the southeastern part of the Ukraine. These winds bring so much moisture into the Ukraine that almost two-thirds of the annual rainfall belongs to May, June and July. The month with the greatest amount of precipitation for the entire Ukraine is June. Only the Polissye, Northwestern Volhynia and the western part of the Kiev territory show the heaviest precipitation in July, since, in these regions of forests and swamps, evaporation is heaviest at this time of greatest heat.

The summer rains of the Ukraine differ from those of Central or Western Europe in their heaviness. Only in the Western Ukraine are the summer rains of the type of gentle rains that are uniform for an entire country; in the south and east they appear as cloudbursts in heavy showers. In Samashcani, in Bessarabia, there have been times when 200 mm. of rain fell in a single day, in Korovintzi in the Poltava region, 5 mm. in one minute. In the Pontian steppes all rain falls in the form of heavy showers. The water flows off quickly and evaporates rapidly, before it is able to thoroughly saturate the ground.

Electric discharges and hailstorms occur in close connection with the summer rains, most frequently in June, less so in July and in May. They usually come from the southwest in the afternoon hours. Most of these storms originate in the Carpathian Mountains and reach Volhynia and Kiev, but do not cross the Dnieper. The Caucasus, too, has very many storms. Hailstorms are most frequent in Galicia and Volhynia and the western part of the Kiev regions; very rare in the southeast.

In August the amount of rainfall slowly decreases; in September and October still more, and so it continues until December. January is the month of least rainfall for the entire Ukraine (only one-fourth of the June figure), and this circumstance is of particularly great significance for the southern and eastern parts of the Ukraine. For this reason the cover of snow in the Ukraine is much less than in Central Europe or Muscovy, besides which, it is often disturbed by snowstorms. The slight snow-cover melts down quickly in the spring, without saturating the soil well, and without requiring much warmth. This explains the rapid rise of heat in the Ukrainian spring.

From January until the end of April the amount of rainfall again grows slowly but steadily, reaching its maximum in June.

The southern part of Crimea and the Caucasian shore have just the opposite annual distribution of the precipitations. Under the influence of the moist Pontian winds, the greatest amount of rain falls in December and January, while the spring and summer have very little rain. These characteristics of the Mediterranean climate, the rainy winter after the dry summer, are all the more striking, since the opposite condition prevails on the other side of the Yaila and Caucasus Mountains.

From this account of the Ukrainian climate we see that this climate retains an entirely independent position as against that of Central Europe or Russia. The Ukrainian climate is characterized by an annual amplitude of 20° to 30°, a mean annual temperature of from +6° to +12°, a July mean of from +19° to +24°, and a January mean of from 0° to 8°, with predominant summer rains and a generally insignificant cover of snow. The difference from the Russian climate is, consequently, quite considerable. The Russian climate forms the transition to the polar, that of the Ukraine to the Mediterranean climate.

Nature has provided the Ukraine with a pleasant, very wholesome climate. On the whole temperate, it does not lack heavy frosts and considerable degrees of heat, which harden the Ukrainian to any inclemencies of the weather. The differences of the seasons cause a pleasant variety, strong winds clear the atmosphere and bring motion into nature, the rains are everywhere sufficient for the growth of vegetation and the carrying on of the most important occupation of the Ukraine—agriculture. The great uniformity of this Ukrainian climate has recently caused the French geographer, de Martonne, to set it up as one of the types of climate of the globe.

FLORA AND FAUNA OF UKRAINE

Eastern European bigness characterizes also the organic life of the Ukraine. But it follows, from the location of the country, that the Ukraine has a much more varied plant and animal geography than the proper Russian territory, despite the latter’s much greater extent.

In the Ukraine, the borders of three main divisions of plant-geography of Europe meet—the Mediterranean division, the steppe region, and the forest region, with their transition regions. Besides, we meet in the Ukraine three mountain regions—the Carpathian, the Crimean, and the Caucasian. In respect to flora, the Ukraine possesses only a few endemic species. To be sure the great ice period covered only comparatively small areas of the Ukraine with its glacier, but the polar flora undoubtedly prevailed in the entire country at that time. After the withdrawal of the glacier, steppes first appeared in its place, which then, especially in the Northwest, were forced to make room for a forest flora that had immigrated from Central Europe and Siberia. Hence, despite the considerable area of the Ukraine, so few endemic species.

Since those primeval days, only a very few natural changes have occurred in the vegetation of the Ukraine. However, man, thru his cultural activity, has wrought many changes in the plant-world of the country.

The forest region occupies barely one-fifth of the Ukrainian territory, only the northwestern and northern borderlands. The southeastern border of the forest region extends from the Prut and Dniester on the western boundary of Pokutye and Podolia in a curve to the source of the Buh, then near the northern boundary of the Dnieper Plateau east as far as Kiev, and thence toward the northeast as far as the source of the Aka. This boundary, however, is not sharp. In numerous peninsulas the compact forest penetrates the adjacent transition region toward the southeast. On the other hand, this forest boundary coincides almost exactly with the northern boundary of the black soil. The soil of the forest region is in general poor. Only in higher places we find fertile turf; beyond that sandy soil and the podsol, rich in quartz, predominate.

The prevailing plant formation in this region is the forest. It once covered the entire region and was thinned to any great extent only within the last two centuries. What these primeval forests were like we can now tell in only a few districts of the Polissye and in the famous virgin forest of Biloveza, which lies in the extreme northwest corner of the Ukrainian territory. Here we see the primeval forest in its mighty size and beauty. In wind-fallen woods, several meters high, rotten, decaying stumps cover the ground. Their roots stand up high into the air above swampy holes and vast masses of rotting remains of plants. Above this swampy fen rise, like a vast mass of pillars, the knotty trunks of century-old oaks and lindens, ash and aspen, and the slender pine and fir. High above the ground their branches intertwine. All strive up toward the sun, for a continuous semi-darkness reigns below. Shrub and herb vegetation thrives only in clearings; beyond that only last year’s leaves, needles, and a mysteriously glowing decay cover the ground. Dead silence, only occasionally broken by the hammering of a woodpecker or by the timid voice of a bird, reigns everywhere, making all the more impressive the mighty roaring of the lofty crowns in the storm.

As to their composition, the woods of the Ukrainian forest region are mixed, altho local conditions cause one or the other species of tree to predominate. The Ukrainian forest region may be divided into two regions by a line running thru Lublin southeast toward Lutzk. Southwest of this line extends the Central European forest zone, northeast of it the Northern European forest zone.

The Central European forest zone embraces the entire Pidhirye in the Ukraine, the southern part of the Rostoche, and the western spurs of Volhynia and Podolia. It is distinguished by a greater variety of tree species. Here, upon damp, loamy hills, entire forests of beech are found, on the Carpathian foothills the pine, and singly or in small groups, the larch, the yew, the maple, etc. In the Northern European zone all these trees disappear, due to the increasing continentality of the climate. The predominating species of tree here is the pine, which forms large woods everywhere on sandy soil, then the birch, which always accompanies the pine, the fir on sandy soil, the oak and white beech on loamy soil. There is an admixture of a considerable number of alders on swampy ground, aspens, lindens, elms, maples, ash and wild apple, pear and cherry trees. Hazel bushes, willow (salix caprea), mountain ash, raspberry and blackberry bushes comprise the thick underbrush in these mixed forests, and contribute a great deal to the beauty of the woods, together with grass and herb vegetation, especially in numerous clearings. In truer evergreen forests the underbrush usually is very poor.

There are a great many swamp forests in the Ukrainian forest region. In the Carpathian foothills they are called lasi, and are quite common there, but in the Polissye they are most widely developed. There they are usually composed of pines, with which, however, the swampy ground does not agree very well. The alders and willows, however, grow all the better.

The second important formation of the forest region are the luhi. They usually stretch thru the wide, flat river valleys of the region. These are luxurious meadows with a beautiful growth of grass and herbs set with single trees and clusters of trees. In dry places the oak usually grows, in damp places the alder.

The third typical plant formation is that of the swamps. They are widely developed in the forest region of the Ukraine, especially in the flat river valleys of the Rostoche and Volhynia. Polissye is the greatest swamp country in Europe. Regular moors, made up of peat mosses, alternate even in the Polissye region with meadow moors, in which swamp grass and herb vegetation predominates.

The forest region has played a significant part in the history of the Ukraine. When the Turkish nomad tribes, using the steppe district of the Ukraine as a convenient military road, destroyed the work of Ukrainian civilization in the steppe region, the Ukrainian people retreated into the forests and swamps of the north and west, advancing toward the southeast again, at the proper moment, to reinhabit the ravaged and desolated lands. This circle of events repeated itself frequently in the history of the Ukraine.

Today the woods of the Ukraine forest region are greatly thinned, so that they take up more than one-third of the total surface only in the Polissye. Cutting down and rooting up of the woods some centuries ago was, without a doubt, an important part of the work of civilization. But now things are different. Now the forest is considered a very important part of a well organized cultural section, and is, therefore, carefully preserved in the truly civilized lands of Europe. In the beautiful forests of the Ukraine, however, a reckless exploitation is going on, and the evil results are already apparent, especially in the sparsely wooded borders of the forest region, as well as in the entire country surrounding the steppe. The rivers have become small in volume of water, the sources dried up, and the ravines annually transform thousands of hectares into desert land. And this is happening in the granary of Europe, which some 300 years ago made foreign travelers marvel at its incredible fertility.

All the rest of the Ukraine, as far as the foothills of the Yaila and the Caucasus, is occupied by the steppe region. The limits of this region, as we have said, are not distinct. In peninsula and island formations the forest penetrates toward the southeast. In this direction the forest islands become constantly rarer and smaller, so that the Russian plant-geographers have felt called upon to insert two transition zones between the real forest and the real steppe—the zone of the exterior steppe and the zone of the transitional steppe. The actual steppe region is supposed to begin at the line which extends thru Kishinev and Katerinoslav to the bend of the Don. This division may be criticized, however, since it at most, fits present conditions brought about in the last 200 years by the destruction of forests on the part of men. The historical sources of the Ukraine tell of large woodlands, which, in the 16th, 17th and 18th Centuries, still extended along the sources of the Inhul and Inhuletz, along the Tasmin, on the river divides between the left-hand tributaries of the Dnieper, etc. They were not forest terraces, not mere strips of woods confined to river valleys; they covered the divides far and wide, as well as the broad tableau sheds lying between rivers. For this reason care must be taken in sketching the boundaries of the steppe. We therefore comprehend both the above mentioned transition zones into one, for which we would suggest the name luhi zone, because the luh, a meadow studded with scattered groups of trees and little groves, must have been the predominating plant formation of this transition country.

The typical soil of the transition country, as well as of the steppe region, is the black earth (Ukr. chornozem, Russ. chernozyom). Every Ukrainian is familiar with this blackish, ever fertile soil, which cannot be duplicated the world over and which makes the Ukraine the granary of Russia. The black earth is a product of the transformation of loess, with a strong admixture of the products of decomposition of plants. In places it attains a depth of 2 m. and over.

The black-earth region extends longitudinally thru the Ukraine, embracing over three-fourths of its territory. The northern boundary of the black-earth region passes from Lemberg along the north border of the Podolian and Dnieper Plateau as far as Kiev, and then northeast to the bend of the Aka, south of Kaluga. The southern boundary describes a line drawn thru the Boh and Dnieper deltas to their limans and the city of Mariupol. The entire Kuban plain and the plateau of Stavropol also belong to the region of black earth. Along the northern border of the black-earth region extends a transition zone of about 100 kilometers width, whose black earth contains 4 to 6% decaying plant matter. South of this lies the wide main area of the black earth with 6 to 10% decaying matter. On the sea and along the lower Dnieper the region ends with another transition zone, whose brownish black earth contains 4 to 6% of decaying matter. On the Sea of Azof and in Southern Crimea the brown dry steppe soil, with numerous islands of saline soil (solonchaki) and a peculiar vegetation, inclined to absorb salt, prevails. These are present also in the remaining black earth region, and there are also islands and strips of saline earth along the rivers and the seashore.

In the steppe region, the steppe is not the only plant formation. Above all we must differentiate between the meadow-steppe of the transition zone and the real steppe of the south, as well as the desert steppe in some districts of Crimea and the Caucasus. Besides this shrub formation, meadow-woods (luhi) and real forests are found in the steppe region.

In the vegetation of the meadow-steppe, grasses and herbs take the first place. Of the grasses the stippa species are the most characteristic (tirsa, kovil); of the herbs, the lily-like growths. The growth of grass in the northern part of the steppe region is very luxuriant and thick, and attains great heights, altho the times in which a rider and his horse might disappear in the grass belong to the past. High weeds and thistles (buriani, bodiaki) form thickets of great luxuriance. In the spring, when the fresh young grass begins to sprout up and the blossoming herbs convert the steppe into a carpet of flowers, when everything is resplendent with the fulness of life and beauty, then the Ukrainian steppe presents a wonderful picture. But this picture is not lasting. The heat and the drought transform the fresh, green, primitive color into yellow and brown. Grasses and herbs wither and die away, and only the roots and seeds preserve the living power of the plant, surviving the autumnal drought and the severe cold of winter, once more to wrap the steppe in its bridal gown in the spring.

In the southern part of the steppe region the plant covering is not so luxurious as in the north, and the grasses and herbs grow in isolated little bushes, between which the bare ground of the steppe remains visible. The saline earth appears much oftener, with its gray-green vegetation of salt plants, and we often find sand areas, which begin to suggest the desert steppes of the Caspian steppe country.

A characteristic plant formation in the entire steppe region is comprised by the bushes (bairaki, chahari), which generally consist of heavily tangled thickets of wild cherry (prunus chamaecerasus, vishennik), spiral (tavolha), snowball (calina), almond shrub (amygdalus nana, bobovnik), etc. They generally grow in the steppe balkas, or near them, and cover extended areas.

The Ukrainian steppe, despite contrary current opinion, does not lack tree growth. In the region of the real steppe, to be sure, we meet only forest terraces, which extend along the river courses, but in the transition zone we still find woods and groves, which not only appear in river valleys, but also cover the plateaus between these. The oak, the white beech, the maple, the poplar, the wild apple and pear trees, are the chief representatives of the tree species of the woods of this section. Even the pine ventures as far as the district of Kharkiv.

Besides the forest terraces, the rivers of the steppe region are accompanied by the formation of the so-called plavni. They are thickets of sedge and reeds, with luxuriant willow and alder growth; in drier places, which are flooded only during high-water time, real oak forests are added. With pleasure the eye of the traveler, wearied by the uniformity of the steppe, rests upon them.

As to the origin of the steppes of the Ukraine, scholars differ. Every one of them thinks he has found the only correct explanation. In reality, the origin and preservation of the Ukrainian steppes can be traced to the combined action of various causes. In the first place there is the continental dry climate. The amount of rainfall is too slight for the development of forest-flora; the drought of the summer and fall too long.

A minor cause is the salt content of the steppe-soil, which, however, is apparent only in places. On the other hand, the shape of the ground is very important. Where the land is level, where the dry steppe winds have free play and the rainwater cannot easily dissolve and wash away the salt of the soil, the steppe prevails. Where the land is cut by river valleys and balkas, however, there is more shelter from wind, more moisture, and no salt in the soil, so that conditions are given which are favorable for the development of tree vegetation. For this reason not only the valleys of the rivers, but also the balkas, which but seldom carry water, have always had tree growth, and even woods and groves. The trees which are planted there thrive very well, while attempts at cultivation in the real level steppe almost regularly fail. The most important foundation for the existence of steppes, however, is their character as remains of the old post-glacial steppe formation. Since the beginnings of the alluvial epoch, its territory is being won by the forest, which is constantly pushing forward toward the south and southeast, using the river valleys as the main lines of advance. In this advance toward the south, the forest has now been stopped by man before it was able to reach the shore of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azof.

Man has wrought many changes in the steppe region. In the first place he has entered into the struggle between the woods and the steppe in opposition to the woods. The ancient Ukrainians of the Kiev state rooted out great areas of forest and reclaimed them for civilization. On the other hand, the nomad tribes, roaming the steppes ever since man can remember, repeatedly destroyed forests with fire, in order to obtain good pasture for their herds and to break down the best defense of the agricultural Ukrainian population. In the 16th Century began the deforestation of the transition zone thru the progressing colonization movement of the Ukrainians, under the protection of the Cossack organization. But even in the 18th Century there were still great forests in the transition zone, which have since entirely disappeared. The intensive colonization movement of the 19th Century put an end to them. At the same time the hand of man attacked the steppe formation. Today only very small parcels of steppe are in their original condition. The steppe grasses have yielded place to an increasingly intensive cultivation of grain grasses; the place of the natural steppe has been usurped by the cultivated steppe, with its waving fields of grain and inevitable dreary stubble fields. With the progressive destruction of forests this cultivated steppe of man’s fields constantly moves toward the north and west of the Ukraine, favoring the accompanying migration of the steppe-plants and steppe animals into Central Europe.

Entirely independent is the position of the Ukrainian flora in the southern slope of the Yaila and the Caucasus. They belong really to the Mediterranean Sea region. The mild climate here has matured a flora of an entirely southern type, with many evergreen trees and shrubs peculiar to the Mediterranean region. Yet the vegetation of this district can only be considered as the advance guard of the real Mediterranean vegetation, for the representatives of the northern flora by far predominate over the southern species of plants, particularly in the forests which develop in higher altitudes.

Besides the just discussed plant-geographical regions and zones of the plain, the Ukraine has three mountain regions—the Carpathian, the Crimean and the Caucasian.

The foot of the Carpathians is covered by mixed and leafy forests. White beech, birch, linden, aspen and pine comprise these forests. At one time the oak predominated here, as it still does on the southern slope of the mountain range. On higher ridges of the Low and High Beskid, mixed forests of beech and fir are found. At the upper tree limit of the High Beskid the beech appears almost exclusively in forest formation. The trees become constantly smaller and more gnarled, and at a height of 1000 m. we meet only beech brush. On the southern side of the mountain range pure beech woods prevail.

In the Gorgani we soon distinguish two forest zones. The lower one has principally beech woods, with an admixture of firs and maples; the upper one consists almost entirely of fir woods. Their upper limit usually lies at a height of from 1500 to 1600 m., but the zekoti (seas of sandstone boulders), which cover all the higher peaks and ridges, reduce the upper tree limit a great deal in some places.

In the Chornohory, a similar division of the forest zone prevails. Oak forests, with thick underbrush, cover the foot of the range on both slopes. Above the oak woods lies the zone of mixed forests, in which white and red beech, birch, ash, maple and firs predominate. Above the height of 1300 m. lies the upper tree zone, which is made up of stocks of fir entirely. The upper tree limit lies at a height of 1700 m. The milder climate of the Chornohory matures a much more luxurious and a richer vegetation than in other parts of the Ukrainian Carpathians.

In the forest zones of the Carpathians, great complex primeval forests have survived to a great extent. They lie in inaccessible places, which the bandit axe of the professional forest destroyer has not yet penetrated. The Carpathian virgin forest is, perhaps, the most beautiful plant formation of the Ukraine. Giant firs, as much as 60 m. in height and six feet thick, raise their dark green slender pyramids above rocky slopes and immense wind-fallen woods, in which the modern firs lie in piles. Thick shrubbery covers the clearings, while in the eternal semi-darkness of the thickets, on rocky ground covered with needles, just an occasional pillow of moss may be found.

A second plant-formation of the Carpathians is that of the dwarf-shrubs. They develop above the forest limit and cover wide areas in the Gorgani and Chornohori. Mountain fir (zerep), accompanied by juniper (in the Beskyds and Gorgani) and by dwarf-alder bushes (lelich, in the Chornohory), in thickets which are impassible in places. The formerly widely distributed stone pine has become rare, since its fragrant wood is preferred by the mountain-dwellers for all sorts of woodwork.

The third plant formation of the Carpathians are their mountain meadows (polonini). They lie above the forest limit and begin to appear at the source of the San. Toward the southeast they become constantly more luxuriant and more frequent. The grass and herb growth of the polonini is very varied and rich, especially in the so-called zarinki, that is, parts of the mountain meadows where hay is made. The polonini are of great importance to the inhabitants of the mountains. Great herds of horses, cattle and sheep remain here all summer. The polonini are peopled, and a life of great privation—a hard life but free—develops in primitive dairy huts, with never dying camp-fires.

In the mountains of Crimea we find, in the main, the same arrangement of plant zones. At some height above sea-level the forest zone begins. White and red beech, oak, and two species of pine appear here in forests. Only on the broad peak surfaces we find poor mountain meadows with thick but short grasses. The name of these mountain pastures (yaila) has been transferred to the entire mountain chain.

In the Caucasus we find, within Ukrainian territory, only the forest zone of this mountain system. The forests often attain a height of 2500 m., and consist of various kinds of oak, beech, elms, linden, maple and ash. Above the forest limit we meet with a low shrub formation and the beautiful, wonderfully rich grass and herb growth which cover the mountain meadows of the Caucasus, rising, at a height of 2900–3500 m., to the snow border.

The animal-geographical conditions of the Ukraine are much simpler than the plant-geographical. The Ukraine, like the rest of Europe, belongs to the holarctic region, and despite the extent of the land, only slight differences in the fauna are found, these being due to the floral and morphological differences of the mountains, forests and steppes of the Ukraine.

Since the ice age, the animal world of the Ukraine has experienced no lesser changes than the plant world. In the ice period many mighty beasts of prey (cave bear, cave lion, cave hyena, etc.) lived here, besides thick-skinned animals (mammoth, rhinoceros), together with the ancestors of the present animal world and various polar forms. All these animals are either altogether extinct, or they followed the receding glacier to the north. On the other hand, together with the post glacial steppe, a steppe-fauna spread out from south and east, which then gradually had to make way for the forest fauna advancing southward with the forests.

From this time on, the Ukrainian fauna suffered only very slight natural changes. On the other hand, the artificial changes produced by the hand of man have been all the greater. Many species which were dangerous as beasts of prey or useful for food or skins, have either been entirely exterminated by man or greatly limited in their spread. In destroying the forests and putting cultivated steppes and fields in their place, he has, to a great extent, beaten the way to the heart of Central Europe for the animals of the steppe. But his activity has been rather to exterminate than to change, and he has destroyed the once wonderful animal life of the Ukraine.

Of the higher animal life of the Ukraine on the middle and lower Dnieper, we are told, in a historical source, almost incredible facts prevailing about the middle of the 16th Century. “The Ukraine is so rich in game that bisons, wild horses and deer are hunted merely for the sake of their skins. Of their meat only the choicest cuts of chine and loin are used, all other parts thrown away. Hinds and young boars are not hunted at all. Roes and wild boars wander in great herds from the steppes into the woods in winter, returning to the steppes in summer. During this season they are killed by the thousands. On all the rivers, streamlets, brooks, live innumerable beaver colonies. The bird world is so remarkably rich that enormous quantities of wild goose, wild duck, crane and swan eggs and young ones are gathered. In the rivers, such great shoals of fish swarm in the spring that the fishing spear thrown in stands upright.” Another chronicler, of the 17th Century, tells that he was present when a single throw of the net at the mouth of the Orel brought 2000 fish to light, of which the smallest was one foot long.

Of the cat family, the lynx and the wildcat have become very rare and are met with only in the Carpathians and the Caucasus; the lynx also in the Polissye country. The bear, formerly very frequent thruout the Ukraine, is now also confined to these three regions. On the other hand, wolves, foxes, badgers, martens, polecats and all sorts of small animals of prey have survived, altho in very much smaller numbers. Of the large plant-eating animals the bison (thanks only to the unusual care on the part of the government) has survived in the primeval forest of Biloveza, the moose-deer only in the Polissye, the stag only in the Carpathians and the Caucasus. On the other hand, there are still a great many roes and wild boars in the woods. Of the rodents the hare is still common everywhere, while the beaver, which at one time inhabited all the rivers of the Ukraine, is now confined to the most inaccessible swamps of the Polissye and the Caucasian tributaries of the Kuban. The bird kingdom, too, has become much poorer in species. Large birds of prey, like eagles and hawks, nest only in the Carpathians and in the Caucasus—very seldom in the woods of the plain. The heath fowl and grouse seek the most inaccessible thickets, and even the number of small insect and grain-feeders has been greatly reduced. Of the waterfowl, wild ducks, wild geese, coot, diving birds, etc., are still very numerous. Cranes and herons are rare. The former wealth of fish is ruined and no one takes care of the artificial raising of fish. To be sure, much fish is still caught, especially in the Dnieper and Don systems, mainly pike, tench, carp, crucian, shad, etc., and trout in the mountain streams; but of the abundance of even the comparatively recent past, there is no trace. Sturgeon, sterlet and other sea fish, which formerly came in great swarms up the Dniester, Boh and Dnieper, are only seldom found today.

The steppe region has lost even more of its animal wealth. Above all, the rich higher animal life of the transition zones, which as late as the 18th Century provided food for the populous Zaporog Sich, has quite disappeared. The tarpani (wild horses), which still inhabited the steppe in great herds in the 17th Century, are now completely exterminated. Saiga antelopes (saihaki), once generally distributed thruout the steppe region of the Ukraine, have retreated to the Caspian steppe. The smaller game and the bird world have suffered far less, but the activity of man, who has changed the steppes into fields and pastures, has been fatal to them too. The bustard, sandpiper, partridge and grouse, which formerly inhabited the steppe brush in great numbers have become rare. The same may be said of the bird-world of the watercourses and swamps which once inhabited the river districts of the steppe in immense swarms. The insectivorous birds, too, have decreased, and the harmful insects are increasing at a terrible rate. Only the locust pest, which formerly caused great damage in agriculture, is now almost gone.

But, in spite of the war of extermination which man is waging against the animal world of the steppe, animal species are found which were well able to adapt themselves to the new circumstances, have become accustomed to man and have found plenty of food in the fields of the cultivated steppe (field-mice, marmot, ground squirrels, etc.). They have increased greatly and have migrated toward the west and north, causing great damage to farming.

As we must dispense with a scientific discussion of the flora and fauna of the Ukraine, we shall only report a few essential facts about the useful plants and domestic animals.

The Ukraine, according to its soil and its climate, is the richest grain country of Europe. For wheat the conditions in the Ukraine are the most favorable, especially in the southern half of the black-earth region. Rye is raised more widely in the north and northwest; barley everywhere, but on a large scale only in the south; oats in the north and in the Carpathians, where it is often used to make bread. Buckwheat is distributed chiefly on the northern edge of the black-earth region; millet thrives well in the entire Chornozyom region. Corn is raised on a large scale only in the southwest and in the sub-Caucasus country.

Of pod plants, peas and beans are especially imported; they are raised not only in vegetable gardens but also in fields. Of the tuberous plants, the potato is generally distributed only in the western part of the Ukraine and increases in importance but slowly in the rest of the country. Sugar beets are cultivated on great areas of the Volhynian, Podolian and Dnieper Plateaus. Vegetable culture embraces all the vegetables of Central Europe, but is not especially developed. On the other hand, water melons, cantaloupe, cucumbers (particularly in the Southern Ukraine) are raised in special plantations (bashtani). Hemp, flax, rape-seed, sunflower, are generally distributed, and poppy is cultivated not only in gardens but also in fields. Tobacco culture is very important in the Ukraine, particularly in the Dnieper Plain.

Thanks to the warm summer and fall, the Ukrainian climate is well fitted for fruit culture. The orchard is a necessity to the Ukrainian farmer and is planted and cared for even under difficult conditions. Fruit culture flourishes particularly in Pokutye, Podolia (where the more tender species of apple and pear, as well as apricots, thrive in the Dniester valley), in Bessarabia, in Crimea and the sub-Caucasus country, where even peaches and grapes are added. The northern limit of the vine extends along the Dniester, then thru Kamenetz and Katerinoslav to the bend of the Don. Wine-culture has its main regions in Bessarabia, in Crimea and in the sub-Caucasus country, altho South Podolia and the Dnieper valley in the old Zaporog country do not lack vineyards.

The domestic animals are the same in the Ukraine as in Central Europe. Only in the extreme south camels and buffaloes are added. The horned cattle belong chiefly to the so-called Ukrainian breed, which is distinguished by its gray color and its size, and is bony and strong-limbed. It is very well fitted for work and is rich in milk. On the southwest borders of the Ukraine the Hungarian great-horned breed is widely distributed. In recent times the pure Holland, Tirol and Swiss breeds are continually spreading. The horses of the Ukraine belong to various mixed breeds. The most beautiful breed of horses, the Ukrainian, has been raised by the Zaporog Cossacks. It is of medium size, very strong and fleet, very enduring and useful for any sort of work. The Chornomoric variety is now being raised by the Kuban Cossacks and is rightfully famed thruout Eastern Europe for its high qualities. Very efficient, too, is the Hutzulian breed of mountain horses, small of stature but very strong, unsurpassed for mountain roads and foot-ways. The peasant horses of Galicia, Volhynia, etc., are, despite their unseemly outward appearance, really created for the rough roads of their land.

Donkeys and mules are rarities in the Ukraine, also very few goats are kept. In sheep, however, the Ukraine is the richest country in Europe. Not only native breeds (among them the justly famous reshetilivka, as it is called), but also foreign merino sheep are raised, especially in the steppes of the Ukraine. Hog raising is very highly developed. Usually Polish hogs are raised in Western Ukraine, Russian short-eared hogs in the eastern part, and in Southern Ukraine, southern crinkled hogs. In barnyard fowl the Ukraine is the richest land in Eastern Europe. Also bee culture is very important, especially in the Dnieper Plain. Silkworm culture, however, is not very important, altho the mulberry trees find favorable climatic conditions thruout the Ukraine.