OCR Text |
Show BESSARABIA: A CONEY ISLAND OF HISTORY Besporabln. recently assigned to tho suzerainty of Iloumanla, has long been a raclnl catch basin. Hef population wns more thnn' 2, 000.000 before tho war; and Included Moldavians, Little Itusslnns, Jews, Bulgarians. Bul-garians. Greeks. Armenians, Tnrlnrs, QsirinnnH. nnd Gypsies; but that list lshort compared with tho encyclopedic encyclo-pedic procession of Getue. Goths. Avars. Ilun, Bossl (wlienco her name), Ugrliuis, Kumnns, and Mongols, to mention but a few. since tho dnjs of the i rlglnnl Cimmerians. For HeSHnrnhln. sloping southward from the westwnrd foothills of the I Carpathians between the Dniester nnd J Pruti. down to the Black nml J Dauui delta lay ln the normal gco-1 u!ljQsjey2SS9M9E2 graphical pathway of tribes pushing jU westward from Asia and southward from the bleak Hussion steppes toward tho warmer seacoast lands. Moreover, Bessarabia Is at tho convergence of ! theso two history-beaten paths, and 'jfl many times a clash ensued to dccldo M which group should pass through the M "neck of tho bottlo" toward Europo'a lands of milk nnd honey, JH Among tho most harrowing of tho In- ! vnslons was that of tho Mongols In H tho fourteenth century. They cflmo jH ncross the Volga under Bntu, grandson H of thnt Mongol Charlemagne, Jcnghlit iH Knhn, nnd though thero Is no coinplotu VM story Of their depredations In Bcs- M Bnrnbla, that region probably suffered jM atrocities similar to others vwhlch nro M recorded ln harrowing detail. At lM Hynzan women nnd children were used jH ns tnrgcts In bow-aud-arrow contests; , jH slivers of wood were driven under the ,H nails of tho men; Uien they were cor- H railed In churches to watch their worn M en being tortured, and Anally roasted H alive. Another city, Kozclsk, was re- j named Moballg, "City ot Woo," and jl Kiev wns laid wasto after her people lM had been maimed and murdered. lH A picture of pencoful, pastoral lies- jH snrabla prior to tho renewed ravages jH of tho World war, furnishes a pienslug fH contrast. A delight to tho few tour- H Ists who went through the region, wcro H tho Moldnvlnn homes. , H A Moldavian Interior wns Immaculate H nnd vivid. Brightly-colored curtains H nnd hnnglngs were used. An lnovltnblu H decoration were rows of yellow H gourds, tho raising of which Is ono of H tho minor Bossarnblan Industries. Thu H pcoplo nro deeply religious. Each ortho- jH odox homo had Ita nltar, facing cast- jH ward, micrcd bread beneath the Icon, jH nnd cornstnlks placed In tho shade of jH a cross before It. Even tho altars H wcro colorful becnuso of their draper- jH les and candles, and maTty times they liH were laden with flowers. Tho Ben- jH sarablan women aro sprightly, bright- H eyed, nnd pretty. H Moldavians constituted about half H tho Inhabitants of Dcssarabla. Ilou- H mania, tt will bo recalled, wan formed tH by tho union of Moldavia and Wql- iH Inchla; hence tho adjoining Bcs- jH Bnrnbla, with Its largo Moldavian pop- M ulatlon, long has been tho "Irredenta" H of Itoumnnla. 'H |