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Show WHAT IS THE UKRAINE? In tho heart of the Ukrainian territory ter-ritory Poles and Ukrainians participated partici-pated In u struggle with thu Itolshc-Tiki. Itolshc-Tiki. "Whut Is the Ukraine? Tho Poles and thu Llthunnluns of a few centuries ago knew well this most turbulent section sec-tion over .wlilch they uttcmptcii to rule, and Imperial ltussln for a long tlmo wus greatly troubled by this very unruly part of her expansive domain. The Tatars and tho Turks felt Its proximity because of the ninny raids iniiilu upon them by the wild warriors of tho steppes," says Nevln O. Winter lu a communication to the National Geographic society. "Tho Ukraine Includes southeastern ltussln, with the exception of the province known us Ilessunibla, which Ukraine Peasant Girl. partakes of tho character of tho Ilnl-kau Ilnl-kau states and Is peopled with Itou-mnnlnus Itou-mnnlnus und Ilulgnrians. Tho great seaport of Odessa and surrounding country lmvo been added to U uuder tho now alignment, "Tho Ukraine does not reach much north of Kiev or east of Khnrbo hut It Is a large stnto In Itself, about ns large as tho farmer German empire, with some twenty-live or thirty millions mil-lions of people Ihinr In It. Thcro Is a Iuru about tho limitless stretches of tho steppes in the Ukraine. In wide, level spaces, or In gentla undulations, they reach out ua- til sky and horizon meet in a hnrely perceptible line. Parts of It remind ono very much of our own western prairies, in spring nnd summer It Is nn -ocenn of verdure, with the varied shades of green of tho growing vegetation vege-tation Interspersed with flowers of many hues; later, in tho nutumn nfter tho crops are harvested, It becomes a brown wnsto of stubble and burned-up pastures; In winter It Is a white, glistening glis-tening expanse of snow. "There are not many old towns In tho Ukraine. Except In Kiev and Kharkov, one will hnrdly And a build, lng mow thnn a hundred years old. No old medieval churches built up by tho toll of generations of devout hands, no old chateaux of the nobility, nobil-ity, no palaces rich in pictures will be encountered. The great mnjorlty of tho towns uro still big, overgrown villages. "The towns nro separated from each other by enormous dlstunces, with Imperfect Im-perfect communication. Tho peasants plant their villages In tho leo of some swell In tho surface or by the edgo of a stream in which they can water their flocks during tho drought which may come." |
