312 



RUSSIA IN EUEOPE. 



Fit 



1G3. — The Lower Inguletz. 

 Scale 1 : 325,000. 



opposite bank of the river. Capital of one of the most populous Russian govern- 

 ments, Kherson is nevertheless a smaller place than Odessa, and even than 

 Nikolayev, the port of the Bug. The bar, islands, and sand-banks in the river 

 prevent the approach of large vessels, which are obliged to stop in the liman 24 

 miles farther west. Still it does a considerable export trade, especially in timber, 

 cereals, and hides. Some of the old fortifications are yet standing, and on one of 

 the gateways Catherine IL was able to decipher the inscription, "This is the 

 road to Constantinople." 



Podolia is entirely compiised in the basins of the Bug and Dniester, and most 



of its towns are situated either on the 

 course or near the banks of these 

 rivers. In the Bug valley are 

 Vinnitza, a thriving place ; the 

 Jewish BratzIaVy formerly capital of 

 a Polish province ; and Lit in, south- 

 west of which is Bar, in the Rov 

 valley, where was formed the famous 

 confederation of 1768, which hastened 

 the ruin of Poland. In the basin of 

 the Sinukha, the largest tributary of 

 the Bug, is situated the flourishing 

 town of Vnian, where, to revenge 

 themselves on the Bar confederates, 

 the Cossacks and Little Russian 

 peasantry massacred the Poles and 

 Jews who had taken refuge here in 

 1768. IS'ow the Jews are more 

 numerous than ever. About midway 

 between the Bug and Dniester lies 

 the important city of Baifa, at the 

 junction of the Odessa- Breslaù and 

 Odessa-Moscow railways. It does a 

 large trade in cattle and farm produce, 

 forwarded chiefly to Odessa. 



On entering the government of 

 Kherson, the Bug sweeps by Olviopol 

 and Vosnesensk to its junction with the Ingul, in the basin of which stands the town 

 of Yelisavetgmd ("Elizabeth Town "), which has recently acquired a rapid develop- 

 ment as the chief centre of traffic between Kremenchug and Odessa. In the neigh- 

 bourhood are some lignite mines. Another town also remarkable for its recent 

 expansion is Nikolayev, on both banks of the Ingul, just above its junction with 

 the Bug, where the two streams assume the proportions of a liman, or wide estuary. 

 Since 1789 Nikolayev has been the chief Russian naval station on the Black Sea. 

 While Sebastopol was planned more for aggressive purposes, the somewhat inland 



5 Miles. 



