ODESSA. 



315 



on the other towards the east. Thus a greater number of natural highways converge 

 at Odessa than at any other phiee on the coast. Hence this seaport has rapidly risen 

 in importance, especially since the advantages of its geographical position have 

 heen improved by piers, wharfs, warehouses, and railways. It is scarcely a century 

 old, its site having been occupied in 1789 by a Tatar hamlet, surrounding the fort 

 of Haji-Bey, and its present name 



Fig. 166. — Odessa. 

 Scale 1 : 240,000. 



dating only from 1794. It per- 

 petuates that of an old Greek 

 colony, formerly settled on this 

 coast, and so named in memory 

 of the mythical hero Ulysses 

 (Odysseus). At the beginning 

 of the century it had a population 

 of no more than 8,000, which 

 had risen to 100,000 in 1850, and 

 this has since been doubled, so 

 that in this respect it now takes 

 the fourth place m the empire. 

 Like St. Petersburg, it resembles 

 a European town in its general 

 aspects far more than do most of 

 the overgrown villages of the 

 interior which rank as towns or 

 cities. 



Seawards it presents a pleasant 

 effect, standing 150 feet above 

 the coast on the most elevated 

 point of the steppe plateau, which 

 gradually slopes eastwards to the 

 Dnieper liman, westwards to that 

 of the Dnieper, but falls abruptly 

 towards the sea. A noble prome- 

 nade, lined by handsome build- 

 ings, runs along the edge of the 

 cliff, from the centre of which a 

 grand flight of steps leads down 

 to the quays and shipping. The 

 central quarter, passing inland, is 

 splendidly laid out with broad 



thoroughfares, elegant shops, and houses in the Italian style. But beyond this 

 district extensive suburbs stretch everywhere towards the steppe, exposed to the 

 winds and clouds of dust, the plague of Odessa. The soil on which it stands is 

 composed of a shelly sandstone, supplying a building material which readily 

 decomposes in the open air, soon giving to the houses the appearance of ruins. 



50°45' 



17 to 34 Feet. 34 Feet and upwaius. 



- Farmsteads. 

 ^—=.^—^— 3 Miles. 



