Vol. XXXIX, No. 2 



WASHINGTON 



February, 1921 



TO I 



ATB© 



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AL 

 ro llC 



COPYRIGHT. 1 921. BY NATIONAL GEOGf 



JGTON. O C. 



CZECHOSLOVAKIA, KEY-LAND TO CENTRAL 



EUROPE 



By Maynard Owen Williams 



Author of "Russia's Orphan Races," "The Descendants oE Confucius." "Syria, 

 History's Chain," "Between Massacres in Van," etc. 



he Land Link of 



CZECHOSLOVAKIA is an excel- 

 lent example of a cultured nation 

 which, owing to the overthrow of 

 the old order in Europe, is now a free 

 land. 



It was on American soil that the plans 

 of freedom of this nation were devel- 

 oped ; its Declaration of Independence 

 was written in an American city and 

 shortened to meet the space limitations of 

 an American newspaper. In success or 

 failure, this key-land to central Europe 

 cannot but be of interest to America and 

 to the world. 



Prague, the capital of the new republic, 

 is one of the most interesting of the 

 world's cities, and to one who comes to 

 know its charms it has a peculiar appeal. 

 The view of the ancient , palace of 

 Hardcany from the opposite end of the 

 old Charles Bridge is one long to be re- 

 membered, and, although I have seen it 

 by many varying lights, I think the most 

 memorable picture of it was at night, dur- 

 ing a recent river festival (see p. 118). 



A RIVER FESTIVAL AT PRAGUE 



On a platform on one of the islands 

 that dot the Moldau (Vltava), a spirited 

 performance was being given. The ink- 

 black waters of the stream were gashed 

 with blinding beams from the search- 

 lights on shore, and the steamers and 

 smaller boats that crowded the river were 



shadowy hulks vastly magnified by their 

 reflections. 



To the waving of white handkerchiefs 

 and the flutter of a hundred snowy skirts 

 whirling in gay dances on the platform, 

 the bright scene ended and the lifted 

 searchlights rolled up a curtain of dark- 

 ness before the open stage ; then, sweep- 

 ing their aluminum shafts into the air 

 until they pointed to a spot just above 

 the Royal Palace, the lights were quickly 

 lowered, so that the sharp spires of St. 

 Vitus leaped upward to spear the haze, 

 and the fair)/" mass of palace wall, sur- 

 mounted by the delicate tracery of the 

 cathedral, stood out like a silver casket 

 against a leaden sky. 



The favorite view of Prague is from a 

 hideous view-tower on the Petrin. From 

 its top one can see the Bohemian forest on 

 the Bavarian frontier and the other low 

 ranges that inclose the great plain to" 

 Bohemia 



viewing Prague 

 pointing. Even the high 



but as a vantage point for 

 it is distinctly disap- 

 pires of the 

 St. Vitus Cathedral cut the hillside in- 

 stead of the skyline, and the rolling city, 

 caught in the boomerang curve of the 

 river, seems much flatter than it really is. 

 A better point of vantage is the view- 

 tower in the grounds of the early eigh- 

 teenth century Schonborn Palace, now 

 the residence of the American Minister 

 to Czechoslovakia. From that lower level 



