THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



117 



Photograph by Nevin O. Winter 



A GROUP OP PEASANT WOMEN ON A RELIGIOUS PILGRIMAGE TO KIEV 



The Holy City of the Ukraine is visited annually by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. 

 It is the Jerusalem of the Little Russians. The catacomos, where repose the bodies of saintly 

 recluses, are among Kiev's most sacred places, and here the pious ones kiss the shriveled 

 hands laid out as hallowed relics by the monks. Contagion frequently spreads as a result of 

 this practice. 



In wide, level spaces, or in gentle undu- 

 lations, they reach out until sky and hori- 

 zon meet in a barely perceptible line. 

 Parts of it remind one very much of our 

 own western prairies. In spring and 

 summer it is an ocean of verdure, with 

 the varied shades of green of the grow- 

 ing vegetation interspersed with flowers 

 of many hues ; later, in the autumn, after 

 the crops are harvested, it becomes a 

 brown waste of stubble and burned-up 

 pastures ; in winter it is a white, glisten- 

 ing expanse of snow. 



The unending forest land of the north 

 has disappeared — not suddenly, but by 

 degrees. Most of it is treeless, however, 

 and a feeling of sadness and almost de- 

 pression involuntarily creeps upon one as 

 he travels over the steppes for the first 

 time. 



There are not many old towns in the 



Ukraine. Except in Kiev and Kharkov, 

 one will hardly find a building more than 

 a hundred years old. No old medieval 

 churches built up by the toil of genera- 

 tions of devout hands, no old chateaux 

 of the nobility, no palaces rich in pictures, 

 will be encountered. The great majority 

 of the towns are still big, overgrown vil- 

 lages. 



The towns are separated from each 

 other by enormous distances, with imper- 

 fect communication. The peasants plant 

 their villages in the lee of some swell in 

 the surface or by the edge of a stream in 

 which they can water their flocks during 

 the drought which may come. 



WINDMILLS EVERYWHERE 



The villages stretch down little valleys 

 seemingly for miles instead of being com- 

 pact, as in most countries. The only con- 



