Ukraine: The Land and Its People. An Introduction to Its Geography.

The Black Sea is not large (450,000 square kilometers). It is a landlocked sea, situated between Europe and Asia, and connected with the Mediterranean Sea by the narrow Straits of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmora, which, geologically speaking, is a basin formed by subsidence. Great subsidences of the earth’s surface created the deep basin of the Pontus. The Pontus was a part of the extensive upper Miocene and Sarmatian inland sea, which slightly flooded large districts of the present European continent as far as the Vienna basin. Toward the end of the tertiary period, this inland sea shrank and separated into single sea basins. The Pontian basin became connected with the Mediterranean Sea later, in the latter part of the diluvial period, by means of great subsidences of recent date.

The present morphology of the Pontus is in full accord with this genesis. The northern part, as far as the line of communication between the Balkan and Yaila Mountains, is a shallow sea of a depth of less than 200 meters; the so-called bay of Odessa is barely 50 meters deep; the Sea of Azof, projecting to the northeast, barely 15 meters. But just on the southern border of the line of plicated mountains, which is broken at this point, the bottom of the Black Sea declines rapidly to greater depths (1500 meters) until, declining more gradually now, it attains the depth of 2245 meters in the center of the oval-shaped main basin of the Pontus.

The salt content of the Black Sea is much smaller than that of the ocean, or even of the Mediterranean. The Sea is comparatively small, and receives a great deal of fresh water from the many and large rivers of the region which it drains, while the influx of salt water from the Mediterranean thru the shallow straits cannot be great. The salt content is on the average 1.8%; only at great depths does it reach 2.2%. The diluted surface layer shows barely 1.5% salt content; the Sea of Azof hardly 1%. The surface water, containing little salt but a great deal of air, cannot, because of the greater density of the lower layers of water, sink far, and this low degree of ventilation accounts for the fact that the waters of the Black Sea below a depth of 230 meters are saturated with sulphide of hydrogen, and thus preclude any possibility of organic deep-sea life.

Nevertheless, the Black Sea is notable for its beautiful blue-green color and the great transparency of its waters. A white disc, on being submerged, disappeared only at a depth of 77 meters.

The surface temperature of the Black Sea is subject to many fluctuations; from 27° C in midsummer to 5° C in winter. In severe winters the Sea is frozen over in the bay of Odessa for a short time; the Limans and the Sea of Azof regularly for from two to three months.

The Black Sea has been known since hoary antiquity as a dangerous, stormy sea. The waves, running as high as 10 meters, the short cross-waves caused by the proximity of the shores, the difficult approaches to the land, are still a great hindrance to navigation, especially in the winter time. Not without cause did the Greeks originally call it “the inhospitable sea,” until the great number of flourishing Greek settlements on its shores led them to change its name to “hospitable sea.” Despite this euphemistic name, however, “Pontus Euxeinos,” the Black Sea has devoured many goods and lives, many Greek and Roman ships, many Turkish and Genoese galleys, many English and Russian steamers. And many a little Zaporog vessel sank in the dark waves of its native sea, “on white cliffs dashed to pieces,” as is related in the old folk-epics; many a one was driven to far-off hostile Turkish shores, to the destruction of its crews.

Being a closed interior sea, the Pontus has no noticeable tides. Marked changes of level are caused by the action of the wind. In the liman of the Boh, for example, they produce 20 centimeters difference of level in a day, sometimes even 40 centimeters; in the bay of Yahórlik as much as 46 centimeters. The Sea of Azof becomes 45 to 90 centimeters deeper when there is a west wind, up to 1 meter deeper in the case of south winds, and shallower by an equal amount when the winds are in the opposite direction. Slight changes of level are dependent also on the seasons. The Black Sea has its lowest water level in February, when the region which it drains is covered with snow; the highest in May and June, as a result of the melting of the snows and the early summer rains. These fluctuations, however, amount to only 25 cm. The currents of the Black Sea, too, are inconsiderable, because of its isolation. Outside of local currents which are caused by winds, we know of only one greater current, weak in itself, which encircles the Pontian Basin in a counter clock-wise direction and may be traced to the cyclonal motion of the air. The same conditions obtain on a smaller scale on the Sea of Azof and are reflected in the direction of the tongues of land along the coasts.

Despite the fact that the deep-sea region of the Black Sea is poisoned with sulphide of hydrogen, it possesses a rich flora and fauna in its surface layers. Enormous shoals of all kinds of fish—sturgeon, hausen, sterlet, “kephal,” “bichok,” “balmut,” come to the coast and into the limans of the river deltas. For this reason the Pontian fishing industry has been considerable for thousands of years. The extraction of salt from the limans and salt lakes is also important. Before the age of the railroad the abundance of fish and salt of the Black Sea created a special trucking trade in the Ukraine, the so-called Chumaki, who came to the Pontian strand in whole caravans of oxcarts to take dried fish and salt in exchange for grain.

The Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea begins at the delta of the Danube and ends at the western spurs of the Caucasus. The greater part is flat coast, the smaller, steep coast.

At the northern Kilian arm of the Danube delta, where now the descendants of the Zaporog Cossacks gain a scanty living thru fishing, begins the coast of the Ukraine. The steppe approaches the sea with a steep declivity, which is bordered by a narrow strand of sand and pebbles. The coast runs evenly as far as the Dnieper delta, without any indentations. Even the famous port of Odessa is an artificial harbor.

Only at a point where a river, a streamlet, even a balka (step-glen, ravine) opens into the sea, is the steep incline of the steppe-plateau broken. We then see before us an enormous pond as it were, at the upper end of which the water-course enters and the lower end of which is locked from the sea side by a land-tongue or bar (Kossá, Peresip) as by a flat dam. This sea-water lake is called liman in Ukrainian.

Wherever a stream of great volume empties into a liman, the bar is severed at one or more places. These liman deltas are called, in Ukrainian, hirló. Limans which have such connections with the sea are broken. Of such a kind are the limans of the Kunduk, Dniester, Boh and Dnieper. Where a little streamlet discharges which has not a sufficient volume of water to cover the loss from evaporation of the liman surface and still retain an excess for keeping open the outlet, then the bar of the liman is without an opening and the water contains a great deal of salt. Of this kind are, above all, the limans of Kuyalnik and Khadshibé near Odessa, the large, deep Tilihúl and many smaller ones. The water and the mud of such limans possess healing powers, and every summer thousands of patients travel to the hot shores of the limans to regain their health.

The limans are simply submerged eroded valleys of steppe rivers which are now being filled in by alluvial deposits. Therefore, the limans of all larger rivers are too shallow to serve as good harbors for the larger sea-going vessels. The liman of the Dniester allows entrance only to small ships drawing two meters of water; the gigantic Dnieper liman is only 6 m. deep, and only the Boh liman is accessible to larger sea-going ships. Systematic dredging, however, could, without a doubt, bring relief, and would change a number of the limans into profitable harbors.

Beginning at the liman of the Dnieper, the coast is strongly indented as far as the bay of Karkinit, but these indentations (Yahórlik, Tendra, Kharilgach) are closed off by long tongues of land and the undersea extension of the bar of Bakalsk. The west coast of Crimea is also a uniform liman coast, increasing constantly in height, however, toward the south. At the Alma delta the coast becomes steep and has two excellent harbors, Sevastopol and Balaklava, which are submerged deep valleys. The southeast coast of the Crimean peninsula is a strongly marked acclivitous shore. The steep descent of the Yaila Mountains has been transformed here, thru the abrasive action of the sea, into a beautiful coastline. Eruptive rock, capable of offering great resistance, is found here in places, forming picturesque capes, jetties and crags, between which lie pretty little bays and coves. The agreeable climate, the clear sky, the good sea-baths and the beautiful country annually lure to this Ukrainian Riviera thousands of consumptives and health-seekers. There are rows and rows of cottage-colonies and mansions.

Beginning at the crescent-shaped bay of Feodosia, the coast again becomes lower and also has a number of salty lagoons and bars. Of the same description are the coasts of the Strait of Kerch, leading into the Sea of Azof, which is 35,000 sq. km. in area. This extremely flat sea is often compared to a liman. Numerous tongues of land (Biriucha, Obitochna, Berdianska, Kossa, etc.) jut out here into the sea, showing very clearly in their direction the effect of the cyclonal motion of the air. The low coast has an enormous number of limans and lagoons, e.g., Utluk, Mius, Molochni, Yeski, Akhtirski, Tamanski, Kisiltash, etc. The most remarkable part of the Sea of Azof, however, is the Sivash. A bar 111 km. in length shuts the Sivash off from the Sea of Azof, leaving only a connecting passage of 150 m., near Henichesk. The curiously ragged banks of red-clay, the salt swamps, lagoons and islands, the bracken, ill-smelling water, which is salty in summer, and in a few spots at other times as well, have given the Sivash the name of Foul Sea (Hnile More).

The eastern part of the Ukraine’s Black Sea coast is a mountainous cliff-coast again. The plications of the western Caucasus, which approach the sea obliquely, are here so quickly destroyed by the powerful abrasive action of the surf, that the erosive action of the rivers and mountain streams cannot keep pace. Therefore, the crest is difficult of access and only the two harbors of Novorossiysk and Gelendshik offer shelter for ships along this part of the coast. But even this shelter is doubtful, because of the bora-like winds.

As we perceive from this description of the Ukrainian coast, it is not one which would promote navigation among the inhabitants. Lack of harbors, isolation, remoteness from the main lines of the world’s traffic, never could have an encouraging effect upon the development of navigation among the Ukrainians. Despite all this, however, they developed very high seafaring qualities in the time of the old Kingdom of Kiev and later on in the Cossack period, and the present age, too, has brought a revival of the nautical skill of the Ukrainian coast population.

GENERAL SURVEY OF THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF UKRAINE

The Ukrainian Mountain Country

Glancing at the map of the Ukraine, we perceive at once that in this country we should seek in vain for such a variety of surface configuration as is peculiar to Central or Western Europe. In Germany or France there appear in a comparatively small space the most varied landscape—chains of high mountains, central chains of mountains, terrace and hill country, plateaus and plains.

It is different here in our wide Ukraine. One can travel hundreds of miles in any direction without seeing a change in the character of the scenery. The uniformity which is typical for Eastern Europe is peculiar also to the Ukraine. But not to the extent that it is to Great Russia, where the endlessness of the flat country wearies the eye of the traveler. For there are in the Ukraine landscapes of high and central chains of mountains, picturesque hill districts and richly cut plateaus, marshy plains and steppes strewn with barrows. There is, then, in the Ukraine, a variety of surface configuration, but on a large scale, not as in Western or Central Europe, confined in a small space.

The morphological nucleus of the Ukraine is the closed group of plateaus, which extends from the country at the foot of the Carpathians and the Polish part of the Vistula region to the Sea of Azof. Pontian Plateau or Avratinian Ridge are the commonly used but incorrect names of this plateau group. The first designation might do, but the second transfers the name of a little destitute hamlet at the source of the Sbruch to a territory of hundreds of thousands of square miles. We shall, therefore, select for this plateau group the name Ukrainian Plateau Group.

It forms a compact whole between the Carpathians and the Dnieper and is divided into the following individual sections: The Rostoch, between the San and Buh Rivers; Volin, between the Boh and the Teterev; Podolia, between the Dniester and the Boh; the Pocutian—Bessarabian Plateau, between the Dniester and the Prut; the Dnieper Plateau, between the Boh and the Dnieper. The plateau character continues at the rapids section of this river on the left bank, where, at some distance, the last member of the Ukrainian Plateau Group lies—the Donetz Plateau.

The plateau group of the Ukraine is bordered on the north and south by two plain districts. The northern district consists of adjoining lowlands—Pidlassye, Polissye, and the Dnieper plain—and their extensions along the Donetz; the southern district is made up of the long stretch of the Pontian steppe-plain, which, in the country at the foot of the Caucasus, merges into the Caspian desert-steppe.

Beyond the northern plain district, Ukrainian territory does not extend, except in the Don region, where it embraces the southern spurs of the Central Russian Plateau.

Besides these plateau and plain regions the Ukraine takes in also parts of three mountain systems of the European continent. The Ukraine is the only country of Eastern Europe which extends over into the region of the European mountains of plication. Parts of the Carpathians, the little Yaila chain of Crimea, and the western parts of the Caucasus lie, together with their environs, in Ukrainian territory.

From this general survey of the surface configuration of the Ukraine, we can easily see that more than nine-tenths of the surface of this land is taken up by plains and plateaus. Nine-tenths of the Ukrainians have certainly never seen a mountain and do not even know what one looks like. Expressive of this circumstance is the fact that in the wide plateau and plain region of the Ukraine the most insignificant hills bear the high-sounding name of “mountain.” But, despite this, the Ukraine also has its share in the three mountain systems of Europe—the Carpathians, the Yaila, and the Caucasus. All three were formed thru plication of the rock-layers.

The vast plication-formed mountain range of the Caucasus, even in the small part belonging to Ukrainian territory, attains an alpine height; the scenery of the Yaila along the Crimean Riviera is wonderful, but the Carpathians, altho not as lofty as the Caucasus and not of such scenic beauty as the Yaila, are the dearest to the heart of the Ukrainian. For the Ukrainian nation expanded in the Caucasus only a century ago and has but just reached the Yaila. And the Eastern Carpathians have for more than a thousand years been a Ukrainian mountain range.

Still, hardly one-third of the 1300 km. curve of the Carpathians belongs to Ukrainian national territory. Toward the west the Carpathians are inhabited by Poles and Slovaks; in the east and south by the Roumanians.

The boundary-posts of the Ukrainian territory extend in the west beyond the famous defile of Poprad. From the rounded peaks of the mountain country where the last Ukrainian villages lie, one sees rising at a very short distance the imposing range of the Tatra; still nearer lie the cliffs of the Pienini, famous geologically as well as for their scenery. In the eastern part of the Carpathian chain, Ukrainian territory reaches the Prislop pass, which connects the valleys of the Golden Bistritz and the Visheva (Visso). To the Ukraine, then, belongs the sandstone district of the Carpathians at that point where it is highest and most developed. It is called simply the “wooded Carpathians.”

The western part of the sandstone Carpathians which lies within Ukrainian territory is called the Low Beskid. It is also known as Lemkivski Beskid because it is inhabited by the Ukrainian mountain tribe of the Lemkes. The Low Beskyd extends from the defile of Poprad to the valleys of the Strviazh River, the Oslava (Lupkiv pass), and the Laboretz. It is a broad-backed but not a high mountain country. In long chains, gently undulating mountain ridges stretch from west to east and southeast. Their slopes are gentle; one can easily walk or even ride up, and numerous wagon-roads and highways lead straight over the crest or even along the edge of the crest. The peaks are rounded and of uniform height, except where an occasional gently vaulted mountain top rises above the low-hill country. Between gently sloping ranges there extend, in a longitudinal direction, valleys with watersheds and communicating passes. Broad, well-developed defiles separate the range into different sections. The Galician-Hungarian dividing-ridge has only slight gorges of genuine mountain passes.

The peaks and high passes of the Lower Beskid are insignificant. Only in the extreme west, on the Poprad and the Torissa, do the peaks reach a height of 1000 and 1100 m.; further toward the east hardly 700 to 800 m. The important Dukla Pass is hardly 500 m. above sea-level. In the middle of the Beskid mountain country we even see a great longish strip of lower country (“the Sianok Lowlands”) whose low hills are less than 300 m. high.

There is a connection between the insignificant height and soft landscape forms of the Low Beskid and the geological construction and evolution of the mountain range. This mountain country, like the whole sandstone-region of the Carpathians, is built up of strongly plicate and compressed Flysch—a series of sandstones, slates, conglomerates, clays, etc., of the cretacian and tertiary ages. All these species of rock occur in this region in thin layers and have little power of resistance; everywhere the basic mountain ridge is covered with a thick coat of weathering loam; rock piles are found very seldom. There is added the fact that all the sandstone Carpathians of the Ukrainian territory have been evened out by the destructive action of water and air into a more or less perfect plain. Not until the quaternary was the “obliterated” range raised anew and transformed into a mountain district by the action of the rivers which were cutting in again.

The Low Beskid was once covered with great, mixed forests. Now the once splendid virgin forests are completely thinned and all the ill effects of forest destruction have visited the poor mountain country. The fertile soil was washed away on the mountain-sides and heaped up with rubble and mud in the valley bottoms. The tribe of the Lemkos is therefore, perhaps, the poorest of all the Ukrainians and is compelled to seek an existence in distant lands.

In the southern part of the Low Beskid the boundaries of the Ukrainian nation in Hungary reach the northern part of the Hegyalia-Sovari Ridge, which, at this point, is 1100 m. high, and is composed of extinct trachyte volcanoes.

To the east of the Lupkiv Pass begins the second section of the Ukrainian Carpathians—the High Beskid. It stretches to the southeast as far as the valleys of the Stri, Opir and Latoritzia Rivers (Pass of Verezki).

The High Beskid like the Low is composed of a number of parallel, weakly joined mountain ranges, which run northwest and southeast. The type of the Rost Mountains is, therefore, even more clearly marked in this part of the sandstone Carpathians than in the preceding. The mountain crests are gently sloped, the edge of the crests slightly curled, the height of the peaks constant, the passes only walled passes. Toward the southeast, tho, the ridge steadily increases in height. The highest peaks are Halich (1335 m.), the beautifully pyramid-shaped rocky Piku (1405 m.) and the massive Polonina ruvna (1480 m.)

In the Flysch of the High Beskid, two species of sandstone attain greater power of forming layers and of resisting pressure—the chiefly upper cretacian Yamna sandstone and the oligocene Magura sandstone. The former forms beautiful groups of rocks on peaks and precipices. The cliffs of Noich, with its traces of a rock castle, are the most famous.

The longitudinal valleys are much less developed in the High Beskid than in the Low. They are traversed only by smaller brooks. All larger streams like the Strviazh, Dniester and Opir, flow thru well-formed passes. Expansions of valleys (in regions of soft slate) alternate with contractions of valleys (in regions of hard sandstone). Most remarkable are the deeply cut out winding valleys (San, Striy), which offer the best proof of the former smoothing down and the later raising of the mountains.

Beautiful beech and evergreen forests still cover large parts of the High Beskid. Above the tree-line (1200–1300m) we meet for the first time with the characteristic plant-formation of the Polonini (mountain pastures) which yield excellent pasturage for large and small cattle during the summer and create the foundation for a primitive dairy industry.

Along the southern foot of the High Beskid, and separated from it by a chain of longitudinal valleys, a long chain of mountains rises above the neighboring Hungarian plain, bearing the name of Vihorlat (the Burnt Out). The Rivers Uz (Ungh), Latoritzia and Bershava, have cut the Vihorlat into four sections. The range is lower than the Beskyd, since it is less than 1100 m. high, but it is strongly cut up by deep-gorged valleys, and has steep, rocky precipices, bold rocky summits and pretty little mountain lakes. The range, which is covered with thick oak forests, owes its scenic character to its geological composition. The Vyhorlat is a line of extinct volcanoes, in the old craters of which the mountain lakes of the region lie. The firm trachyte lava forms picturesque rock walls and peaks. East of the Verezki Pass begins a new mountain section, perhaps the most characteristic one in the sandstone Carpathians. It extends toward the east as far as the passes of the Prut and the Black Tyssa (Theiss) and the Yablonitza Pass. This part of the sandstone Carpathians bears the name of Gorgani.

The uniform mountain walls of the Beskid give way here to shorter mountain ridges, strongly cut up by cross valleys. The main streams of the northern slope, Opir, Limnitzia—the two Bistritzas—flow thru deep, picturesque passes; still deeper are the valleys of the mountain streams which flow into the Theiss, as the Torez, Talabor, etc. It is a remarkable circumstance that the dividing border ridge is lower than the ridges facing it on the north and south, which are broken thru by magnificent passes.

The edge of the Gorgani ridge also shows traces of the old leveling-surface and has only small gorges, yet it is much more curled than in the Beskid. The ridge often becomes a sharp edge and the cone-shaped peaks further break its monotony. The height of the peaks is much greater than in the Beskyd. On the Galician side the Popadia attains a height of 1740 m.; Doboshanka, 1760 m.; Visoka, 1810 m.; Sivula, 1820 m.; in Hungarian territory the Stoh in the picturesque Bershavi group is 1680 m.; the Blisnitza, in the Svidovez Range, 1890 m., etc.

The ridges and peaks of the Gorgani are covered with seas of sandstone boulders and are, therefore, difficult of access. The light gray Yamna sandstone, of great resisting power, appears in this mountain section in very thick layers, and is the cause of the greater height and the bolder forms which, in places, are suggestive of high mountain ranges. The energetic weathering process, aided by the cover of winter snow, breaks up the mighty sandstone layers into great rocks, boulders, fragments and rubble. Deep fissures yawn between moss and lichen-covered boulders, many boulders rock under the foot of the wanderer, and many of them, thru caving-in and thru accumulation, have formed natural chambers and hollows. The rocky ridges, covered with seas of boulders, are Arshizia, the Gorgan peaks, whence comes the name of the entire mountain range. The seas of boulders and rubble-stone are called Zekit or Grekhit.