The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

298 RUSSIA IN ETJEOrE.and in the steppes between the great bend of the river and the Sea of Azov.Most of them come from Swabia, the Palatinate, and Hesse, and in passing throughthe country the traveller is surprised to meet with numerous villages named aftersuch places as Munich, Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Heidelberg, Carlsruhe, Mannheim,"Worms, or Strasburg. In 1876 the German settlements in the governments ofYekaterinoslav, Kherson, Taurida, and Bessarabia numbered 370, with a totalpopulation of over 200,000, all generally in a prosperous state. Yet many,Fig. 150. Proportion of Roman Catholics in Volhynia, Podolia, and Kiev.Eof PE ofGUnder 5per cent.10 to 20per cent.20 to 25per cent.40 per cent.especially of the Mennonites, have fallen into the proletariate class, emigrating inthousands to Brazil and the States in order to avoid military service. AlthoughRussian is the official language, they still speak German of a more literary typethan that of their Swabian forefathers, but otherwise mixed with a number of Slavwords and phrases.Other German colonists from Pomerania and East Prussia have settled inVolhynia, and since 1868 about 7,000 Bohemians have purchased lands, mainlyalong the railway line between Brest and Lutzk. These have been very successful,