The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

ODESSA. 315on the other towards the east. Thus a greater number of natural highways convergeat Odessa than at any other place on the coast. Ilcnce this seaport has rapidly risenin importance, especially since the advantages of its geographical position havebeen improved by piers, wharfs, warehouses, and railways. It is scarcely a centuryold, its site having been occupied in 1789 by a Tatar hamlet, surrounding the fortof Haji-Bey, and its present namedating only from 1794. It perpetuatesFig. 166.—Odessa.that of an old GreekScale 1 : 240.000.colony, formerly settled on thiscoast, and so named in memoryof the mythical hero Ulysses(Odysseus). At the beginningof the century it had a populationof no more than 8,000, whichhad risen to 100,000 in 1850, andthis has since been doubled, sothat in this respect it now takesthe fourth place in the empire.Like St. Petersburg, it resemblesa European town in its generalaspects far more than do most ofthe overgrown villages of theinterior which rank as towns orcities.Seawards it presents a pleasanteffect, standing 150 feet abovethe coast on the most elevatedpoint of the steppe plateau, whichgradually slopes eastwards to theDnieper liman, westwards to thatof the Dnieper, but falls abruptlytowards the sea. A noble promenade,lined by handsome buildings,runs along the edge of thecliff,from the centre of which agrand flight of steps leads downto the quays and shipping. The17 to 34 Feet. 34 Feet and upwards- Farmsteads.central quarter, passing inland, issplendidly laid out with broad3 Miles.thoroughfares, elegant shops, and houses in the Italian style. But beyond thisdistrict extensive suburbs stretch everywhere towards the steppe, exposed to thewinds and clouds of dust, the plague of Odessa. The soil on which it stands iscomposed of a shelly sandstone, supplying a building material which readilydecomposes in the open air, soon giving to the houses the appearance of ruins.