The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

316 RUSSIA TX EUBOPEThe quality of this stone accounts for the disappearance of the Greek towns alongthe coast, now traced only by heaps of rubbish. It is even too friable to serve forthe paving of the streets, the materials for which have to be brought from Maltaand Italy. There is also a lack of good water, which, however, is now suppliedfrom the Dniester by an aqueduct 24 miles long, with reservoirs containing about6,000,000 gallons.The population is extremely mixed, consisting of Jews, Italians, Greeks,Germans, French, besides Rumanians, Tatars, Turks, Bulgarians, Lases, andGeorgians. French influence is naturally considerable in a place founded byGeneral de Ribas, partly built by the engineer Do Ribas, beautified and endowed bythe Duke de Richelieu, whose statue adorns a central point of the thoroughfareFig. 167.— Khoti.v, Kamenetz, and Ravines of the Upper Dniester.Scale 1 : 550,000.facing seawards. But the most influential foreign element is the Italian, and tillrecently the names of the streets were usually in Italian and Russian. The localdialect has even absorbed many Italian words. The staple export is corn, theimportance of which is shown by the vast palatial granaries, and by the shipments,which rose from 20,000,000 bushels in 1866 to 45,000,000 in 1870. A large exporttrade is also done in wool, tallow, flax, the chief imports being colonial produce,manufactured goods, wine, fancy wares. The traffic is mostly carried on by steamships,a considerable number of which belong to the port itself. The local industriesare unimportant, though the place contains some steam flour-mills, soap andtobacco works, distilleries, breweries, and dockyards. The neighbouring salinesyield from 4,000 to 5,000 tons of salt yearly. Since 1807 Odessa has ceased to bea free port, but has instead become the seat of a University, though the smallest in