1936 On the Continent
and shrubs, mosses and creepers, berry plants and mushrooms—all create a picture of an abundant vegetation, different from the tropical forest, more austere and perhaps less treacherous—a place where there might be goblins and gnomes—benevolent ones.
Of course, not all the forest has such a romantic character, much of it is being exploited by timber firms, which are notpermitted, however, to cut down more than the equivalent of a year’s growth, so that there is no danger of Bialowiea’s disappearance from the map.
Polesle
Another interesting province of Eastern Poland is Polesie (the Woodland), the country of marshes and mud. In contrast to the thickly populated countryside of the rest of Poland, it has few human inhabitants and tries to make up for this doubtful deficiency by being the home of many animals. Polesie constitutes a more formidable natural frontier than a range of mountains or a broad river. For there are obstacles more unsurmountable than even the highest of mountains or the deepest of rivers—there is mud. It may be possible to navigate even the most turbulent waters, but not the greasy, thick mud of the marshes of Pripet, which clings like treacle to all that it touches and is practically bottomless.
Polesie is, therefore, likely to remain for a long time in its primitive and isolated state. And I think that there is no need to regret it, because there is far more charm and attraction in the mysterious Polesie of to-day than there could be in a flat, dry, monotonous province. What could be more thrilling than going through a forest in a boat, with the trunks sticking out of the water, sometimes supported by quaint-shaped roots—a fantastic picture reflected in the still water glowing with red, because of the presence of certain minerals of that colour? In Polesie there are forests that can be explored only afloat and yet are often of a very considerable size; an elk or a beaver might be met on such an excursion.
The natives of the marshes, no doubt owing to the influence of their surroundings, are contemplative, dreamy and resigned. The idea of leaving the land which cannot be made to yield anything except a few potatoes and some pasture for the cattle, does not seem to occur to them very often. They fish, they shoot the innumerable waterfowl, and they seldom communicate with the outside world.
This may be due to the difficulty of the feat as much as to the horror in which they hold the attempt. The communication is generally effected by a combination of a kind of punt and of simple carts. The cart is put, togetherwith the horse, on the boat, and whenever there is stretch of sufficiently firm land, the boat is loaded on to the cart.
It is said that when an aerial survey was made by the authorities some years ago, a village was discovered in the wildest part of the marshes where no one had yet heard of the Great War. A blessing such as this is perhaps worth all the privations which it may entail. A small island in the midst of this inland mud-sea may be more difficult of access than an ocean rock distant from all the continents. Countless rivers, streams and canals cross Polesie in a labyrinth in which only the native fishermen can pilot their boats safely. On the bigger rivers gunboats of the Polish navy cruise, thus policing this queer province.
All would be well and easy if the rivers and marshes all froze in winter, but there are some hot springs which never permit them to set, and big bubbles of gas testify to the existence of some sort of subterranean volcanoes, the activity of which has not yet been fully explored.
The capital of Polesie, Pinsk, rises suddenly above the flat plain. Its fine Jesuit cloister, solidly planted on some piece of dry land that God had forgotten to soak in water when making Polesie, is a relief to eyes wearied by the endless expanse of plain.
A country of tradition, where a squire is still all that he used to be, where the relative sterility of the soil is not regarded as a curse, but on the contrary as a gift of the Lord for the better enjoyment of sport, Polesie is one of the most interesting parts of Poland.
Wilno
In the north there is Wilno and its country of lakes. “Orbis” organises in the summer air excursions from Warsaw to Wilno. Three days in the best hotel and flying several hundred miles each way cost about 4 or 5 pounds. Wilno is an old university town, with about forty churches, to say nothing of the synagogues, mosques, etc. It is
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