ABSTRACT
WE left Voronezh at two o'clock on the morning of July 16th, and at daybreak reached the Don, which is here still a narrow stream; we crossed by a badly constructed wooden bridge to the other side. Here the whole character of the country changed; the little town of Staroi Oskol lies very picturesquely in the midst of chalk-fields, which, with the hills and woods along the course of the Oskol, afford the most agreeable views; the villages have a pleasing aspect; the houses are small and insignificant, but carefully whitewashed. It is said that the people whitewash their houses outside and inside every month; chalk is to be had in abundance. Here and there were seen detached farmhouses. We were now on the frontier of a different country and another people,
Little Russia, and had entered the territory of the Slobodsk Ukraine. We passed through the two Circletowns of Korotcha and Belogorod, in the latter of which were some good houses. The signification and sound of many names of places are the same among all the Slavonic peoples,—Belgrade in Servia, Belgard in Pomerania, and here Belogorod; and how often does this name occur between the Baltic and Adriatic, the Black and White Seas!
