The black earth and clay sub-layer of the Ukraine has, since the most ancient times, been an unfavorable influence as far as the quality of its roads are concerned. Outside of the negligence of the Polish and the Russian State, which alternated in the domination of the Ukrainian territory, natural conditions, too, have had a great deal to do with the roads in the Ukraine. The stone lay far below the loose cover of clay; it was used very rarely for building purposes; hence the idea of plastering the roads with stones could hardly occur to anyone. We shall now consider the anthropogeographical significance of the Ukrainian bodies of water. Of the importance of the Black Sea we have already spoken. The Ukrainian people lived in close connection with this sea in the days of the ancient Kingdom of Kiev, as well as in the days of the Cossack organization. But the lack of well-developed coast, of harbors and islands, have prevented the development of the Ukrainians into a seafaring nation, altho favorable tendencies were not lacking. The smallness and isolation of the Black Sea could not favor the development of navigation. The frequency of dangerous storms had a deterring effect, altho they strengthened the courage of the sailors. Then again, the smallness of the sea made the use of small vessels sufficient, which could more readily find shelter at any time or at any point along the coast, with its few harbors, than larger ships. These circumstances have hindered the development of extensive [229]navigation for long distance traffic. Hence, the Ukrainians, altho in certain periods of their history they gained a not inconsiderable familiarity with the sea, could not rise to a genuine seafaring people. Much stronger ties connect the Ukrainian people with the rivers of its territory. The rivers have an anthropogeographical significance chiefly as ways of travel. The great main streams of the Ukraine, particularly the Dnieper and the Dniester, have always had the character of a transition between rivers and arms of the sea. At the time of the ancient Kingdom of Kiev, seafaring vessels sailing up the Dniester reached the royal city of Halich, and, in the time of the Cossacks, the Zaporog boats were pursued by the Turkish galleys as far as the rapids of the Dnieper. As far as ancient navigation was concerned, there was very little difference between river and sea; rivers were simply the extension of sea routes. In the ancient Ukraine, the Varangians were the first to use them in this sense. Their route “from the Varangian Land to Greece,” which later became one of the main paths of the old Kingdom of Kiev, led from the Baltic to the Black Sea by way of rivers and portages. These wanderings of the Varangians in the Ukrainian water system are of great historical significance. For altho we are now almost certain that the Varangians were not the founders of the Kingdom of Kiev, it cannot be denied that they played a great part in the forming of it.