Roumania (roo-ma ni-a) lies like a great bent bow with the inside of the arch touching Austria-Hungary. Its upper or northern curve rests on Russia, and its southern bend on Bulgaria. The middle of the bow borders on the Black Sea. The big bridge here shown is on the Danube River almost exactly in the center of the bow that Roumania forms. The railroad which crosses it ends at the port of Constantza (Constanţa).

In the Great European War, Roumania fought against the German allies. This bridge was the center of some of the heaviest fighting in 1916.

The Danube is the largest river in Europe. It runs across the southern part of Germany and through Austria-Hungary before reaching Roumania. It breaks through the mountains of Eastern Hungary in a rocky gorge called the Iron Gate. The view shows the great width of the river through Roumania. It is a fine highway for this country in the summer. It is frozen here for two months of the winter.

The western boundary of Roumania is the Carpathian (kar-pa thi-an) Alps. This section of the country is rough. Here are forests and pasture lands. Farther east the farming country lies. In this lowland plain about the Danube are raised corn and wheat. The chief mineral product is petroleum.

Roumania is ruled over by a king. It became an independent kingdom in 1881. Its capital is Bucharest (boo'ka-rest). Roumania is the size of Arkansas, but it has 7 times as many people as Arkansas. It has a population of 7,500,000—as many people as live in Pennsylvania. Bucharest is about the size of Washington, D. C.

Copyright by The Keystone View Company