KARA

SEA  , a portion of the Arctic Ocean demarcated, and except on the north-west completely enclosed, by Novaya Zemlya, Vaygach Island and the Siberian coast . It is approached from the west by three straits—Matochkin, between the two islands of Novaya Zemlya, and Kara and Yugor to the north and south of Vaygach Island respectively . On the south-east Kara Bay penetrates deeply into the mainland, and to the west of this the short Kara river enters the sea . The sea is all shallow, the deepest parts lying off Vaygach Island and the northern part of Novaya Zemlya . It had long the reputation of being almost constantly ice-bound, but after the Norwegian captain Johannesen had demonstrated its accessibility in 1869, and Nordenskiold had crossed it to the mouth of the Yenisei in 1875, it was considered by many to offer a possible trade route between European Russia and the north of Siberia . But the open season is in any case very short, and the western straits are sometimes icebound during the entire year . KARASU-BAZAR, a town of Russia, in the Crimea and government of Taurida, in 45° 3' N. and 340 26' E., 25 M . E.N.E. of Simferopol . Pop . (1897), 12,961, consisting of Tatars, Armenians, Greeks, Qaraite Jews, and about 200 so-called K.rymchaki, i.e . Jews who have adopted the Tatar language and dress, and who live chiefly by making morocco leather goods, knives, embroidery and so forth . The site is low, but the town is surrounded by hills, which afford protection from the north wind .

The dirty streets full of

petty traders, the gloomy bazaar with its multitude of tiny shops, the market squares, the blind alleys, the little gates in the dead courtyard walls, all give the place the stamp of a Tatar or Turkish town . Placed on the high road between Simferopol and Kerch, and in the midst of a country rich in corn land, vineyards and gardens, Karasu-Bazar used to be a chief seat of commercial activity in the Crimea; but it is gradually declining in importance, though still a considerable centre for the export of fruit . The caves of Akkaya close by give evidence of early occupation of the spot . When in 1736 Khan Feta Ghirai was driven by the Russians from Bakhchi-sarai he settled at Karasu-Bazar, but next year the town was captured, plundered and burned by the Russians .