Geographical Collections. ^7 



Its course is through beautiftxl hills, regular, calm, and often limpid, but at 

 the time of the melting of snows, it often is the cause of great ravages. More 

 than 5000 boats charged with pioductions, annually descend this river, so abun- 

 dant in fish. The ancients called it Pha, and sometimes Araxes ; its Tatar 

 name, which signifies abundance, is Idel, Edel, or Adal, and the Merdouins at 

 the present day call it Rhan. 



The Don, if we judge by the direction which it follows for the greatest length 

 of time, would appear to intend throwing itself, with the Volga, into that immense 

 mediterranean lake to which its dimensions have given the name of Caspian, in 

 the environs of Tsaritsine ; it appears even to wish to mingle its waters with those 

 of its majestic rival, whose bed, lower than hers by about 50 feet, is not at a dis- 

 tance of above fifteen leagues, and is separated by a tract of sandstone. This 

 river, celebrated in antiquity by the name of Tanais, was formerly regarded as 

 constituting the limit between Europe and Asia. 



It is from three to six hundred fathoms in width, but its depth being very in- 

 considerable, and its course very slow, it is not of much importance to the inter- 

 nal navigation. Its bed contains nevertheless neither rocks nor large stones, but 

 is formed of sand, marl, and chalk. Sand-banks and little islands are often met 

 with. The Don issues from Lake Ivanof, and in the government of Toula it 

 successively receives the Voronege, the Khoper, the Medveditsa, and the Donerz, 

 and after some long windings, and a course of about 230 leagues, it empties itself 

 by three arras into the Sea of Azof, below the town of that name, a putrid and 

 marshy sea, which is almost indebted to this river for its existence. 



The Dnieper, by the ancients called Borysthenes, is more to the west, and dis- 

 charges itself into the Black Sea, between Otchakof and Kinbourn, after having 

 formed a bay of fifteen leagues in length, and from about half a league to two 

 leagues in width. 



The sources of this great river, which for a long time formed the natural limit 

 of Russia, are very near those of the Wolga, both being in the marshes of the 

 government of Smolensk. It runs in a westerly course to Orcha, when it takes a 

 southerly direction. Its course, of a very safe navigation as far as Smolenslc, 

 is interrupted a little lower by cataracts formed by masses and blocks of granite. 

 It afterwards becomes navigable for a distance of about 400 versts to the sea. It 

 is more than 360 leagues in length, and at Keif is traversed on a bridge which 

 is 8583 feet long. The rivers which feed its stream are, to the left, the Sokb, 

 the Dessna, and the Soula; to the right, the Beresina, the Pripetz, the Rass, a 

 river which receives the same name as the empire, and the Boug, a river which, 

 originating in Podolia, empties itself into the bay or lake formed by the Dnieper. 

 This last becomes navigable at Drogobouge ; its bed is deep ; its borders v«ry 

 elevated ; and its waters rapid. It also abounds in fish. 



The Dniester, called Tyras by ancient geographers, issues from a lake situated 

 in the Carpathian mountains in Gallicia. On entering Russia near Kamenetz, 

 it follows a south-easterly direction, to empty itself into the Black Sea. 



Up to 1812, it formed the boundary of Russia against the Ottoman monarchy, 

 but the peace of Bucharest placed this frontier on the Prnth and the Danube. 

 The Dniester is navigable, and offers to the provinces, formerly Palish, an outlet 

 for their com. It forms at its mouth, like the Dnieper, a lake between Akerman 

 and Ovidiopol. 



liastly, several of the Russian rivers flow to the west. They are, to commence 

 with the most southerly, the Kuban, the Niemen, the Dnna, and the Neva. 



The Kuban forms, with the Terek, the limits of the empire between the moun- 

 taineers of Leghistan ; the courses of these two rivers form nearly a straight and 

 xininterrupted line. The Kuban, called Wypaius by the Greeks, descends from 

 <he mountain of Chato, one of the most elevated of the Caucasus. Like most 

 of the Russian rivers, it is confined in a narrow bed. It begins by flowing to 

 the north, then turning to the west, it empties itself by one arm in the Black 

 ■Sea, and by the other into that of Azof. This last is more rapid than the other, 



