FORESTS OF THE DNIEPER. 129 



Dnieper abounds in fish, particularly sturgeon, carp, 

 pike, and shad. This river is the Borysthenes of the Greeks, 

 and the Danapris of the middle ages. It is first mentioned 

 by Herodotus. Except the more southerly parts, its banks 

 have long been inhabited by races of Slavonian oiigin. 

 Towards the mouth, from the Ross on the right, and the 

 Vorska and Soula on the left bank, the country was for a 

 long time a mere steppe, where nomadic tribes fed their 

 numerous flocks. By treaty with Turkey, and since 

 the partition of Poland, both banks of the Dnieper 

 have become the property of Russia. The lower part of 

 its course has been the scene of many sanguinary conflicts 

 between the Turks and Russians ; the upper part, parti- 

 cularly the neighbourhood of Smolensk, was the scene of 

 some severe conflicts in Bonaparte's retreat in November 

 1812.' 



Of the forests on the Dnieper, M. Polytaief writes : 

 ' Under the name of Dnieper forests I understand the 

 forests that are on the Dnieper, and also those on its affluents, 

 therefore into the number of Dnieper forests enter those 

 in the governments of Minsk, MoghilefT, Smolensk, Orel, 

 Koursk, Tchernigov, Kiev, Volhinia, Cherson, Ekatherin- 

 oslaff, and Poltava. In inspecting the forests of these 

 governments I shall principally pay attention to the 

 crown forests or more correctly speaking, the forests 

 under government management. 



' The extent of the crown forests in the above-named 

 governments equals about 3,000,000* desatins, and 

 although, according to their extent, they form less than 

 l-30th of the whole extent of the crown forests, neverthe- 

 less, by their value in the wood trade, they are very 

 important. Supplying timber and wood materials for 

 exportation, the Dnieper forests have at the same time 

 great importance in the inland wood trade, because they 

 furnish timber to about ten governments poor in wood. 



* A desatin is equal to 2*69972 imperial acres ; a rouble, 3s 4d, but according to 

 present rate of exchange, 2s. 



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