128 FORESTRY IN LITHUANIA. 



the east side. The upper part of its course is through a 

 marshy country ; in the middle and lower course it passes 

 over numerous rocks, and between banks of the older 

 calcareous formation. It is broader, deeper, and more 

 rapid than the Don, and is navigable from Smolensk to 

 Kiev ; but below the latter town, the river is traversed by 

 a granitic chain, and the navigation is interrupted for about 

 40 miles by 13 rapids called poroge, and also by huge 

 blocks of stone. Here the river presents a most magni- 

 ficent sight, careering along in a bed at least 1000 feet 

 wide, which for miles on miles is one continued sheet of 

 boiling foam. This space is passable for vessels of small 

 draught during the spring floods only, and even then only 

 with great difficulty and danger. Works have been 

 undertaken at various periods to render this part of 

 the 'river navigable. All merchandise for Cherson, 

 on the Black Sea, used to be unladen at Old 

 Samara, whence it was conveyed by land to Alex- 

 androfsk, at the mouth of the Moscofska, a distance 

 of about 46 miles by land. From this spot to the mouth 

 of the Dnieper, a distance of 260 miles, the navi- 

 gation is unimpeded. The goods that descend the rapids 

 of the Dnieper consist almost exclusively of timber, 

 firewood, and iron from Siberia. Tar is also brought in 

 immense quantities from the Polish forests. Below the 

 cataracts, and as far as the liman of this river, upwards of 

 70 islands occur, amidst which moving sands impede the 

 navigation during summer. These islands produce a grape 

 called biroussa, which resembles the currants of Corinth. 

 They are reported to swarm with serpents, and abound in 

 a sort of wild cat. Flowing through more than 9 degrees 

 of latitude, great diversity of climate is experienced along 

 the course of this river. At Smolensk the waters freeze 

 in November, and continue ice-bound until April ; at Kiev 

 they are generally frozen from January to March. The 

 direction of its course from north to south delays its rise 

 till late in the spring, as the streams which feed it from 

 the north do not thaw till the end of April. The 



