274 



EUSSIA IN EUROPE. 



Nearly all its great affluents join the Dnieper in its middle course, and at short 

 intervals from each other, so that their floodings are all concentrated about one 

 jjoint, and cause the main stream to rise suddenly. The river is still in a state 

 of nature, its mean breadth being from 2,000 to 3,800 feet, but in the floods it 

 extends in many places to a distance of 6 miles, entirely filling the main valley, 

 and overflowing into those of its tributaries on both banks. The danger of these 

 inundations is all the greater since the disappearance of the forests has rendered the 

 discharo-e more irregular than formerly, and the rising more sudden and extensive. 



The low-lying districts thus periodically flooded are extremely fertile, which is 

 mainly due to the particles of " black earth " washed down from the upper 



Fig. 131. — High Banks of the Dnieper, above Chekkasi. 

 Scale 1 : RSO.nnn. 



t ofP 



9»Q0' 



QMQ- 



iiMO 



10 Miles. 



regions. With the soil the very timber of the north is brought down, and many 

 tracts along the Dnieper banks are now covered M'ith birch forests reaching nearly 

 to the liman district. But most of these lands, which might support a vast 

 population, produce nothing but coarse hay and reeds. 



The third river in Europe for the volume of its waters, and forming the main 

 artery of a region inhabited by 12,000,000 people, the Dnieper might also be 

 supposed to be one of the most important for its navigation. It traverses succes- 

 sively several distinct zones of cultivation, climate, and culture, passing from the 

 forest region to that of the " black lands," and thence to the arid steppes. Since 



