278 



RUSSIA IN EUEOPE. 



side of the liman. The sandy alluvia brought down with its current are prevented 

 from reaching the sea by the bar at its mouth, which gives access only to light 

 craft. All goods from the interior have to be sent overland to Odessa. 



Amongst the fishes of the Dniester, Dnieper, and Danube there are several 

 forming quite distinct species. To account for their origin Kessler has supposed 

 that the Balkans were formerly connected with the mountains of the Crimea thus 

 enclosing southwards a great basin of fresh water fed by the rivers of South 

 Eussia. Of these species two only are found elsewhere, the Aspro vulgaris in the 

 Ehone, and the Acerina Rossica in the Don. 



The Dniester, Bug, and Dnieper are now the only navigable streams of South 

 Ilussia between the Danube and the Don. But in the time of Herodotus the 



Fig. 135.— Padi, or "Hollows," in the Steppe. 

 Scale 1 : 300,000. 



lOl 



my.. 



E of G 





Wells. 



Mounds. 



Farmsteads. 

 — 5 Miles. 



Sheep-folds. 



land, although destitute of timber, seems to have been well watered by large 

 rivers, "scarcely less numerous than the canals in Egypt." At present the 

 southern steppes are dried up, and even including the limans on the coast, no 

 longer fed by running waters, there is but a very small number of coast streams. 

 Herodotus, who visited the country, could scarcely have been mistaken as to its 

 salient features, besides which the traces of the old rivers spoken of by him are 

 still visible. Between the Danube and Dniester, and thence to the Bug, parallel 

 river valleys follow in quick succession, but they no longer reach the coast ; they 

 are either entirely or partly dried up, and their lateral gorges are flushed only 

 during the freshets. 



Local tradition everywhere tells of the disappearance of running waters. 



