VOLHYNIA: TOPOGEAPHY. 



287 



French the road to Moscow. 0)'cha, at the junction of the Orchitza, is the farthest 

 station of the steamers plying on the river in spring ; but most of the corn is landed 

 at S/iIxiov, farther down. The chief trading centre of this district is Moghilov, 

 or Mo/iiler, capital of a government, with numerous tanneries employing over 

 1,000 hands. About two-thirds of its inhabitants are Jews. 



In the extensive Berezina basin, connected by a canal with the Dvina, there 

 are only three towns : Minsk, 



capital of a government, and the Fig. 143.— Borisov and the Berezina. . 



most important trading place on Scale i : 9i,ooo, 



the Brest - Smolensk railway ; 

 Bobruisk, a fortress of first rank, 

 at the junction of the Berezina 

 and Bobruïka ; and Borisov, 12 

 miles below the point where was 

 fought the terrible battle of the 

 Berezina during the French 

 retreat, ISTovember 26th — 28th, 

 1812. The most important place 

 on the Soj is Gomel, where are 

 built the largest boats plying on 



the Dnieper. The whole town 



belongs to a Russian prince, who 



has here a large sugar refinery 



and a monopoly of the spirit 



trade. He is " landlord " of all 



the public-houses in the place. 

 The Iput, which joins the Soj 



near Gomel, waters the town of 



Novo - Zibkov, founded in- the 



eighteenth century by the Bas- 



kolniks from Muscovy. They 



number at present CO, 000 in the 



district, and have 120 cloth, 



leather, and other factories at 



Klinfzi, to the north-east of Novo- 



Zibkov. Pinsk, in the Upper 



Pripet basin, is the centre of the 



water traffic eastwards with the 



Dnieper, westwards with Poland and Germany through the Bug Canal, north- 

 wards with the Niémen and Baltic through the Oginskiy Canal. Other busy towns 



in this basin are Slutsk, almost exclusively inhabited by Jews, Tiirov, and Mozir, 



both old places on the Pripet. 



In Yolhynia most of the towns lie on the Pripet or its southern tributaries. 



But Vladimir- Volinskiy, one of the earliest centres of Slav power, stands on the 



1 Mile. 



