THE SEA OE AZOV. 



425 



Scale 1 : 300,000. 



basin. Since 1805 nearly 6Ô0 beds bave bere been found, mostly near tbe surface, 

 tbe seams varying in tbickness from 1 foot to 24 feet, and containing every 

 description of combustible material, from tbe antbracite to tbe ricbest bituminous 

 coal. Tbe ravines bere furrowing tbe land facilitate tbe study of tbe strata and 

 tbe extraction of tbe mineral. Yet tbese valuable deposits were long neglected, 

 and even during tbe Crimean war tbe Russians, deprived of tbeir Englisb 

 supplies, were still witbout tbe necessary apparatus to avail tbemselves of tbese 

 treasures. Even tbe iron ores, 

 Wbicb bere also abound, were ^'^^- 221.-Ovkag<, ,.r Dkied Water-coukses, in the Don 



Valley. 

 little utilised till tbat event, 



since wben tbe extraction botb 

 of coal and iron bas gone on 

 continually increasing in tbe 

 Donetz basin. In 1839 tbe 

 yield scarcely exceeded 14,000 

 tons, wbereas tbe output of 

 tbe Grusbovka mines alone 

 now amounts to 210,000 tons, 

 and tbe total yield of tbe 

 coal-pits exceeded 072,000 

 tons in 1872. Tbe coal is now 

 used by tbe local railways and 

 tbe steamers of tbe Don, Sea 

 of Azov, and Eusine. 



The Sea of Azov. 



Already reduced in extent 



by tbe terrestrial revolutions 



wbicb separated it from tbe 



Caspian, tbe Sea of Azov bas 



been furtber diminished in 



bistoric times, altbougb far 



less tban migbt be supposed 



from tbe local traditions. No 



doubt Herodotus gives tbe 



Palus Mœotis an equal area to tbat of tbe Euxine. But as soon as tbe Greeks 



bad visited and founded settlements on this inland sea tbey discovered bow 



limited it was compared witb tbe open sea. Nevertbeless fifteen hundred years ago 



it was certainly somewhat larger and deeper tban at present, tbe alluvia of tbe Dun 



having gradually narrowed its basin and raised its bed. Its outline also has been 



completely changed, Strabo's description no longer answering to the actual form of 



its shores. 



Tbe town of Tanaïs, founded by the Greeks at the very mouth of the Don, and 



5 Miles. 



