THE SEA OF AZOV. 



427 



especially is broken by five of these singular headlandt;, all regularly inclined 

 towards the south-west, all furnished on their west side with little lateral 

 barbs, and all uniformly increasing in size from east to west. With one 

 exception, caused by the disturbing effects of a neighbouring stream, the 

 kosi of the north coast are also much more abrupt on their east than on their 

 west sides, which are bordered by extensive shallows. The changes of relief 

 have been most rapid in the neighbourhood of these promontories, around 

 which is deposited the sedimentary matter held in suspension in the current. 

 All these formations have been lengthened, and the neighbouring bed of the sea 

 raised several inches, and even as much as 3 feet, since the beginning of the 



Fig. 223.— The Don Delta. 

 Scale 1 : 395,000. 



Depth lo / Ifeet, 



7 F.;et and upwards. 

 -. 5 Miles. 



century. Thus the fiUing-in process is continued to an appreciable extent from 

 century to century, but still so slowly that, as Aristotle himself remarked, " all the 

 inhabitants will, perhaps, have disappeared before the change is completed." 



The volume brought dcwn by the Don is greatly in excess of the quantity lost 

 by evaporation. Hence the whole sea may be regarded as a continuation of the 

 river, and the latter as an affluent of the Euxine. A strong current sets towards 

 the Strait of Kertch, or Yeni-Kaleh, often greatly impeding navigation, and in the 

 quality of its waters this gulf partakes of the character both of a river and a sea. 

 In the Taganrog inlet it is so sweet that vessels are supplied from this source, and 

 along the west coast it is drunk by the neighbouring herds ; but in the centre the 



