428 



RUSSIA IN EUROPE. 



water is suit, though to a less extent than the Euxine.* On the west side — that is, 

 between the steppe plateau and the Crimea — there stretch the vast marsh lands of 

 the Sivash, whose waters evaporate under the action of the sun and. winds, and 

 which in summer and autumn really deserves its name of " Putrid Sea." Receiving 

 little fresh water except from the rains, these stagnant waters are far more saline 

 than the Sea of Azov, and some of the pools, which dry up in summer, deposit 



Fi^-. 224. — IVEETCH AND MoUNT MiTHUIDATES. 



incrustations of salt on their beds. The Sivash is navigable for flat-bottomed boats 

 only in its upper course, and in this respect has undergone no change since the 

 time of Strabo. The shifting winds are constantly changing the form of the tarns, 

 filling up some, emptying others, while the new railway embankment, traversing 

 this unsettled region, serves as a stay for numerous accumulations, where there have 

 been established some extremely productive salines, yielding about one- half of all 



* Specific gravity of Sea of Azov, 10097. 



„ „ Euxine, 1-0136.5 (Gœbel). 



