DIVISION of the BLACK SEA, Inland Navigation."

The DNIEPER is most certainly the chief river of all the provinces adjacent to the Euxine. This river is the younger sister of Volga; and has its source near the same place with the above, and the Southern Dvina. It may be called navigable from Smolensk, if not from Dorogobush. Two very great obstacles render the navigation of this river inconvenient. First, flats, or rather moving sands, a circumstance common also to the rivers of the North of Russia: from above Kiof, down to Krementchuk, they greatly incommode the navigation, during the middle of the summer. Near the shore, on both sides, are passages or channels, of considerable depth; but they are uncertain, as they frequently shift during the high waters. It is confessed, that there are no other means whatever to remedy this inconvenience, (the considerable quantity of moving sand contained by the Dnieper being taken into consideration,) unless a body of pilots be established, divided into districts, to sound, and put beacons or directions in the proper channels, for vessels to go by, after the high water subsides; as is done in the North, particularly on the Svir; and which

regulation has not, as yet, taken place on the Dnieper. The Second fatal obstacle to the safe navigation of this river is, the Cataracts, which limit the passage to the time of high water during the spring; and even then attended with some difficulty, and only of a fortnight or three weeks' duration. Nothing but the enaction of a code of commercial laws can ever render the Black Sea useful to the empire. Since Russia has acquired the dominion thereof, the inconvenience and obstacles which trade has suffered are manifest, and severely felt. During Prince Potemkin's government of these provinces, a vain attempt was made to clear the Cataracts: the war in 1787. put a stop to the work. The Board of Inland Water Communication have begun the following works: First, The deepening a passage between the Cataracts, by means of temporary dikes, through which vessels may pass in the very middle of summer, both up and down the river. Secondly, The great Nenasitez Cataract, having baffled all attempts made to render a safe passage practicable, particularly for vessels going up the river, it was resolved to dig a circuitous canal round it, provided with sluices, through a rocky shore; which is now in hand. Three other

cataracts' are perfectly cleared; about eight remain to be worked on; and it is expected, that, from the year 1805, the river will be navigable; which will confer inestimable advantages on the country, particularly in furnishing the interior of Russia with salt, which will render the importation of it by the Baltic unnecessary, and save great sums of money to the Russia-Polish provinces, which they pay, in coin, for this commodity in foreign dominions. Below the Cataracts, the Dnieper has a resemblance to the Volga; though it is intersected by many islands and flats, which, however, do not much impede the navigation. The current in general there is not strong; and admits, not only of the use of oars for vessels going up, but of sails with very little wind. Its morassy shores, in some districts, preventing the use of the towing-line, it is necessary to establish paths for this purpose; as most certainly it will accelerate the return of barks with salt, silk, cotton, and other products of the Levant,

(1) "The work goes on slowly, and was not half finished at the end of the summer of 1805. A float or transport of timber, which arrived while I was at Odessa, had been two years in coming down, from the impediments of the cataract and above descent.”

Note by Mr. R. Corner.

without which the fabrics and manufactories in the interior cannot exist. All these improvements, or rather new regulations, are carrying into execution very slowly. To the foreign, or export trade of this river, most certainly the Leman, or its estuary, opposes great difficulties. Its influx into the Euxine being through several branches, and its current extremely slow, it is natural that sand banks should be formed. In summer it has hardly six feet water, and merchant vessels are obliged to load beyond its mouth (thirtyfive versts), at the Gubokaya pristan, or deep wharf; which, notwithstanding its denomination, is very unfit for the purpose; the road being at times unnavigable from November to May: and when the dock-yard was at Cherson, the men-of-war were obliged to be transported, on camels, over the sand flats, with which the Leman abounds. These two inconveniences forced Government to look for a more eligible situation; and Nicholaef, by its favourable situation on the Bog and the Ingul, was chosen for the seat of the Admiralty, and the yard for building men-of-war; which place, however, is not convenient for trade, as having too distant a communication with the Dnieper. Tradingvessels lost so much time in going up the Bog, even with a favourable wind, that more time

was often spent in effecting a passage to Nicholaef, than was necessary to make a voyage from the leman of the Dnieper to Constantinople. Not having attained the desired point at this place, it was resolved to find a port for merchant vessels at another, that offered less difficulties in the establishment; and also to which the carriage of merchandize could be more easily effected by transports. The Bay of Hadgily was pitched upon as fit for constructing the Port of Odessa; whose vicinity to Poland, Podolia, and Volhynia, made the choice more eligible and favourable, not only to trade, but also answering some naval purposes. The navigation is uninterrupted the whole year (not true) at this place. Magazines and store-houses are erecting for the goods brought from the Dnieper by water, not only here, but along the Dniester, for the products of Galicia and Podólia.

Not above 300 vessels and boats go down the Dnieper to Nicholaef and Cherson; but vast floats of timber descend for the Admiralty. This however is comparatively little, to what this commerce will amount to, when the Cataracts are cleared'. From Krementchûk, about

(1) "It will be observed, that the Cataracts of the Dnieper, and Shoals in the Dniester, are the great obstacles to the interior communication from the Black Sea: it is therefore most astonishing, that

a nation,