Dniester

Dniester, a river, chiefly of Russia, but having its rise in the Carpathian Mountains, in the Austrian crown-land of Galicia. Its general course, until it reaches the Russian territory, is south-east; it then runs east for a short distance, and thence south-east and south-south-east, separating Bessarabia from Podolia and Cherson, and enters the Black Sea by a shallow shore lake, 18 miles in length and 5 in breadth, between Akjerman and Ovidiopol. The total length of the Dniester is 650 miles, and it drains an area of nearly 30,000 sq. m. Its current throughout is very rapid, and after reaching the Russian frontier, rushes muddy and turbid through a broad, flat plain. The navigation is interrupted by a series of falls and whirlpools near Jampol. Wood and grain are the chief products conveyed down the river. Fishing-villages are frequent along its banks in Bessarabia.