DNIEPER, one of the large rivers of Europe; has its source in certain swampy forest lands in the n. of the Russian government of Smolensk. Its general direction, until it reaches Kiev, is south. From Kiev, its course is s.e. to Ekaterinoslav, where it turns directly s. past Alexandrovsk, below which town it sweeps round to the s.w., and pur sues that direction until it debouches in the Black sea, between the governments of Kherson and Taurida, its embouchure forming a gulf of about 50 m. in length, with a breadth of from 1 to 6 miles. Its principal affluents are the Desna and Soj from the e., and the Pripet, the Beresina, and the Druz from the west. The total length of the D. is upwards of 1000 m., and it is navigable almost from its source, its breadth at Dorogobush, about 50 m. below its source, being 210 feet. Some of the finest governments of the Russian empire lie within its basin, with all of which its navigable branches and canals enable it to hold commu nication. In its upper part, it flows through a marshy forest territory; its middle and
lower course is rocky. Below Ekaterinoslav, indeed, there are no less than 13 rapids in the course of about 40 m. ; but these impediments to navigation hive been overcome in part by blasting and by splendid hydraulic-works erected by the Russian government. The produce of provinces, consisting for the most part of corn, timber, iron, salt, hemp, and linen, are usually conveyed down the river to ports on the Black sea, but many vessels pass annually from the D. to the Baltic by the Beresina and the Dwina. At Smolensk, the waters of the D. are frozen from Nov. to April; at Kiev, they are ice bound only from Jan. to Mar. Sturgeon, carp, and pike abound in the river. As the Borysthenes the river was known in the 7th c. B.O. to the Greeks, who regarded it as the most valuable river on earth next to the Nile.