DNIE'STER, a river of Europe, flowing chiefly through Russia, but having its rise in the Carpathian mountains, in the Austrian crown-land of Galicia, about lat. 49° 10' n., long. 23° east. Its general course, until it reaches the Russian territory, is s.e. ; it then runs e.for a short distance, and thence s.s.e., forming the boundary between Besserabia, and Kherson, past Mohilev, Dubossari, and Bender, to the Black sea, which it enters by a shallow shore lake, 19 m. in lengt hand 5 in breadth, between Akerman and Ovidiopol. The total length of the D. is between 500 and 600 m., its current throughout being very rapid. Until it reaches the Russian frontier, its right bank is skirted by offsets from the Carpathians; hut at that point, the country, which above has been level on only one side, opens into a broad flat plain, through which the river, broken at intervals by masses of rock, rushes muddy and turbid. The downward navigation is interrupted bv a series of falls and whirlpools. Wood and grain are the chief products conveyed down the river.
DbAB', a word of Sanscrit origin, signifying primarily "two rivers," but applied, like the Gr. mesopotamia, and the Lat. interamna, to the country between two rivers. The two roots of the word are common to all the Aryan languages: the first appears in Lat.duo, Eng. two; the second in Celt. anon, a river, and in Danube or Donau. Punjab (" five rivers ") is a term of the same kind; but while Punjab exists merely as a proper name of one particu lar region, Dbab is used as the common appellation of any region in general that fulfills the conditions. When introduced, however, without local reference of any kind, the Dbab means the space inclosed by the Jumna on the s.w. and the Ganges on the n.e.— a space extending from Allahabad to the base of the Himalayas, a distance of upwards of 500, with an average breadth of 55 miles. The fertility of this region has been much increased by the Ganges canal (q.v.).