The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

428 RUSSIA IN EUEOPE.water is salt, 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 ofthe Sivash, whose waters evaporate under the action of the sun and winds, andwhich in summer and autumn really deserves its name of " Putrid Sea." Receivinglittle fresh water except from the rains, these stagnant waters are far more salinethan the Sea of Azov, and some of the pools, which dry up in summer, depositFisr. 224. Kektch and Moi/nt JIithuidates.incrustations of salt on their beds. The Sivash is navigable for flat-bottomed boatsonly in its upper course, and in this respect has undergone no change since thetime of Strabo. The shifting winds are constantly changing the form of the tarns,filling up some, emptying others, while the new railway embankment, traversingthis unsettled region, serves as a stay for numerous accumulations, where there havebeen established some extremely productive salines, yielding about one-half of all* Specific gravity of Sea of Azov, 10097.,. Euxine, 1-0136.3 (Gcebel).