The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

430 RUSSIA IN EUROPE.from the Sivach or the Sea of Azov. In 1860 this channel was only 400feel wide, although Strabo speaks of a broad passage, so that the formation musthave been modified since his time.The Strait of Yeni-Kaleh, connecting the Sea of Azov with the Euxine, has amean depth of only 14 feet, and as the water deepens rapidly on the south side, itmay be regarded as a sort of bar at the mouth of the Don. The bed of the EuxineFig. 226.Strait of Gexichesk.Scale 1 : 250,000_____ 5 Miles . remotesinks very uniformly as far as thetrough, 1,020 fathoms deep,which was discovered betweenKertch and Sukhum-Kalek duringthe explorations preparatory tothe laying of the submarine cableto the Caucasus. The currentfrom the Sea of Azov is soon lostin the general movement whichsets regularly along the shoresof the Black Sea. West of theStrait of Yeni-Kaleh and of theCrimea this current is increasedby the contributions of theDnieper, Bug, Dniester, andDanube, and again reduced bythe stream escaping throughthe Bosphorus, beyond which itcontinues to follow the Anatolianseaboard, and so on rouud theCaucasian shores to the Strait ofYeni-Kaleh, thus completing theentire circuit of the Euxine.Itvaries in rapidity from 3,000 to9,000 feet per hour, increasingor diminishing according to thedirection of the winds.A comparison of the faunasof the Caspian and Euxine provesvery conclusively that at someepoch these two seaswere joined together. It isprobable that they became severed long after the formation of the strait whichnow connects the Black Sea with the Mediterranean, and through which the fishof the latter found their way to the shores of Southern Russia. At the presenttime the species of fish found in the open Euxine belong almost without exception to Mediterranean types, whilst those in the less saline water near the mouthsof the Danube and of other large rivers are met with also in the Caspian.