Note 11 — Chapter I · THE CRIMEA.

The following is the account Herodotus gives of this river:—“The fourth is the river Borysthenes, which is the largest of these after the Ister, and, in my opinion, the most productive, not only of the Scythian rivers, but of all others, except the Egyptian Nile; for to this it is impossible to compare any other river, but of the rest the Borysthenes is the most productive. It affords the most excellent and valuable pasture for cattle, and fish of the highest excellence and in great quantities; it is most sweet to drink; it flows pure in the midst of turbid rivers; the sown land near it is of the best quality; and the herbage, where the land is not sown, is very tall; at its mouth abundance of salt is crystallized spontaneously; and it produces large whales, without any spiral bones, which they call Antacæi, fit for salting, and many other things that deserve admiration. The Borysthenes continues flowing near the sea, and the Hypanis mingles with it, discharging itself into the same morass.” Lib. 4.