DNIESTER, the Tyras of the classical authors, and the Turla of the Turks, a river of south-eastern Europe belonging to the basin of the Black Sea. It takes its rise on the northern slope of the Carpathian Mountains in the Sambor circle of Galicia, and belongs for the first 330 miles of its course to Austrian, for the remaining 600 to Russian territory. In its excessive meandering it frequently almost returns to the same spot; for example, while the actual distance from Turunchuk to Mayakoff is about 33 miles, the development of the river would require about 133. At the same time, as the average fall is from 25 to 26 inches in the mile, the current in most parts even during low water is pretty rapid, the mean rate per hour being calculated at 8638 feet. The average width of the channel is from 560 to 700 feet, but in some places it attains as much as 1400 feet; the depth is various and changeable. The banks are usually about 3500 feet apart, but in certain reaches approach each other so as to leave room for nothing but the actual bed; their average height above the water in the Bessarabian portion is 350 feet. The principal interruption in the navigable portion of the river, besides the somewhat extensive shallows, is occasioned by a granitic spur from the Carpathians, and bears the name of the Yampo]skie Porogi, or Yampol Rapids. For ordinary river-craft the passage of these rapids is rendered possible, but not free from danger, by a natural channel on the left side, and a larger and deeper artificial channel on the right; for steam-boats they form an insuperable barrier. The river falls into the sea by several shallow arms, of which the most important has a depth of only 2∣ feet near its mouth; but the Turunchuk, an independent stream, disemboguing in the ...