they raise their beds and their banks more and more, so that all these Polissian rivers flow upon flat dams. At the time of high water the rivers overflow their banks and flood the entire lowland far and near. At the time of the melting of snows in the spring, or of the strong showers in the early summer, the entire Polissye is transformed into an immense lake, above whose surface only the flooded forests and the settled sandy elevations of ground are visible. The spring flood lasts from two to three months, the summer floods the same length of time, for the water flows off very slowly because of the slight decline. On the highways and railroads all traffic is blocked and certain places in the Polissye may be reached only by water. During the flood period the rivers have often sought new beds, and this explains the frequency of old river beds and river branches, which are peculiar to all the Polissian river courses. And, as reminders of the floods, innumerable pools and marsh lakes remain behind.
These periodic floods are the main cause of the continuance of the Polissian swamps. We can find two main types of marshes in the Polissye. In the west and north of the region, great peat moors, with pine woods, predominate; in the south and east treeless marsh meadows, overgrown with willow brush. These are called hala. Many fictions are told by the inhabitants of the Polissye about the swamps and small marsh lakes being bottomless. For a long time it was even believed that the swamps lay lower than the normal surface of the rivers. But exact measurements have proved these "fairy tales" to be false and have shown that the swamps of the Polissye are not deep and lie at a higher level than the rivers. Since 1873 the Russian government has been working to drain the swamps and reclaim them for civilization. Up to 1898, 6000 kilometers of canals are supposed to have been dug and 32,000 square kilometers of ground made usable.
The glacial period was of great importance for the surface configuration of the Polissye. Apart from the traces of the main glacial period, which are met with frequently in southern Polissye, it was the third glacial period that was of marked significance. The water from the Baltic glacier flowed off thru the region of the present Polissye and formed a large lake with the Dnieper as its outlet. The deposits of this lake are to be found especially in the south of the Polissye basin. The lake was then gradually filled in, the northern and western tributaries bringing more sand, the southern ones mud. At the same time the Pripet River cut in more deeply, and was, therefore, constantly more able to carry the waters of the Polissye to the Dnieper River. Swamps have taken the place of the lake and have gradually covered the entire land. The many smaller lakes of the region (the largest of them are Vihonioske Ozero and Knias) are the only remains and proofs of the one-time great lake. Only at the time of high water does the Polissye recall the memory of former times.
Dreary is the Polissian landscape. The dark forest in the deep-bottomed swamps alternate with the open marsh-meadow covered with pools; with gliding flow the many-armed rivers traverse the gloomy country. On yellow-white sand-dunes stand a few log-houses amid wretched little fields and poor meadows, corduroy and brush roads stretching for miles connect small, very sparsely scattered human settlements.
The Polissye Plain also extends to the left bank of the Dnieper, and there imperceptibly passes over into a comparatively narrow lowland district which stretches along the main river of the Ukraine. This is the third member of the series of plains of the Ukraine — the Dnieper Plain. It extends toward the southeast as far as the region of the rapids (porohi) of the Dnieper and rises slowly toward the northeast, passing over into the Central
Russian Plateau. The transition takes place so imperceptibly that the difference in the nature of the country only becomes apparent at the furthest bounds of Ukrainian territory, which practically lie in the southern spurs of the Central Russian Plateau.