or Tanaïs, a river of Russia, which takes its rise from the small lake of St John, near Tula, in the government of Moscow, and passing through part of the province of Voronetz, a small portion of the Ukraine-Slobodkaia, and the whole province of Azof, divides itself near Tcherkask into three streams, and falls in these separate branches into the Sea of Azof. The river has so many windings, is in many parts so shallow, and abounds with such numerous shoals, as to be scarcely navigable, excepting in the spring, upon the melting of the snows; and its mouth is also so choked up with land, that only flat-bottomed vessels, excepting in the same season, can pass into the sea of Azof. The banks of the Don, and the rivulets which fall into it, are clothed with large tracts of forest, whose timber is floated down the stream to St Demetri and Rostov, where the frigates for the sea of Azof are chiefly constructed. The navigation of the Don, Mr Cox observes, may possibly hereafter be rendered highly valuable, by conveying to the Black Sea the iron of Siberia, the Chinese goods, and the Persian merchandise: which latter commodities, as well as the products of India, formerly found their way into Europe through this same channel.

Don is also the name of a river in Scotland, noticed under the article Aberdeen; the Old Town being situated at its mouth. See Aberdeen.