a government of European Russia, bounded on the N. by those of Kherson and Ekaterinoslav, E. by the Sea of Azoph, S. and W. by the Black Sea. Length from N. to S. 220 miles; average breadth, 170; area, 24,617 square miles. The southern portion of this government consists of the peninsula of the Crimea, and is fully described under that article. The northern part consists almost entirely of vast steppes, or rather of a single steppe, raised on a base of granite, and consisting for the most part of a dry sandy soil, destitute of wood, but containing in some places hollows clothed with rich grass. The only important river is the Dnieper, which forms the northeastern boundary of the government; but the lakes are numerous, and some of them large, that of Molotschna having an area of more than 100 square miles. The climate is on the whole mild; although during the short winters the cold is intense. Large herds of horses and sheep are kept by the Tartars on the steppe; but the productions of the country are few and insignificant. Pop. (1856) 659,509.