BEREZINA, a river of Russia, in the government of Minsk, forming a tributary of the Dnieper. It rises in the marshes of Boresoff, and has a course of more than 330 miles, for the most part through low-lying but wellw o e d country. Its width increases from 40 or 60 feet near Bobruisk to 100 feet at the mouth of the Svesloch, one of its western tributaries. As a navigable river, and forming a portion of the great canal system which unites the Black Sea with the Baltic, it is of great importance for the commerce of the country, but unfortunately it is subject to severe floods. The principal ports along its course are Boresoff, Berezino, Yakshetzee, Bobruisk, and Parichi. In history the river has been rendered famous by the crossing of the army of Napoleon in 1812. See Stuckenberg's Hydrographie, iii., and Cana:le; Guldenstadt's Reise.