CHE 



165 



CHE 



CUcrson. markable for the extreme smallness of its horses, which 

 ^ -y^ are> however, strong and spirited, and of a delicate and 

 graceful form. There is here a lake about seven miles 

 in circumference, which abounds in fish, and which is 

 said by the inhabitants to contain several species that have 

 hitherto been found only in the sea. This circumstance 

 has given rise to the opinion, that it has a subterraneous 

 communication with the ocean. The capital of the 

 island, which was anciently called Crispa or Crexa, is 

 said to contain about 4000 inhabitants ; and M. Cassas 

 represents them as almost savages. This island, accord- 

 ing to some accounts, supports 70,000 sheep, and con- 

 tains about 11,000 inhabitants. See M. Cassa's Travels 

 in Isiria and Dalmatia. ( x ) 



CHERSON or KHERSON, KOSLOF or GUSL-OVE, a 

 town of Russia, in the province of Catharinenslaf, is 

 agreeably situated on a small eminence, at the bottom 

 of which runs the Dnieper. The width of this river is 

 about seven versts, and it forms several little isles, co- 

 rered with shrubs. Cherson is about 14 versts below 

 the mouth of the Ingulitz, and 40 versts above the river 

 Bog. This town was built by the Empress Catharine 

 II. in 1777, and the foundation stone was laid by Ge- 

 neral Annibal. It is constructed chiefly of hewn stone, 

 which is found at the mouth of the Ingulitz, a distance 

 of almost 15 miles from the town ; and it has been con- 

 siderably improved by Prince Potemkin, who was very 

 partial to the place. It is now, however, gradually 

 inking into decay, from the unhealthiness of the situa- 

 tion, and from the preference given to Odessa, the air 

 of which in remarkably pure and wholesome. The an- 

 cient city stood some miles to the south-west of the spot 

 where the town of Swastopl now stands. The princi- 

 pal public buildings are the arsenal, the fortress, the ca- 

 thedral, and the admiralty house. The former is a large 

 and interesting edifice, built by Prince Potemkin, and 

 contains a monument to his memory. The fortress, 

 which was also erected by Potemkin, is built in a good 

 style of architecture, of a kind of porous, but durable 

 lime- stone. It occupies a great extent of ground, has 

 a double fosse, and contains gome good barracks. The 

 other objects deserving of notice in this place, are the 

 immense flight of steps leading down to the Dnieper, 

 and the battery of stone which is built at the level of 

 the water. The last war of Russia with France has 

 almost annihilated the commerce of Cherson. Before 

 that event, the exportation of corn, hemp, and canvas 

 was very considerable. In 1786, the commerce of Cher- 

 son employed 131 vessels, viz. 9ii belonging to the 

 Turki, 32 to the Russians, and 7 to the Austrians. 

 The imports consisted of fruits, wines, fish, and house- 

 hold furniture. The exports were soap, wheat, hemp, 

 flour, iron, wool, flax, cordage, tobacco, and wood. It 

 appears, however, impossible, from the difficulty of na- 

 vigating the Dnieper, that it could ever be a place of 

 great commercial importance. The entrance of that 

 river is extremely narrow ; and sometimes north-east 

 winds leave it so full of shallows, that its depth is not 

 greater than five feet. The sands are also continually 

 shifting, which renders the navigation so dangerous, that 

 when Dr Clarke visited the place in the end of 1800, 

 hips were rarely seen in the harbour. 



Baron Campenhauscn, however, who visited Cher. 

 ton later than cither Dr Clarke or Reuilly, informs 

 us, that the trade had again revived, and that a num- 

 ber of French and Austrian ships, also 300 or 400 Greek 

 barks, were lying in the harbour, the latter of which 



Chertsev. 



were laden with Turkioii leather, honey, wax, Greek Chersoa 

 wines, soap, cloth, iron, c. Several men of war and 

 merchant vessels are built in the docks, which, on ac- 

 count of the bar, are floated down to the Liman, (or 

 swampy fresh water lake.) on camels as at Petersburg. 

 The docks belonging to the crown are situated along the 

 Dnieper. The grand depot of timber is on the opposite 

 bank, * and there is a rope-walk, where excellent ropes 

 and cables are made. The merchants harbour is at the end 

 of the town, and the quay is built on piles. Cherson has 

 a lazaretto which is situated on one of the isles of the 

 Dnieper ; but, in consequence of the quarantine being per- 

 formed at Odessa, where ships are obliged to unload, it 

 is now useless. No foreign merchants of any conse- 

 quence reside at this port ; they transact their business by 

 clerks and supercargoes. Immense herds of oxen are 

 fattened on the vast plains near Cherson, and are sold at 

 low prices. Corn is generally cheap and plentiful, and 

 water melons grow here as large as in Italy. Fuel is 

 entirely supplied by reeds, of which an inexhaustible 

 quantity is produced in the shallows of the Dnieper op- 

 posite to the town. They are so tall and strong, that 

 rails, and sometimes temporary houses, are formed of them, 

 and they afford shelter to various kinds of aquatic birds, 

 some of which are of great beauty. This town is badly 

 supplied with water, which is brackish : that which the 

 inhabitants make use of for drinking is brought from a 

 great distance. 



Cheraon is interesting, as being the place where the 

 philanthropic Howard terminated his career of huma- 

 nity and usefulness on the 20th day of January, 1790. 

 He was buried in the pot he had himself chosen, in 

 the desert near the village of Dauphigny, about five 

 versts from Cherson. A monument is erected over him, 

 (contrary, however, to his express desire,) consisting of 

 a brick pyramid or obelisk, but without any inscription. 

 Cherson is celebrated also as containing the burial place 

 of Prince Potemkin. He died on the 15th of October, 

 17W1, on the road from Yassy to Nicholaef. Being 

 in want of air, his servants had removed him from his 

 carriage and placed him in a ditch that he might be 

 supported by its sloping sides, and in this situation he 

 actually expired. The corpse was soon after brought 

 to Cherson, and buried in the small church belonging to 

 the fortress ; and it affords a melancholy, but striking in- 

 stance of the instability of human greatness, that this 

 most powerful and illustrious of all the imperial favourites, 

 has not now even the poor distinction of a grave. The 

 coffin has disappeared, and the body is supposed to have 

 been taken up and thrown into the ditch of the fortress 

 by the Emperor's command. Great inconvenience is ex- 

 perienced at Cherson from the prodigious clouds of dust 

 and the immense quantity of mud in winter. There are 

 also innumerable swarms of gnats, which are produced in 

 the marshes. Wild boan> are frequently seen swimming 

 among the small isles of the Dnieper. In the year 1783, 

 the population of Cherson is said to have amounted to 

 40,000 ; but in 1803, when it was visited by M. Reuilly, 

 it contained only 10 or 11,000. East Long. 47, North 

 Lat. 46 42'. See Clarke's Travels, vol. i. p. 598; 

 Scherer, Hlstoire raisonnee du Commerce tie In Ruxsie, 

 torn. ii. p. 33. Paris 1788. ; Reuilly's Travels in the 

 Crimea, chap. xi. ; and Baron Campenhausen'B Travels 

 through several provinces oflhe Russian Empire, (x) 



CHERSONESUS. See CRIMEA, JUTLAND.THRACE, 

 &c. 



CHERTSEY, a town of England, in Surrey, it 



* Timber i dearer here than in the north, on account of the cataracts of the Dnieper, which impedes its being floated dowih 



