308 



EUSSIA IN EUEOPE. 



was one of their chief centres of action, and it was here that they decided, in 1654, 

 to transfer their allegiance to the Czar Alexis of Muscovy. The river was 

 formerly navigable, as shown by an anchor found in its alluvium ; but the present 

 port has been removed some 4 miles westward to Andrushi, on a winding of 

 the Dnieper. But in this section of the river the chief port is the old Cherkasi, on 

 a bluff projecting from its right bank. On the left bank stands the town of 

 Gradi/sk,{dcmg the old Polish castle of Krilov, in 1821 renamed Noro-Georr/i//evsk. 

 It does a considerable trade in timber and live stock, and is surrounded by a 



Fig. 159.— The Tasmin Marsh. 

 Scale 1 : 500,000. 



Ô Miles. 



district teeming with historic memories, but now occupied by the vast estates of 

 the Hussian and Polish nobles, with their palaces and beet-sugar factories. 



In the Sula basin, comprising a large portion of West Poltava, there are several 

 important places, mostly surrounded by orchards and tobacco plantations. 

 Amongst them are Ronini, at whose annual fair £320,000 worth of goods are 

 sold ; Ncdrigdilov, founded early in the seventeenth century by Ukranian refugees ; 

 and Lnhni, with numerous tanneries and gardens. I^arger than the Sula is the 

 Psol, watering the three governments of Kursk, Kharkov, and Poltava, and after 

 a course of 320 miles joining the Dnieper just below KremenchCig. In its basin 

 are the towns of Olshanka, with some large boot factories and distilleries ; Oboyan, 

 an agricultural centre ; Sumi, a trading place whose exchanges amount to about 

 £400;000 yearly ; Lehedin, where Peter the Great made his preparations for the 

 battle of Poltava, and where his friend Menshikov cut the throats of 900 



