CHERSON or KHEnSON, KOSLOF 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 this river is about seven versts, and it forms several little isles, covered 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 General 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 considerably improved by Prince Potemkin, who was very partial to the place. It is now, however, gradually sinking into decay, from the unhealthiness of the situation, and from the preference given to Odessa, the air of which is remarkably pure and wholesome. The ancient city stood some miles to the south-west of the spot where the town of Swastopl now stands. The principal public buildings are the arsenal, the fortress, the cathedral, 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 some 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. 92 belonging to the Turks, 32 to the Russians, and 7 to the Austrians. The imports consisted of fruits, wines, fish, and household furniture. The exports were soap, wheat, hemp, flour, iron, wool, flax, cordage, tobacco, and wood. It appears, however, impossible, from the difficulty of navigating the Dnieper, that it could ever be a place of great commer cial importance. The entrance of that river is extreme ly 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, ships were rarely seen in the harbour.
Baron Campenhausen, however, who visited Cherson later than either Dr Ciarke or Reuilly, informs us, that the trade had again revived, and that a number of French and Austrian ships, also 300 or 400 Greek barks, were lying in the harbour, the latter of which were laden with Turkish leather, honey, wax, Greek wines, soap, cloth, iron, Ste. Several men of war and merchant vessels are built in the docks, which, on account of the bar, are float ed 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 situ ated on one of the isles of the Dnieper ; but, in conse quence of the quarantine being performed at Odessa, where ships are obliged to unload, it is now useless. No foreign merchants of any consequence 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 gene rally 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 opposite to the town. They are so tall and strong, that rails, and sometimes tempo rary 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.
Cherson is interesting, as being the place where the philanthropic Howard terminated his career of humanity and usefulness on the 20rth day of January, 1790. He was buried in the spot he had himself chosen, in the de sert near the village of Dauphigny, about five versts from Cherson. A monument is erected over him, (con trary, 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, 1791, on the road from Yassy to Nicholaef. Being in want of air, his servants had removed him from his car riage and placed him in a ditch, that he might be support ed by its sloping sides, and in this situation he a,ctuallv expired. Tlie corpse was soon after brought to Cherson, and buried in the small church belonging to the fortress; and it affords a melancholy. but striking instance 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 dis appeared, and the body is supposed to have been taken up and thrown into the ditch of the fortress by the Em peror's command. Great inconvenience is experienced at Cherson from the prodigious clouds of dust and the immense quantity of mud in winter. There are also in numerable swarms of gnats, which are produced in the marshes. Wild boars are frequently seen swimming among the small isles of the Dnieper. In the year 1783, the population or 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, Histoire raisounee du Commerce de la Russie, torn. ii. p. 33. Paris 1788.; Reuiity's Travels in the Crimea, chap. xi.; and But on Campenhausen's Travels through several provinces of the Russian Empire. (x)