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 YAROSLAVL, or, a government of central Russia, separated from the government of Moscow by the governments of Vladimir and Tver on the S., and having Tver and Novgorod on the W., Volgoda on the N. and Kostroma on the E. It is one of the smallest, but most populous and busiest, governments of Great Russia; area, 13,747 sq. m. It consists of a broad and shallow depression, elongated from W. to E., where the Volga flows at a level of 260 to 230 ft. above the sea, while the surrounding hills rise to 700 or 800 ft. In the W., especially between the Mologa and the Sheksna, the country contains very many marshes and ponds, and there are low and marshy tracts in the S. about Rostov.

The population, which is thoroughly Russian, numbered 1,175,900 in 1906. The government is divided into ten districts, the chief towns of which are Yaroslavl, Danilov, Lyubim, Mologa, Myshkin, Poshekhon, Romanovo-Borisoglyebsk, Rostov, Rybinsk and Uglich. Yaroslavl belongs to the manufacturing region of central Russia, but the domestic character of many industries permits the inhabitants to cultivate their fields and also to work in small factories. The peasants and peasant communities own over 5,000,000 acres, or about 57% of the total area, of which they have acquired nearly 1,000,000 acres by purchase since their emancipation in 1861; 30% is held by private persons, and 7% by the crown. There were in 1900 1,169,000 acres (13·3 % of the total area) under cereals, the principal crops being rye, wheat, oats, barley and potatoes. Flax is widely cultivated both for linseed and fibre, and both fresh and dried vegetables are exported; Rostov enjoys a great reputation as the centre of this industry. Live-stock breeding is of only less importance than agriculture, and poultry is exported. Large numbers find employment in the making of hardware, locks, felt boots, gloves, wooden wares, pottery and metallic wares. Factories have considerably developed; the principal are cotton, flax and woollen mills, flour-mills, tobacco factories, distilleries, breweries, chicory works, tanneries, candle works, petroleum refineries, machinery, chemical and match works. Rybinsk and Yaroslavl are the chief commercial centres, but Rostov, Mologa, Romanovo and Poshekhon carry on an active trade in corn, timber and manufactured wares. Many of the male population annually leave their homes to work all over Russia as locksmiths, masons, plasterers, waiters in restaurants, greengrocers, tailors, gardeners, carpenters, joiners, pilots, boatmen.

As early as the 9th century the Slavs had become masters of the Yaroslavl territory, which was formerly occupied by the Finnish tribes of Vess and Merya, as also by Mordvinians, Muroms and Cheremisses in the S. Rostov was already in existence; but Yaroslavl, Rybinsk and Uglich begin to be mentioned in the annals only in the 11th and 12th centuries. The independent principality of Rostov was divided in the 13th century into three parts, but these were soon afterwards successively annexed to Moscow.

YAROSLAVL, a town of Russia, capital of the government of the same name, on the right bank of the Volga, at its confluence with the Kotorost, 174 m. by rail N.E. of Moscow. Pop. about 70,000. Yaroslavl is an archiepiscopal see. The Uspenskiy cathedral was begun in 1215 and rebuilt in 1646–48; the churches of the Preobrazhenskiy monastery, St John's and Voskreseniye date from the 15th and 17th centuries. Yaroslavl has a lyceum, founded (1803) by a wealthy member of the Demidov family. The manufactories include cotton mills, flour-mills, tobacco and linen factories. The town was founded in 1026–36. It became the chief town of a principality in 1218 and remained so until 1471, when it fell under the dominion of Moscow.

YARRELL, WILLIAM (1784–1856), British naturalist, was born in London on the 3rd of June 1784. His father was a newspaper agent, and he succeeded to the business, and prosecuted it till within a few years of his death. He acquired the reputation of being the best shot and the first angler in the metropolis, and soon also became an expert naturalist. In 1825 he was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society, of which he subsequently became treasurer, and was a diligent contributor to their Transactions; and he was one of the original members of the Zoological Society. The greater part of his leisure towards the end of his life was devoted to his two great works, The History of British Fishes (2 vols., 1836) and The History of British Birds (2 vols., 1843). These works from the first took rank as standard authorities. He died at Yarmouth on the 1st of September 1856.

YARROW, a river and parish of Selkirkshire, Scotland. The river, issuing from St Mary's Loch, flows for 14 m. E. by N. to the Tweed, which it joins about 3 m. below the county town. The stream and vale are famous in poetry. Only a fragment remains of Dryhope Tower, on Dryhope Burn, the home of Mary Scott, "the flower of Yarrow," whom Walter Scott of Harden married about 1576. On Douglas Burn, a left-hand tributary, are the ruins of the keep of "the good" Sir James Douglas, the friend of Robert Bruce; and Blackhouse, Mount Benger and the farm of Alttive are all connected with James Hogg. Near Broadmeadows Sir William Douglas, the knight of Liddesdale, was murdered by his kinsman (1353) in revenge for the death of Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie at Hermitage Castle. The body lay for a night in Lindean church, now in ruins, near Selkirk, before its burial in Melrose Abbey. On the right bank are the ruins of Newark Castle, built by James III. in 1466 as a hunting seat, afterwards the property of the Scotts of Buccleuch. It was burned by the English in 1548, but the tower was restored. On the right side of the Yarrow is Bowhill, a seat of the duke of Buccleuch.

YATAGHAN (from Turk, yātāghān; sometimes spelled in English "attaghan" and "ataghan"), the name of a type of sword common to Mahommedan peoples. It has no guard or quillons, but a large and often decorated pommel; its blade has a double curve on the cutting edge, first concave and then convex; the back is usually straight (see ).

YATES, EDMUND HODGSON (1831–1894), English journalist and author, son of Frederick Henry Yates (1797–1842), was born at Edinburgh on the 3rd of July 1831. His father and mother (née Brunton; 1799–1860) were both prominent figures on the London stage from about 1817 onwards. Edmund Yates was educated at Highgate School and at Düsseldorf. In 1847 he obtained a clerkship in the General Post Office, with which he continued to be connected up to 1872, becoming in 1862 head of the missing letter department. He married in 1853, and soon began to write for the press. Charles Dickens made him dramatic critic to the Daily News, and he was a contributor