Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/892

Rh many smaller streams ; and the Desna, with the Bolva, draining the marshy lowlands in the west. On the Oka, Zusha, Desna, and Bolva there is a brisk traffic in corn, oil, hemp, timber, metal, glass, china, paper, and building- stone. Marshes occupy large areas in the basin of the Desna, as also in several parts of that of the Oka ; they are mostly covered with forests, which occupy from 50 to 65 per cent, of the districts of Bryansk, Trubtchevsk, and Karatcheff, while towards the east, in the basin of the Don, wood is so scarce that straw is used for fuel. The climate is moderate, the average yearly temperature at Orel being 41*2 (14 8 in January and 67 in July). The population, 1,596,900 in 1870, and 1,877,100 in 1881, con sists almost exclusively of Great Russians belonging to the Greek Church ; the Nonconformists are reckoned at aboat 12,000, the Catholics at 3000, and the Jews at 1000. The chief occupation is agriculture, which is most productive in the east and towards the centre of the government. In 1877 59 per cent, of the province was under crops, the estimated yield being 7,196,000 quarters of corn and 1,212,000 quarters of potatoes. Of the grain not used in the distilleries a large proportion is exported to the Baltic. Hemp and hemp-seed oil are extensively exported from the west to Riga, Libau, and St Petersburg. Tobacco is also cultivated with profit. Cattle-breeding and horse-breeding, though somewhat depressed within the last twenty years, are still in a better condition than in neighbouring governments, the Orel breeds, both of carriage and of cart horses, being held in estimation throughout Russia. In 1881 there were 500,000 horses, 340,000 cattle, and 790,000 sheep. Bee -culture is widely diffused in the forest districts, as are also the timber- trade and the preparation of tar and pitch. Manufac tures are rapidly increasing ; in 1879 there were 540 larger indus trial establishments, employing 14,130 hands, and producing cast- iron rails, machinery, locomotive engines and railway waggons, glass, hemp-yarn and ropes, leather, timber, soap, tobacco, chemical produce, &c. There are also distilleries and a great many smaller oil - works and flour -mills. Karatcheff and Syevsk are important centres for hemp-carding ; Bolkhoff and Elets are the chief centres of the tanning industry ; while the districts of Elets, Dmitroff, and partly Mtsensk supply flour and various food-pastes. At Bryansk a Government cannon-foundry employs 700 hands. The so-called &quot; MaltsofFs works&quot; in the district of Bryansk are worthy of men tion as an industrial colony comprising several iron, machinery, glass, and rope works, where thousands of peasants find temporary or permanent employment ; they have their own technical school, employ engineers of their own training, and have their own narrow- gauge railways and telegraphs, both managed by boys of the tech nical school. Numerous petty trades are carried on by peasants, along with agriculture. The fairs held in many villages are animated, and have some importance for the cattle trade. Orel is divided into twelve districts, the chief towns of which are Orel (76,700 inhabitants), Bolkhoff(29,020), Bryansk (12,660), Dmitrovsk (6560), Elets (41,450), Karatcheff (11,200), Kromy (3050), Livny (21,170), Maloarkhanghelsk (3920), Mtsensk (14,200), Syevsk (9650), and Trubtchevsk (5170).

In the 9th century the country was inhabited by the Syeveryanes on the Desna and the Vyatichees on the Oka, who both paid tribute to the Khazars. The Syeveryanes recognized the rule of the princes of the Rurik family from 884&quot;, and the Vyatichees from the middle of the 10th century ; but the two peoples followed different histori cal lines, the former entering into the Suzdal principality, while the latter fell under the rule of that of TchernigofF. In the llth century both had wealthy towns and villages ; during the Tartar invasion these were all burned and pillaged, and the whole territory, lying as it did on the two chief lines of the Tartar advance, became a desert, where the Nogays encamped with their herds. With the fall of the Great Horde the western part of the country fell under Lithuanian rale and was the subject of repeated struggles between Lithuania and Moscow. In the ICth century the Russians began to erect new forts or to fortify the old towns, and the territory was rapidly colonized by immigrants from the north. In 1610 the towns of the present government of Orel (then known as the Ukrayna or &quot;border-region&quot;) had an active share in the insurrection against Moscow under the pseudo-Demetrius, and suffered much from the civil war which ensued. They continued, however, to be united with the rest of Russia, and in the next century formed a basis for further Russian advance towards the south. OREL, capital of the above government, lies at the confluence of the Oka with the Orlik, on the great line of railway to the Crimea, 238 miles south-south-west from Moscow. It has railway connexion also with Smolensk and the Baltic ports in the west, and with Saratoff, Tsari- tsyn, and Novotcherkassk in the south-east. It was founded in 1566, but developed sloAvly, and had only a very few houses at the beginning of the last century. The cathedral, begun in 1794, was finished only in 1861. The town now possesses a military gymnasium (corps of cadets), a few secondary schools, a public library, and a theatre ; large storehouses for grain and timber, a spacious gostinoy door with numerous ^hops, and the offices of the municipal bank are perhaps its best buildings. The manufactures are rapidly increasing ; in 1879 the hemp-carding, hemp- spinning, and rope-making industries produced 1,020,000 roubles, the flour-mills about 300,000 roubles, and the aggregate from all the manufactures exceeded 2,000,000 roubles. Orel is one of the chief markets of central Russia for the trade in corn and hemp, as also in hemp- seed oil and tallow, which are shipped down the Oka or sent by rail. Metal wares, tobacco, kaolin, and glass ware are also exported, while salt, groceries, and manufactured goods are imported for distribution throughout the villages of the government, or to be sent to the Don Cossacks. The population, 45,000 in 1875, was 76,700 in 1881. ORENBURG, a government of south-eastern Russia, bounded on the N. by Ufa and Perm, on the S. and E. by the steppe of the Orenburg Kirghiz, and on the W. by Samara, has an area of 73,890 square miles. Situated at the southern extremity of the Urals and extending to the north-east on their eastern slope, Orenburg consists of a hilly tract bordered on both sides by steppes. The central ridge occasionally reaches an elevation of about 5000 feet ; there are several parallel ridges, which, however, nowhere exceed 2600 feet, and gradually sink towards the south. A great variety of geological formations are repre sented within the government. Diorites and granites enter it from the north and appear at many places from under the Silurian and Devonian deposits. The Carboniferous limestones and sandstones, as also softer Permian, Jurassic, and Cretaceous deposits, have a wide extension in the south and east. Magnetic iron, copper, silver, and lead ores, auriferous sands, and salt from the lakes constitute the mineral wealth of Orenburg, along with its very fertile &quot;black earth,&quot; which covers wide areas around the Urals. It is traversed from north to south by the Ural river, which also forms its southern boundary ; the chief tributaries are the Sakmara and the Ilek. The upper courses of the Byelaya and the Samara, tributaries of the Kama and the Volga, also lie within the government, as well as the affluents of the Tobol on the eastern slope of the Ural range. Numerous salt lakes occur in the district of Tchelabinsk ; but several parts of the flat lands occa sionally suffer from want of water. Thirteen per cent, of the surface is under wood. The climate is continental and dry, the average temperature at Orenburg being 37 4 Fahr. (4 5 in January, 69 S in July). Frosts of - 38 J , and heats of 98 are not uncommon. The population (900,550 in 1870) numbered 1,120,700 in 1881. The increase is largely due to immigration, an extensive tract of uncultivated land which formerly belonged to the Bashkirs having recently been purchased by the Government officials and leased to immigrants from the interior of Russia, The inhabitants are mainly Great Russians, Bashkirs (26 per cent.), and Kirghiz (about 5 per cent.). The majority belong to the Greek Church, or are Nonconformists ; 27 per cent, are Mohammedans, The chief occupations are agriculture and cattle-breeding. Although only 3 - 2 per cent, of the area is under crops, grain is both distilled and exported. In 1881 there were in the province 581,000 horses, 441,000 cattle, 880,000 sheep, and 65&amp;gt;OCC pigs. Notwithstanding the abundance of iron and copper ore, mining is but little deve loped. The industrial establishments (distilleries, tanneries, flour- mills, &c. ) are few, and their aggregate production in 1879 was only 5,195,000 roubles, employing about 2200 workmen. The export trade in corn, skins, and tallow is of some importance, and the fairs at Orenburg, Troitsk, and Tchelabinsk yield large returns. There are five districts, the chief towns of which are Orenburg (35,600 inhabitants), Orsk (14,350), Tchelabinsk or Tchelaba (9000) Troitsk (8300), and Yerklmeuralsk (10,350),