KHERSON  , a

town of south Russia, capital of the above government, on a hill above the right bank of the Dnieper, about 19 M. from its mouth . Founded by the courtier Potemkin in 1778 as a naval station and seaport, it had become by 1786 a place of xo,000 inhabitants, and, although its progress was checked by the rise of Odessa and the removal (in 1794) of the naval establishments to Nikolayev, it had in 1900 a population of 73,185 . The Dnieper at this point breaks into several arms, forming islands overgrown with reeds and bushes; and vessels of burden must anchor at Stanislayskoe-selo, a good way down the stream . Of the traffic on the river the largest share is due to the timber, wool, cereals, cattle and hides trade; wool-dressing, soap-boiling, tallow-melting, brewing, flour-milling and the manufacture of tobacco are the chief industries . Kherson is a substantially built and regular town . The cathedral is the burial-place of Potemkin, and near Kherson lie the remains of John Howard, the English philanthropist, who died here in 1790 . The fortifications have fallen into decay . The name Kherson was given to the town from the supposition that the site was formerly that of Chersonesus Heracleotica, the Greek city founded by the Dorians of Heraclea .