MAKARIEV.—The monks of the monastery of St. Macarius (after which the town seems to be named) by virtue of their charter established a fair here in 1641, after which annually in the month of July for a space of three weeks the few wretched huts, built on a sandy desert, were replaced by thousands of shops erected with a promptitude peculiar to the Russians. Taverns, coffee-houses, a theatre, ball rooms, a crowd of wooden buildings painted and adorned with taste, sprung up. People from many nations thronged here in great multitudes: Russians from all the provinces of the empire, Tartars, Tchuvaches, Teheremisses, Calmuks, Bucharians, Georgians, Armenians, Persians and Hindus; and in addition Poles, Germans, French, and English. Notwithstanding the confusion of costumes and languages, the most perfect order prevailed: all were there for the purposes of commerce. The riches which were gathered there within the space of two leagues were said to be incalculable. The silks of Lyons and Asia, the furs of Siberia, the pearls of the East, the wines of France and Greece, the merchandise of China and Persia. These were brought in contrast with the most ordinary articles of everyday life, in true Eastern fashion. This fair was in truth one of the developments of _Nijni Novgorod_, which see. OREL.—An important town in south-western Russia founded by John the Terrible, about 1565, for the defence of the Grand Duchy of Moscow against the Tartars. The town has a large trade in tallow and hemp, also in linseed oil, wheat, cattle, timber and salt. This commerce has two outlets—the one by land; the other by water down the Oka, to Kaluga, Serpukhof, Kolomna, Murom, Nijni-Novgorod, Rybinsk, and St. Petersburg. There are three fairs annually—between 6th and 20th January, during the fifth and sixth weeks after Easter, and from 8th to 31st Sept. (O.S.) The first is the least considerable of these. The market or bazaar days are Fridays and Sundays. After harvest as many as 10,000 carts enter the town daily, laden with wheat and other produce. POLTAVA, southern Russia, on the river Vorskla, long famous for the leeches found in its pools and morasses, and which are largely and widely exported. The importance of the trade of the town is chiefly due to its fair (Ilyinskaya) held on 10th July, and lasting a month. The average value of the goods carried to this great commercial gathering is estimated at about three and a half millions sterling. The number of carts engaged in bringing the produce from Moscow, Odessa, Kharkoff, Kursk and Voronej is upwards of 20,000. Russian manufactures are much sold, but wool is the great staple of trade. Horses, cattle, and sheep are likewise bought and sold in great numbers. There are two other fairs—one on the feast of the Ascension.