I found, on revisiting Odessa, that in the interval of four years, the alterations in that place were very great, and its improvements most striking. Its size, its population, its importance, are daily increasing. The number of its inhabitants is now estimated at 40,000. In the year 1819 seven hundred houses were built in this town, and plans were laid out for eight hundred more the following year. In one year 2000 ships visited this port, each ofwhich took, on an average, 2000 tchetverts, orRussian quarters of corn. The price of transporting it, rose in proportion to thedemand, and five to six rubles per tchetvert was paid by the merchant to transport the grain from the warehouses, (or, as they are there termed, magazines), to the quay.
The price of corn in the Odessa markets changes from 12 to 30, and even up to 40 rubles per tchetvert, according to the demand for it in the Mediterranean ports. It is seldom so IOWT as 12 rubles; and from 15 to20 rubles per tchetvert, may be considered a fair average price.
The Lyceum continues to rise in estimation, and as the terms of admittance are considerably increased, it being now 2000 rubles, or upwards, per annum, it becomes more select ; and in fact none but the first nobility can afford to place their children at this establishment.
There are several English families now resident at Odessa, and in itsneighbourhood, almost all ofwhom are engaged in commerce.