would
go against them, agreed to pay about L3000, in return for which he gave
up his claim to all the manors in the soke. Charles II. in 1664 gave the
town a new charter, granting that it should be governed by a mayor,
twelve aldermen and twenty-four capital burgesses, but since this was
not enrolled and was therefore of no effect the burgesses obtained
another charter from James II. in 1684 by which the town was governed
until the Municipal Corporation Act. In 1200 a fair at Doncaster on the
vigil and day of St James the Apostle was confirmed to Robert de
Turnham, who held the manor in right of his wife, with the addition of
an extra day, for which he had to give the king two palfreys worth 100
s. each. By the charter of 1194 the burgesses received licence to hold a
fair on the vigil, feast and morrow of the Annunciation, and this with
the fair on St James's day was confirmed to them by Henry VII. in 1505.
The fairs and markets are still held under these charters.

See _Victoria County History, Yorkshire_; Edward Miller, _The History
and Antiquities of Doncaster_ (1828-1831); _Calendar to the Records of
the Borough of Doncaster_, published by the Corporation.

DON COSSACKS, TERRITORY OF THE (Russ. _Donskaya Oblast_), a government
of S.E. Russia, bounded W. by the governments of Voronezh, Kharkov and
Ekaterinoslav, S.W. by the Sea of Azov, S. by the governments of Kuban
and Stavropol, and E. by those of Astrakhan and Saratov. Area, 63,532
sq. m. Pop. 1,010,135 in 1867, 2,585,920 in 1897 and 3,125,400
(estimate) in 1906. It belongs almost entirely to the region of the
South Russian steppes, but in the N., W. and S.W. presents more the
aspects of elevated plains gapped with ravine-like river-courses, while
in the S.E., towards the Manych depression, it passes over into the arid
Aral-Caspian steppes (e.g. Zadonsk Steppe), dotted over with salt lakes.
Geologically the region is made up of Carboniferous limestones, clay
slates and sandstones, containing anthracite and coal; of Cretaceous
marls, chalk, sandstone and greensands--chalk cliffs, in fact, accompany
the Don for 200 m.; and of Miocene limestones and clays. The surface,
especially W. of the Don, is the fertile black earth, intermingled here
and there, especially in the Zadonsk Steppe, with clay impregnated with
salt. The government is drained by the Don and its tributaries, of which
the Donets, Chir and Mius enter from the right and the Khoper and
Medvye