The waters of this province are plentifully stored with fish of most kinds. In the Caspian are caught prodigious quantities; but those of most value are the white salmon, the common sturgeon, and the beluga ; of which last species one was caught in the Ural, which weighed 2520 pounds, and from which 720 pounds of ca viar were obtained. The chief occupation of the peo ple on the coast, and on the rivers, is fishing, which they conduct with the utmost attention to certain established usages.
The history of this country is totally devoid of inter est. In the thirteenth century it was seized by the Monguls, one of the three great Tartar races, who, un der their khan Bathyus, are said to have expelled the Russians, and to have erected it into a kingdom. Un der these it always continued till, in the sixteenth centu ry, it was wrested out of their hands, and reannexed to the Russian empire, in which state it still remains.
The manufactures of Astracan are of considerable importance ; of which the principal are salt and lea ther. Isinglass is made from the sounds of the stur geon and the beluga, and the substance called caviar is the salted roc of large fish. About 40 miles to the north of Astracan are works of great magnitude for the ma nufacture of nitre, of which the quantity is • sn abun dant, that cargoes of it are sent to Petersburg, and thence sometimes exported on account of government. There are also here manufactures of silk, linen, felt, pitch, iron, and shagreen. This last very curious arti cle, which is exclusively prepared here, is made from the hides of horses and asses, of which, pieces of the back only are fit for the purpose. The roughness is communicated by pressing the grains of the orach into the leather while moist. What is called Russia leather,
is manufactured chiefly in the European provinces. It is prepared by tanning it with willow bark, and after wards staining it ; in which process the oil of the sea dog being employed, that article is suppiied iu abun dance from the shores of the Caspian. But the grand source of wealth here is the fishery, which brings in an nually to the citizens of Astracan about a million of rubles.
The commerce of Astracan, which is chiefly in the hands of the Armenians, consists of two branches, those of the land and of the sea. The towns and districts of the upper parts of the Volga are supplied hence with many commodities ; in return for which, the produc tions of the north are transmitted to Astracan. But the Caspian trade is much greater. To Persia, Buckharia, India, and other places, are sent linen, furs,'soap, wax, wrought gold, silver, and copper, tin, iron in bars and manufactured, steel, quicksilver, alum, vitriol, sugar, tea, &c. For these articles the returns are the follow ing. Raw silk to the annual amount of 3000 poods, or 120,000 pounds, wrought silk, cotton stuffs, Circassian felts, raw cotton, sumptuous girdles, frankincense, moun tain honey, lamb-skins, clothes, tobacco, rice, &c. The total amount of the exports of this province is estimat ed at 1,500,000 rubles, and of the imports, at 1,200,000 ; so that the balance of trade is in its favour.* Astracan is in N. lat. 46° 21' 12", and E. long. 48° 2' 45". For the natural history of this country, and the manners and customs of the inhabitants, see SIBERIA and TARTARY. See also Pallas's Travels ; Tooke's Russia; and Pink erton's Geography. (0