ASTRAKHAN (ranted after the Khan Aster). The capital of the government of the same name in Russia, situated 011' an island of the Volga, 60 miles front the Caspian Sea and 933 miles southeast of :Moscow (Slap: Russia, G 5). It is the seat of a Greek archbishop and an Armenian bishop; has Greek, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Armenian churches; many mosques, an Indian temple, and a seminary,fo• priests. The town is situated on very low ground, the average elevation reaching hut Sr!. feet above the level of the Volga, and its highest point not exceeding feet. It is irregularly built; the streets are filthy, since they are neither paved nor ever sprinkled or swept. There is no modern sewerage system, and cesspools contami nate the air. The low situation of the town has made it necessary to surround it by a wall of earth rising about 14 feet above the ordinary water-level of the Volga ; all of which gives the place rather an Oriental appearance. The position of the town on the Volga, the great est river in Europe, and its proximity to the Caspian Sea, an advantage which has been further enhanced by the construction of the Trans-Caspian Railway, make one of the most important commercial centres of Russia and the entrepOt for goods exchanged between Itissia and Western Europe on the one hand, and Persia, Bokhara, Khiva, and other Middle Asiatic countries on the other. The chief articles of
import from the East are gold. embroidered silken goods, silk stuffs, woolen goods, raw silk, rice, rhubarb, and drugs. The exports include cotton, linen, leather, paper, dry-goods, glass, paints, salt, and sugar. The annual value of the imports and exports is about 0S,000,000 rubles (about $34,000,000). The industries do not show much progress and include chiefly the manufac ture of silk goods, leather, paper. chap, and brick. There are over 70 clocks, accommodating more than 4000 ships annually. The fisheries in the Volga employ a great number of the inhabitants of Astrakhan. 'I he town gives its name also to a fine quality of fur, the product of a variety of sheep found in Bokhara,Persia,and Syria. There are many charitable institutions and hospitals. Population, in ISSS, 73,700: in IS07, 113,000, including about 12,000 'Tartars, 000 Armenians, and 1000 Jews. Astrakhan was important during the Middle Ages. For several centuries it was in the hands of the 'Tartars, and did not come into undisputed possession of Russia until 1554.