58 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The huntsmen derive the greatest profit, however, from the skins of 

 the walruses. The Russian fishermen, especially the "proniortsi," barter 

 rye-flour very advantageously in Norway for walrus-skins. They usually 

 get for 10 "pouds" (300 pounds) of flour two walrus-skins, which they 

 sell at Archangel for 10 "roubles" ($7 gold) apiece. 



The monks of the convent of Solovetsk prepare the skin of the Phoca 

 annellata iu an admirable manner. The skins of polar bears cost 8 

 " roubles" ($5.00) apiece at Archangel. They are warm and durable, 

 but they are seldom tanned. 



C— FISHING AND SEAL-HUNTING IN THE CASPIAN SEA. 



The Caspian Sea, with an area of 147,000 square miles, furnishes, 

 perhaps, a greater quantity of fish than any other basin in Europe hav- 

 ing the same extent. This also applies to the rivers falling into it: the 

 Ural, the Volga, the Terek, the Koura, and the Sefid-Roud. It can be 

 proved that the amount of fish caught is constantly increasing. Not 

 less than 11,000,000 "pouds" (390,000,000 pounds) of fish are annually 

 caught in the waters of the Caspian Sea. 



The cause of this great abundance of fish must be found in the 

 character of the water, which is but little salty, in the shallowness of 

 the sea, and iu the existence of numerous excellent spawning-places, 

 especially iu the immense delta of the Volga. 



In the northern basin of the Caspian Sea, where the most important 

 fisheries are located, the sea is shallowest, the greatest depth being about 

 8 "sageues," (50 feet.) The southern and middle portions of this sea are, 

 however,- very deep; but no fishing is carried on there. In the northern 

 basin, the water is scarcely brackish, often entirely sweet, particularly 

 when there is a north wind, which carries the waters of the Ural and 

 the Volga far out into the sea. The rivers falling into the Caspian Sea 

 carry into it great masses of organic matter, which furnishes abundant 

 food for the fish. 



The delta of the Volga forms a vast net-work of long, narrow, and 

 shallow lakes, called "limans," which are joined to each other, or to va- 

 rious branches of the Volga, by a large number of small watercourses ; 

 and here the fish find a peaceful retreat during the spawning-season. 



1. — FISH FOUND IN THE CASPIAN SEA. 



The cartilaginous fish or sturgeons are principally found in the Cas- 

 pian Sea and its tributaries, among which the Volga, with its immense 

 basin, is the most important. The Russian fishermen call these fish 

 "red fish." In the Caspian Sea and its tributaries, the following species 

 of fish are found, of which the Russian name is always given first. 



1. "Belouga," (Acipenser huso,) with an average weight of 3 "pouds," 

 (108 pounds,) but frequently weighing from 20 to 25 "pouds," (720 to 

 000 pounds,) and occasionally as much as from 40 to 00 "pouds," (1,440 

 to 2,100 pounds.) In the year 1709, a " belouga" was caught in a bay 



