609 



ASTRAKHAN. 



ASTRAKHAN. 



610 



medan era. The circumference of the place is about two miles ; the 

 whole of this extent is surrounded by a ditch and mud wall. It 

 rains so much that it is difficult to keep the mud wall standing : mats 

 of reeds however are placed on the wall covered with earth and 

 planted with lilies, which growing up luxuriantly protect it from 

 the rain. The streets are for the most part paved, and their clean- 

 liness is promoted by a drain through the centre. The town contains 

 four caravanserais and twelve shops for the sale of cloth, but its 

 trade is very trifling. The magnificent causeway of Shah Abbas, 

 which is still in tolerable repair, keeps open the communication 

 with the provinces south of the Caspian. Two caravans of 80 to 100 

 camels suffice for the unimportant trade with Khiva. 



A lake which extends from a point three miles north-east oT 

 Aatrabad towards the Caspian has usually been considered as a gulf 

 of that sea, and is s6 laid down in some maps. Lieutenant Conolly 

 says that the waters of this lake do not approach nearer to the Caspian 

 than three miles, and have no communication with it. He adds, 

 that " the water being confined stagnates in summer, and the 

 inhabitants of Astrabad suffer from the malaria that is caused by it." 

 The t-.ivn indeed is so noted for its insalubrity that the Persians 

 call it the ' City of the Plague.' Astrabad is a frontier town and 

 chiefly inhabited by Kujurs, from which tribe the present shah of 

 Persia has his origin ; when visited by Lieutenant Burnes the popu- 

 lation did not exceed 4000. 



(Eraser's Historical and Descriptive Account of Persia; Lieutenant 

 Conolly's Overland Journey to the North of India). 



ASTRAKHAN (Astorokan), the name of a province of the Russian 

 empire and formerly of a khannate or kingdom, which extended north- 

 ward from the banks of the Terek to the sources of the Ufa in the 

 Ural Mountains, and eastward from the western edge of the basin of 

 the Volga to the south-western limits of Siberia. It lay therefore 

 between 43 and 54 N. lat., 44 and 60 E. long. It was one of the 

 numerous sovereignties which Gengis-Khan and his successors incor- 

 porated with the gigantic empire of the Moguls erected by them in 

 the first half of the 13th century, but was wrested from it by Batu 

 his grandson, the great chief of the ' Golden Horde,' and united with 

 the independent monarchy of Kapshak, which had the Jaik or Ural 

 and the Dnieper for its boundaries, and fell to pieces in the middle of 

 the 15th century. For the next hundred years the territory of 

 Astrakhan maintained itself as a separate state under khans of its 

 own ; and the owners of a soil " where none but swords and lances 

 had grown now prospered by the arts of peace." But Astrakhan 

 commands the western shores of the Caspian and the mouths of the 

 Volga two natural advantages of themselves sufficient to awaken 

 the cupidity of a formidable and encroaching neighbour. In 1552 

 the khannate of Kasan had been added by Ivan, czar of Muscovy, to 

 his extensive conquests ; and two years afterwards an insult to the 

 envoy of Ivan II. his successor from the khan of Astrakhan 

 afforded a pretext for the subjugation of the principality itself. A 

 Russian army was sent against the town ; the khan and his subjects 

 took to flight, and Ivan's forces entered it, greeted by naked walls 

 and tenantless buildings. Ivan repeopled the town and prevailed 

 upon five hundred nobles and ten thousand Astrakhanese to swear 

 fealty to him ; the oath containing a recognition of his subjects' title 

 to the same privilege as the natives of using the whole line of fishery 

 down the Volga from Kasan to the Caspian Sea. The khannate was 

 comprehended in the same government with the Caucasian territories 

 until the year 1801, at which time part of it (the province of Caucasia 

 or Georgiewsk) was annexed to the government of the Caucasus, and 

 the remainder divided into three distinct governments, Astrakhan, 

 Saratov, and Orenburg. The first of these is the subject of the present 

 article, the others are described in their proper place in this work. 



Astrakhan, the southernmost of the three governments, is bounded 

 S. by the Caspian Sea, the Lower Kuma, and the Manysh (a feeder 

 of the Don which separates it from Caucasia), N. by the govern- 

 ments of Saratov and Orenburg, W. by the country of the Don 

 Cossacks, and E. by the southern projection of Orenburg. It is com- 

 1 between 45 and 52 N. lat., 44 and 52 E. long., and contains 

 an area of 60,517 square miles, on which there was a population of 

 284,400 in 1846. 



fiice and Produce. The surface is with little exception an 

 enormous plain lying below the level of the ocean and the Black Sea. 

 It i divided into twu parts or steppes by the Volga, which winds 

 through Astrakhan from north-west to south-east for at least 200 

 miles ; the high and precipitous character of its right bank in some 

 parts contrasting singularly with the low land which spreads out upon 

 the left bank. The soil is saturated in almost every direction with 

 salt; the very atmosphere, the rain, and dew, are charged with it; 

 and briny lakes are of frequent occurrence. This immense plain lies 

 MI low on the ' Kalmutzkaian,' or eastern side of the river, that the 

 waters of the Caspian are driven over it for many miles when the 

 wind has blown for any length of time from the south-east ; even 

 vessels are at times borne by the overflow some miles inland and 

 stranded in the midst of the st^ppo, where the only alternative is to 

 break them up. " Here," sav.H 1'ut.nuki, " where the eye has no object 

 to dwell upon but the azure sky, the steppes and lakes incrustcd with 

 alt, I was astonished to meet with a large ship lying on her beam- 

 endx in the heart of the steppe, between Batkaly and Talagai. I 

 DIV. VOL. I. 



learnt that a year before a south-easter which had prevailed for 

 several weeks had inundated the country and forced several vessels 

 a distance of 70 versts (46 miles) from the shore. All but the ship 

 in question had been taken to pieces and removed." This traveller 

 confirms what Pallas and Gmelin had observed before him on the 

 optical deception which the Astrakhan steppes present : the range of 

 sight is extended and every object is increased in apparent magnitude. 

 In his own case he mistook human beings for obelisks and low heath- 

 bushes for ' Karatshus ' of ten feet height ; the laden camel became 

 to appearance a moving mountain. When on the Caspian another 

 optical deception accompanied the rising of the sun : the coast and 

 vessels upon it seemed elevated high in the air. Even the horses in 

 the steppe took fright at the whirlwind of trees which apparently 

 drove across the waste ; yet they were but bushes which the blast 

 had torn up by the roots and scattered over it. At Yenotayewsk, 

 where the Volga winds between five islands, this portion of the steppe 

 assumes a bluish or bluish-green tint, which it acquires from the 

 abundance of an extremely aromatic species of wormwood. Neither 

 wood nor forest are found throughout the whole province, nor a tree 

 on any spot, except a few groups of oaks, poplars, birches, elms, 

 and wild mulberry-trees, along the banks of some of the rivers. 

 When however the snows dissolve, the dry and arid steppes put on in 

 many parts a gay and verdant appearance ; a carpet of flowers is spread 

 over them and they afford a rich and refreshing pasture for the cattle, 

 whilst the lowland, which is irrigated by the adjacent streams, 

 produces excellent grass a valuable resource for pasture in summer, 

 and when cut and dried for winter stock. Though ill-adapted to the 

 purposes of agriculture, the Astrakhan steppes abound in the summer 

 season with choice herbs, asparagus, capers, horse-radish, leeks, and 

 liquorice; the latter which thrives luxuriantly along the banks of 

 the Volga attains a height of nearly 4 feet, and the root is equal in 

 size to a stout man's arm ; this root is carried down to Astrakhan 

 where the juice is expressed and sold in considerable quantities. 

 The salsola also is of exuberant growth, and affords a supply of 

 excellent soda. Here and there hills of sand and gypsum occur, 

 some few of them in extensive ranges, particularly the Tshipshatshi 

 group, east of the Volga, which is a favourite resort for the native 

 dealers ; it may be observed too of the sand-hills that the prevalence 

 of easterly winds is constantly impelling them farther to the west. The 

 province presents extensive moors, the soil of which consists of a 

 deep spongy saline loam, devoid of vegetation ; its edges only are 

 skirted with saline plants. A country which both Georgi and Pallas 

 conceive to have formed part of the bed of the Caspian in past ages, 

 cannot fail to be rich in one mineral production at least, namely, Halt : 

 this both the Caspian shore and the soil, lakes, and moors of Astrak- 

 han afford in exhaustless quantities and of superior quality, and it 

 is perhaps the most valuable commodity which the country possesses. 

 The bottom of many of its lakes, such as the Etsen, Bogdo, and 

 especially the Sakrysky, which yields upwards of a million of pounds 

 weight annually, is one mass of crystallised salt; the Tshipshatshi 

 is a mountain of salt, and the summit of Bogdo-oola (about 48 N. let., 

 46 40' E. long.) is crowned by a hill composed entirely of this valu- 

 able mineral. The soil is rich likewise in saltpetre. The few produc- 

 tive districts in Astrakhan are situated chiefly in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the Volga, the Akhtuba, and the Ural, and consist 

 of plots of arable and garden ground, the produce of which is 

 considerable, owing to a judicious system of irrigation. These are 

 the only spots in the province where fruit, vegetables, grain, or 

 vines are cultivated. The grapes though remarkably fine in appear- 

 ance are watery and insipid in taste, and the wine made from them 

 is of very indifferent quality. Of all its vegetable productions there 

 is none more remarkable than the great water-lily, the Nympluea 

 nelumbo of Linnseus, the leaves of which are 2 feet in diameter, 

 and float upon the surface of the water, forming so complete a 

 carpet that the water is scarcely discernible ; the stalk which bears 

 them rises perpendicularly between 6 and 8 feet from the water : 

 from between the leaves issue stout runners, which terminate in a 

 splendid rose-coloured flower of delicious fragrance. The flowers are 

 distilled at Astrakhan into a water which has the taste of amber, and 

 which used as a cosmetic gives softness to the skin. The mulberry 

 and tobacco plant have been cultivated of late years with partial 

 success ; some cotton and madder are grown on the banks of the 

 Volga. The annual produce of maize and other grain is not sufficient 

 to maintain the papulation. 



Climate. The climate of Astrakhan is a ' climate of extremes.' 

 A dry and parching heat prevails in summer, when the thermometer 

 frequently stands at 100 Fahr. in the shade ; yet the nights are in 

 general cold, and the winds deposit the saline particles with which 

 the air is charged, in such profusion that every object appears veiled 

 in the morning with hoar-frost. Autumn is of short duration : the 

 winter colds when the north wind blows sink the quicksilver to 30 

 below zero, and the principal arm of the Volga which has a breadth 

 of 750 yards becomes covered with ice capable of sustaining loaded 

 sledges. The various streams throughout Astrakhan are commonly 

 closed at the end of November, but the February thaws invest the 

 face of nature with so instantaneous a spring, that wherever the soil 

 is not barren it smiles with renovated verdure under the influence 

 of a few days' sun. 



2 B 



