373 



CASPIAN SEA. 



CASSr.L. 



37i 



north to south. These hills consist throughout of recent tertiary 

 formations. The depth along this coast is seldom so little as 6 fathoms, 

 generally between 10 and 18 fathoms. Several rivers flow from the 

 plateau into Alexander's Bay. Round the Bay of Kenderlin, still 

 farther south, which is said to be very deep, the land shelves off, but 

 a small chain of hills runs inland and is lost in the plateau. From 

 40 N. lat. the Bay of Balkan is bounded by the extreme points of the 

 elevated plateau rising steep and precipitously from the shore, and 

 presenting on the top porphyritic formations, which in remote times 

 have broken through beds of grauite, and which occur in some of the 

 islands in the bay, and also at a great distance from the shore on the 

 flat and elevated plateau. The plateau here also however is generally 

 composed of the tertiary calcareous rocks, which towards the bay 

 crop out in single protuberances. The extreme part of the plateau of 

 Usturt is the Krasnovodo Mountains, which join the chain of the 

 Great Balkan Mountains ; these lie between the Bay of Balkan and 

 the desert of Khiva. The south shores of the Caspian are low and 

 swampy ; but the mountains at a considerable distance show the 

 porphyritic formations, especially about the snow-capped volcano of 

 Deinavend. The only considerable river that enters it from Persia is 

 the Kizil-Ozein. 



The depth of water is considerable towards the south extremity, 

 where it attains 600 feet. In general the depth decreases considerably 

 towards the shores. Along the western shore its waters deepen 

 gradually by shallow steps. Its waters are not so salt as those of the 

 ocean, as might be expected from the great volume of water thrown 

 into it by the Volga and its other tributaries ; along the shores, near 

 the mouths of the rivers, horses do not refuse to drink. 



The Russians of Astrakhan use brigs from 150 to 200 tons ; but 

 the Persians only small vessels from 50 to 70 tons. Russian steamers 

 now ply on this sea between Astrakhan and the Persian coast. 

 The navigation is dangerous, owing to the prevalence of north-west 

 and south-east gales, which sometimes blow with great violence for 

 many days together. They raise the surface of the sea from 3J 

 to 4 feet along the shores on which they blow, and inundate the 

 contiguous low countries to a distance of several miles. The 

 fisheries give employment to the inhabitants of the adjacent 

 countries. Numerous shoals of sturgeons, belugas, sterlets, salmon, 

 and other fish at certain seasons ascend the rivers, especially the 

 Volga, where such large quantities are taken that this fishery is 

 thought to be only inferior to that on the banks of Newfoundland. 

 Seals are common, and are taken on some islands and on the eastern 

 coast. [ASTRAKHAN.] 



Naphtha or petroleum frequently occurs on the shores of this sea. 

 In the peninsula of Abcheron the whole soil seems to be strongly 

 impregnated with it. [BAKU.] It is perhaps found in still greater 

 quantity on the island Naphthalia, or Tchilehou, the largest of the 

 islands of the Caspian Sea, situated in the Bay of Balkan. 



The Caspian appears to be subject to some extraordinary changes 

 in the level of its surface, which have not yet been completely investi- 

 gated. The inhabitants of Knzillon, the port of the town of Resht, 

 assured Colonel Monteith that it rises and falls several feet in periods 

 of nearly thirty years ; and Hanway has collected some facts to prove 

 that in his time (1746) it had a much greater depth at several places 

 than when it was navigated by the expedition of Peter the Great. 

 Honteith himself observed in a few years a considerable decrease of 

 its waters. There are no tides on the Caspian. The northern portion 

 of it is annually covered with ice. 



Since the middle of the last century it has been known that the 

 surface of the Caspian Sea is lower than that of the ocean. It was 

 observed that in Astrakhan the barometer was generally above 30 

 inches. In 1812 an attempt was made by Engelhardt and Parrot to 

 settle this question by a series of levellings and barometrical measure- 

 ments. They effected this across the Caucasian isthmus at two 

 different places. One of these measurements made the Caspian 

 Sea 54 toises, or about 348 feet lower than the Black Sea; 

 the other gave a difference of about 47 toises, or about 301 feet. 

 Ijcjubts being reasonably entertained respecting the correctness of 

 these measurements, the Russian government ascertained by a trigo- 

 nometrical survey and a system of levellings executed in 1836-7 that 

 the surface of the Caspian was only 84 feet lower than that of the 

 Black Sea. 



Strabo (xi. p. 509) gays that the Caspian was connected with the 

 Euxine through the Pains Mscotis (Sea of Azof) an opinion revived 

 by Pallas and other modern writers, who maintain that the Caspian 

 Sea at some very remote period covered the extensive plain which lies 

 between the most southern ranges of the Ural Mountains and the 

 Black Sea. Pallas inferred this from the peculiar nature of the 

 soil, which consists of sand partly unmixed with other kinds of earth, 

 and partly containing a portion of clay loosely mixed with it. There 

 i no grass upon it ; and shells frequently occur which are met with 

 in the Caspian Sea. It is also impregnated with salt, and contains a 

 great number of smaller and larger salt-lakes, among which that of 

 Elton is the best known, from which large quantities of salt are 

 annually procured. This plain is bounded on the north by a wall-like 

 ascent, elevated at an average 300 feet above it, which in the peculiar 

 form of its margin resembles very much that of the coast of the sea. 

 This ascent extends from the south-western extremity of the Ural 



Mountains (the Obshtshei Syrt) in a south-western direction, crosse.i 

 the Volga below its great beud to the east, and divides the source of 

 the small river Sarpa (an affluent of the Volga) from that of the 

 Manytsh. Hence it runs west, and terminates not far from the con- 

 fluence of the Manytsh with the Don. According to appearances it is 

 very probable that when the surface of the Caspian Sea was at a 

 higher level there was a passage along the present course of the 

 Manytsh River between the Caucasus and the above-indicated ascent, 

 which united the Caspian and the Black Sea. Engelhardt, who deter- 

 mined by a series of levellings and by barometrical measurements the 

 difference in the level of the two seas, estimated the source of the 

 Manytsh to be only 16 toises, or 102'4 feet above the Black Sea. 



It is the opinion of some writers, both ancient and modern, that 

 the Sea of Aral once formed a part of the Caspian, or rather that they 

 were connected by an arm of the Oxus ; but from the nature of the 

 Turkman Isthmus, which is stated in our article on the Sea of AEAL, 

 it is extremely improbable that any river from Central Asia ever 

 flowed into the Caspian. A further erroneous opinion, which is sanc- 

 tioned by Strabo, extended the connection of the Caspian beyond the 

 Aral, even to the Arctic Ocean ; and Humboldt, in his ' Fragmens 

 Asiatiques,' has traced out a comparatively narrow low tract of land, 

 which extends on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains from the 

 northern part of the Sea of Aral between the rivers Ishim and Irtish, 

 through the steppe of Baraba, and thence on the west of the Oby to 

 the swampy coasts of the Arctic Sea. This low ground is indicated 

 by a continuous series of lakes. Another ancient notion, preserved 

 in a fragment of Hecatams, was that the Caspian and the Euxine were 

 connected by the Phasis. 



The Caspian was known to the Greeks and Romans. Herodotus 

 (i. 203), the first who mentions it, calls it the Caspian Sea, a name 

 probably derived from the Caspii, who inhabited its western coast. 

 This name it has preserved, though later writers limited the term 

 Caspian to the western portion, calling the eastern the Hynanian Sea. 

 Herodotus gives a, pretty just idea of its extent, stating that its greatest 

 width was about one-half of its length ; that it took a vessel with oars 

 15 days to traverse its length, and 8 days to cross its broadest part. 

 Ue also maintains (i. 202) that it is an inland sea having no connection 

 with the external ocean. Aristotle (' Meteorologica,' chap. 2) does 

 not differ from the historian in his opinion as to the Caspian lake ; 

 but about this time an opinion began to prevail that the length of 

 the Caspian Sea was in the direction from east to west. This form 

 of the Caspian is preserved on all our maps up to the beginning of 

 the last century, when Peter the Great sent an expedition to explore 

 the sea. 



(Pallas ; Engelhardt ; Humboldt; Col. Monteith, Eiohwald, London 

 Geogr. Journal.) 



CASSAGNE-BEGONHES. [AvEYRON.] 

 CASSEL, HESSE, Electorate of. [HESSE CASSEL.] 

 CASSEL, the capital of the electorate of Hesse Casael, is situated 

 in the province of Lower Hesse, on the Fulda, which is navigable, in 

 about 51 18' N. lat., 9 30' E. long. ; at a distance of 124 miles by 

 railway from Frankfurt-am-Mayn, and has about 33,000 inhabitanta. 

 It is surrounded by walls on eveiy side except that which is bounded 

 by the Drusel. It has 1 1 large and small gates, and is divided into 

 the Old Town, Upper New Town, and Lower New Town, and the 

 three suburbs of Wilhelmshbhe, Frankfurt, and Leipzig. The Old 

 Town is a collection of crooked, narrow, and dirty streets, which are 

 rendered still darker by the height of the houses. It contains the 

 spacious square called the Palace Square, which is 900 feet long and 

 commands a prospect of the beautiful valley of the Fulda ; the 

 market-place ; the first story of a vast unfinished palace begun by a 

 former elector of Hesse in 1820 ; the public offices ; the old town-hall ; 

 the government buildings ; the Stadtau, appropriated to public amr.oe- 

 ments ; the packing-hall, and the furniture-hall. There are likewise 

 St. Martin's Church, with the catacombs beneath it, in which the 

 remains of the sovereigns of Hesse Cassel are deposited ; several other 

 churches, a synagogue, an orphan asylum, and an hospital ; an arsenal, 

 foundry for cannon, a house of correction, and other public estab- 

 lishments. The Upper New Town is the finest quarter of Cassel, and 

 may vie in splendour with any city in Germany. It contains the 

 Friedrichsplatz, 1000 feet in length and 400 feet in breadth. In the 

 square stands the Elector's palace, a building of no pretensions 

 to elegance ; in the centre of the square is a statue of the elector 

 Frederick II. In this part of the town also are several smaller squares ; 

 the boulevards ; the Royal Street, nearly a mile long ; the barracks ; 

 and the street of Bellevue, which overlooks a splendid country. 

 Among other edifices in this quarter are the museum, which is consi- 

 dered the finest structure in the town, and contains a library of 90,000 

 volumes, collections in numismatics, natural history, antiquities, 

 experimental philosophy, &c., and an observatory; the Bellevuo 

 palace, and other palaces; the electorial stables and riding-house, 

 town-hall, mint, the academy, lyceum, a normal, and civic school, the 

 theatre, the New Town and Roman Catholic churches, an hospital and 

 infirmary, a poor-house, &c. The Lower New Town is the site of t 

 Castell, an ancient structure surrounded by walls and a ditch, for the 

 safe custody of state and military offenders : it coutams the Lower 

 New Town church, a Protestant orphan-asylum, infirmary, lying-m- 

 hospital, house of correction, prison, &c. 



