550 FAMILY PHOCID^. 



the present connection : " The fat adhering to the skin of the 

 seal is detached from it, cut into pieces, and melted in caldrons, 

 after which the oil is poured in barrels. This is the simplest 

 way of making seal-oil, and the Imnters often employ it. But 

 oil is also manufactured by steam, in establishments built for 

 this purj)ose on the left bank of the Volga, opposite Astrachan, 

 by some rich merchants. Thirty- five 'versts' (about twenty 

 miles) below Astrachan the Sapojnikow Brothers have built a 

 steam oil-factory at the ' vataga' (fishing establishment) of Ikri- 

 annaya. This factory is particularly busy in the spring, when 

 whole cargoes of seal-fat arrive, which is either boiled immedi- 

 ately in order to extract the oil, or is safely stored away in cel- 

 lars. These cellars are long, floored, and furnished with four 

 ventilators and several windows. Large oak-wood tubs, plated 

 with lead on the inside, and capable of holding 700 ' ponds ^ 

 (25,200 pounds) of oil each, are placed at intervals in holes dug 

 in the ground. The oil which runs out of the seal fat piled up 

 in layers flows into these tubs by way of an inclined plane. The 



oil is then poured into barrels Kalmyks are employed 



chiefly to detach the fat from the skins. They spread the skin, 

 with the fur down, on an inclined plank, which they lean against 

 their breast, in order to have the free use of both their hands. 

 Then, armed with a two-handled knife, they scrape the fat from 

 the skin. The oil, which is pure and clear, running down dur- 

 ing this operation, flows into a reservoir let into the ground, 

 holding 400 'pouds' (14:,400 pounds,) and forming a cube, each 

 side of which measures one 'sagene' (7 feet). This work is ex- 

 tremely fatiguing. A strong and experienced Kalmyk can, how- 

 ever, clean 500 or even 700 skins in a single day. The workmen 

 form associations, sharing their labor and their gain. 



"The fat is then melted in large tubs, where it is exposed to 

 the action of steam. The oil flows through a funnel-shaped ap- 

 paratus, and, finally, through pipes into immense oak-wood res- 

 ervoirs. There are three such reservoirs connected by pipes, 

 and let into the ground, so that the oil from the first flows into 

 the second, and then into the third, from whence, through cocks, 

 it i^asses into casks, which can be shipped as soon as filled. Each 

 one of these reservoirs has a diameter of 3 ' sagenes,' (21 feet,) a 

 depth of 1 'sagene,' (7 feet,) and can hold 4,800 'pouds' (172,000 

 pounds) of oil. 



"The oil thus extracted forms the first quality. The second 

 quality is obtained by melting the residue in caldrons, and by 



