I I 2 RUSSIAN 



and are prepared and salted like herrings. Chub are the principal 

 fish of the Black Sea, and are taken in millions on the coast of the 

 Crimea and in the Dniester. They are prepered like red herrings, 

 and are worth 34,000. 



The tarane, found in the Sea of Azov, may one day be 

 much valued. It belongs to the family of the cyprinoides, which 

 come up the Volga in the spring. They might be taken in immense 

 quantities if the larger fish did not monopolize the attention of the 

 fishermen. Now this fish is almost neglected, and only serves as 

 food for larger kinds of fish. There are only 2 kinds of purely salt- 

 water fish in Russia the cod and herring. Before the commission 

 of inquiry into the fisheries of the north of Russia, it was supposed 

 that the rivers of Archangel were full of fish. But the Petchora fur- 

 nishes at the most only 17,000 worth of fish, and the Dwina, also 

 an immense river, does not produce enough for the population on its 

 banks. If it exports a few thousands of sterlets and a few 

 hundreds of pouds of salmon it imports some hundreds of thousands 

 of pouds (of 40 Ibs. each) of cod from Norway and Lapland. It is 

 still supposed that the rivers of Siberia abound with fish. We may 

 imagine that with the scarcity of population they are as well stocked 

 as it is possible for them to be. But the figures when looked into 

 seem insignificant. The district of Borayso, which extends over all 

 the lower course of the Obe, produces 16,000 worth offish, and 

 only 7,000 pouds (40 Ibs.) of sturgeon, or 28,000 Ibs. weight. 



What is this compared with the Oural } a river which never ex- 

 ceeds in its lowest part 400 feet of width, but the produce of which 

 is no less than a million of roubles, 4,000,000 Ibs., 100,000 pounds 

 of sturgeon, four million pounds ; or the Conra which pays to the 

 crown a rent of 59,250. It may be at once supposed that this 

 scarcity of the northern rivers, is owing to the great cold which is 

 unfavourable to the development of organic life ; but this cannot be 

 the principal or only cause. If we look south we shall fiud other 

 rivers, with the most favourable attributes for abounding with fish, 

 equally unproductive. The Danube, for instance, surpasses all but 

 the Volga in size, and apparently possesses every most favourable 

 condition, yet, notwithstanding, they import a great deal of fish, 

 and this even of the lowest quality (the taram). At tbe Delta of the 

 Danube belonging to Russia there are establishments for fishing like 

 those in the Caspian ; these only produce 30,000 pounds, or 

 120,000 Ibs. weight of sturgeon. Whilst there is as mnch produced 

 in one arm of the Couban (the Potoka) which is only 200 feet wide, 

 and 9 versts in length. 



The Nile, Ganges, or Mississippi must produce fejv fish, as the 

 countries, through which they flow, import fish from Newfoundland, 

 Norway, &c. It is owing to the great freshwater lakes that the 

 Russian rivers are so productive. A river in itself cannot produce 

 the same quantity of fish as those which flow into these lakes. The 

 Volga, for instance, including its delta and upper waters, is in all 



