TRANSACTIONS OE THE SECTIONS. 187 



improvement of roads, and the increased navigation of rivers. Russia is, moreover, 

 beginning to suffer from the short-sightedness of her restrictive tariff on foreign manu- 

 factures, which, by fostering the production of the most inferior home articles, has 

 kept the art in its infancy. 



Russian manufactures in wool and cotton have hitherto commended themselves in 

 the Turan by their extreme cheapness, having been also in a measure favoured by the 

 influence which the Russian trader commands as a customer for the principal staple 

 of the country ; but the natural consequence of improved civilization and increased 

 wealth, derived by Central Asia from the trade with Russia, is the growth of a demand 

 for manufactures of a superior class, such as only England can cheaply produce with 

 the aid of perfect machinery and abundant coal. At the same time, it is reasonable 

 to suppose the effect of the impending emancipation of the serfs will be to raise the 

 price of labour and commodities in Russia ; which will necessarily affect the pre- 

 sent cheapness of the coarse fabrics of that country. The inferiority of the Russian 

 manufactures offered to the Asiatic in return for his cotton, madder, and other pro- 

 ductions, induces him to seek payment in metallic currency. Added to this, the insuffi- 

 ciency of the rude coinage of Turkestan to supply the increasing demands of trade, or 

 to represent the accumulating wealth of the country, has contributed to raise the value 

 of Russian specie to a premium of about 22 per cent, above its value at home. It is 

 thus that the amount of bullion and coin exported from the Orenburg line of frontier 

 between 1840_and 1850 amounted to £229,5.54, or £6500 more than the exportation 

 of cottons during the same period, and nearly three times that of woollens. The ex- 

 portation of gold and silver specie to the various countries of Asia had increased from 

 £478,357 in 1847 to £897,691 in 1857. 



__ Metals and hardware are abundantly supplied by Russia to Bukhara, Khiva, and 

 Kokan, and, taken with specie and bullion, form very little less than one-half of the 

 yearly exportations. The metals are red copper, in blocks, and brass, manufactured ; 

 iron, wrought and cast, in scrap bars and sheets, and manufactured into locks, staples, 

 knives, trays, and various small articles. The quantity of copper exported to Central 

 Asia between 1840 and 1850 amounted to 603 tons, of the value of £49,675; while 

 the supply of iron, wrought and manufactured, reached £69,000. The hardware con- 

 sisted of needles, penknives, large clasp-knives, razors, scissors, with joiners' and car- 

 penters' tools. Needles are demanded in very great quantities, and sell at ISs. to 21s. 



ipplied by 



Asia are of a class " only made to sell," being purchased at Nijni-Novgorod fair at 

 2s. Gd. the dozen, or about 5d. the pair; a better description are produced at 3s. 6d. 

 the dozen, the highest at 5s. 2d. 



The cottons which Central Asia requires are not those for ordinary or common 

 use, but prints and calicoes of rather superior workmanship, and good, vivid colouring, 

 as articles of luxury and artificial necessity. What Russia now produces in the shape 

 of cottons is really too inferior when cheap, and too dear when good. The highest 

 prices given at Nijni-Novgorod fair for cotton prints prepared for the Asiatic market, 

 are 5%d. to 5f d. per yard. A piece will contain 35 to 36| yards, with a breadth 

 of 20 or 21 inches; the weight of each is about 4^ lbs.; so that the gross weight of 

 a camel's load, or 200 pieces, will be about 8 cwt. To this day, certain descriptions 

 of Russian cottons are imposed on the Asiatic as English manufactures, fetching 10£d. 

 to 11 %d. per yard, when Russian best qualities will only sell at 6d. to G±d. per yard. 

 Calicoes and ginghams are much used in Central Asia. In Bukhara, ordinary quality 

 calico sells at 12s. to 18s. per piece of 10 to 12^ yards, and the best (called English) at 

 24s. At Khiva the prices are 9s., 12s., and 15s. A kind of nankeen, manufactured 

 from Nos. 20 to 22 for the warp, and 24 to 26 for the woof, is in great demand. 

 Considerable quantities of a cotton, friezed material, known in the trade as plush, are 

 exported to Bukhara and Khiva; it is much used in the uniforms of the soldierv of 

 those countries. In Khiva this article sells at lOhd. to Is. 2d. per yard. The total 

 declared value of the exportations of Russian manufactures in cotton amounted 

 between 1840 and 1850, to £223,181. ' 



The cloth and woollens supplied to Central Asia are the produce of Russian flocks 

 and therefore form a branch of industry perfectly indigenous to the country, and 

 intimately connected with its agrarian wealth. But, as in the case of cottons, Russia 



