CUSTRINE AND SALT STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN BASIN. 



373 



shallow waters of the northern section, and in the vast sedgy tracts along the banks 

 of the Lower Volga and other streams flowing to this basin. The hniguage of 

 former and even of contemporary travellers touches on the marvellous when 

 describing the fisheries in these waters, where the annual yield amounts to from 

 800,000 to 1,000,000 tons, valued at £3,000,000 to £4,000,000.* But the high 

 price of salt, on which there is a heavy excise duty, prevents the fishers from 

 curing the smaller species, and forwarding them to the rest of Russia. 



The Lacustrine and Salt Steppes of the Caspian Basin. 



The numerous brackish lakes of the Novo-Uzensk and Nikolayevsk districts 

 must also be regarded as remnnnts of the old Caspian basin. Shells characteristic 

 of this sea have been found as far north as Sizran and Samara, near the great 



Fijy. 19S. — Salt Steppes and Lake Yelton. 

 ?cale 1 ; 4,640,000. 



tbf.P 



50- i of G 



120 Miles. 



bend of the Volga, and even in the Bolgur plain south of the Kama junction. 

 Yazikov, who discovered these fossils, supposes that the Sizran plain was formerly 

 an inlet of the Caspian, possibly communicating with a more northern sea, whose 

 ancient bed is now traversed by the Volga, Kama, and their tributaries. In any 

 case there can be no doubt so far as regards the steppes, whose level is at present 

 below those of the Mediterranean and Manich valley. These are undoubtedly 

 old marine beds, still studded with miniature Caspians, and crossed by recent 

 water-courses, or rather wadies, such as the Great and Little Uzen, flowing north- 

 west and south-east, and preserving in their windings a remarkable parallelism 

 with the Volga. These are evidently channels formed in the alluvial tracts 

 immediately after the subsidence of the Caspian waters. 



Of the innumerable little steppe lakes the most remarkable is the salt Lake 



* Fishing craft, Astrakhan district (1872), 2,780 ; steamers, 19 ; hands employed, 23,000 ; yield, 

 18,490,500 roubles. 



