420 



EUSSIA IN EUEOPE. 



tcfP 4^40 



AsfraJchrni, capital of the vast government of the Caspian steppes, does not 

 take the position to which it might seem to be entitled as the outport of a basin 

 three times the size of France, and containing a population of about 50,000,000. 

 In some respects it is even a decayed place. Formerly it enjoyed a monopoly of 

 the Russian trade with the regions beyond the Caspian ; but now the overland 

 routes through Orenburg on the north, and Tiflis on the south, are preferred 

 to the sea route. The dangerous bars of the Volga delta are more and more 

 avoided by international trade, and on the completion of the railway from Oren- 

 burg to tlie cities of Turkestan, the Caspian trade of Astrakhan will doubtless cease 

 altogether, unless Danilov's projected canal be constructed. Even on the Caspian 



Astrakhan is no longer the chief 



Fis;. 218. — District infected ky tiiu Tlague in 1878. - i • i i a i. • i 



° port, being already outstripped 



S<'ale 1 : ;!,700,000 ^ ' ° -^ ^ ^ 



by Baku. The active river navi- 

 gation also between E.îbinsk, 

 Yaroslav, Nijni, and Saratov 

 gradually diminishes below the 

 last-named ])lace, while below 

 Astrakhan it is quite insigni- 

 ficant. 



Astrakhan stood formerly on 

 " seven hills," or rather on seven 

 of the so-called hùfjrl, or natural 

 mounds, described farther back. 

 But according as the ground on 

 the banks of the river became 

 firmer, most of the houses were 

 built on the water side, where 

 they are now commanded by the 

 kreml, the cathedral, palace, 

 monastery, and barracks. It was 

 from one of these that the Metropolitan was thrown when the place was taken by 

 Stephen Ilazin. The minarets of the mosques mingling with the domes and gilded 

 cupolas of the churches, and the canals crowded with craft, impart to the city 

 a more varied and animated appearance than is usual in Russian towns. 



E of G. 



^ — 2Ô Jliles. 



The Northern Stefpes. — Ural Basin. 



(Government op Orenburg — Army of the Ural.) 



The commercial centre of the two rivers Uzen, between the Volga and the 

 Ural, is Noi'o- ZTzcnsh, surrounded by tobacco plantations. But the great market 

 of East Russia, and the fortunate rival of Astrakhan, is Orenburg, at the junction 

 of the Ural and Sakmara. It dates only from 1742, although in 1735 the 

 Russians had raised a fortress of this name at the confluence of the Ural and Ora, 

 in order to command the Kirghiz and Bashkirs. But the foundation of this 



