A S t 



twenty-five Ruffian cHurclies, and two Armenian, one Ro- 

 man Catholic monaftery with a church, one Lutheran 

 church, fevcial medflieJ;;, fchools, and ftminaries, and two 

 printing houfcs. The principal fuburbs are the Tartarian; 

 the Kazanian, and the Siberian. At AftrakhSin arc 40 

 houfes of brick, and 3773 of timber, bcfidcs the fnburbs. 

 The number of inhabitants amount ; to 18,023, without in- 

 cluding the foreigners and periodical rclidents ; taken all toge- 

 ther, they may be computed at 70,000, as on account of 

 the fifliery alone upwards of 20,000 perfons are annually 

 drawn hither. Of this mafs the Ruffians are the mod nu- 

 merous, the remainder being made up of Germans, Engllfli, 

 French, Italians, Swedes, Armenians, Georgians, Tartars, 

 Perfians, Greeks, Kabardinians, Kalmuks, Indians from 

 Hindoftan, &c. 



Commerce. I. By fea to Perfia, Khiva, Bnkharia, India, 

 &c. exporting either linen, wax, foap, wrought gold, filvcr, 

 and copper, tin, iron in bars and manufadlured, lleel, quick- 

 filver, alum, vitriol, fal ammoniac, fugan, tea, yufts, &c.. 

 in return for which they import, efpecially from the Periian 

 harbour Mangifhlak, raw filk (annually about 3000 poods), 

 various forts of filk, half fdk, and cotton ituffs, Circaffian 

 felt, raw cotton, fumptuons girdles, otterlkins, feagrnfs, 

 V'oven kaftans, frankincenfe, mountain honey, lamb-Jlcins, 

 cloths, tobacco, rice, Pcrfian peafe, various forts of fruits, 

 &c. In the year 1775, thefe exports amounted in value to 

 ,561,327 rubles, the imports to 237,234 rubles, and tht duties 

 *to 24,308 rubles. 2. Freights to Kiiliar, Gnrief, &c. of 

 crown ftores, wine, provilions, and eomm.odlties for fale. 

 3. Land trade to the towns lying on the upper parts of the 

 Volo^a. 4. A very large barter of commodities within the 

 city in the numerous markets : this is carried on by the fo- 

 reigners, generally by the Armenians and Indians. 



Manufndoriis. In number thefe are 1 75, moftly belonging 

 to Armenians, and are employed in weaving filk, half filk and 

 cotton veils and girdles, broad-fuiped and plain filks, plain cot- 

 tons, (lripedlinens,inpreparin^ morocco leather, fiiagreen,^<\:c. 



Other trades. I. The fifhcry is of very great importance, 

 and belongs to the citizens, vvho have eltablUlied a fattoiy, 

 the profits whereof, from 1762 to j 785, amounted to up- 

 wards of a million of rubles. 2. The capture of the por- 

 pu3 on the Cafpian is likewife carried on by the citizens 

 of Aftiakhan, and is extremely lucrative. . 3. The culture 

 of orchards and vineyards gives employment to great multi- 

 tudes of people. The number of vineyards within the circuit 

 of the city is 135, whereof 21 belong to the crown, and the 

 remainder to private owners. 4. The culture of the filk- 

 vorm is carried on partly by the citizens, and partly by 

 the crown. The latter has a large filk manufaftory. 



Astrakhan, Territory or D'tjiria of, comprehends two ex- 

 tenfive iteppes or moors, abounding in faline marfees, and 

 in fome parts barren heaths, i. The Aftrakhan fteppe be- 

 tween the Volga and the Don ; and 2. The Kalmuk or 

 Ural fteppe between the Volga and the Ural. The greater 

 part, therefore, of this diftricl would be entirely fir rile, were 

 it not for the falutary overflowings of the Volga, which, at 

 Icaft on the fhores of that river, as alfo of the Don and the 

 Ural, create as fine meadows and pafture grounds as can any 

 where be feen. As corn, in this diftricl, and even in the 

 parts adjacent to Aftrakhan, where much induftry is be- 

 ftowed on the culture of the foil, does not fucceed well, the 

 deficiency is fupplied from Kazan. On the other hand, the 

 fineft forts of fruit flourifti here, partly growing wild and 

 partly cultivated in orchards, fuch as melons, arbufes or 

 water melons, apples, pears, peaches, apricots, quinces, 

 plumbs, cherries, &c. The mulberry tree grows in great 

 abundance. The vine has been domefticated fince the year 



AST 



1613, when the firft vineyards were laid out at Aftrakhan, 

 and planted with Perfian ilocks. They produce the purple 

 as well as the white grape, both of excellent flavour ; and 

 the clufteis of the latter grow to an uncommon fize. The 

 vintage lafts from the end of Auguft to the end of Sep- 

 tember, old ftyle, when the greater part of the clufters are 

 prcfTed, but hkcwife a great quantity are packed up frefh, 

 and transported to all parts of the empire. Cotton is culti- 

 vated to a confiderable degree, and fucceeds extremely well. 

 Even the faline heaths or fteppes are not entirely barren ; on 

 them grow wild in great quantities, various kinds of flowers 

 and herbs, as afparagus, picppies, dandelion, fennel, &c'. 

 Along the Volga many fwcet woods, the roots whereof 

 yield the T.iccus glycyrrhicas, with which tlie Aftrakhan 

 druggifts fupply the whole empire ; faline herbs, viz. fali- 

 cornia, chenopodium, falfola, ftatice, niti-aria, &c. which 

 aie employed in foap boiling. 



The breeding of cattle is principally, carried on by the 

 Kalmucks and Tartars, who, with their prodigious droves, 

 frequent the paftures along the fhores of riveis, and noma- 

 dife in the fteppes. Here are likewife found whole herds of 

 wild goats (cervi capra, antilope faiga), hares, rabbits, the 

 bifam, eagles, buftards, partridges, groufe, &c. The fifh- 

 ery is in no part of the empire fo productive and profitable 

 as in the Caipian and the rivers that flow into it, the Volga 

 and the Ural. Little account is made of the fmallcr kinds 

 of fi!h, fuch as pike, barbel, fudak, which are caugl-.t far- 

 ther up in the Volga and the Ural, and tranfported through 

 the whole empire. In the Cafpian only the feveral fpecics 

 of fturgcon are taken, viz. the beluga, the fturgton, the 

 fterlet, and the fevriuga ; after them, however, fliads and 

 mullet ; the former are not unfrequcntly of an enormous fize. 

 In the year 1769, a beluga was caught in the Ural weighing 

 2520 pounds, and from which 720 pounds of caviar was 

 obtained. Of all the fifli of the Volga, the beluga, the 

 fturgeon, and the white ialmon are the moft precious. The 

 fifhery in the Ural is the principal occupation of the Uralian 

 Kozaks ; and no where throughout all Ruffia is thisbufinefs 

 fo well regulated by immemorial ufages as here. The chief 

 kinds of hfli taken in this river are the beluga, fturgeon, 

 fevriuga, fterlet, fhad, barbel, white falmon, &c. All thefe 

 fifh fwim in flioals, and the fevriuga in fuch incredible mul- 

 titudes, that, particularly near Gurief, the fwarms of 

 them are clearly feen below the furface of the water. The 

 fifti are here, as on the Volga, moftly falted down, the 

 roes made into caviar, and the founds into ifinglafs ; but 

 the fifti caught in the winter are tranfported frozen. Bea- 

 vers are found in the Sunflia, tortoifes in the Terek, the 

 Don, the Volga, &c. The Terek and the Kuban like- 

 wife yield belugas, fturgeon, and fterlets. The Cafpian 

 aboinids more in porpufes than any of the other lakes or 

 inland feas. Among the infefls of thefe parts feveral are 

 venomous, and tarantulas are frequently feen. The hct 

 baths on the banks of the Terek were explored by order 

 of Peter the Great in the year 17 17. The principal of 

 them is the St. Peter's bath, confifting of three fprings at a 

 confiderable diftance afunder. Their proper heat is 71° of 

 Reaumur, be the temperature of the atmofphere what it 

 may. The heat of the other fources rifes from 41 to 60 

 degrees of the fame thermometer. According to Gulden- 

 ftiedt, they contain fulphur and alkaline fait, no iron, but 

 a confiderable portion of caIcc;reous earth. Bcfides thefe 

 are feveral other fprings. M. Guldenttdst, in 1771 and 

 1773, cured forty patients by means of thefe baths, and 

 fiiice that time the ufe of them has become very common 

 in the furrounding territory. 



The chief employments of the inhabitants are tlie labours 



of 



