U R A 



U K A 



tlie faid fidi-weir, and inftead of it, inclofed the whole river 

 about the toxv-n of Ural/lc by a peiTnanent utfchiug ; fo that, 

 though the fifh come freely out of the Cafpian into the 

 Ural, they cannot proceed higher than Uralflc. The Ural has 

 all the kinds of fifh that are found in the Volga, excepting the 

 bream, the red falmon, and a fmall fpecies of ftiirgeon. The 

 lirft and mod important capture in the year is in January, 

 with hooks ; the fecond lafls from May till towards the 

 middle of June ; and the third, which is the leaft con- 

 fiderable, is performed with nets, in Oftober. The firft 

 great filhery in January is chiefly for fturgeons and belugas. 

 On the day when the filhery begins, ail the Coffacks who 

 have tickets of licence affemble before fun-rife, with their 

 fledges and implements, at a ftated place before the town, 

 ranging themfelves in rows and feftions, according to the 

 order in which they arrive. They are then muilered by a 

 proper officer and formed ; notice is given by firing of cannon 

 when the operation is to commence, or the breaking up of 

 the ice for fifhing. The order and ceremonial are the fame 

 for the fecond great capture of the fevrugas in fpring as in the 

 winter fifhery, and a certain boundary is fixed for marking 

 the extent of the fifhery. The Coffacks, while fifhing, fit 

 fingly in little canoes, commonly made of the trunks of the 

 black or white poplar, paid over with afphaltus inftead of 

 pitch. The nets are between 20 and 30 ells in length. 

 The autumnal fifhery is alfo condufted in the fame manner 

 with the others. This is performed with large calling nets, 

 and theyare allowed to take,befides the fmaller fpecies of fifh, 

 all forts of fturgeons. The largefl belugas caught in the 

 Ural weigh ofteji 25 pood, and yield about 5 pood of ka- 

 viar or cavear, which on account of itsftringinefs is reckoned 

 the worft. The fturgeons are about a fathom in length, 

 and the largeft of them weigh 5 pood, and contain a pood of 

 kaviar, which is moftefteemed for its quality. The fifh here, 

 as at the Volga, are moftly faked ; kaviar ii prepared from 

 the roes, and fifh -glue made of the mucilaginous fubftances ; 

 but the winter-fifh are tranfported frozen. Tooke's Ruffia, 

 vol. iii. 



Ural Mountains, a famous chain of mountains in Ruflia, 

 which forms the natural boundary between Europe and 

 northern Afia, called Ural, or the belt, as if it girted the 

 whole world. The ancients gave this chain the appellation 

 of the Hyperborean and the Ryphfean mountains, andfomc- 



uniting on one fide with an arm iffuing from the Kirghiftzi-' 

 fteppe, on the left fhore of the Ural ; and on the other fide 

 projcdling into the old Kalmuck-fteppe, between the Volga 

 and the Ural, and northerly joining the faiid-ftone moun- 

 tains, which accompany the main courfc- of the Ural on the 

 wefterii fide. Near the forts of Orflc and Guberlinfif, a part 

 of the mountains runs out fouth-eaftward into the Kirg- 

 hiftzi deferts, and reaches to the mountain Ulutau, which 

 ftands about the centre of that region, and is attached to the 

 gri-At Altay. This arm is called the Giiberlinllvoi moun- 

 tains. Another courfe, fmaller than the preceding, runs 

 fouth-c?.ftw;ird, between the rivers Ural and Ui, under the 

 name of Okto-Karagai, through the open fteppe of the 

 middle horde of the Kirghis-kaifaks, and then purfues its 

 way, under the appellation of Alginilioi-Sirt, towards the 

 Irtifh and the Altay mountains. The whole Ural chain 

 may be divided into three parts, ■viz. the Kirghiftzi Ural, 

 extending from the Cafpian and the Aral, and eaftward out 

 of the great fteppe of the Kirghis-kaifaks, as far as the ori- 

 gin of the Tobol and the Yemba ; llie Ural rich in ores, or 

 Ural ore mountains, comprehending the whole mountainous 

 track, with its weftern and eaftei n appendages, from the rife 

 of the faid rivers and the Guberlinflcoi mountains, quite up 

 to the fources of the Solva and Kolva ; and the defert 

 Ural, extending from thefe rivers to the Frozen ocean. The 

 Ural abounding in ores may be fubdivided into the Oren- 

 burg, the Ekatarinenburg, and the Verchoturian Ural. 



This main courfe of the Ural mountains declines mucli 

 more on its weftern fide than on the eaflern, and on the for- 

 mer has a confiderable track of collateral lidge, very rich in 

 copper, and moftly compofed of fchiftofe fand-ftone. The 

 higheft mountain of the Ural chain is in the Bafhkirey (or in 

 tlie Orenburg Ural), and in the Verchoturian Ural. 



The Ural chain is of itfelf a main mountain, whofe higheft 

 ridges, for the moft part, confift of granite, and of all the 

 properly primitive rocky materials. In minerals the Ural 

 mountains are very rich ; abounding with beautiful forts of 

 granite, porphyry, excellent jafper, fine quartz, petrofilex, 

 pebbles, whetftones, flints, agates, chalcedonies, large moun- 

 tain cryftals, fmoky topares, or brown rock cryftals, fine 

 amethyfts, chrj-folites, porcelain and pipe-clay, bolus, ftielly 

 felfpar, ferpentine, potftone, window-mica, aft)eftus, and 

 amianthus ; beautiful marbles, table-fchiftus, gypfum. 



times " Montes Rhymnici." Under the laft of thefe deno- flowers of fpar, turf, coals, mineral oils, naphtha, native 

 minations, the Bafhkirian Ural was more particularly de- 

 fignated. The Northern Ural they termed " Montes. Hyper- 

 borxos" or " Riphasos ;" and the fouthcrn " Rhymnicios." 

 The former were afterwards called the Yugorian mountains. 

 Ural is a Tartarian word, fignifying a belt, or girdle ; by 

 which the Ruffians likewife denote this range ; for they call 

 it Kammenoi, and Semnoi Poyas ; that is, the rock, or 

 earth-girdle. Thefe mountains extend from S. to N., 

 almoft in a direft line, much above 1500 Englifh miles. 

 They commence with the mountains between the Cafpian and 

 rhe lake Aral, and attain their greateft height and bulk 

 about the fources of the rivers Ural, Tobol, and Emba ; and 

 Jirom thence they ftretch on towards the origin of the Tfhuf- 

 fovaia and the Ifets, and further on to the fources of the 

 Petfhora and the Sofva ; and laftly, form two great pro- 

 montories about the Karian haven of the Frozen ocean : 

 ;»fter being divided by the ftraits of Vaygat, or Waygat, they 

 terminate in tlic mountains of Nova Zcmla. From this chain 

 feme confiderable collateral branches take a weftern as well 

 as an caftcrn courfe. The moft material from the former 

 fide are thofc called Obfch'.fchei-Sirt, the mounts of fcpara- 

 tion, running out between the river Ural and the 6akmara, 

 Vol. XXXVJI. 



fulphur, marcafites, foffile ialts, fources of common fait, 

 bitter lakes, alum, vitriolic earths, falt-pctre, natron, iron, 

 copper, gold, and fpccimens of filver and lead. For work- 

 ing of the gold, copper, and iron, very expenfive and pro- 

 dudive fabrics are here erefted. The Ural mountains arc 

 alfo amply furnifhed with woods ; fuch as pines, birch, fir, 

 cedar, larch, afpin, alder, and on the S.W. fide a few oaks, 

 elms, lindens, &c. In the vallies adjoining to this range of 

 mountains are rich and verdant glens, and dales and meads in 

 alternate lucceftion ; fo that the breed of cattle is not incon- 

 fiderable. Among the wild bealls and birds, which are very 

 plentiful, may be reckoned fables, beavers, rein-doer, elks, 

 &c. The various elevations are copioufly fupplicd with 

 beautiful pellucid lakes, ponds, and numbcrlcfs ftrcams, all 

 teeming with fifh. The principal rivers that take their rife 

 in this chain of mountains are tlie Sofva, the Tura, the 

 IfTet, the Ui, the Tobol, the Yemba, the Ural, the Belaia, 

 the Tlhuftovaia, the Kamma, the Petftiora, &c. Tooke's 

 RulTia, vol. i. 



URALLA, a confiderable Turkifh village, fituated on 



the fide of a mountain, at about the diilance ot a mile fronn 



the fhore, rommanding a profpefl of the whole of the fpa- 



3 R ciou* 



