514 
RUSSIAN TERRITORIES 
and Russia has left the internal government of Kara Bagh to 
one of these hereditary princes, who pays to the imperial ex¬ 
chequer an annual tribute of 10,000 ducats; and engages, when 
called upon, to furnish a body of 3000 men mounted, and 
on foot. 
Shirwan is very extensive, and possesses more level country 
than any other district north-east of the Caucasus. It includes 
the island of Salian at the mouth of the Kur; stretches along the 
banks of that river to the south, and'north-eastward is bounded 
by the mountains of Daghistan, and the Caspian Sea. It also 
is under the jurisdiction of a native prince, who lives in an im¬ 
pregnable fortress called Pfetoo, and of whom a very trifling- 
tribute is demanded. The country is productive of silk, cotton, 
rice, and very fine timber; it possesses also an abundant fishery 
at Salian, farmed to certain merchants at Astrachan for 20,000 
ducats annually. A strong fort has recently been erected at the 
junction of the rivers Kur and Aras, near Djwat. Shamaki, the 
capital of the province, and a city so well known in the history 
of European trade on the banks of the Caspian, has again risen 
into consequence and population out of the ashes to which it 
was reduced by the late king of Persia, Mahomed Aga Khan, 
in 1795. 
Shekin, which lies immediately west of Shirwan, is greatly 
its superior in fertility and climate. Its government was given 
to Jaffier Kouli Khan, a Persian who had fled into Georgia at 
the accession of Futteh Ali Shah. He is since dead, and the 
Emperor Alexander has allowed the son of the deceased to as¬ 
sume the reins. This district yields an annual revenue of 70,000 
ducats from a produce of grain, rice, cotton, and silk. 
Bakou, the smallest, but one of the most valuable of the 
