Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus Part 18

The other cla.s.s of razchivas, designated by the Tartar word _aslam_ (carrier--_voiturier_), are used to convey household vessels, victuals, timber, and articles requisite for the fisheries. They ply to Kisliar,[28] Gourief,[29] and Tchetchenze,[30] and traverse all the north-western parts of the Caspian, from the Volga to Terek, their princ.i.p.al cargoes being commissariat stores for the troops in the Caucasian provinces. They bring back wine, rice, and Kisliar brandy, which is much esteemed in the country. The number of these razchivas does not, however, exceed fifty. They can make five trips in the year.

These vessels are much more profitable to their owners than are shkooutes. In reality they are but coasters, and as they seldom venture out of sight of the sh.o.r.e, they are much less exposed to wreck.

Moreover, in addition to their Astrakhan freights, they keep up an exchange trade in eatable commodities with the nomades of the Caspian sh.o.r.es. They are also employed in the fisheries of the Emba and of Tchetchenze, though the fishermen generally prefer smaller vessels.

The vessels that ply in the mouths of the Volga are some of them decked, some open. The former, which need to be of a certain strength, carry goods directly on board the shkooutes in the offing, whereas the latter stop a little distance from the mouth of the river. Both are really lighters. The water is so low near the mouths of the Volga, as well as in all the northern part of the Caspian, that the shkooutes are obliged to put to sea empty from the port of Astrakhan. About twenty miles from the sh.o.r.e they take in half their cargo, which is brought to them in open lighters, nor can they complete their loading until they are 100 or 120 miles from the embouchure, where they are met by decked vessels whose draught of water does not exceed thirteen feet. The lighters generally belong to petty captains, who realise a good profit by them; but a large proportion of them are lost every year.

The boats that float down the Volga to Astrakhan from the interior, are of extreme diversity of construction. The most remarkable are the _kladnyas_, which are distinguished above all the rest by their solidity and their Dutch build. They have but one enormously tall mast with two sails, one of which is attached to a boom twice as long as the hull of the vessel. Next after them come the _beliangs_, flat boats built entirely of deal, and not pitched either within or without. Besides these there are an infinity of smaller boats, which it is unnecessary to describe. All these boats convey goods from Astrakhan to Nijni Novgorod, Saratof, and other places, and _vice versa_, charging for freight from ten to thirty kopeks per pood, according to distance. They arrive at Astrakhan at stated times, namely, in May, July, and September. The steamboat that makes one trip every year between Astrakhan and Nijni Novgorod, takes from forty to fifty days to ascend the river, and a fortnight to return. The navigation of the Volga, appears by the sailors' accounts, to be growing more difficult every year; some parts of the river are already impracticable for boats of a certain draught.

Indeed the fact seems clearly ascertained that the Volga has undergone a great diminution of volume within the last century.

The vessels belonging to the Persian provinces resemble the Russian shkooutes, with this difference, that no pitch is used in their construction, but their timbers are so accurately joined as to admit no water. It is superfluous to say that the Persian s.h.i.+pping is in a still worse position than that of Russia. If to these statistical details we add that all the Russian goods are conveyed by land to the Caucasian provinces of the empire, no more will be wanting to show how deserted is the Caspian Sea.

The manual industry of Astrakhan shares, of course, the decay of its commerce. The metropolis reckoned fifty-two manufacturing establishments in 1838, viz.: one for silks, two for cotton cloths, twenty dyeing-houses, ten tanyards, two candle manufactories, three soap manufactories, twelve tile manufactories, one tallow melting-house, one rope-walk; 615 workmen were employed in all these establishments. It was the fisheries of the Volga that in reality furnished the population with all the means of subsistence; they are still the chief resource of the country, and it would seem as though nature had wished to compensate Astrakhan for the sterility of its soil, by rendering the waters that wash it more prolific than any others in fish.[31] The waters in which the fis.h.i.+ng is carried on are private property, or farmed out by the crown and the towns, or they are free to all comers. The most productive spots belong to the princes Kourakin, Youssoupof, Besborodko, &c. The crown fisheries were formerly commercial property; they are now leased to one individual, along with those belonging to the district capitals of the government of Astrakhan. The waters of Astrakhan, though belonging to Prince Kourakin, have nevertheless been gratuitously conceded to the town. They yield for the most part only small kinds of fish, which are consumed by the inhabitants themselves.

The fisheries of the Emba have been free since 1803. They comprise 300 miles of the Caspian coast, from the mouth of the Ural to Mentvoi Koultouk, and take their name from the river Emba. They belonged formerly to the counts Koutussof and Soltykov.

By virtue of a decree, dated March 31, 1803, fishery of all sorts, including that of seals, is free in the maritime waters of Tchetchenze.

The island of that name, lying not far from the gulf and cape of Agrakhan, contains vast establishments for smoking, salting, and drying fish, and numerous dwellings occupied by the fishermen. The fishery here lasts all the year through, and yields beluga,[32] common sturgeon, salmon trout, silurus,[33] and two varieties of carp. It has been the custom of the seal-fishers from time immemorial not to destroy any of those animals before the 13th of April; whoever infringes this rule is deprived of all his booty by his comrades, who divide it among themselves. War is waged upon the seals in five different ways. In summer they are hunted on the islands and netted in the sea; in winter they are shot, or killed with clubs on the ice, or at the breathing-holes they break through it. In summer the seals weigh thirty pounds, in autumn about sixty, and in winter often ninety-six.

The permanent fisheries are called _vataghis_ and _outshoughis_; the places where they are temporary are called _stania_. An outshoughi consists in a barrier of stakes planted across the river, and sometimes wattled. Below this barrier the apparatus called in Russian _samoloff_, is placed in the current. It is a cord hung with short lines and hooks, and the business of the fisherman consists in examining the lines, and taking off the fish that are hooked. These are immediately taken to a shed built on piles at the waterside, where they are cut up; the roes, the fat, and the nerves are afterwards conveyed to places where they undergo the processes necessary to fit them for commerce.

As the lines of stakes hinder the fish from ascending the river, the government has for some time prohibited the use of outshoughis, and also of the lines and hooks, by which it is found that scarcely one fish is taken out of a hundred that swallow the bait; the rest escape though wounded, and thus perish uselessly.

The invention of these barriers is ascribed to the Tatars of the khanat of Astrakhan. As fish was an important article of commerce between them and the Russians, it may be presumed that they adopted this means to keep the fish from ascending to the upper portions of the Volga.

The vataghis, usually placed on the heights above the sh.o.r.e, are cellars in which fish is salted and dried. Before the door there is always a platform sheltered by a screen of reeds, where the fish are cut up and cleaned. Nets, some of them several hundred yards in length, are exclusively used in these establishments. It is forbidden, however, to stretch them across the entire width of the river.

The fis.h.i.+ng season is divided into several distinct periods. The first, which extends from March till May, that is from the breaking up of the ice to the time of flood, is called the caviar season; it is the most important and most productive of the caviar and isingla.s.s. The second occurs in July when the waters have sunk within their ordinary bed, and the fish having sp.a.w.ned, are returning to the sea. The third, from September to November, is the season when the beluga, sturgeon, and sevriuga[34] return to the deepest parts of the river. These fish are also taken in winter by nets of a peculiar form. At that time of year the fishermen of the coasts often travel over the ice for dozens of miles from the land. Every two men have a horse and sledge, and carry with them 3000 yards of net, with which they capture belugas, sturgeons, silures, and even seals under the ice. These expeditions are very dangerous. The wind often drives the ice-blocks on a sudden out to sea, and then the loss of the fishermen is inevitable, unless the wind chops round and drives them back to land. Old experienced fishermen allege that the instinct of the horses forewarns them of these atmospheric changes, and that their uneasiness puts their masters on their guard against the danger; according to the same authorities, the moment the animals are yoked they turn of their own accord towards the sh.o.r.e, and set off thither with extraordinary speed.

The fishermen of Astrakhan reckon three cla.s.ses of fish. The first they call red fish, which includes the beluga, the sevriuga, and the sturgeon. The second consists of white fish, such as the salmon-trout, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d beluga, the sterlet,[35] the carp or sazan, the soudak,[36]

and the silure. To the third cla.s.s belong all those designated by the general name of _tchistia_, _kovaya_ or _riba_, either on account of the closeness of the nets employed to take them, or of their habits of entering rivers in very dense shoals. They are small fish, which are little prized, and are salted for the consumption of the interior of the empire.

The government fis.h.i.+ng board has the general control of the fisheries, grants the requisite licences, superintends the election of the headmen, sends out inspectors to maintain order, and collects information as to the produce of the fisheries. In 1828, 8887 men employed in fis.h.i.+ng, and 254 in taking seals, with 3219 boats, brought in 43,033 sturgeons, 653,164 sevriugas, and 23,069 belugas: these yielded 330 tons of caviar, and about 34 tons of isingla.s.s. There were also taken 8335 soudaks, and the enormous quant.i.ty of 98,584 seals. The sturgeon fishery alone produces about 2,000,000 of rubles annually, but the expenses are very considerable. The revenue derived by the government from the fisheries of the Volga amounts to 800,000 paper rubles.

The celebrated imperial ukase appointing a uniform monetary system throughout the empire, was promulgated during our stay in Astrakhan, and afforded us a fresh opportunity of beholding the amazing impa.s.siveness of the Russians, and their extreme incapability of self-a.s.sertion. The change was certainly excellent in itself, and loudly called for by the circ.u.mstances of the country, but the manner of carrying it into effect caused a loss of eighteen per cent, to all holders of coin. In Astrakhan, the voice of the public crier sufficed at once, and without warning, to reduce the 4 ruble piece to 3.5, that of 1.20 to 1.05, that of 1 ruble to 0.87, and that of 0.62 to 0.52; and immediately after beat of drum, the law was carried into full force on all commercial transactions. It must not be supposed, however, that this inert resignation of the tzar's subjects is merely the result of their profound reverence for whatever emanates from the omnipotence of their sovereign. Every one of them is fully and keenly sensible of his loss, and if no voice is uplifted against such ministerial spoliations, the cause abides in that total absence of will and reflection which we have already had many occasions to point out as a distinguis.h.i.+ng trait of the Russian character. For our own part we cannot but highly approve of the idea of establis.h.i.+ng a complete uniformity in the value of coinage, for the variations of value which the same coin formerly underwent in pa.s.sing from one government to another were exceedingly injurious to trade. We think, however, that the change might have been accomplished by more legal and less violent means. It is true, that by acting as he did, Count Cancrine was sure of realising a gain of eighteen per cent., and this, it may be presumed, was the princ.i.p.al motive that actuated him. Be this as it may, this was not the first time the Russian government took such a course; every one knows that in 1812, the silver ruble fell abruptly to the value of a paper ruble, entailing a loss of seventy-one per cent. on all holders of government bills, who received but a paper ruble for every silver ruble represented by the bills. This state of things lasted until 1839, when the old system was restored. The present government paper, having for its basis a real coin, the silver ruble, worth 3.50 paper rubles (about 3_s._ 2_d._), consists of notes for 5, 10, 20, and even 10,000 rubles. These notes are extremely small, and the government must inevitably realise a large profit annually by their wear and tear and loss. It is likewise very possible that the ministry of finance had no other motive for creating these new notes, than that of preparing means to repeat the bankruptcy of 1812; and seeing the actual state of the imperial treasury, there is no doubt that such an act of bankruptcy would be committed in case of war. Never was the state so oppressed with debt as it is at this day. The war in the Caucasus, the grand military parades, and the payment of a countless host of diplomatic agents, avowed and secret, all absorb immense sums, and the ministry is consequently reduced to miserable s.h.i.+fts to make up the deficit, and restore the balance of the finances. The proposal of a great military expenditure was discussed in the imperial council of 1841, and was opposed with reason by Cancrine, on the too real ground of want of money. The emperor, chafed by an opposition to his wishes such as he was not used to, ordered the grand treasurer to produce all his accounts, that the matter might be investigated in council. Next day the accounts were examined in presence of the tzar and his ministers. One item excited great surprise; an enormous sum was set down as expended, but how or wherefore it was spent was not stated. The emperor yielding without reflection to a sudden impulse of anger, commanded Cancrine to explain what had become of the money, and the minister, who had taken his precautions beforehand, instantly laid before his master a note in which were revealed some singular mysteries. It was, they say, after this memorable sitting that all public works were immediately stopped, the stamp duties were quadrupled, the charge for pa.s.sports centupled, and new notes payable to the bearer, were issued for more than 100,000,000 of silver rubles. Such are the expedients that const.i.tute the genius of the ministry, and which Count Cancrine thought it right to employ to augment the financial resources of the country. I recollect an anecdote that exactly typifies the notions of that statesman. I was once in the house of a Moldavian landowner of Bessarabia, whose lands bring him in about 10,000 rubles a year. The conversation turned on agriculture. "What!" exclaimed a Russian who was present, "your estate yields you but 10,000 rubles a-year? Nonsense; put it into my hands and I warrant you twice as much."--"That would be a very agreeable thing, if it could be done," said the landlord; "I flatter myself I am tolerably well versed in these matters, and yet I have never been able to discover any possible means of increasing my income."--"How many days do your peasants work?" said the Russian.--"Thirty."--"That's not enough: make them work sixty. What breadth of land do they till for you?"--"So much."--"Double it." And so he went on through the other items of the inquiry, crying, "Double it! double it!" We could not help heartily laughing. But the Russian remained perfectly serious, and I am sure he thought himself as great a man as Cancrine himself; I really regret that I did not ask him, had he taken lessons in economics in the office of that ill.u.s.trious financier.

FOOTNOTES:

[20] Notwithstanding the a.s.sertions of most geographers, we are of opinion that the communications between Soldaa, Kaffa, and Astrakhan generally took place by way of the Don and the Volga. Many reasons seem to confirm this opinion. Had it been otherwise, the Genoese would not have attached so much importance to the possession of Tana, on the mouth of the Don. Furthermore, the route by the banks of the Terek and the Kouban, skirting the northern slope of the Caucasus, being much longer as well as more dangerous, by reason of the neighbourhood of the Caucasian tribes, preference would naturally have been given to the route by the Don and the Volga, which pa.s.sed only through Tatar countries, inhabited by the same people as the traders, and subjected to the same government. It seems confirmatory of this opinion that in the expedition of Sultan Selim against Astrakhan, in 1560, part of the Turkish army marched by that very route. The line of the Manitch must have been little frequented on account of its almost total want of drinkable water.

[21] Among the various nomade hordes then encamped on the soil of Southern Russia, the Kalmucks alone numbered more than 120,000 families; at the same period the Crimea alone had a population of more than 600,000. But these regions have undergone a remarkable change since Peter the Great's time. A large portion of the Kalmucks have emigrated to China, and the Mussulman tribes have lost at least nine-tenths of their population. It may easily be conceived how injurious to the trade with Persia and Central Asia has been the disappearance of these Asiatic races.

[22] The best cotton of Persia is grown on the slopes of the Elbrouz.

These regions might easily supply Russia annually with an average of 1,500,000 kilogrammes of cotton, at 65 to 70 centimes the kilogramme on the spot.

[23] Among the articles exported by Russia, the following are to be estimated at the approximative values annexed to them: cotton cloths, 700,000 rubles; woollens, 40,000; linens, 30,000; iron, 200,000 to 400,000; various metal wares, 200,000, and wheat 100,000.

[24] In 1836, Ghilan exported more than 9,000,000 rubles worth of silk to Trebisond.

[25] Salian is a port on the Caspian, at the mouth of the Coura (the ancient Cyrus). The roadstead is tolerably good, and the fisheries are important. An immense quant.i.ty of sturgeons are caught.

[26] Astrabad on the southern coast of the Caspian, between Persia and Turkistan, is in regular and easy communication with all the regions of Persia, Khiva, and Bokhara. It is the true key to all the commerce of Asia by way of the Caspian; hence it was an object of special attention for Peter the Great and Catherine II.

[27] Manghishlak is not a town but merely a port, at which vessels used formerly to touch to trade with the nomades of that part of the coast.

It is now entirely abandoned; the few vessels which still visit these parts, stop at Tuk Karakhan, near the old landing place, whence goods are conveyed on camels to Khiva in twenty-eight days.

[28] A town on the Caspian, at the mouth of Terek, celebrated for its brandy.

[29] A town at the mouth of the Ural. It belongs to the Cossacks of the Ural, and contains upwards of a hundred houses.

[30] An island not far from the Gulf of Agrakhan.

[31] The particulars that follow as to the fisheries of the Caspian, were communicated to us at Astrakhan. Neither the weather nor the season allowed us to be present at those interesting operations.

[32] The _beluga_ of the Russians is the great sturgeon (_Piscis ichthyocolla, Accipenser Huso_), its weight often amounts to 1400 lbs.

[33] _Silurus glanis_, a fish unknown in France. I have found it in the Danube, the Volga, and the Dniepr, where its voracity and strength make it formidable to bathers.

[34] Accipenser stellatus.

[35] A. ruthenus.

[36] Perca asper.

CHAPTER XXII.

DEPARTURE FROM ASTRAKHAN--COAST OF THE CASPIAN--HAWKING-- HOUIDOUK--THREE STORMY DAYS Pa.s.sED IN A POST-HOUSE--ARMENIAN MERCHANTS--ROBBERY COMMITTED BY KALMUCKS--CAMELS--KOUSKAIA-- ANOTHER TEMPEST--TARAKANS--A REPORTED GOLD MINE.

We left Astrakhan at eight in the evening, and were ferried across the Volga in a four-oared boat. It took us more than an hour to cross the river, its breadth opposite the town being more than 2000 yards. When we reached the opposite bank we might have fancied ourselves transported suddenly to a distance of a hundred versts from Astrakhan. Kalmucks, sand, felt tents, camels, in a word, the desert and its tenants were all that now met our view. We found our britchka waiting for us; our officer and the dragoman got into a telega or post chariot, and the bells began their merry jingling.

Nothing can be more dismal than the route from Astrakhan to Kisliar. For two days and two nights our journey lay through a horrid tract of loose sand, with nothing to be seen but some half-buried Kalmuck kibitkas, serving for post stations, and a few patches of wormwood, the melancholy foliage of which was in perfect harmony with the desolate aspect of the landscape. The heaps of sand we pa.s.sed between exhibited the most capricious mimicry of natural scenery. We had before our eyes hills, ravines, cascades, narrow valleys, and tumuli; but nothing remained in its place; an invisible power was ceaselessly at work, changing every shape too quickly for the eye to follow the rapid transformation.

On the evening of the day after our departure, we had an opportunity of testing the prowess of our travelling companion, the hawk. The first theatre of his exploits was a little pond covered with wild ducks and geese, that promised a rich booty.

At a signal from my husband the Tatar officer unhooded the bird, and cast him off. Instantly the hawk darted off like an arrow, close along the surface of the ground, towards the pond, and was soon hidden from us among the reeds, where his presence was saluted with a deafening clamour, and a scared mult.i.tude of wild geese rose up out of the sedges.

Their screams of rage and terror, and their bewildered flight backwards and forwards, and in all directions, were utterly indescribable, until the arrival of the officer put them to the route, and delivered their a.s.sailant from their obstreperous resentment. The moment the hawk flew off, the Tatar followed him at a gallop, all the while beating a small drum that was fastened to his saddle. When he reached the pond he found the bird planted stoutly on the back of a most insubmissive victim, and waiting with philosophic patience until his master should come and release him from his critical position.

The officer told us, that but for his presence, and the noise of the drum, the geese would in all probability have pummelled the hawk to death with their beaks, in order to rescue their companion. In such cases, however, the hawk braves the storm with imperturbable coolness, and adopts a curious expedient when the attacks are too violent, and his master is too slow in appearing. Without quitting hold of his victim, he slips himself under the broad wings of the goose, which then become his buckler. Once in that position he is invincible, and the blows aimed at him fall only on the poor prisoner, whose cruel fate it is to be forced to protect its mortal enemy. When the falconer comes up, the first thing he does is to cut off its head and give the brains to the hawk. Until that operation is completed, the latter keeps fast hold on the quarry, and no efforts of its master can induce it to relax its gripe.

The hawk made two or three more successful flights before we reached Houidouk, and supplied us with a good stock of provisions, which were not a little needful to us in that miserable post station.

During this journey we pa.s.sed several times very close to the Caspian, but without perceiving it.

At Houidouk, on the mouth of the Kouma, we found our escort, which had been waiting two days for us. Every thing was ready for our departure, but a violent fall of rain detained us three mortal days in the most detestable cabin we had yet entered. Two rooms, one for travellers, and the other for the master of the station and his family, composed the whole dwelling. We installed ourselves as well as we could in the former, the whole furniture of which consisted of a long table and two benches. The walls of this wretched hole were made of ill-jointed boards, that gave admission to the wind and the rain, and to add to our discomfort, it served as an ante-chamber to the other room, and was thus common to the whole household. Hens, children, and the master of the house, were perpetually pa.s.sing through it, and left us not a moment's rest. Our situation was intolerable; the violence of the tempest increased at such a rate, that we knew not how the miserable wooden fabric could stand against it. All the elements seemed confounded together; there was no distinguis.h.i.+ng earth or sky; but the terrible disorder of nature appeared to me more tolerable than the scene within doors. Outside there was at least something for the imagination; the mind was exalted in contemplating the swelling uproar that threatened a renewal of chaos; but the scene within was enough to drive us to despair--children fighting and screaming, fowls fluttering and perching on the table and benches, squalor all around us, and a frowsy atmosphere! To complete our distress, some Armenian merchants on their way to the fair of Tiflis, finding it impossible to continue their journey, came to share with us the den in which we were already so uncomfortable.