[20] Notwithstanding the assertions of most geographers, we are of opinion that the communications between Soldaia, 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 passed 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 quantity 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.